Whew!

Posted by kenleighacres on September 1, 2011
Posted in: Uncategorized. 1 Comment

What a wild ride the last couple of weeks has been. It started with us taking sheep to the Benton County Fair for a couple days and then the Lane County Fair for 6 days and then us hosting the Jacob Sheep Breeder’s Annual General Meeting (AGM). A couple months ago it seemed like a good plan 😉  I am very lucky to have such great friends that stepped in and helped with last minute preparations for the meeting, especially when Paisley ended up getting pancreatitis Friday morning and needed to see a vet immediately. My vet was able to get her fixed up and by the end of the weekend she was almost as good as new.

The AGM officially started Friday evening with dinner and lots of time for chatting.

After dinner we had a wool show. We had a wonderful turn out and thanks to Karen Lobb of bide a wee farm for convincing me to go get the 2 fleeces I had in my shop. I didn’t have time to finish picking them and the thought was just too overwhelming, but luckily I finally listened to her.

Kenleigh’s Infiniti was 1st place in the adult ewe class

and Timber’s Hallelujah, owned by my son and bred by Lisa Stirnemann was 2nd place.

Saturday morning started early with breakfast and the sheep show.  We were very fortunate to have Martin Dally judge for us.

We had almost 80 sheep attend the event and the show had a very nice entry.  This is the ram lamb class.

The ewe lamb class had 17 entries.  I was delighted when Kenleigh’s Duchess was awarded 1st place!  She went onto win Reserve Champion.

Robin Lynde from Meridian Jacobs won Champion ewe with Meridian Vicki.

Kenleigh’s Lancelot was awarded Best Fleece

and Chamion ram!!!  He is now in California with my friend Joan Gross of Mud Ranch Jacobs.  Before he left, he bred a few ewes here and I can’t wait to see his babies.

This was the last show of the year and my son’s last show with Precious.  He was sad when he found out he can’t show her again and is hoping Lulu will give him another Precious next year.  When did he get so tall???  He sure has grown up fast!

Saturday afternoon was full of workshops.  My husband did a wonderful job on the basics of butchering workshop.  Here he is demonstrating how to prepare the hide to be shipped off for tanning.  We also had a sheep panel & skirting table workshop, dyeing workshop, and felting workshops.  I had a blast with the felting workshops and I finally had to leave to meet the vet at the neighbors for the health certificates.  The ladies were having so much fun they just couldn’t stop!

The majority of the event was held at our neighbor’s indoor arena and this worked really well.  I have to send a huge shout out to Lora Withnell at Rocking Dog Ranch for letting us borrow her sheep panels – THANK YOU!

Saturday night’s dinner was handled by my parents – cooking by my dad and decorating by my mom 🙂  We had spaghetti with ground lamb, salad, and delicious garlic bread.  My sister handled the rest of the meals.  I very naively thought I would be able to do this too!!!  Yes, my name is Shannon Phifer and I take too much on 😉

After dinner was the much anticipated raffle.  There were so many beautiful things donated this year.  Thank you to everyone that donated an item and supported JSBA by purchasing tickets.

We had a question and answer session with the JSBA inspectors on Sunday morning and a lot of last minute sheep buying and swapping deals were being made.


Bliss isn’t sure she wants to go for a road trip!

Here are additional AGM photos.

A small change…

Posted by kenleighacres on August 16, 2011
Posted in: Fall. Tagged: , , . 1 Comment

It isn’t very noticeable, but you can feel a little bit of Fall in the air.  There is a crispness in the morning and the shadows are getting longer.  With the small change, the quail have returned!  I have missed them while they were gone and am happy to welcome them back.  I love listening to them talk to each other and call out their warnings.

I woke up to this guy chattering away.  I grabbed my camera and headed out to see how close I could get.  I didn’t have high hopes because they are very wary and oh so quick.

Luck was on my side!  He would duck down behind the rock and I would quietly sneak up.

At this point I thought I was busted, but he stayed!

He had a little friend in the pile of rocks and they finally flew off together.

Along with the quail, we had a little shore bird visiting what is left of the pond.

It was digging and scooping little morsels out of the mud.

I am sad to see the days getting shorter, but the lighting has been absolutely lovely in the evenings.

Happy Customers!

Posted by kenleighacres on August 15, 2011
Posted in: Jacob Sheep, sheep, Uncategorized. Tagged: , , . 3 Comments

Summertime is the time to find hay and get it stored for the winter.  Our Plan A fell through and we had to scramble last week to come up with a Plan B.  We usually feed a combination of Orchard hay and Alfalfa or just Orchard hay depending on what is available and the cost.  We were originally going to go with a nice blend this year, but plans change and we are going with straight Alfalfa along with a few tons of a local grass hay.

