Farm Life

What would you rather do?

Posted by kenleighacres on May 31, 2009
Posted in: Farm Life. 4 Comments

Unload 14 tons of hay…

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or play in the pool?

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Load 51 telephone poles onto the truck…

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or ride bikes?

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Ah, to be a kid in the summer 🙂

My brother brought a load of hay over the mountain for us.  It is a beautiful alfalfa/orchard blend. 

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Luckily, we were able to rent the services of a local hay company and they squeezed the blocks off and put them near the barn.

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Once the hay was unloaded, my brother and husband loaded some of the many telephone poles we have onto the truck.  These poles are leftover from the 3 barns that we had demolished.

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Luckily, we were able to borrow the neighbor’s ‘big’ tractor.

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My son was thrilled to get to play with his cousin.

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Before you make your decision, I should probably show you a picture of the water after they played in it for awhile…

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NASTY!!!

 

A Sunday morning on the farm

Posted by kenleighacres on May 10, 2009
Posted in: Call Ducks, Ducklings, Ducks, Farm Life, Jacob Sheep. Tagged: , , . 5 Comments

The sun has come out and it was a beautiful morning to go out and take pictures while I was doing chores.

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Eclipse was one of the first girls to greet me.  Almost everybody is weaned now. 

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These boys must have had a party last night!  Actually they had to work for a living yesterday.  They are older wethers and have a pretty easy life here.  The only requirement is that they grow a nice fleece – except yesterday I used them for a couple herding lessons and it looks like it wore them out.   

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The lush green grass is having a nice effect on everyone.  Reno is maturing nicely.

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Next it was time to turn all the lambs out.  There are a few ewes with lambs still and some yearlings, but the rest are lambs. 

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Nothing like having lambs 4 months apart!  The lamb in front is Venture and the one in back is Kizmet. 

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The little guys are almost getting lost in the grass!  The new lambs finally have names and I got some good pictures of them today – introducing…

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Jester

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Dignity

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Kizmet

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Magoo had to check them out. 

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They were having a great time playing outside. 

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My boy – Wrangler.

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We had 13 more ducklings hatch on Wednesday – 4 white and 9 gray (mallard colored).

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So, the teenagers moved outside.  They still have a light to stay warm at night and seem to be doing well.  You can see their feathers starting to come out. 

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Last, but certainly not least is Major.  He turns 15 soon and still takes his position as farm manager seriously.  He has delegated the security detail to Kate now because his eye sight and hearing aren’t what they used to be. 

Enjoy your Sunday and Happy Mother’s Day!

Country Lifestyle Experience

Posted by kenleighacres on April 14, 2009
Posted in: Farm Life, Felting, Jacob Sheep, Uncategorized. Tagged: , , . 6 Comments

The Country Lifestyle Experience is the show that we participated in over the weekend.  We had a vendor booth, plus we took some of our Jacobs to be in the animal showcase.  This was the first year for this event and it was small this year, but they have big plans.  There were some wonderful seminars and I met some really nice people.

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Little Lucky couldn’t believe all of the stuff that he saw – Alpacas, cows, hair sheep, goats, and lots of people.

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Reno and Rendezvous took it all in stride.

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Infiniti and Bronwen weren’t happy with the people that were trying to pet them.  We had to laugh when we showed up Thursday night because the pens were 12′ x 12′, we only had 2 sheep to put in each pen!  They had a lot of room.  Most pens at shows are 4 – 6 feet square. 

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This was the first show that I used my new (used) gridwall panels and they were awesome!  I was able to hang and stack and utilize all of the space.  They worked really well.

Here are a few tote bags that I embellished that are still available and can be found in my etsy store.

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I had fun swapping items with other vendors and I came home with some beautiful, handmade cards and a very soft alpaca fleece. 

My husband did a fantastic job manning the sheep pens and demonstrating how the drum carder works. 

He also participated in the Country Olympics and my sister got these pictures of him moving grain bags in one of the events.

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The object was to move the stack of grain bags from one pallet to another.  He won by a second!  Right afterwards he realized that he isn’t as young as he used to be 🙂 

Come on Spring!

Posted by kenleighacres on March 21, 2009
Posted in: Farm Life. 4 Comments

It has felt like Spring for the last couple of days.  I haven’t had to bundle up when I head out to do chores, flowers are blooming, birds are singing, the swallows are back, the ducks are sitting on nests of eggs, the grass is growing, and the lambs…

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are getting very BIG!  This is Dreamer with his mama Holly.  The grass doesn’t really look like it is growing out in the pastures, but I can tell it is by all of the hay that is left in the feeders.  The sheep are thoroughly enjoying all of the spring grass.  A lot of people wonder why we lamb in the freezing cold month of January and the reason is because the lambs are now old enough to fully utilize all of the grass we will have very soon. 

We visited Tammy and her new lambs this afternoon.  You might remember that she had Jacob cross lambs last year but this year she used a Blueface cross ram on her ewes.  Her lambs are adorable!

