Common Ground Fair 2012

We want to say thank you to the many people who came to our booth in the Fiber Farm Tent.  We had a very successful weekend including a first place ribbon in the Exposition Building for the framed needle felted art called “Waiting”,  a lighthouse scene.  We appreciate all the positive comments about the needle felted art we displayed.

Draft Horse

As always there seemed to be a constant stream of people eager to try it out at the demonstration table. It is so fun to be approached by new customers who are amazed when they try needle felting for the first time.  Comments often start with I could never do that and immediately change to “This is so easy. ...and Is that really all you have to do?”  

It was such a pleasure to have many happy repeat customers who enjoyed the Thyme Tile Needle Felting Kits they bought last year and came back to choose another project to do.  It is encouraging to hear comments like, “These kits really work”, “I tried a kit last year and once I got started I just kept going”, and   “ I really love your colors”.     We actually sold out of several designs including “Meg”, and the new “Draft Horse”. 

Mary Ann enjoyed spinning a little, watching the draft horse show that took place near our booth, and got information about horse logging and trail building. 

Our natural dyed yarns also attracted comments.   This year we had an exceptionally full display of worsted weight yarns dyed with black eyed susans, queen anne’s lace, jewel weed, madder root, and indigo. Each skein that was dyed with plants was identified with a picture of our sheep by the dye garden in front of our farm store, the Tesseract.

 

Marty is looking forward to Fryeburg Fair October 5, 6, and 7th where she will be dyeing on the porch of the Fiber Building with woad, coriopsis, marigolds, amarynth and more.

We appreciate the way our fiber community pitches in to help with assembling and packaging kits, dyeing, carding, skeining yarn as well as helping at our fiber events.  A special thank you goes to Cheryl, whose Felted Slippers are a hit and assistance with dyeing days is invaluable.  Thanks to Leslie, whose Colorful Baby Sweater Kits sold out (we will make more soon), and Meredith, who  makes beautiful carded batts in awesome color combinations. 

 We still have a few Fiber CSA (Community Supported Agriculture) Shares available and welcome you to join our Fiber Community. Our fiber CSA's offer you participation in our fiber community in a variety of ways including, but not limited to, your choice of the fiber from our sheep.

 We look forward to having visitors that we met at the fair and their families and friends come to the farm to see our animals, take a class, or enjoy an afternoon of knitting on any Tuesday at 1pm.  For more information about Classes and the Fiber CSA please go to: www.awrinkleinthymefarm.com.

 

News from A Wrinkle in Thyme Farm

 News from A Wrinkle in Thyme Farm

Common Ground Fair: September 21,22,23, 2012:

We are nearly ready to load the new trailer to take our Thyme Tile Needle felting kits from A to Z including some brand new ones including 5x5 inch Lighthouse, Cardinal and Bubba, our Draft Horse.  Also some samples items like balsam bag and lavender sachet and baby blocks to give you ideas of things to do with them.   And NEW larger  (kits 8x8 inches) for Maine Moose, Horse and Barn, and Green Pastures.Check out some of our new needle felting designs.

 We have some new fall colors in yarn, including some yummy variegated    angora yarn for that special project.

 We will take our natural dyed yarn using plants including jewel weed, indigo, madder root, b lack eyed susans, and queen anne's lace to name a few. Check out the kits for a Colorful Baby Sweater designed by CSA member Leslie, the ever popular Hands Free Shrug. and Cheryl’s Comfy Felted Slipper kits.

Mary Ann admiring Lester, our Border Leicester Ram

Breeding Thyme

 “When a ewe ovulates she stands still for a breeding ram and stays with him. He follows her step for step, going wherever she goes. It's a square dance, she leads and he follows; and when the fiddle playing gets celestial he   circles round for a do-se-do. A ram knows when he's good—he's calm, he's proud and he makes you feel that he's wonderful and that he'll breed well and carry his genetic heritage forward. “  adapted from  Montana Farm Flock Sheep Production Handbook

Our ewes are looking good, they are healthy and rotating through summer pastures. They will be good mothers.  We will flush the ewes by giving them extra grain 2 weeks before until 4 weeks after the rams go in. We also give a supplement called crystalyx and the best pasture available.  This will result in healthy lambs of good size.  Last year our lambs averaged 10-12 pounds, with our largest one weighing in at 17 pounds. 

Breeding will began October 8th, and the rams will be in for 40 days until November 17th. This will give us a March lambing time, being done by the middle of April. We plan to have Lester, the Border Leicester with the older girls and Bilbo Baggins, our new Finn cross ram lamb in with the younger girls, which includes several Finn crosses. 

When choosing a ram we look for quality fleeces, a gentle friendly temperament, and body size. We have in the past used Romney, Corriedale, and Finn rams. Lester is a Border Leicester long wool with very curly fleece.

We are currently looking for an exceptional  Romney or Corriedale Ram to take Lesters place. 

We have had very good luck with Romneys wonderful soft fleeces. We also love the softness of the Finnsheep,  Ruthie and Timmy (Corriedales) and a favorite yarn of many, and Border Leicester (high luster & curly locks).  We will be taking some of our best fleeces to Common Ground to sell in the Fiber Tent.

Mary Ann and I in the field with the Ewes that we will be bred soon.

Our "People sized" tractor, the pole barn, and the big barn (with the green roof).

