August 14 - October 22, 2015

​My intentions of doing weekly updates have stretched to a month, and now it seems two months is the interval I can manage.  Just after my last update, we had yet another scare with wildfire.  On August 19th,  a new fire started up the Twisp River near my studio, which was really scary.  Bill and I ran up there as soon as we heard about it (about an hour after it started) and took all my yarn and some other valuables out, and got the rooftop sprinkler system running.  It was all we could do, as they were evacuating the area, so we came back to Twisp, where we found out the fire was racing towards town and they were evacuating the whole valley.  We loaded up all the important stuff from Bill’s office (surveying equipment, computer hard drives, etc.).  By the time we finished, there was such a traffic jam that we figured we would just stay there and watch from the back porch of the local watering hole.  So there we were, drinking beer and watching the town evacuate.  It turned out to be OK, as the Forest Service and all the other agencies poured the resources to the fire and kept it from getting into the town.  It was really a sight to behold- huge DC-10’s dropping load after load of retardant, helicopters and other planes flying everywhere, and emergency vehicles whizzing by with sirens blasting.   We were relieved when it was all over that most of the houses in the area were saved, but deeply saddened to hear that 3 firefighters had died in the process. 

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Too close for comfort!

Meanwhile, the fire at the head of the road above the Lamb Ranch had been burning for weeks, and blew up big a few times.  They said it was finally getting close to being under control, and then BAM.  One night it blew up big and jumped the line and head straight towards us.  This time there were lots of Forest Service crew here and they were prepared, as were we.  We appreciated that they came by and talked to us about the plan for protecting our road, and each structure in particular.  Bill and I told them straight off that we were not leaving this time.  We felt that we had to stay to protect our new barn and our house.  Since we had been watching it burn all summer, and knew from experience that we can’t count on any help, we had invested in a portable fire pump, hose and nozzles and had a drill to make sure it was all working.  The Fire crews that stopped by were impressed with our set-up and said that we pretty much had it covered, and they couldn’t think of anything that we hadn’t done already.  Made us feel pretty good!  As it turned out, although the fire made several attempts to come over the ridge above our neighbor’s house, it was not successful, and after a few days we were in the clear again. 

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​Even with the fires again this year, we continued working and making progress here at the ranch.  Here’s a partial list:
-We got all the fencing replaced, which means that we now have a secure perimeter and nice
  sturdy cross fencing so that we can rotate pastures easily.  We made sure to put in plenty of gates
  which makes moving around much easier. 
-Ran electrical power to the barn, chicken coop and storage shed.  It’s all buried, so no wires to
  break during the winter storms.  We will be able to plug in all of our tank heaters, plus the tractor
  block heater. 
-Re-routed a water line to provide better pressure in a section of the pasture, and also
  a water source inside the barn. 
-Installed a French drain in front of the barn to prevent the snowmelt from pooling up. 
-And my personal favorite, remodeled the pantry so that I now have tripled my counter space and have an extra sink! 

​While we had our heads down and were forging ahead with our projects, the sun has been creeping south, and Fall has arrived.  We have yet to have an official freeze, but it did get down to 32.5 one night a few weeks ago.  I panicked, because I had not harvested all my tomatoes yet, so ran out and put sheets over all of them.  I shifted into harvest mode and started putting up every kind of tomato product you can imagine: whole, marinara, juice, ketchup, BBQ sauce, and chutney.  Of course we are gorging ourselves on fresh ones, too, every chance we get.  I have had to call it quits, though, because I realized that it’s almost November and I hadn’t even started any of the Fall clean-up chores yet.  This warm and dry weather is very deceiving!  It’s time to start raking leaves and putting the garden to bed for the winter. 

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​I just realized that I haven’t said a word about the sheep.  That’s because we have had a very easy summer with the flock.  No problems, all healthy and growing nicely.  We just separated them from the ewes a few weeks ago, and started the Fall butchering.  We have sold out all the meat that we have available for this season, and have started a waiting list for the Spring.  Many are repeat customers, so that makes us feel good.    Our local yarn shop has been selling our yarn steadily all summer, and we expect to sell more now that the cool weather is here and people are starting to think about hats and sweaters.  I can’t wait to get back to the studio to start washing and dyeing again. 

​I will be attending a seminar at the end of the month to learn more about sheep management, and some new genetic testing programs that could help us improve our fleece quality.  We will be putting the rams in to breed in a few weeks, too.  Still lots to do before winter sets in, so stay tuned for the next update with all the news about the Lamb Ranch.
Happy Fall everyone- stay warm!