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This little girl was born just before we got there. 

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The fleeces are so pretty!

I think my son is getting bored with lambs right now, but he loved the goats…

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and they loved him back – as only a goat can 🙂

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It almost made me want to get him a goat – a very BIG almost 🙂  We will just visit Tammy’s!

He also had a LOT of fun playing in the rain.

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It was a typical Spring day in the Northwest – rain, sun, rain, sun, etc.  He was a little disappointed when it stopped raining 🙂  I personally enjoy the sunny times!

My new fiber toyol!

Posted by kenleighacres on March 11, 2009
Posted in: Farm Life, Jacob Sheep, sheep. Tagged: , . 5 Comments

I have a drum carder – YAY!!! 

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It really is a fiber tool, but it is so much fun that it is more like a toy – so I have a toyol 🙂  It isn’t fancy, but it is in great condition and was in my price range (not very much) plus it works awesome!!! 

Using a drum carder is another way of preparing your fiber for spinning.  Its more efficient than hand-carding, allowing you to card larger amounts at one time.  It is best to use fleece that has been pre-washed, because it cards easier and puts less wear on the machine.  The drum carder can also be used for making fiber blends and working with colored fibers.  I am really looking forward to making batts (large rectangles of fiber)  that I can use for wet felting. 

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Here is some washed fiber.

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Gradually feed the washed fiber under the small roller.  Open up the fiber ends to allow the fiber to feed onto the main drum evenly.  Applying a moderate amount of weight on the fiber with your hand, as it feeds through the feeder – this also helps the fiber transfer to the main roller.

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Here the fibers are starting to transfer to the big drum.  You can see the fibers starting to strech out and be combed in the same direction.

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Spread the locks evenly across the width of the drum until the drum is full. You can tell when the drum is full if it starts to overflow the sides of the main drum, or when the fiber begins to collect onto the small roller.

Once the drum is full, you can use a doffer pin (fancy name for a metal stick) to seperate the fibers and roll your batt off the drum.

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Here is the finished batt rolled up – wasn’t that fun! 

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Flirt gives it her stamp of approval.

They are all here…well almost!

Posted by kenleighacres on February 17, 2009
Posted in: Farm Life, Jacob Sheep, Lambing, sheep. Tagged: , . 7 Comments

We had our last two lambs yesterday!  That is except for Petunia who is due at the end of March, but I told her that she is on her own 🙂

Here are the new lambs since the last update:

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Kenleigh’s Flirt – Wrangler x Shasta

I love this girl 🙂

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Kenleigh’s Ace – Junior x Bella

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Kenleigh’s Cheer – Wrangler x Chevelle

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Kenleigh’s Honor – Pilot x Celeste

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Little Celeste out did herself, with a huge 11 lb. ram lamb!  She looked close all day yesterday and when I did my last rounds at 11:00 pm she had this big boy all cleaned up. 

We have 40 lambs – 21 girls and 19 boys!  I am really proud of all my girls this year – they did a fabulous job!

The boys get a hair cut!

Posted by kenleighacres on February 16, 2009
Posted in: Farm Life, Jacob Sheep, shearing, sheep. Tagged: , . 2 Comments

In order to show sheep at  Black Sheep Gathering, which is at the end of June, it is necessary to shear the yearlings in January.  The reason is that they need a certain amount of fiber to be shown and you also don’t want them in full fleece during the summer months.  It has been on my list to get our two yearling rams sheared, but this year is just flying by!  We finally sheared them today.  I have had them in the barn the last couple days in order for them to dry off and I think they enjoyed the nicer amenities 🙂 

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Here is Rendezvous half way done.  When I shear the sheep myself, I put them on a stand instead of the traditional way of sitting them on their butt.  This is for several reasons – I am not very fast, I am not very strong, and I just find it easier 🙂 

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Now I’m going to start on the second side.

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Here he is all done except for his belly.  For the belly portion I have my husband help me tip them on their butt and he holds them while I shear the belly. 

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I love how clean they look after being sheared!

Next it was Reno’s turn.

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Here I am with my little helper.

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They both had lovely fleeces and Rendezvous’ was nicer than I expected – always a fun surprise!

Lucky boys get to spend a few more days in the barn. 

Running, Romping, Playing, Ghosts and new sheep

Posted by kenleighacres on February 10, 2009
Posted in: Farm Life, Jacob Sheep, Lambing, sheep. Tagged: , , . 8 Comments

As promised, here are the running, romping, and playing lambs!

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Here is Dancer showing how high she can jump!

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Bounden and Destiny in a little face off 🙂 so serious!

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And now for the ghosts…

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I was playing around with the shutter speed  in the barn the other night and got some really cool effects.  The ewes walking through the middle are see through! 

And now for all of the new lambs!