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Focus on Fiber: Sheep, Goat, & Camelid Seminar

October 13: Farm tours at A Wrinkle in Thyme Farm

October 27, 2012   8:30 am to 4pm

Kennebec Valley Community College, Fairfield, Maine

FMI and to register go to umaine.edu/livestock/fiber or call 207-781-6099

The purpose of the seminar is increase the skills and knowledge for            improved production, handling, & marketing of high quality fiber & fiber products.  Topics will include:

· Fiber basics – sheep, goat, and camelid

· Management and Genetics to improve fleece quality and quantity

· Preparing fleeces for sale, shows, and processing

· Primary fleece markets, marketing and value added processes

Lambs

 This is Mary Ann holding Beatrix.  Beatrix and her brother Bixby were born to Trixie last Saturday afternoon in the Pole Barn.

Lambing time is an exciting and challenging time.  It is amazing that ewes know what to do.  In most cases there is no midwife assistance required, though it can be difficult to stand back and wait for nature to do its work.

A mother about to have her lamb has a very pink butt, which is a bit swollen.  Her sides are bulging and she spends a lot of time lying down.

Often the first signs that labor is coming soon is that the ewe is not interested in grain and hay.  Within hours of that you may begin to see the ewe frequently lying down and alternately standing up, like she can not quite get comfortable. She paws the ground, picking a spot to have her lambs, which hopefully is a clean area in the barn. You eventually see a bubble of liquid hanging off her rear end, and within the hour you may see two little feet and a nose, indicating the position of the lamb is good for an easy birth.  Within 10 minutes or so the lamb is born.

Most first time mothers have only one lamb.  Subsequent years they might have twins, except for Finnsheep, which can have up to six babies.  This year for some reason we have had two first time mothers with twins.  Willow is an example.  Her babies were born just before I went to the barn for early morning rounds, around 5am.  As I approached the barn I heard frantic bleating, as if Willow was saying "Help,  Help!"  Apparently she had Bessie first, who was lying down, all cleaned off.  She was trying to clean up Betty, who stood there very wet.  I think she was overwhelmed with the task of taking care of two, having never given birth before.


With Mary Ann's help we moved them into a lambing jug, which is a stall with straw bedding, a feed tray, and a water bucket.  This is where they stay for about 48 hours while they get acquainted with each other and feeding is well established.

 Within 24 hours we give them an ID tag on one ear. This is for positive identification for things like vaccination.

At the same time we dock their tails using a tight rubber band that cuts of the circulation to the tail so that in a few weeks it falls off.







When they are a few days old, often when the lambing jug is needed for a new mother and baby, they are moved to the nursery and given the opportunity to mix with others lambs of similar age.  In the nursery they will learn to recognize their own mothers, since if a lamb approaches a ewe that is not her mother she will be swiftly butted away. 

Lambs in the Nursery

After a few days there they will go out to behind the barn where they are introduced to the electric fence.  Being curious creatures they nose up to the wire and quickly learn the fence is not to be touched.  By this time it is fun to watch them jumping around on their springy legs and play king of the mountain on the manure piles.  We try to handle them daily so they will grow up to be friendly and come to us when we go to the pasture.

This is "Boo", Bea's sister.  Naming is a fun part of the season, often beginning with a list from the grandchildren.  We started naming with plants and flowers the first year.  Then we went to "M"'s , when the first lamb of the season was born on Marty's birthday.  Then we discovered it was easy to tell when a lamb was born if we followed the alphabet in order.  The next year after  'z'  we began at the beginning.  This year is the "B" year.  So far we have Bee, Boo, Bernard, Barbara, Bessie, Betty, Beatrix, Bixby, Bob, Bubbie, and Bellamena.  Sometimes we name a baby in relation to it's mother, for example we have Amena, her daughter Willamena, and her granddaughter Bellamena.

We hope you will visit the farm in person when you can.  We will try let you watch the lambs grow. on the web site too.

Warmly, Marty and Mary Ann

Think Positive...cold nights, days in the 40's

We want to say Thank You to Nel Bernard, the stained glass artist that created this beautiful window that is on the door to our new sugar house. Maine Maple Weekend will be March 24th and 25th.  We will be open both days and start off with a pancake breakfast at 8am.  We will serve our own maple syrup and maple sausage.

We have over 200 taps in, about the same time as usual, the first week in March.  An the weather NEEDS to be below freezing at night and in the 40's during the day.  Usually that kind of weather lasts for about 3 weeks.  The new evaporator is in place and has been tested with water...ready to go.  So far we have about 35 gallons of sap and we need at least 100 gallons to begin boiling.

There is snow on the ground and our draft horse, Bubba has been out with the pung making a trail for collecting sap. Most of the taps are the smaller diameter kind, better for the health of the trees, and the sap runs just as well. We have taps on trees around the new fields out back and 55 gallon buckets to hold sap carried from tree to tree using 5 gallon buckets.  Willing workers have been joyfully assisting with tapping and we hope we will have lots of sap to carry.

We have ewes in the barn, almost as big as the barn, and expect lambs any day now.

And we have a stinky skunk or two that we are hoping to relocate as we catch them.

We are open Sundays and Mondays 12-4 and welcome the opportunity for children to learn about maple syrup production and adults to remember their childhood experiences from this time of year.
Please come for a visit.