A Visit

Hello again, Readers!

This post will be rather brief - it is primarily to share pictures from the wonderful day my kids and I spent at Jerry Lee Farm this week! I had a request from a friend in Missouri to get a fleece for her, so that was the primary purpose of our trip to the farm - however, it was also a chance for my teenagers to meet the newcomers to our family! I suspect that, until we actually bring these babies home in April, there will be lots of visits to get further acquainted with Black Velvet, Mikey, and Panda Bear!

Panda Bear and Black Velvet, eagerly anticipating snacks from Lee
(Black Velvet was looking at the camera)

Black Velvet is slowly checking out my daughter's hand

You can see how Panda Bear got her name!

Mikey is in the very back - he is white with a funny marking around his head and face
(kind of looks like a sunburn)

Lee had bread and rolls ready for us to feed to the sheep, so we got a chance to do a bit of bonding...Mikey was having a very shy day, however; I tried really hard to get some bread out to him, but the other sheep kept stealing it...I hope I can win him over soon!

My teenagers, who I happen to believe are the best teenagers in the universe, loved seeing the sheep - they learned a great deal (it was Ag Ed day for our homeschooling family), and I was very excited when, on the way home, my son asked me if he could maybe get a job at Jerry Lee Farm - he really wants to learn more about sheep! Both kids are ready and eager to help me with our new family members, so I am hoping that the weather will start cooperating so that we can get outside and begin work on their barn!

Thank you for reading - I am planning for my next post to begin describing what I've been learning about sheep care, as well as sharing our work on the barn and pastures!

Beginnings, Part III

"What is my husband going to think?" Well, as I said previously, that thought was quickly shoved out of my head as Lee and I walked back out to the sheep enclosure to look at Mikey, Black Velvet, and Panda Bear...the three sheep that Lee was offering to me. I looked at their sweet sheepy faces and fell in love - now, it's not particularly surprising that I fell in love with animals...this has been happening since I was a little girl. But these three sheep were different than the others in Lee's flock - they were much more willing to hang about and stare at us, as opposed to running out into the pasture.  They looked genuinely curious about me, and I took that as a sign that this was meant to be.

So Lee and I talked further about the costs and needs of sheep - what I could expect if I decided to become a fledgling shepherdess. All in all, it sounded very doable - we already have a sheep barn on our property, as well as three fenced pastures. The biggest expense was going to be buying the sheep and eventually, the winter hay. So I bit the bullet and asked the big question - how much will the three sheep cost to purchase from Lee?

Nothing.

That's my trick ear, Joe. It sounded as if you said no charge.

That's right...no charge. Lee wasn't selling these sheep - she had already sold them to her friend, who she had lost to cancer. She just wants a good home for them to live out the rest of their lives, and because they are such gentle souls, they will be perfect for somebody finding her feet in the world of sheep.

I was touched beyond belief, and I nearly cried, but I managed to hold it together. I thanked her profusely and said that I would talk to my husband - she suggested he come out to meet her and the sheep sometime, and so we parted, me clutching the three fleece I bought with my heart about to burst from happiness!

Once I got back to town, I called David. After a brief run-down of the morning's events, I finally blurted out, "And she wants to give me 3 of her sheep!" I think I heard laughing on the other end of the line, but I wasn't hearing dead silence or grumbling, so I was very hopeful. I said, "I know the sheep barn needs work," and he replied, "Yeah, a lot of work." I promised to do the work myself if he would teach me - there was more chuckling in my ear. He said, "We'll need to buy a trailer," and I said, "Oh yeah, I hadn't thought about how to transport them." More laughing. But he never said no, and that was my dear husband's way of saying yes. After 20 years, I've learned the fine art of reading between the lines, and I know a resounding yes when I hear (or don't hear) one!