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Kenleigh’s Snook – Wrangler x Legacy

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Kenleigh’s Star – Wrangler x Legacy

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Kenleigh’s Buzz – Wrangler x Dolly

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Kenleigh’s Krypto – Wrangler x Dolly

My son was so happy that Dolly had 2 boys, he really likes the boy lambs.  So, he got to name them.  Buzz is after Buzz Lightyear from Toy Story and Krypto is after his favorite cartoon – Krypto the Super Dog 😉

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Kenleigh’s Humor – Pilot x Azera

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Kenleigh’s Glory – Pilot x Azera

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Kenleigh’s Adventure – Junior x Amelia

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Kenleigh’s Patience – Junior x Amelia

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Kenleigh’s Freedom – Junior x Dusty

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Kenleigh’s Lucky – Junior x Dusty

These little cuties are the ones born Saturday night.

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These two lambs were born only 3 days apart.  Little Lucky, the 3.5 lb. lamb is in front and Krypto is in the back.  It gives you a better idea of how small Lucky really is. 

 

Who needs sleep anyways?

Posted by kenleighacres on February 9, 2009
Posted in: Farm Life, Jacob Sheep, Lambing, sheep. Tagged: , . 4 Comments

Me me me me, please pick me, really I could use some 😉  Contrary to popular belief, I do sleep and I like my slumber time.  Unfortunately, I haven’t slept a lot the last two nights and it is starting to catch up!  I spent all week working on various projects to take with me to the Spin-in located in Newport yesterday.  I stayed up WAY to late Friday night packing and pricing everything and had to get up WAY to early to get there in time.  I shared a booth with my sister and my friend Karen.

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We had a great time and it was nice to sit back and chat.

I didn’t think any of the ewes were close to lambing, so I was looking forward to sleeping through the night – silly me!  I checked at 10:45 and Dusty was in the beginning stages of labor and when I checked back at 11:15 she was in full labor.  She had a very pretty ewe lamb and I thought that would be it, but she was acting funny.  Not long after, a very little boy slid out.  When I say slid out, that is exactly what he did – no pushing from her.  He was only 3.5 lbs.  All of our other lambs have ranged from 7 to 10 lbs.  I stayed in the barn for quite a while to make sure he could stand and nurse also to watch the girl because she aspirated some birth fluid and was really raspy.  I tried expelling it, but I didn’t get all of it out.  The poor thing would nurse and then cough and just give up.  I chose to leave them alone for a little while because there really wasn’t a lot I could do for them.  I managed to get 4 hours of sleep before needing to check on them again.  I was happy to find that they were both still alive, but the girl still sounded terrible and I didn’t think the boy was really getting enough to eat.  I was afraid that he was going to become a bottle lamb.  I brought him in mid-day and syringed some colostrum in him.  At 4:30 he drank 2 oz. from a bottle – a very good sign.  I decided to take him back out to his mom and supplement with a bottle.  I was relieved to see him nurse from his mom when I put him in the pen.  The little girl sounds much better this afternoon.  I am so happy!!!  We have been very blessed with lambing this year!  We have 10 more lambs since my last post and are down to just 4 more ewes to lamb.  I am definitely looking forward to staying in bed all night.  Stay tuned for running, romping, playing black and white lambs in a post very soon!  

Catching up!

Posted by kenleighacres on February 4, 2009
Posted in: Farm Life, Felting, Fiber, Jacob Sheep, Lambing, sheep. Tagged: , , . 8 Comments

There are just too many things to do on the ‘To Do’ list!  The overwhelming feeling is just under the surface ready to show it’s ugly face, but the joy that the lambs bring are helping – they are not helping me check things off the ‘To Do’ list however 😉  It is so easy to sit out in the barn just watching their carefree play.  I love the 2-4 week age the best.  They are just sure that the world revolves around them.  We have 7 new babies since the last post, 6 came in one night!  Introducing –

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Kenleigh’s Breeze – Junior x Aimee

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Kenleigh’s Create – Junior x Aimee

Both of these girls are lilac and so sweet.  Create was a little ambassador the other day when a few neighbors came by to visit the lambs.  She enjoyed being cuddled and didn’t squirm like the other lambs did. 

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Kenleigh’s Prosperity – Pilot x Darling

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Kenleigh’s Wisdom – Pilot x Darling

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Kenleigh’s Bounden – Junior x Veronica

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Kenleigh’s Dancer – Junior x Veronica

Bounden and Dancer earned their names 🙂  Within a couple hours of being born they had springs on their feet and were doing cirlces around their poor mother. 

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Kenleigh’s Imagine – Wrangler x Harley

I was REALLY hoping that he was a she because Harley is getting up there in age and she hasn’t had very many girls and the girls that she has had were very light in color.  Her boys are always loudly colored.  Oh well!  He is a cutey and he looks a lot like his dad when he was a lamb.

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Kenleigh’s Wrangler as a lamb.

We have 10 more ewes to lamb and the barn is starting to get very full!

I have been salivating over my felting books and trying to fit in a few projects as time allows.  Here is one that I finished yesterday.

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The really fun part for me is that all of the wool came from sheep that we raised.