Today – a post about nothing

I wanted to do a blog post. But I wanted to gather a little more information for the post I have in the works. And I didn’t have time to do that today.  We had a beautiful sunny day (rare for this winter) and bringing in more lime and sand for the newly cleaned barn was the absolute top priority. It looks so nice now!

I saw this guy when I was turning my van around to head over to Sam’s Barn. He (she?) is just beautiful I had to get a picture. I love the blue around his eyes and I especially love the fact that he has a shadow. Yeah, sunshine!

Our indoor lounge lizard works to get his pillows just right.

Sunshine and blue skies!!

I love Nicollette’s fleece.

Today – a post about nothing..

The New Girl..

Patchwork Farm welcomes our newest girl, Ginger

Ginger is a miniature donkey jenny. I love her chocolate w/cross color.  I wasn’t really interested in a mini, but decided I would consider one if I liked her enough. Ginger is a large mini, measuring around 34″ and I like her enough

Ginger is the tenth donkey I’ve owned and the seventh that Dave and I have had together. We had two jennies born here with the sheep in that time. During the severe southeast drought, we sold them. And have missed them ever since.

Lili and Dave

Alex and Strider

Earlier this year we bought a super friendly (people friendly, that is) standard jenny named Daisy. Daisy was a delight to handle and be around. She just didn’t like sheep – at all – not one little bit. Of the previous eight donkeys all lived either with goats or sheep, so Daisy was a bit of a shock to me. Daisy went to a wonderful home where her people skills will be much appreciated.

I got my first two donkeys when I was 13. They were offspring of a pair of donkeys that served as guardians for a flock of Suffolk in Sarasota. It was my first contact with sheep. I was not impressed and never would have thought I’d be raising sheep one day.

I learned a lesson – if you want a donkey to live with sheep, buy one that has lived with sheep or goats.  We began our search again.

Ginger was living with goats when we first saw her. I was impressed with her gentle nature and the care she had been given. It’s not unusual when looking at donkeys to see animals that are grossly overweight and/or have seriously neglected hooves. We bought her on the spot and made arrangements to pick her up after the holidays. Dave still had to build us a trailer! Things went well and we made the trip January 6.

Kayleigh is wondering what sort of beast this is!

Donkeys love a good scratching post ..

and a good romp (no sheep were involved in this playful moment – just a donkey having some fun)

More new girls (and boys) are in the works. Lambing will be a little later this year, but the ewes are already plumping up.

Badger is due early March. (Yes, she has an undocked tail. She keeps it very clean and neat)

Holly is due late March

Vesta is busily growing lambs due the first of April

I don’t know when Lacey is due, but I think she’s bred

Moving out

The sheep that live over at “Sam’s Barn” have been confined up front for a few days. A potential hazard when you have cleared pasture in the middle of woods is the chance of trees falling on the fences during heavy periods of rain or wind.

They are always happy to hear the rattle of the gate chain..

As befits his role as flock protector, Sam leads the way..

And his girls follow..

Charles comes along to help me check the fenceline

taking a minute to pose on the old corn crib

The ewes enjoy their time out back, but are ready to come running for grain!

Fortunate Fortune

Early October, Fortune bore the unfortunate nickname of Miss Fortune after breaking her leg and knee

We had hoped her time with the splint would be just a few weeks. But because of the joint involvement and an unfortunate event where she wedged her splint in the fence, she ended up wearing the splint for 8 weeks, with four splint changes during the time.

After removing her splint three weeks ago, she needed to stay confined in a stall (with her buddy, Twill) for a few weeks to regain some muscle strength. And to keep her from going teen age crazy too soon!

Last week, she was finally allowed out in the “big world” in a relatively flat area. While her leg is not straight

and is likely to always be crooked, she seems to be getting around pretty well!

She’s gone from Miss Fortune to Fortune-ate.

Martha

Because it’s going to be a later lambing season than usual, lambing is  not yet right around the corner here at Patchwork. Because I’m already eagerly anticipating lambs even with so long to wait. Because I’m still limping around and spending too much time inside.
And because I was slipping Patchwork Martha a little extra treat today as befits her position as “the old lady”, I decided to do a picture post about Martha.

