Foggy and Fair

The air this morning felt more like spring than fall. The light was incredible, and probably impossible to ever capture in an image. The sky was dimly light and a thick fog was settled over everything, with a deeper haze down in the lowest part of the field where the water runs through it. The silhouettes of the bare trees were striking against the milky sky, especially the old chestnut tree on the hill at the old Emerson place. The air was marked by strong skunk smells, which is another springtime smell - not so much in fall. It was a beautiful way to start the day. Again. When the sun finally did peek above the horizon, the streaks of pink fog that shone through the breaks in the shadows from the trees were spectacular.
We're close to breaking the record in Maine for the warmest November in history, and while there are definite downsides to this warmth (more germs and less wool) the positives are definitely winning out - with number one the quiet furnace followed immediately by fewer plowing bills.  Of course, there's a flip side to this, as there is to everything - the doctors who are treating all these viruses probably find the increase in germs a good thing in their world, and my friends who plow are none too pleased. I think the majority of people are happy however...
I saw a wooly bear caterpillar the other morning, and its brown band around the middle was pretty wide; folklore suggests that this is a sign of a mild winter ahead. Who knows? Unlike last year, the leaves are raked and composted and deck furniture is all stored before the first real snow. This slow ease into winter has been helpful in terms of preparing, so when one of these mornings the air smacks me in the face as we head out for our ritual morning walk to the ocean, I should be ready.

Wool Growing Weather

Hercules.

happy sheep 

Maya

                                             The month of November has been really balmy by Maine standards. We're having some weather today, and right along the coast it looks like it's going to be all rain. Inland, they're getting close to a foot in many areas. While this kind of warm autumn weather is great for the furnace, it's not so great for fleece growing. The sheep have responded to the hot, hot summer and mild fall by not growing very much wool on their little bodies; can you blame them?
                            Hercules has settled in beautifully, and the delivery of Bill to his new home at Shearbrooke Farm with Karen went really smoothly as well.
Reports from there are that he's adjusted well and is scoping out all of the ewes from his pen, which is shared with a funny male llama. In an adjacent pen are three more llamas - with a variety of chickens and hens running around, in and out of all the pens. It's a very beautiful spot and he'll be well cared for and loved there, so it was easy to say goodbye to the little guy.
Well, pretty easy.
Knitting away and good to have orders in the wings - for this and so much more I am deeply thankful.

Thankful.

Holidays are hard sometimes. For people...I doubt so much for sheep. Distance and time and logistics sometimes get in the way of my family being together during the holidays, and lately it's because I am the only one who lives far away from the rest and cannot always make it to holiday central, which is in Georgia. It's a long way from Maine. This year will be one of those years.
And, so it goes. It makes me appreciate the times we are together that much more. It also reminds me that many families are together for that one day (or two) and not too close the other 364; not mine, and if I had to choose, it would be to be very close for all 365 and just absent in the physical sense for a day or two.

Bill. Heading to Shearbrooke Farm! Thankful...

So, this one has nothing to do with sheep, but everything to do with the shepherd. Thanks to all you people who I don't know for reading this blog...how crazy to think you're out there in India (who are you?) and Russia (you, too?) reading about this little life on a little farm in little Maine. And, thanks to my family and friends who have been reading these words and giving me encouragement. It's been a wild and wooly trip so far, and I am deeply thankful for the chance to live this peaceful life. And thankful for the chance to share a little of it here. Happy Thanksgiving to all.

When Love Comes to Town

You've got to jump that train.

It's all about timing in life...
The arrival of the new little ram has caused quite a flurry of activity here, just as much on the human end as on the ovine end. The pens never seem secure enough, fences always need tightening and water in three pens rather than one makes for more buckets. Soon the hose will stop running down the hill, and I will start to carry the water. Incentive to get down to two buckets.                                                                                                                                    
If I had only had a video camera on Saturday afternoon. After the trip down, he was placed in a small pen by himself while everyone sniffed and baa-ed from safe distances. The ewes were looking at me, then looking at Hercules. Then at me, and back at him. The looks on their faces were classic. Classic sheep. They looked totally dumbfounded but at the same time seemed to almost me thanking me. The shepherdess projects.
He is a very cute, small ram. And, it's easy to see why Kelly has loved him so much. It is definitely a difficult aspect of the sheep raising life...and, when I think about how I have been able to handle my rams in the past it is clear that I've been lucky. Only one - a randy jacob ram with deadly horns - went to an auction; it makes me feel better thinking that he was bought by someone who wanted him for stud purposes and no other reasons. Am hopeful that Bill will find a good home where he can keep making lambs for many more years to come.

So, it seems that the little Hercules has such a following that I am hoping it will be no problem at all finding homes for the lambs that will arrive in April if all goes well. 

Full Circles.

Hercules is coming this morning, and it feels like an auspicious day here at the farmette. Bill will hopefully find a suitable new home soon, allowing the new guy to take over his suite - hopefully as soon as possible; for now, he'll have his own quarters with the ability to see some of the girls from a safe distance. And will eventually have Maya and maybe one of the white ewes join him if all goes well...He seems to have quite a following - as does Romney Ridge Farm, where he's coming from. Kelly has been a great source of information and knowledge for me, and I'm thrilled and honored to be the recipient of one of her sheep!

In return, she's going to be meeting my sheep and making a trade...so, we'll be moving and shifting some sheep around here today. An exciting day and feeling full circle. The fact that this new ram is spotted/mottled reminds me of my old jacob sheep, whose coloring I loved and have missed. When I first saw pictures of Hercules when he was a new lamb, it brought back those jacob memories right away - and until then, I had not known that the piebald gene was present in the babydoll sheep. So, the addition of colors and patterns to my little flock feels like a perfect full circle. The Shuttleworths would be pleased, I think. I am.

jacob twins back in the day.