The Alfalfa we found is from the other side of the state and it was delivered on a semi.  It is from DeLeon Farms and the fields are absolutely beautiful!  I am delighted with their customer service and the fact they were able to help us with such short notice.

When you have hay delivered on a semi, you need to have a squeeze available to unload the hay.

Kris from Flyin’ H Hay did a fabulous job unloading the hay and putting it in the barn.  Unfortunately, the squeeze was just a little too tall to go ‘in’ the barn.  We will need to move it down to the other end of the barn, but it is nice that it is under cover just in case it rains.

We only needed 8 tons, so I called a few friends and lined up people for the rest of the alfalfa.

My brother took 6 tons and his help unloading the hay and counting bales and sorting out who got what was invaluable.  Splitting up 24 tons between 6 people took a little bit of work.

After unloading the hay up, it was time to feed the sheep.  I was extemely happy when I opened a bale.

There is a lot of leaf, fine stems, and no dust.

I LOVE the smell of alfalfa, but it really doesn’t matter what I think…

 

Luckily the sheep were very happy with it too!

A bunch of happy customers!

As busy as a bee

Posted by kenleighacres on August 6, 2011
Posted in: Uncategorized. Tagged: , , , . 7 Comments

Summer was late showing up here in the Northwest and now that it is here, it is flying by!  This particular summer is a little busier than most because we are hosting the Annual General Meeting for the Jacob Sheep Breeder’s Association at the end of August.  I am trying to balance summer fun with planning the event.  We spent the last two days at the Benton County Fair with our sheep and definitely had some summer fun.  I woke up this morning to a cloudy sky and beautiful lighting, so I grabbed my camera and headed out to do chores.  I was hoping to find some get up and go.  There was a lot of activity to take pictures of, but the bees really called to me.   They were busily flying from flower to flower and filling up their legs with all the pollen they could hold.

I may not be a fan of the thistles, but this big bumblebee is.

This patch of flowers was alive with activity!

I would love to know what they are….anybody know?  They have an exotic look to them and I love their colors.

There were bees everywhere!

Even though their legs looked full, they would continue flying from flower to flower adding more.

Focused and undeterred!

I am hoping to have some of that focus rub off on me!

The 2-horns I love!

Posted by kenleighacres on July 27, 2011
Posted in: Jacob Sheep, sheep. Tagged: , . 4 Comments

The 4-horn jacobs get most of the attention, but I really love a nice 2-horn.  When I say ‘nice’, I mean wide.  We were lucky to start with a group of ewes that had wide horn genetics and have selected rams carefully to keep those genetics in our flock.

Ringo is one of those rams we selected.  He is a yearling and I can’t wait to see what his horns look like in another year or two!

Even more important to me is that Ringo is also throwing really wide heads.  Here is a ram lamb he sired.  I wish Galahad had more color on his face, but I love his horns!

This dainty girl is Galahad’s sister.  The black eye-liner with the white eyelashes adds to her feminine look.

Then there is Emeline.  Still one of my favorites from this year’s crop of lambs.  I think she gets her amazing head from her grandma…

Maverick Marloe

Hyacinth is a new addition from Mud Ranch and she is another one with a really nice head.  She reminds me so much of her mom…

 Kenleigh’s Lilly.

Lilly’s mom had an amazing head too…

I had forgotten about her ice blue eyes.

Here’s to all of the lovely 2-horns out there.

Where did my sheep go?

Posted by kenleighacres on July 15, 2011
Posted in: Jacob Sheep, sheep. Tagged: , , . 4 Comments

I was headed out to take pictures of our new sheep to share with you and I couldn’t find some of them!  I know I put them in the pasture and I saw them in there the previous day, I even have proof….

see, there they are!

Here is the empty pasture – no sheep here…

or there!

I knew they had to be somewhere, but I was getting a little perplexed.

Finally, I looked a little closer at this cave in the blackberries…

There’s the missing sheep!

They have made themselves a ‘man cave’ and enjoy spending the heat of the day tucked away into the coolness.

Now that I found my sheep, I can share them with you 🙂

The new boys are…

Unzicker Aragon – all the way from Royal Unzicker in Pennsylvania!  He started his trek at the beginning of May and finally arrived here at the end of June.  He seems to have travelled well and has made some new friends.

Windy Acres MacCallum – from Sandra Van Liew in Hermiston, OR.  I admired ‘Mac’ as a lamb and feel fortunate that we were able to add him to our flock at this time.