Martha was born on Washington’s birthday in 2001 (her twin was named George) She was sired by Yakob-Tson Zeppo, a ram from Edd Bissell, and out of Craft’s Ruby’s Belle.

Martha is ten this year.

Earlier Days

Some Martha lambs…

Patchwork Isabelle (by Unzicker Asher)

Gainsborough (wethered ) by Jacquee’s Junco

Patchwork Hagan (by Kreutzer Farms Abe). Hagan sired some nice lambs for us.

Patchwork Belle (by Unzicker Jedd)

Patchwork Marabelle (by Unzicker Jedd)

Patchwork Paladin (by 4Horn Farm’s Dune)

Martha is bred to Kreutzer Farms Boyd for a 2012 lamb.

 

 

Rainy Days and Mondays…

don’t always get me down, despite the wailings of Richard and Karen. I like rainy days (well, until it gets to be the fourth or fifth rainy day in a row) and, with no schedule, Monday is another day in a rotation of days.

Today was both a Monday and a rainy day, with 4″ of rain in the gauge at 7 pm. Outside chores were completed with no lingering. Sheep were fed and checked, but no scratches today for my walking sponges!

It was a good day for inside and a good day for color.

Tucked under the Supercard table is a large rubbermaid container filled with bits of dyed fiber. It was a good day to rest my still sore ankle by sitting on my loom bench, feeding bits of fiber through my PG Supercard (it’s electric), and watching Waking the Dead on Netflix.

A big pile of jumbled colors is slowly being rolled into bird’s nest batts..

The batts will later be used for further blending. Some going into textured yarns

and some serving to compliment Dorothy the Cat’s color blends.

 

The Letter M

by Dorothy The Cat

M is for Monday. As a cat, I have no interest in days of the week, but Person grocery shops on Mondays and brings Me More Morsels to eat. And leaves Me alone with the computer and the Mouse (not the tasty kind of Mouse). I don’t get to use the computer Much.

M is for Meridian Rusty,  a border collie who has his own blog. I want my own blog. As a Cat, I am Much More interesting than a dog.

M is for Maggie and Mouth

M is for Mutt

But, Mostly, M is for ME!

MEOW !

There’s no place like home…..

SAFF 2011 is over and it sure was fun!

Cathy Robinson (Perfect Spot Farm) and I shared a booth again this year. Our booth actually goes beyond the table. If you look closely, you can see Cathy’s head. We rearranged everything the next day, but I didn’t get updated pictures.

One of the most fun at SAFF this year was the number of Jacob Sheep and Jacob Sheep breeders that attended.

We had our largest entries in the Jacob classes ever. There were thirteen entries in the ram lamb class. We usually have to beg to get the two entries we need to keep our classes.

Springrock Muck, owned and bred by Springrock Farms won the ram lamb class and was Grand Champion Jacob ram.

The ewe lamb class was well filled.

Puddleduck Elyse, bred by Puddleduck Farm and owned by Royal and Sue Unzicker at  Ivy Brook Meadow, won the ewe lamb class and Grand Champion Jacob ewe.

This young man took a bit of an unexpected tumble in the yearling ewe class

But recovered nicely

It was my year for “twos”. I came home with a “new” two harness vertical rug weaving loom.. Thanks to Dave for making a special trip to come pick it up and to Joe, Dan, and Royal for helping to load it.

Never one to waste an empty sheep carrier, I filled it for the trip home with this lovely two horned beauty – Sweetgrass Gavotte..

It was a fun filled (and exhausting) four days. When it came time to head for home, I wish I could have just clicked my ruby slippers Dave’s red bedroom slipper and chanted “there’s no place like home”.

There’s no place like home…

Fortunate Fortune, Lubberly Linda, and Dave To The Rescue

Fortune went for her two week check up and to have her splint changed this morning. I’d planned to handle it myself. But once again, “Dave To The Rescue” stayed  home from work to help me. I couldn’t quite handle Fortune and crutches at the same time.

