Farm Club Retreat

Last week we had our annual Farm Club Retreat in San Francisco. Six of us were able to get away for 24 hours of camaraderie and relaxation (and one more member joined us for the evening). We started by visiting the Alemany Farm in southeast San Francisco and meeting two of the volunteers. The Farm's website states: "Friends of Alemany Farm is a volunteer group that manages the horticulture, volunteer, and educational programs at Alemany Farm, a 3.5 acre organic farm ecosystem in southeast San Francisco." The farm is on city property at the edge of a park and was formerly an eyesore. It has been developed and used by community groups in one way or another for about 20 years.  It was certainly nice to see a bit of color since our drought landscape seems so dreary right now.    Shelby tasted most of what we saw... …including the pineapple guavas... …which were sweet inside, but you really didn't want to taste the outside part.A small community farm in the heart of the city. After the farm tour we drove back to the NDGW Home where we met up with Lisa...

…and later Stephany, who had broken her ankle and wasn't up for walking the hills of San Francisco. We had a splendid dinner at a Green Chili Kitchen just up the street from the Home. We spent the evening lounging in the parlor with our knitting, spinning wheels, and Mary's wonderful cookies and pom-poms.

Unfortunately I somehow lost all the photos I took with my iPhone from the pjs and pom-pons in the parlor through the next day's field trip. BUMMER. The next morning we enjoyed the now traditional Lemon Custard pie (from Green Chili's)for breakfast and then five of us drove to Berkeley to visit Lacis, a shop filled with all kinds of cool gadgets and featuring a museum. The exhibit in the museum was a private collection of lace complete with the history of the development of lace and it's impact on European history, as told by the owner of the collection and of Lacis. Fascinating.

I look forward to our next FC retreat in January, 2015.

Box of Chenille

It may take me years to use up the yarn in the studio part of my shop. But I'm hopeful. Here is an attempt at one box. I dumped the box of chenille on the floor and arranged the colors. I posted this photo on Facebook and then decided to have a contest. How many scarf warps could I get out of this pile of yarn?

The guesses ranged from 17 to 50 (well, there was one outlier at 502--maybe a typo). I had a good time winding these warps. For me winding warp is the creative part of weaving--at least for chenille scarves. The weave structure is almost always plain weave so all the design comes in choosing colors and arranging the order. This actually became a challenge here. I rarely weave chenille scarves in those light colors. Also, it's hard to tell in this photo but there are a lot of variegated yarns there. I like to use those, but usually as accents with solid colors. As I worked my way through this pile it became more difficult to put together pleasing combinations. Because I had set up this contest I didn't want to add in yarns off the shelf--that seemed like cheating. All of the first several warps were long enough to weave 2 or 3 scarves. As I worked my way through the pile I had less yarn in any one color so I made warps for single scarves. I finally got to this:

All those bits and pieces got me three more scarf warps.

It may not look like much but those warps will weave 44 scarves!  I wish that I had time to weave them all and then take a photo. Instead I will start weaving but will be putting some out for sale at the Artery as soon as I get them finished. 'Tis the season…to be selling chenille.

By the way, the winner of the contest lives in Placerville and will be getting a chenille scarflet in the mail!

Shearing Day

Sunday was Shearing Day and we sheared 71 sheep (61 ewes and 10 rams and wethers). I said "we". Not really "we", but John, my fabulous shearer. The sheep looked great, the fleece looked great and he finished shearing in two and a half hours! Shearing was finished by 11:30.Here are sheep ready to be shorn.Clover.Mary.

John started with the rams......and moved on to ewes.

Farm Club members were the other wonderful helpers who made it all work. Alison spent the morning at the skirting table explaining skirting and helping buyers skirt their fleeces. Shelby and Gynna were our sheep wranglers, making sure that there was always another sheep for John to shear.  Mary and Carol bagged fleeces while Anna swept and Jackie worked the exit gate. Linda weighed and recorded fleeces.   Other members helped too but I didn't get photos.What would shearing day be without chili......and Dona's brownies (and Lisa's Jacob sheep cookies, Jackie's corn biscuits, Mary's wonderful tangy chicken and fancy rice krispie treats and more).After shearing the sheep look so much thinner. This photo looks as though it was stretched vertically, but it wasn't.    Lila. Cascade. 

Gynna looks happy with her Farm Club fleece. And look at this gorgeous one!

After shearing we (Farm Club again and other friends) did demos of all kinds of spinning and fiber prep, but that's another story, especially because it's too late to write more.

Fall Color

We really need rain, but I must admit that the weather is sure nice. I spent an hour in the pasture yesterday morning enjoying the fall color. It's not just the trees that are colorful:Red and yellow and green are pretty......but black and white are two of my favorites.

National Heirloom Exposition

I forgot that Sonoma County could be drizzly and cool, even when northern Solano County is sweltering. I spent 3 1/2 days as a vendor at the Heirloom Festival in Santa Rosa. It was nice to be out of the heat, but I would have welcomed a little sun on Days 1 & 2. I brought sheep as well as the booth, so I used 2 canopies as well as the sheep pen area. Since we were outside we could spread out as much as we wanted to. Just beyond my booth was an area where other fiber vendors/artists, representing Fibershed, were stationed.Jackie demonstrated the peg loom and Colleen demonstrated needlefelting.Mary and Chris, the "zoomers", wove on the Zoom Loom, as well as demonstrating other fibery skills throughout the show. There was a lot to see at the Heirloom Expo and I took advantage of the hours in the morning before the gates opened to the public to look around.   My sheep spent the night in the barn and were in the pen at the booth only during the hours of the show. There were a lot of bee and honey displays. Vertical gardens. A great use of old doors. Notice the screen to the right as well.          Are Dona and Jackie solving the problems of the world? Or just satisfying their caffeine addictions?

