Wednesday, January 20, 2016

January and the New Year at Blaine Fleece & Fiber

2016 started out very cold here on Paradise Ridge, for which I am supremely grateful! This beautiful sight, which has been our view now for a couple of months, makes my heart so happy!
We did have some interesting times with being snowed in and even nearly running out of heating fuel because of the inability of the fuel truck to make it up our driveway - but all worked out in the end, thanks to my husband's snowblower and some slightly warmer temperatures!

But what about the sheep, you ask? How have they been handling the cold weather? Like champs! They eat lots, sleep in their barn at night, and are growing out their wool like pros!
Back when we had so much snow on the ground, my husband was bothered because of the sheep trying to plow their way through the drifts - it was up to their chests in places, and he didn't think that was right for them. So he and the snowblower made paths all over our yard for them:

It was so comical to watch this process through the window - David plowing through the snow and Black Velvet keeping a very close eye on everything he did. She is so curious and interested in everything we do out there - the other day my son said he watched her follow me from the barn and she was as close to my back as she could get without running into me. She's become my sweet girl - much more friendly than she was when she first came to live here - my little Shadow!

The quiet of winter is soothing to me, and being able to watch my sheep thrive and grow wool is one of the most satisfying experiences of my life. January is usually a time of reflection and goal-setting, and it's no different for me this year. I've realized quite recently how much I want to be outside with my sheep - how much I look forward to spending time with them when the weather warms up. Which means I'm actually looking forward to two things I've never looked forward to before - warmer weather and being outdoors. But it's true, and I thank the Trio for giving me this new perspective on my life

I've also come to realize how important my fiber business is to me - how I love to share my fibery fun with anyone who is interested - how I adore hearing from people who want to learn to spin because of the excitement I show for it - and how people are interested in the fiber my Icelandics produce. When I first started out on this adventure, I set up a website on Wix, primarily because I wanted to make sure I had a domain name for my business. But with writing this blog and running the Etsy shop, I have totally neglected my webpage, and it's really something that I want to improve and spend more time on. So it's time for Sauðr eða Urðr to officially move to www.blainefleecefiber.com! This will be my last post here on Blogger, but I want to thank Google and Blogger for providing such a great service - I've learned a lot and would recommend Blogger to anybody considering a blog of their own!

If you've enjoyed reading about Sheep and Fate, I hope you'll continue to read about my adventures with the Trio at www.blainefleecefiber.com!