on my needles...

You may remember these little beauties I made from last year, maybe not. Due to the very uncomfortable heat and humidity for the past several days I've spent a lot of time inside avoiding it, it's miserable! In doing so I figured I'd better be doing something so I decided to get a jump on winter knitting to avoid months of chiropractic care and a neck and shoulder packed in ice for weeks! I posted these on our facebook page yesterday and said I'm making these again today only with fiber from my boys and got lots of compliments but I got a great idea to make these little beauties even better....

how? you ask....

let me show you...

...they are being lined with roving that will eventually felt into the mitten and make them softer and ever warmer. It's like sticking your hands into our llama without the work of having to care for him or shear him. These were even more popular, I've got three orders to fill already!

hard decisions...

These handsome guys followed me home from the Fiber Frolic yesterday, meet Bear and Shakespeare. I had absolutely no intention of bringing anybody new here but like most of the other animals that live at From the Country Farm these two little boys are here because of some hard decisions that needed to be made. Welcome Bear and Shakespeare, though I certainly see a name change in your future, never was a big fan of Shakespeare....

As you may know Venus and Spice are here as milkers because Strawberry and Katie didn't take this past fall or deliver the year before. Don't get me wrong, Venus and Spice are great and I adore them but that is how they came here. Two years ago I tried to breed Strawberry and Katie and feel that at least Strawberry took, but it was never confirmed, but feel that she did. Katie I'm not really sure at all, like most things with Katie it was an odd situation all around. Well a few months into gestation Blackberry started beating on the other goats especially Strawberry, the one whom he'd been with from two other farms!) and I mean beating on them so I took him out of that pen and put him by himself for a bit in an attempt to figure out what happened and re-group. I think the beating they took caused them to abort the pregnancies.  I then put him in with the llama and alpacas figuring they are bigger and the llama is guardian of the alpaca herd so he wouldn't take crap from a 60 pound goat, that worked - for a while. After a while when that herd was fed he'd go lay down in the middle of the pile of hay and toss his horned head at the llama and alpacas and prevent them from eating. Not cool. So he was separated from them and with no other animals for him to be with I was out of options. Feeling badly for him because he is a herd animal but cannot be with a herd I decided to try putting him back together outside where there was room for the other goats to escape if need be. Venus was not out at that time, I was not going to jeopardize another pregnancy. It was a disaster. And back into solitude he went. It was then I knew what needed to be done. He could no longer stay here like this, it was a hard decision to make but one that needed to be made. It's not right for him to be by himself because he is a herd animal but it's not fair to the other animals to be beat on, running away from him in fear or starved because he won't let them eat. It's just not right. It's also not responsible of me to just ship him off to some unsuspecting farm so I have made arrangements for him to be sent to "freezer camp." It sucks, but it's the humane and right thing to do, he's never showed aggression to humans, but terrorizes other animals and it needs to stop. There is no place for that on our farm.

You may be wondering how the two little guys at the top have anything to do with Blackberry or hard decisions well, let me tell you. At the Fiber Frolic this weekend during the lull while it was pouring some of the vendors had a chance to get together and chat. My children had seen an older woman trying to bring in a couple goats and a sheep and had seen her struggling so they offered to help her. Then they stood there for a while and were asking about the animals, she chatted with them and answered questions and off they went. Sunday morning comes around and she and I were talking during a lull and she asked me to take these two boys. As it turns out her ailing mom with dementia lives with her and is requiring so much of her time she has to find new homes for her flock. With a quivering voice and teary eyes (this I understand) she said she just cannot do it all and only has her 6 year old grand-daughter to help so new homes must be found. She'd found homes for a couple animals and a few more were in the works but it takes a while sometimes to work out the details for others. It is a hard decision for her as well but one that must by made, so these two little boys with fleece as white as snow, shiny and lustrous as a pearl and as soft as cashmere joined our farm. They are pygora goats who are nearly full grown and are roughly 40 -50 pounds each, not at all like the large milking does. :-) They are a bit freaked out be all the changes right now but have started to relax and walked up to me tonight cautiously, but that's a start.

Have we any wool? Indeed! Several cones full!

