Thyme Flies When You are Having Fun!

Have you noticed lately how one thing leads to another? I started in January writing our farm newsletter, which went out yesterday as a February/March issue. The February newsletter calendar had our spinning groups, first and second wednesdays of the month, 10 to 2 potluck, washing wool workshops, the gentle yoga workshop....events that now are history.

The Second Annual Dye Retreat Weekend, coming up March 11, 12th and 13th had consumed some time with posters, the web site, registration forms, and preparations and planning. There is still room, and for local folks who will not spend the night the cost is less. There is still room, so if you are interested go to our web site to register.

We had an extra wet felting workshop for some people who made backgrounds for some landscape art they will enter in a Massachusetts art show. The Walkabout group came to snow shoe, and we fed them a pot roast lunch with all the trimmings. And our afghan class met for the second square, learning a lot about gauge and blocking their squares, and starting the second pattern stitch.

We had two women come to use the facilities for processing their own fleeces. One came with fiber to wash in our two washing machines. The other carded 8 ounces of fiber on our older Patrick Green electric drum carder. They both left happy with their accomplishments. One woman came hoping we would process her fleeces, and left happy with the idea that, although we do not wash fleeces for other people we do offer our facilities for them to do it themselves. She will be back.

The sheep need to be shorn. We have done two of them ourselves, with bags so big we are thinking they will have lambs very soon. They all heavy with lambs and wool, making it difficult for them to all get to the feeder for grain. We "crotched" ten of them, which means we cleaned the wool off their hind ends and around the teats, in case they have lambs in the next week....and we made a decision to have Jeff Jordan, from New Hampshire come to shear them all next week. We invited our fiber community to come for the day, have a pot luck lunch, maybe buy some raw fleeces, and visit and spin or knit. That will happen Thursday, March 3rd. Anyone interested in sheep is welcome to come.

The two sheep that were shorn last week stayed in the barn for a couple of days, and now they are back outside and seem warm enough. We have cleaned out the barn to make lambing jugs and put down straw bedding, and the first thing I do in the am and the last thing at night is a barn check to look for signs of early labor. One thing to watch for is a ewe that is not interested in grain. Lambs could come at any time.

Meanwhile preparations for the sugaring season are underway, doors on the new sugar house, barrells, buckets, taps, washed, wood unburied from snow and stacked.

Who says winter is not a busy time for farmers?
We love what we do....and play when we can.
Life is good.