The next day I e-mailed Lee to let her know that we are definitely going to take her up on her generous offer.  Said generous offer grew substantially in her reply, where she said that she would keep the sheep for me until after shearing in April - because we have things to get ready around here, and we would have to buy hay to keep them fed until spring (which is really pricey if you're buying it a little bit at a time from a feed store), it made more sense to her to let them stay where they were until we had everything ready for them. Then after they're sheared, I'll get to bring them and their fleeces home with me! Remember, back in my first post when I said that the fact that I bought 3 fleeces that day would seem funnier by the time I finished my story?  Yes...because I'm ending up with 6 fleeces and 3 sheep, when I really thought I was going out to her place to get a single fleece. But can you blame me? Look at them - look at their beautiful wool and their sweet faces!

So my adventure begins...not only learning everything I possibly can about caring for sheep, but learning everything I possibly can about Icelandic sheep...their fleece, their history, and the ways in which our northern European ancestors processed this wool. I am starting a journey that, I believe, was meant to be...I don't believe in coincidences, and somehow I ended up at Jerry Lee Farm at the right time and for a reason, and I hope that I learn all that I am supposed to learn on this path! To quote Bernard Cornwell and Uhtred, Lord of Bebbanburg,

Wyrd bið ful aræd.

Fate is inexorable.

Beginnings, Part II

As I mentioned in my previous post, my day at Jerry Lee Farm did not go as planned. I thought, "Oh, I'll drive out, meet Lee, see sheep, and pick out a fleece," and that would have been a lovely way to spend a couple of hours. But Fate had something else in mind for me.

First of all, let me just say that Jerry Lee Farm is a little slice of heaven on earth...I turned onto their driveway and immediately saw guinea fowl, milling about the yard...looked over to my right and there was a very handsome burro, looking to welcome any newcomers to the farm. Lee came out to greet me, and we immediately began chatting - about the SCA, about sheep, about spinning, about knitting...what a delightful lady she is! She showed me to her lambing barn where she stores her fleece, but before we dug into those, I asked if I could see the sheep and take some pictures. She took me out to the sheep enclosure and there were the lovelies, staring at me:

If I remember right, she said there were 19 sheep, nearly all Icelandics, but a couple of crosses. I was in heaven - just walking out and seeing all of those sweet faces, and all of that beautiful wool...yes, wool on the hoof is something special! Is it something in my blood? Is it an ancestral memory, reminding me of a time when my forebears tended animals for food and wool? I don't know what it is, but sheep make me happy!

During our chat among the sheep, I mentioned that I was curious about someday raising my own - the costs and logistics of it all, explaining that we already had 5 acres with 3 fenced pastures and a sheep barn. She taught me a great deal - I feel like I received so much information and knowledge from Lee that day! She told me all about her experiences with raising sheep (she started back in the 70s); what they need on a daily and yearly basis (with shearing being done twice a year); the ups and downs; and her determination to only breed quality animals. She told me about shearing bees, where several of her sheep-owning friends and neighbors come to share in the expense of having someone come shear all of their sheep (and showed me her sheep chair - picture a stretcher that leans securely against a wall - the sheep is laid in the chair with his lollipop legs up in the air, making it very easy for a person to trim his hooves - a.k.a. get his manicure). She told me about her favorite shearer who was so gentle and quick with the sheep, it was like they were getting a massage at a spa - totally relaxing and comfortable for the wee beasties! As I listened to Lee, I realized that this wasn't a woman whose sheep were merely livestock - there for profit, or wool, or food - this was someone who truly loves her "girls" (even though they're not all girls, she would call to them that way when approaching them..."Come here, girls!").

At this point, we made our way back to the fleece, and a whole new world opened up to me - she showed me how amazing the Icelandic fleeces are (I knew they would be pretty nifty, based on internet research, but seeing them in person is...just WOW). With every bag she opened, I saw different color combinations - the thel is nearly always different from the tog - and with every bag she opened, I knew I wasn't walking out of there with just one fleece (yeah, I got 3...which becomes even funnier as this story progresses). And here was something else I learned about Lee, her sheep, and sheep care - she sells fleece for a friend who feeds his sheep differently than she does. Her sheep have a smaller food trough, so it keeps the VM (vegetable matter) around their necks to a minimum, but her friend doesn't do that - and the difference between her fleece and that of her friend was startling - although I ended up buying one of her friend's fleece, the skirting for that one (cleaning out all of the VM and other junk) is going to be far more time-consuming than doing the same with Lee's fleece.