 These three top cones are what has come in today and the middle one is all Monkey's fiber, once this is gone it's gone - we lost him this past spring. I kept telling him that I couldn't wait to wear him and I'm pretty excited about now being able to!

So what do you think? This a huge step for the farm and I've just giving you a heads up - I've got a couple announcements to make when all the details have been worked out! woohoo!

Warm Winter Woolies!

So here it is folks! Just back from the mill and ready for some creativity, all that's needed is YOU! This is our llama/wool blend.

 

100% Maine grown alpaca! Exclusive From the Country Farm blend we call Johnsey! Makes me think of a sinfully rich mug of hot cocoa. Silky. Soft. Warm. What more could you ask for?

 

 

 Miss Audrey's favorite "Deorgepaca!" Again 100% Maine grown alpaca! Similar to Johnsey only a white chocolate version!

All our fiber is processed and spun into this wonderful yarn within 10 miles of our farm, when I say I like supporting local businesses I mean local! :-) When the rest of the yarn is finished and back I'll post some pictures of that as well, it'll be after the start of the new year, I think I'll have all this yarn in hanks by then! Have I mentioned I'm just giddy about this?!

is it tomorrow yet?!

After months of waiting I just got a call from the spinning mill and MOST of my fiber is ready! I'm going to go pick up what's ready tomorrow and I'm giddy about this, it's been a long time coming and a huge step for the farm! I'll post pics when I get it - after I'm done swooning over it!

ready to head to the spinning mill!

I've finally got all the fleeces weighed and ready to head to the spinning mill on Monday and will have yarn for sale mid November! Really looking forward to this, finally!

you know you want some

Ahhhh there, that's better. I've been without a camera, mouse and computer for far too long! To make a long story short, problem fixed, thanks to a computer savvy husband and a new mouse, er well two new mice(?) but anyway, I'm back!

So, back to this post, well as you can see we've got alpacas and that means fiber, loads of it! (Not til spring obviously, as it's still on the hoof!) In addition to the alpacas, the llama, the two fiber goats (and the angora bunny I've been asked to take in...) I'd say we'll likely have enough to share. Ya interested? Details on the way.

Meet the Cast - 'The Boys'

..........George Harold
(Faith's alpaca, she chose the name)

..........Monday Morning

..........Monkey

..........Crazy Professor

(My mother said he looks like a wild and crazy professor, it stuck!)

..........Prince William/Willbill

(Andrew's alpaca, he came as Prince William but Andrew thinks he might call him Willbill, who know's it might change tomorrow!)

** all these pictures were taken by my sister Jen.

A herd of alpacas arrived at our farm last night about 10:30 pm and are settling in nicely and fitting in splendidly here at what some are calling "The Misfit Refuge." We're starting to be know for our animals with 'issues,' and I'm totally fine with that. For those of you who may have missed that post about our other misfit animals that post can be found here.

In this hodgepodge of misfits we've got a stunted one, one who is a train wreck as far as conformation goes, one with a "skin issue" on part of his leg and neurological issues. (The skin issue is not contagious, as he's the only one who has it and they've all come from the same herd.) And one that sounds like a baby toy when he humms. So that leaves us with one 'normal' alpaca, for now until his 'issue' appears. I think they'll fit in quite well, don't you?!

I've been smitten with alpacas since I first saw them and went nuts (I know, I know it was a short trip!) over the fiber and have wanted some ever since, however they are a bit out of my price range right now, but when a friend asked me if I was interested in these after she really hurt her back and felt like she could no longer care for them I jumped at the chance to have alpacas! My husband is a very good and patient man and fellow animal lover. Thank you Ron! So we worked out a deal and I brought them home last night! Our llama Dakota is thrilled and after a period of adjustment and quarantine they'll all be turned out together.

In the spring they'll be shorn and I'll have lots of yarn in lots of shades and colors. I'm thinking about starting a fiber CSA. I got the idea from another blog I follow and think it's a wonderful plan! Any thoughts or interest? I don't have all the details worked out at the moment, but if there is interest please leave me a comment or contact me and we'll take it from there. Deal?

I need a few of these!