Fortune’s healing is progressing very well. The vet and I are  pleased.  Her knee joint is still mobile and she is healing rapidly. There still could be some loss of flexibility in the knee, but probably not complete loss – and maybe no loss. She has gotten quite spoiled during her two weeks confinement. She was quite charming at the vet’s.

After returning Fortune to the barn, it was my turn to make a trip to a medical professional. Dave has often asked me “why do you keep wearing those worn out slick bottom shoes? You’re always sliding down the hill.” Not always, but often enough with the wet leaves, mud, and acorns. It’s a bit like barefoot skiing and normally results in nothing more than a bit of an upright slide and an occasional landing on my butt which is well enough padded that no damage is done.  I don’t like shopping for clothes or shoes. I will wear a pair of shoes or a pair of jeans that I like until there is no tread left on the shoes and very little thread left on the jeans. And then I replace them with the exact same styles because I don’t like to shop (well, I love to shop for fiber related things, sheep, cameras, computer software – just not clothes). I don’t like tying shoe laces, so I tend to seldom wear shoes with laces, so I don’t wear my work boots often. I will from now on! Sunday morning started with me setting things up to make feeding easier for Dave while I’m at SAFF this weekend. I didn’t get far with my preparations, but I did  get far down the hill before severely spraining my ankle.  The walk back up the hill was not fun!

My splint isn’t anywhere as pretty as Fortune’s. My ankle is not broken, but is a very severe sprain and the doctor says it will take as long to heal as a break and I need to keep the weight off for at least a week. I’ll do my best, but with SAFF this weekend, I think I’ll be doing a little hobbling.  I used a bit of the rug weight felt I just got back from Pufpaff’s to fashion a cushion for my heel under the splint. It makes all the difference between not being able to support any weight at all and being able to hobble. (just in case you ever need to hobble).

It’s been a long day for “Dave To The Rescue”. He deserves a beer

Miss-Fortune

Just a short time ago, Patchwork Fortune was in the blog spotlight as my favorite lamb of the year

Her lovely feminine head, sweet personality, and primitive stance were eye catching.

She still has the lovely head and sweet personality. And her stance is even more eye catching.

I wish I could have called this post “near miss” instead of “miss fortune”, but that’s not what happened. For the first time ever, I tossed an intact bale of hay from the loft into an area where sheep had access. There were no sheep around when I tossed it. But there was one there by the time the bale hit.  Fortune came out of the barn at a full run. I figure the sheep are used to hearing me walk on the porch outside the loft door and then having flakes of hay fall from the sky.  Sounded like a dinner bell, I guess.

I heard a crack and knew that it was not going to be pretty as I rushed down the stairs. Just seeing her walking back inside the barn was some relief, but it was obvious the front leg was broken. Being late Saturday afternoon, there were no vets available. I called the emergency number, but didn’t hear back right away. With Dave holding her over his knees with her legs dangling, I splinted her leg from elbow to fetlock. A lease stick (cut into lengths) from my 24″ loom was just the right width for splints and had the advantage of neatly rounded edges. When I finally did talk to the emergency vet, she felt that, since there was no broken skin and I had splinted it properly, that waiting until Monday morning would be fine.  I didn’t want her bounced around in the carrier on the way to the vet, so Dave stayed home and drove me to the vet – with Fortune straddled across my knees. She seemed to enjoy looking out the window! She was certainly alert and watching everything.  Xrays showed some fractures in the knee in addition to the break in the foreleg, which is not good, as there may be fusing of the joint as it heals. The vet says there is a 50/50 chance that the leg will heal normally, which is the best case scenario. Worst case scenario (barring not healing at all, which is a very, very slight possibility given her age) is that the knee will fuse completely and she will have a “peg leg”, but should be comfortable, able to graze, breed, and raise lambs. Lots of degrees of healing in between best and worst and I can only hope for the best. She is quite content right now to have alfalfa that she doesn’t have to share. Her appetite is good (she is a little piggy!), she is able to get up and lay down, and still comes hobbling up for a scratch even though I dropped a bale of hay on her.

I’ve always thought she was special and now she’s even more special. How many Jacobs have pink heart shaped knee patches