A Pile of Alpaca

On Ravelry, I was offered a Spin a Fleece, get a Fleece of alpaca. I just could not help myself and have been spinning the fleece that needs to be returned to the alpaca owner. It is nice fleece. However, I've decided that I need to have more self control! I still have 5 fleeeces of my own sheep to process and spin into yarn before spring comes and time to shear them. So, this year I WILL NOT take any more fleeces so that I can catch up on my own fleeces. Just do not have enough time in the day to do that and get the garden and other things done. I am thinking about sending out some of the fleeces to have made into roving so that I can catch up a little. I am also going through my yarn stash and taking pictures of yarn that I don't have a project already picked out for and am going to do a destash on Ravelry within the next month or so. I have so little storage space, that it just needs to be done.

Why Every Small Homestead Should Have a Draft Animal

Small draft animals are a wonderful way to have cheap help around the small homestead when you need that extra helping hand.  Goats, in my opinion, are the most versatile. They are small, inexpensive to feed, are easy to maneuver in tight quarters, are easy to train for most people, and are less prone to step on your feet. I'm not saying they are the only, or the best draft animal. Every homesteader needs to take stock of what their needs are to determine what animal they should use. Very small places could go with one or even two large dogs. But they do eat a lot and require that you feed them meat. Pony's would be good to have if you needed much more strength than what a goat could provide, pound for pound. However, they do get frightened easier, are harder to train for someone not familiar with horse personalities, and they eat more.

Here Shadow is helping me clean out the sheep shed. I do this weekly. It only takes two loads of this stone boat to get the job done. I do need to raise the height of the sides of the stone boat. If I did that, it would only take one trip. After unloading the sheep droppings into the compost pile, Shadow then helps me with moving leaves to the compost pile. Four loads of leaves, 2 loads of sheep droppings = black gold in the garden!

Look What Came In the Mail Today!

My wonderful husband bought me a beautiful skein winder for Christmas. I love this skein winder! It has everything I would want in a skein winder/swift. Yardage counter, different skein sizes, solid wood, and easy to use.

This is the picture from the website, but it looks exactly like the one I received. Here's their etsy shop address, in case someone was interested in checking them out. Wooden Spinner skein winder

Merry Christmas!

Catching Up...

My son is home for the holidays and he brought his camera with him.

Yea, now I can catch up on all the things I've been doing. To me, blogging without pictures is boring (no offense to anyone who doesn't blog with pics) so that's why I haven't done any posting lately. 

The lincoln/alpaca yarn came out lovely.

I would certainly do this mix again, should I come across more lincoln.

I'm knitting Spring Tulips Stole as an introduction to lace work because I have to admit, I'm a bit intimidated by Gwendolyn, the shawl I'm going to make with the lace yarn I've made with Moonstruck's  fleece.

I've also finally gotten through combing Moonstruck's June clip 2010.  It was soo clean that I am able to use the "waste" from combing. That will be hand carded for wollen spinning. But, that will have to wait till I've gotten a few other projects completed, and Christmas over with. Next yr, I'm GOING to start Christmas projects in summer!!! So much to do, and so little time (grin).

Here's what I've been doing outside with Shadow as my helper.  Raking leaves and piling them up for a compost pile for the spring garden. This pile is about four feet tall and about 30 feet around. When I clean out the sheep shed (thank you Shadow for helping here too) the cleanings go into this pile. I still have more leaves to gather, but it's been so cold and damp I haven't been out to get it done. Plus, Christmas is coming upon us very quickly and I have many projects to finish!

I've also added a solar light on my portable chicken house. Yea, solar chickens! It only cost $15, and works very well for what I'm using it for. Lighting for winter eggs.

I'm closing for now, though I'm sure I've left something out. But anyways, Have a Very Merry Christmas.



Worth His Weight In Gold

My friend, Shadow, is worth his weight in gold. Shadow is the last goat I have left. We raised dairy goats for nearly 10 yrs and this yr. it was time to let them go to a new home. I do miss them, but I know that they are loved in their new home. Shadow was one of the kids that was born on our farm destined to go into the freezer, but he was so loving and followed me everywhere (not that the others didn't :), but for some reason he became like a dog to me. So I started singing "Me and my Shadow" every time he would follow me around the yard. So, my husband came up with the idea of keeping him as a pet. Therefore he got named Shadow.

Shadow is now 3 yrs old. All grown up and ready to help me around the homestead now. So a few weeks ago I made him a harness. And last week his cart shaft was delivered. He has become such a big help for me now. This week he has hauled several hundred pds of brush, tree limbs, and cut wood that has been lying around from the ice storm we had. I was able to get one paddock completely picked up in a couple of days vs. several weeks. Next week he'll help me pick up rocks out of that same paddock.

Unfortunately, I still don't have a camera. Tried to get my son to let me borrow his, but that didn't happen. So, you'll have to imagine Shadow in his new wagon.

This is Shadow out with the sheep this summer.

Nineteen Years and Counting

This weekend my husband and I celebrated our 19th wedding anniversary. I'm so blessed to have such a wonderful husband. I love him even more than I did when we first got married. Okay, enough of the mushy stuff.

We went to Hardy and strolled the shops, had lunch at a cosy diner, and did some shopping, and had an ice cream.

Today a north wind blew in, seems like fall today.

The alpaca and lincoln lamb has been spun up and plied. I washed it this evening, and it's now hanging to dry. Will post pictures when it's dry.

Fall is Around the Corner

The sheep are preparing themselves for fall breeding season and fattening themselves for winter. The ram, Guthrie, has started testing the ewes to check if they are ready for breeding, as sure sign that fall is just around the corner.

This is Guthrie, our BFL crossed ram. And a pic of his fleece, on the hoof.

I've replanted the garden with cool season crops. Lettuces, radishes, sugar snap peas, chard, and bunching onions.

I've finished spinning Moonstruck's spring fleece. It turned out very nice. I'll probably wait until fall cleanup chores are done outside before I start on the shawl I intend to make with it. But, in the meantime, I've been experimenting with blending alpaca and wool. I combed the alpaca and wool (lincoln lamb) separately, and then hand carded 2/3 alpaca and 1/3 wool into mini batts. I spun up 2 oz on a bobbin and then my friend that has an Ashford drum carder, let me come over and card the rest on her drum carder. The batts were so much faster to card on the drum carder. Makes me wish I had the money to go out and buy one!