The other day somewhere between washing the pigs, hopping into the pen to poop scoop and greasing them up before the show (of course I'm serious! Just when I thought I'd seen it all after what some might call 'pimping the cows' I find out what extent it can be done to the pigs! Oi!) I spotted a market lamb in a pen that caught my eye. I have a soft spot for lambs as it was a little white lamb with a blue halter in a pen at a fair that was the reason I joined 4-H as a child. I still don't have one, yet. Anyway, the reason this particular lamb caught my eye was because he was slickshorn and he looked like a pearl. I kid you not his fleece other than being white as snow was as lustrous as a pearl and I made it a point to keep an eye on that pen to pounce (I mean politely ask "WHAT IS THAT LAMB??????") on the owner and inquire about the breed. Finally I was able to get some answers from a super polite and very knowledgeable 4-Her. She told me that he was a Cotswold. (According to the ALBC it's a threatened breed, which just intrigued me more.)

We chatted for a bit, I asked her about the breed and the fiber, she took me over to the pens where the rest of her sheep were and I was smitten, one of her ram's fleece was unlike anything I'd ever seen and it too was as white as snow and pearl like. In a word, exquisite. We chatted some more, [read I probed her with questions and she answered politely] and I learned quite a bit about this wonderful breed. She offered me a sample of fiber to try spinning to see if I liked it, and I cannot wait to try it. Once I'm done with the truckload of tomatoes, pears and apples I'll try for sure! I hope to someday in the near future be introducing you to a new cast member or two, because if the fiber spins as beautifully as it look on the sheep...... I'll NEED to have some!

ba ba black sheep have you any wool?

yes sir yes sir three bags full! And this is some of it! Actually I've got over a dozen bags of wool, most of it llama. There is a small spinning mill I'm going to take it to in the next town over as there is WAY too much for me to do myself. Besides, I've got the pygora to spin as well. I think I may try to combine some pygora and llama and see how it turns out. That will be neat to have yarn from my boys!

Meet the Cast - Hyacinth

Here's the newest addition to From the Country Farm, Hyacinth.
She's an angora cross, my friend thought it was Nigerian Dwarf. Before arriving at my friends home she had been in a place that had abused her, I don't know what happened, but my friend said it was quite a while before she could have anything in her hand and walk near the goat.

So she's here now and will not have anything but love here. Yes, it's possible to love a goat, they are awesome animals! I say that honestly, but with some partiality towards them; I have to, we have 5 now, and started with only two... (grinning like a fool.) I was warned though, I was told that you cannot have just one, as they are herd animals and they need to be with other animals, like kind is good, what I think they meant was you can't have just one because the are like potato chips and you'll need more.

The kids and I arrived home last night about 11:30 and before we even went into the house to pee we got the goat unloaded and into the stall. I decided not to put her in with the other goats last night as 1. she thinks she's a horse I'm told, 2. I wanted her to get settled from the 1 1/2 hour ride home in the crate to a new barn, people, animals, life etc... and 3. a period of quarantine is always a good idea. So we put her in the stall in the crate, gave her hay and water and figured she'd come out when she felt safe. I felt awful this morning when I went into the barn and she was still in the crate we brought her here in, horrified would be a more accurate term. Had she spent the entire night in there? Like I said, it was a tight squeeze but manageable. I had to have the kids help me get her out because I couldn't do it myself, the crate is very large and bulky, we managed to do it but it wasn't her favorite thing to do. Now that she's out she's eating, drinking, pooping and peeing, so far so good. Dakota, our llama looked over the stall wall this morning and liked what he saw. He's intact, for now...... but they'll be on the chopping block shortly. My vet likes them to be a bit older before she gelds them for the health of the animal. I'm good with that.

So there you have it, our newest addition, I'm sorry the picture is a bit blurry, I only took a few pictures, I didn't want to freak her out and this was the best one. Oh, I almost forgot, she (and Blackberry for that matter) is already starting to shed her wool! I'm excited about that for two reasons, 1. hopefully it means an early spring and 2. I get to spin it, an oooo-la-la is it soft. Now for the spinning wheel......

Just a note for future farming/homesteading reference... don't wear chapstick to the barn during shedding season.