Spring is on the way, and boy, we can’t wait. We’ve had some teaser days with sunshine and warm temperatures, but then the clouds come, and more snow which means another round of mud before things dry out. The other day we had a heavy wet snow fall during the night and went out to find a big limb on the willow tree had broken off. The tree suffered a lot of damage during the fire, and we are not sure if it will survive.
The big news around here is that our new Maremma puppy, Alfred, arrived late February. I went to the farm where he was born and met the breeder along with his mother, and a few siblings that were still there. He is just a magnificent little dog. So calm, curious, smart, and huge. He just had his checkup at the vet yesterday and weighed in at 41.5 lbs. And he’s only 3 months old! Our oldest dog, Nellie, is not too interested in him, but that is her style. She takes a long time to warm up to new things, but she is already showing signs of coming around. Callie, on the other hand, was immediately attracted to him. I think she must have a strong natural mothering, or at least guarding instinct, because she has definitely taken charge of watching out for him. She doesn’t let him out of her sight, and is right there if anything seems awry. If he whines, she runs over to see what’s wrong. And the other day a ewe gave him a little head butt and it startled him so he squealed. Callie was watching and she leapt in between them and gave that old ewe the stink-eye. She has really taken the lead and will be an excellent teacher and playmate for Alfred.
The big news around here is that our new Maremma puppy, Alfred, arrived late February. I went to the farm where he was born and met the breeder along with his mother, and a few siblings that were still there. He is just a magnificent little dog. So calm, curious, smart, and huge. He just had his checkup at the vet yesterday and weighed in at 41.5 lbs. And he’s only 3 months old! Our oldest dog, Nellie, is not too interested in him, but that is her style. She takes a long time to warm up to new things, but she is already showing signs of coming around. Callie, on the other hand, was immediately attracted to him. I think she must have a strong natural mothering, or at least guarding instinct, because she has definitely taken charge of watching out for him. She doesn’t let him out of her sight, and is right there if anything seems awry. If he whines, she runs over to see what’s wrong. And the other day a ewe gave him a little head butt and it startled him so he squealed. Callie was watching and she leapt in between them and gave that old ewe the stink-eye. She has really taken the lead and will be an excellent teacher and playmate for Alfred.
I’ve been working hard at getting as much wool washed and dyed as I can, and although it’s going slowly, I’m making steady progress and coming out with some very nice colors. I just got another batch back from Spinderella’s this week, and sent another one off. I tried something new this time- I had a tender fleece (one with weak fibers that won’t work for spinning), so I had them felt it for me. It turned out beautiful! I’m going to sew a vest out of it, and also experiment with making some tea cozies. I’ll embellish them with needle felting using some of the dyed wool that I have laying around.
I don’t know when I’ll have the time, as our project list is growing daily. Next weekend our helper, Jackson, is arriving from California to spend the summer working with us. He will spend part of the week working for Bill in the surveying business, and part on the ranch. We are both very excited to have him here. The next blog update will have more about him. We are also planning our new shop building, and should start construction later this Spring. It will be such a relief to have a place to store things under cover instead of under blue tarps covered with snow all winter.
We’ll be shearing on April 1st, followed by lambing starting April 15th, so the busy season is almost upon us. Our ewes are starting to look very big, so we are expecting the usual healthy lamb crop, with plenty of twins. We will have 5 first time mothers this year, so we're crossing our fingers that they are all up to the job. The rest of the yearlings did really well this winter- no illnesses, all looking good. We’ll be butchering after they’ve been on grass for a month or so.
Stay tuned for news and updates on all these things and more in the next installment!
Stay tuned for news and updates on all these things and more in the next installment!
RSS Feed