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We are closely tracking the progress of Ron's cousins son Col. Terry Virts, the pilot, and the crew of STS-130 who will be aboard shuttle Endeavor, scheduled for lift off on Sunday morning, February 7th at 4:39AM. The NASA Channel (Dish Network 213) will be carrying the launch, so tune in early on the 7th! We have scheduled to have Kevin Ford shear the flock on Saturday, February 9th. If our snowy and frigid weather continues we will be again, a good surrogate for Farmer Brown Shears His Sheep, whereby we'll be frantically knitting sweaters for the whole flock! Anyone interesting in blade shearing should drop by for a visit. Just give us a heads up if you are planning to come by. Ron's been trying to keep the road passable... but the snow continues to pile! Right now, it seems wishful thinking, but we are looking forward to Spring and more of these little critters racing around the farm! |
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It's finally time to once again load up the gang and head down to the pond for a swim...
or a long walk!
If you are looking for good breeding stock, to either strengthen your Corriedale flock or simply looking to infuse improved genetics in your commercial flock, we can provide both brood ewes and stud rams that can help. Check out the details of a previous Lamb Production here at the farm: showing a 211 percent yield with a uniform distribution of multiples. You don't have to spend thousands of dollars to get good performance. Our prices are available on-line.Calendar Girl of the Season... This year we are highlighting as our "Calendar Girl
of the Season," Saville 122. Being the twenty second
Her dam, and our beloved flock matron, VL&WC 93-36, is shown here with Bust, to the right, with one of her offspring from last spring's lamb crop: three generations here shown! She has been an outstanding ewe, if she did get a rocky start, pun intentional! She broke a front foreleg when caught in a rocky chunk of ledge. As the vet described her injury, "one more inch higher and she would have been sausage!"
Postscript: We give our yearling girls a pass in the first year. We like them to have time to fully mature and we find that this pays dividends in the long run. Bust's dam, nearly fourteen years old, was the oldest ewe here at the farm. Retired three years ago, she spent her days mothering her grand-daughters... sadly, she passed away and will be sorely missed! These gals, having just been blade sheared by Kevin Ford, look like a casting call for one of the Budweiser Super Bowl 'streaker' commercials, which we really enjoyed seeing... Hummm, looks like that's Bust, there on the left, but truthfully, who can really tell from this angle!
Puttering About...
We are looking forward to the Octagon garden in full bloom, when we can again enjoy quiet evenings just sitting there taking it all in. Our lily collection seems to have survived the freezing spring nights, although our Japanese maples were on the endangered list! Our friends Carl and Elaine Wickstrom, of Golden Skep Farm fame, shipped another unexpected collection of new plants last fall, and we are anticipated their splendor as the garden is once again in full bloom. Come see for yourselves. Still, if you can't stop by to see in person, you can still enjoy a virtual walk through the garden, just click on our Octagon Garden Tour! You can still see what we enjoy about the shepherding life, just come along with Elizabeth, Harley, Gailen and Dora as they tend the flock, by checking out our Fall Forage slide show, or just take a Walk About for a look around the farm! See James Calder's photographs, including a photojournalist's look at a day here at the farm! |
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Elizabeth's Studio Workshop schedule will continue to be on a tailored session basis. We will tailor a session to fit your schedule, same cost, same courses as our previous scheduled programs! Check the Workshop page for curriculum details. If you have a question or problem about anything else related to rearing sheep, sheep dogs, fiber arts or other related questions, ask us and we will try to get the answer and get right back to you, or if you are in the Lexington area, feel free to visit us at the farm. However, it's a good idea to call first to assure that we will be available, since we are a working farm and, as the old saying goes, "we frequently do have to make hay while the sun shines!" |
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Take a stroll with us down memory lane, revisiting with us our time here in the valley...
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“Fool me once, shame on you. Fool me twice, shame on me! ” Anon
Robert Frost
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Winter 2009 "AARP, the seniors lobby, threw its weight behind the Democrats..." Anyone who thinks the $460 Billion cut from Medicare that the Senate is including in its version of the health care plan (Obamacare) isn't going to be coming right out of the hide of seniors, is drinking Jim Jones' Kool Aide! AARP is a insurance seller, plain and simple, that's where they make their money. Watch their commercials on TV. "Senior lobby," my butt!
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lamb
born here on the farm, she thus became known by us as "Bust."
In birthing, she followed her twin brother, Saville 121, a.k.a.,
"Black Jack." If you know the card game of "Twenty One,"
you can understand how her name was derived, but Bust in name only!
But
she was not a "bust" in any sense of the name! Going forth to give us
sixteen lambs (one set of triplets, six sets of twins and one single) in
nine years and was going strong. Our flock guard dog Dora is here
helping to spit shine two of Bust's many twins! Bust who
was ten years old last year, was in the "mothering way" for the ninth time
last April, when she delivered a set of triplets, two girls and a ram! Now
heading for retirement she finished her breeding career on a spectacular
high! We proudly celebrate her as our Calendar Girl of the Month!