Here is Mac and the ram lambs.  He has been very well-behaved and the young boys love following him around.  No question about dominance in this group 🙂

The new girls are…

bide a wee Shana – from bide a wee farm in Newberg, OR.  Her sire is Sweetgrass Tobin, very different bloodlines for our flock…and her fleece is so soft and pretty!

Mud Ranch’s Lisette

Mud Ranch’s Hyacinth – both are from Mud Ranch in California.  I love different qualities about both of them and am excited to have them join our flock.

Black Sheep Gathering – A proud mom

Posted by kenleighacres on July 1, 2011
Posted in: family, Felting, Fiber, Jacob Sheep, Uncategorized. Tagged: , , . 4 Comments

Every year our son participates a little bit more during the Black Sheep Gathering weekend.  This year he told me he didn’t want to miss ANY of it!  I had previously scheduled for him to spend Thursday night with his grandma and grandpa, but he wanted to stay and help.  He was up early and to bed late for 3 days in a row and continued to be a big help!  I am very proud of how he is growing up.

Giving his girls a little bit of fresh air before show time – Echo and Precious.

He did a great job showing his sheep by himself and had great help for his sheep that were in the same class.  Even when they are halter broke, jacob sheep can be a little squirrely and he stayed composed and handled it well.

Here he is getting a little help from Doug because Clutch really didn’t want to walk.  It made me very proud watching him in the ring staying focused on the judge and paying attention to what was going on.  There were times in the past I would have thought this was impossible 😉

We were all surprised when he won Champion Ram with his lamb that has now been named ‘Moose’ because he hasn’t missed many meals!  The judge, fellow jacob breeders, and show staff were very nice when they paused the show so he could be videoed by the tv crew that was there.  He was thrilled to see himself on the news later that night.

It has become a tradition for him to make something and participate in the Spinner’s Lead.  He looks forward to it and this year was no different.  When I asked him what he wanted to make, he told me ‘a BIG snake’.

He started by wet felting the body and then he got creative with the needle felted add-ons.  At the last-minute I remembered the Fiber Arts division and he entered it in the Youth Felted division.

He got 1st place plus some very nice comments from the judge, Judith MacKenzie!

Saturday afternoon saw us back in the show ring with his Champion Ram for the overall Champion.  Robin from Meridian Jacobs is in front of us with her Champion Ewe, Hot Lips.  While we were in the ring we had a very good discussion on what the judge was looking for and that it was an honor for us to be there.  My son picked a very nice White Romney as the winner and the judge did pull him out, but it was the Mendenhall’s Merino that ended up winning it all.

The Spinner’s Lead is held after dinner on Saturday night and I believe it started at 8:00, a late night for all of us!

Yes, that is a Border Collie on Precious.  Once again she has lived up to  her name!  The Border Collie is a puppet and a new item and he really wanted to take it in the ring with him.  He came up with the idea of putting it on her back and I was a little skeptical…I thought she would freak out for sure.  She didn’t even flinch!  She just walked along like she has a stuffed animal tied to her back everyday 😉

He has built quite the fan club and Trish the announcer just adores him.  Thanks to Coleen, Kelly, and group for coming back just to cheer him on!  I can’t wait to see what he decides to make for next year.

He held it together really well, but was pretty tired by the end of the weekend.  I love that he enjoys the sheep stuff just as much as I do!

Black Sheep Gathering – Jacob Sheep

Posted by kenleighacres on June 30, 2011
Posted in: Jacob Sheep, sheep, Uncategorized. Tagged: , , , , . 3 Comments

There were 6 Jacob Sheep Breeders that participated in this year’s Black Sheep Gathering show.  I love seeing everybody’s sheep in person!

Yearling Ram class from left to right – 2-horn bide a wee, 4-horn bide a wee, and 2-horn Black Oak.

Ram lamb class from left to right – Kenleigh’s Lancelot, Kenleigh’s Tristan, Hunter’s Glen Clutch, and Hunter’s Glen Brick.

In the ram lamb class we placed 2nd with Lancelot and 4th with Tristan.  My son did very well with his ram lamb, Brick…

they won Champion Ram!

 Here they are when his Reno x Dolly lambs finally arrived.  Reno and Dolly are his favorite sheep and he was really excited about their lambs.  Clutch, Brick’s brother, placed 5th.

Ram lamb class

Yearling ewe class from left to right – Hunter’s Glen Echo, Hunter’s Glen Precious, Kenleigh’s Allegany, and Meridian Hot Lips.

My son with his favorite ewe, Precious and me with one of my favorite girls, Mollala.

