Louisville, 2010

Jerry made his annual trek to the NAILE in Louisville last week along with 6 white and black sheep (including 2 yearling ewes, 1 ram lamb, and 3 ewe lambs). The natural-colored ram lamb, the first banner-winner we raised from birth (mother was the 2008 champion ewe and father was the 2009 champion ram), won reserve champion ram. Every year we learn more about how to prepare the sheep and their fleeces and we also learn how different judges look for different things! All in all, it's a great experience and fun to reconnect with friends. John Guffey is helping Jerry out in the picture above with the reserve champion.

Now it's time for shearing, which happens tomorrow. We will have a lot of fleeces (lamb, white, and natural-colored) available. Let us know if you're interested, spinners - only $5 a pound!

Barn Quilt

We live in Champaign County, Ohio. The chamber of commerce started a barn quilt program several years ago, where businesses and farms could design a quilt and display it on their buildings/barn. We decided to join the group of over 60 barn quilts this year. Since we raise both white and natural-colored Border Leicester sheep and I (Dena) spin the wool, we designed a quilt that includes the sheep and a quilt pattern called "spools." Here is a picture of the quilt on our barn.

Michigan Fiber Festival

I'm finally getting around to posting on the Michigan Fiber Festival in Allegan. Every year the third week of August, I (Dena) head to the MFF for a few days of workshops that include spinning, knitting, basket-making, and numerous other crafts. This year I came home with a rib basket and skeins of painted yarn. Eileen and Ruthann always join me for this annual trek. Of course, one of the highlights is eating at a couple of great restaurants...the London Grill in Plainwell and Salt of the Earth in Fennville. They are both worth the trip!

Jerry has been bringing sheep to show on the weekend for the past few years. The people are great, the atmosphere is pretty laid back, and we've had success. This year wasn't any different. We won several classes with the 6 sheep Jerry brought. We had first place white yearling ewe, first place natural colored yearling ewe,

first place natural colored ewe lamb, second place white ram lamb, second place natural colored yearling ram. We had reserve champion white ram, champion white ewe, champion natural-colored ewe, and best fleece of the show.

We topped off the weekend with dinner at Tim and Janet's, friends of ours who live in Kalamazoo, just a short drive from Allegan. A great way to end summer!

Coming Soon

We'll be offering Border Leicester fleeces (white and natural-colored) for sale soon. Let us know if you're interested.

Spring Update

Okay - I am ashamed for not keeping up with the blog. I really thought I would do it, but life just gets in the way! Anyway, here are updates on what we've been up to in the past several months:

-It wasn't until mid-March when we were finally done lambing. We ended up with 16 lambs.

-We went to the Maryland Sheep and Wool Festival the first week of May (should've known it was going to be a hot summer since the temperature reached 90 that weekend). We took the camper for its first trip and had a great time. No sheep showing this year!

-Our nephew Brady was visiting with us for several weeks and we got him involved in a lot of projects, including washing sheep and painting the barn.

Here is Brady washing sheep - not sure who got wetter!

- At the end of May (Memorial Day weekend), we headed up to Wooster to be bystanders again at the National Border Leicester Sale. We did find a rack to put in the back of the truck at the equipment auction, which later this summer came in handy when we took sheep and the camper to Allegan.

Here are Jerry and Brady at the Wayne County Fairgrounds

relaxing at the camper after the sheep show.

Ebony and Ivory

Twins born to znk0027, one of the ewes we raised bred to Othello.

First Lamb of 2010

Finally - the first lamb has arrived! The mother is a natural color ewe we bought in New York (already bred) in October. The sire is also natural color. They came from Seldom Seen Farm (Barbara Thompson). Surprisingly, she is the whitest lamb we've ever seen - not what we expected!

Othello Wins in Louisville

For the second year in a row, we won champion natural colored Border Leicester fleece!

Jerry and Othello at the NAILE in Louisville, in November. Othello won his class, was champion natural colored border leicester ram, and won best fleece. Since Dena was awol, John Guffey helped him out.