Shetland Sheep: Rich in History, Rich in Textiles

Shetland Sheep: Rich in History, Rich in Textiles! Our farm mission is to enjoy and promote the wonderful diversity of the Shetland breed by fully utilizing to the best of our ability all they have to offer historically. We believe the best preservation and management of this breed includes it's full spectrum of history. We encourage old and new shepherds alike to join in the fun by engaging in fiber arts, especially spinning and knitting, as this breed is so intimately linked with those aspects of the arts.

Sunday, September 20, 2009

No shortage of...

...things to do around here! But first, look at the "find" I found at the local thrift shop! It was up on a high shelf, behind a delightful little silk flower pot. All I could see was part of the drive wheel. As I slowly pushed the flower pot aside, I found myself holding my breath in wonderment of what I'd find. Is that a spinning wheel lamp?? Yes! Can you believe it? It took me a long time to decide if I should buy it, with the economy the way it is...you can't exactly eat a spinning wheel lamp! It looks great on the computer desk though, don't you think?


There is a little finger nob at the bearing of the drive wheel that you can hold onto and rotate, which makes the drive band go around! Anyone know of the history on this clever little lamp?
Our family made the local newspaper this week for winning Grand Champion Ram at the festival! What fun! We were able to promote the festival and the Midwest Shetland Sheep Breeeders Assoc., as well as the Shetland breed. What a great opportunity! Then it was the mad rush out to the garden, which kept on going in all the busyness of getting ready for the festival. Look at this potato we harvested! It's a Kennebec, grown without anything added to the soil except composted winter sheep bedding! That's a full-sized dinner fork next to it! This potato brought great fun and laughter to the dinner table! It was creamy-tender all the way through and made for some pile of mashed potatoes!
I also had to freeze countless containers of tomatoes, as they finally decided to ripen for the first time this summer! We really enjoy the chili we make all winter with them and were beginning to wonder if we'd get any ripe tomatoes at all. Thankfully, they reddened up (while we were gone it seems!) and we have a freezer full now. The pears are also ripening at alarming speed, putting me in a panic to preserve them all! The zucchini is eight inches long! The beets are the size of softballs! The raspberries need picking, and we found a huge nest of eggs in the heart of the pumpkin patch!!! (...which also needs picking!) Customers have been calling to pick up yarn, record books are due in 4-H and school work needs to be checked, fleeces need to be washed, sheep need to be rotated, and I'm being interviewed for another newspaper article to come out in a couple of weeks....whew!!!!!!! I'm not even mentioning everything! There's also our new little ewe, whom we've named Honey. She is SWEET! She has great history and a wonderful double coat with whites, greys and fawn colors under honey-colored tips. Those tips will be gone with the lamb fleece shearing, but they are beautiful!
She's a big lamb with a lot(!) of fleece that is not the finest fleece, but very, very soft nonetheless, and will make heavenly socks! She was brought in to bring fawn colors into our flock. Iris (see previous posts) is a musket, light to white colors with all grey undertones. Honey has some grey areas (spotted genes!) but should be mostly light with brown tones. Should be beautiful, I can't wait! And her personality is incredibly sweet and calm. We love her already! More pics to come, since she just came home yesterday!

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