Champion Ewe class – Meridian Hot Lips owned by Robin Lynde was Champion ewe!  I love her name 🙂  Kenleigh’s Mollala was Reserve Champion.

The whole family showing our young flock, we placed 1st.

Here is a better picture of the trio – Lancelot, Duchess, and Emeline.  Thanks to Joan for taking this picture!

In addition to showing, our sheep had to participate in the herding demos I gave on Saturday with Kate.

I think the girls liked getting out of the barn 🙂

Kate was serious about the job and gave a wonderful demo.

My friend, Robin, helped answer questions and talked about herding while I was working Kate.  There were a lot of good questions and the girls were great ambassadors for the breed.

For more pictures of the jacob sheep show you can visit Robin at Meridian Jacobs and Jackie at Wooly Adventures.  Thanks goes to Jackie for taking my camera and taking pictures of the Jacob show for me.

Black Sheep Gathering – we survived!

Posted by kenleighacres on June 28, 2011
Posted in: Felting, Fiber, Jacob Sheep, sheep. Tagged: , , , , , . 6 Comments

Whew…what a weekend!  We arrived on Thursday for set-up and spent every waking hour there until Sunday night.  This is such a fun weekend for us and this year didn’t disappoint.  As usual, I will break the weekend down into several blog posts…so much to share!

I love the colors in this rug and it represents all the colors that can be found in the vendor buildings – everything from the lovely natural shades to the vibrant jewel tones.

This booth was very interesting – all of these scarves have been dyed with mushrooms!  The lady was informative and I was surprised to find out that it is difficult to use mushrooms because the colors can be quite different and hard to duplicate.

My Spinner’s Lead entry didn’t pan our this year.  I didn’t allow for enough time, so I was determined to find inspiration for next year’s event before I left this year’s event.  I really like this item and am going to try to make it in felt.  I WILL allow enough time this year 🙂

Here are a few of the bags I made for this event at the front of our vendor booth.  In addition to having the vendor booth and showing sheep, I agreed to giving two herding demos on Saturday.  This seemed a little much for one person to take on, so I rounded up some help.  My sister was a huge help on Friday and my sister-in-law was fun to have in the booth on Saturday and Sunday.

Julia, my sister-in-law.  It was so nice to know our booth was in good hands.  While I was there, I was delighted to meet several blog readers and fans of the farm – very fun!

The Fiber Arts division had a some amazing pieces this year, but there were two that really grabbed me…

I have always said that felting is like painting with wool, but this takes that to a whole new level – STUNNING!

I don’t even know where to start on this piece…absolutely amazing work.

The details are what really grabbed me.  My son immediately asked if I could make him one – gotta love him!

I love all of the breeds at this event.  This guy reminds me of the classic, wooly sheep.  He is a Perendale and had a LOT of wool!

This big boy created a lot of double takes.

and the other breed I would love to have if we had more land.  The beautiful Bluefaced Leicester.

Not a sheep, but a fiber producer with super cool horns!

The next post will be all about the Jacobs.  This handsome boy is owned by bide a wee farm.

Beauty Abounds!

Posted by kenleighacres on June 22, 2011
Posted in: Dog Photography, Dogs, family, Lab, Uncategorized. Tagged: , . 6 Comments

My husband entered his dog, Deuce, in a hunt test in Umpqua Valley this last weekend and I tagged along to enjoy a weekend away.  I had no idea the trial site was going to be so beautiful!

The trial was held at a ranch – what a view!

This is the view from the trial site on Saturday…

and this was the trial site on Sunday.

There were multiple trials going on at the same time and they were held many miles apart.  All of the trial sites were quite a distance from the camp area which presented a little bit of a challenge because we only had one vehicle and my husband left early in the morning.  I really wanted to watch him run his dog, so I put my walking shoes on and headed out.

You can see the campers in the background.  I was still a long ways from the trial location, but I found a lot of beauty while I was walking.

Pretty pink flowers along the side of the road.

Water lilies on a pond.

Just as I was about to turn the corner and head up the hill, I looked up and saw this…

A bald eagle that I surely would have missed had I been driving.  There were a lot of ponds and the Umpqua river close by for this guy to find his meals in.

The ranch had a lot of animals – cows, sheep, peacocks, and horses.  This mare and foal were very eye-catching.

I’m glad I was able to watch my husband run his dog – they are becoming a great team.

Getting ready to send her…

done with their run and honoring the next dog.

She earned her Junior Hunt title last year and this weekend, they got their first Senior Hunt ribbon.

This scene ties in nicely to what I am feverishly working on now…only 2 more days until Black Sheep Gathering!!!  I hope to see you there and if you can’t make it, I will be posting lots of pictures.