After much squooshing and loving of fleece, I finally picked out three - two are from Lee's sheep, Goodie and Prima Donna (top and bottom, respectively), and the middle one is from her friend's sheep, May:

While talking about and examining fleece, and learning how to skirt them, Lee began telling me about a very special friend who she had passed away from pancreatic cancer a couple of years ago. This friend had bought sheep from Lee, prior to being diagnosed with cancer, and those sheep became this lady's babies.When she was fighting the disease, she would come home from treatments and be able to spend time with her babies, having this special bond with them when she was unable to be around people. Unfortunately, there came a point when she knew she was going to lose her battle with cancer, and she asked Lee to take back the sheep so that she would know they were cared for. I was so moved by this story - so many people are affected by cancer, and there are stories like this all over the world because of it. As she was telling the story, Lee suddenly looked up at me and said, "But you're interested in sheep!  I have three that you could have!" My first thought was, "Oh dear...what is my husband going to say," but that thought was quickly shoved out of my head by, "OH MY GOSH, is she serious?!?!?"

More later, my dear readers! :)

Beginnings, Part I

It's been ages since I blogged, but some dear friends encouraged me to start a new one to chronicle my impending adventures as a shepherdess...wow. After writing that, I now have images, leaping over the fences in my head, of Little Bo Peep and frilly 19th-century costumes - and bonnets.  Nope. I'm not a bonnet-kind of gal.

And I have no intention of losing my three sheep!

In a few months, I will become the owner of three beautiful sheep - two Icelandic ladies and one Icelandic-Columbia cross wether. Their names are Panda-Bear, Black Velvet, and Mikey, and I am hoping to have some good pictures of them shortly. I met them yesterday at Jerry Lee Farm, just north of where I live here on the beautiful Palouse of northern Idaho, and to say it was fate that brought me to them is an understatement.

In recent weeks, I have renewed my interest in the SCA - the Society for Creative Anachronism. I first started playing in the SCA when I lived in Boise - back in 1991 - and it was a huge part of my life for many years. I met my husband through the SCA, and many of my dearest friends and memories are because of my affiliation with that amazing game. But as our family became 4 instead of 2, we took a break from the game to raise our little ones. In 2009 or so, my husband began playing again, but I had other things to keep my mind and time occupied - but now it feels like the right time to start playing again. I want to develop a Norse persona from the 9th century - partly because of the simplicity of the garb, but it's more than that - it's a tribute to my SCA Dad, Sir Kian hrafn af Dyrnesi, and there is simply something calling to me about the textiles of that age. Having recently taken up spinning and weaving, I'm sure that that has something to do with it as well - it's the idea of being able to reach back and get even a glimmer of what life was like back then.

The aspect of the SCA that I have always loved the most is Arts & Sciences, and after reading about the upcoming Kingdom A&S Championships here in our Kingdom of An Tir, I decided that I wanted to come up with an awesome project (or projects) to enter in next year's Championship (March of 2016). After chatting with our local A&S Mistress, I decided that I wanted to acquire an Icelandic fleece to prep, spin, dye, weave, and possibly sew (that last one is going to be a huge challenge because A), I am sew-challenged (get it?  SO challenged??? Yeah, I slay me.), and B) in order to have something to sew, I need to weave more than just tablet or inkle loom weaving. It will entail building a warp-weighted loom, so that's a tale for another day!  I decided on Icelandic because they are such an ancient breed - they've been around for 1100 years and are one of the purest breeds today. In addition, their fleece is AMAZING - the thel (soft undercoat) and the tog (long, coarse, curly outer coat) give you a double-coat that can be spun separately or together, depending on the results you want...and the colors...I could wax rhapsodic on the colors alone!  But where on earth would I find an Icelandic fleece?  Would I have to order one?  HA!

Nope...Jerry Lee Farms, located just about 20 minutes from my front door, raises Icelandic sheep, and after contacting Lee, I discovered that she had more fleece than she knew what to do with and would gladly sell me one!  I made an appointment to meet with her yesterday, and what I expected (to come home with one fleece) was not what occurred!

More later, friends! :)