Red and Purple Field Trip

There was a fun field trip here today. About ten women from the Red Hat Society chapter in Sacramento came for the morning. We started out in the barn visiting the sheep and Amaryllis, but I didn't get any photos. I did get photos of Rusty showing off sheep herding skills, but he will use those in his blog. I had planned a simple needlefelting project in the shop. I provided felt and colorful fiber and, although, I had prepared some simple sheep and chicken outlines, most people created their own designs.  This was a lively group of women who were very interested in the animals and the farm and who seemed to have a good time here.

What is wrong with this picture?

I see something wrong here. This may not be obvious to anyone but me. How about in the next photo?Look more closely.I wish that I could draw arrows on the photo but I don't have the right software. See the sheep on the left? How about the sheep in the back with the white horns. And the sheep in the right center with his head down. Yes, those are rams in the pasture with the ewes. And Amaryllis is in the ram pen. OOPS! Someone didn't latch the ram pen gate after she cleaned out the feeder.BUSTED! You guys have to go back in.Sorry, boys.

Black Sheep Gathering - Road Trip with Friends & Sheep

Black Sheep Gathering in Eugene, Oregon is a favorite event for my friends and me. We gathered here on Thursday morning, loaded sheep, and were on the road only a little behind schedule. We made it to Eugene in about 8 1/2 hours, settled the sheep into their pens, and found our motel. Some years I camp, but this year a motel sounded good. Friday was show day for the Jacob sheep.I showed ram lambs, ewe lambs, and yearling ewes. My ewe lambs took first and third place in the ewe lamb class.         My yearling ewe, Fandango, took first place in her class and was awarded Champion Jacob Ewe.

Besides showing sheep, what else is there to do at BSG? Admire several hundred sheep in the barn. This is a Bluefaced Leicester from the farm where I got my ram, Faulkner. Admire wool. Watch the wool show judging. These are the fleeces to be judged. After two days of judging the fleeces are for sale and dozens of spinners line up to be first in the door.

Shop! My friends are very good at that!Watch sheep dog demos by my friend, Shannon and her amazing dog, Kate.Take classes. Mary and Dona made these scarves in a nuno felting class.Relax with friends. Farm Club member, Tina, who moved to Portland last year, came to visit along with 10-week old puppy, Ragu.   It has become tradition now to eat dinner at La Oficina.    On Saturday afternoon all the breed champions are shown together and the judge chooses one to be Supreme Champion. Look at all those different sheep!  It was a fun four days, but it's always good to get back to California. That's Mt. Shasta in the distance.

Time to Go, Stephanie

This was a tough week. I knew that it was getting time to think about easing Stephanie out of pain. Stephanie was a Toggenburg goat that my son, Chris, got in his second year of 4-H. She was born February 15, 2003 and we brought her home as a few-day-old kid and bottle fed her. As the years went on Chris raised many other goats from the offspring of his only purchased goats, Susannah and Stephanie. Stephanie is the goat who stayed here after Chris got out of high school and moved on to other things. In the last three years or so I have been the goat care-giver and Stephanie has been my friend.I can't find any baby photos of Stephanie but this is her at about 6 months at the State Fair.  She first kidded at age two and Chris showed her every year along with his other goats.   That's Stephanie on the left in this photo. She was never as productive or showed as well as the other goats, but she was my favorite to milk, because she had hand-sized teats instead of finger-sized ones. That's Stephanie in the lead in this photo and Chris' favorites, Trista and Suzannah, along with SparkleBerry, a Nubian who somehow ended up here.  Dairy goats are bred to produce more milk than their kids can handle at first and we milked the does and bottle-fed the kids. That's my mom drying one of Stephanie's newborn kids.Stephanie might not have been the top show goat, but she had her good days. Reserve Champion at the State Fair in 2006.

Chris graduated from high school in 2009 and after he showed goats one more summer, most of the goats were sold to people who wanted to show and/or milk them. I didn't want to do either. Stephanie became a "personality" here.

 She knew how to intimidate Rusty.

In 2010 I bred her to kid at the CA State Fair Nursery, where I also take pregnant sheep to lamb. I handled this  like we do with the sheep and Stephanie got to raise her own kid.   In the last couple of years I often found Stephanie "hiding". I think that maybe she was annoyed by Amaryllis, the donkey, who though of Stephanie as her best friend. I don't think the feeling was mutual. Stephanie was beginning to have less mobility and she couldn't easily move away from someone who was bothering her.  For the last year or more Stephanie had her own stall at night so that I knew that she would get enough food. She was too stiff and arthritic to walk out to the pasture unless the sheep were grazing the closest one. Last winter was hard on Stephanie. I put a coat on her and gave her a heat lamp at night. The recent heat wave (though short at 2 days) was equally hard for her and the summer will only get worse. I talked to my veterinarian about her the other day and told her that I don't think Stephanie ever lies down anymore because she is so stiff and sore. I would find her sleeping on her feet with her head resting on a bale of straw. We agreed that it was time for her to go. As the vet said, it's better to make the decision a week too soon than a day too late. Stephanie died this morning as sat on a bale of hay and held her head. It was very peaceful and she didn't suffer at all. This whole thing makes me think of my mom who died of Alzheimer's 5 years ago. It would have been kinder and more respectful of her had she been able to die long before she finally did.

Getting to the Mountains

I am fortunate that I if I wanted a guided tour somewhere in the El Dorado National Forest and surrounding area I only need to ask my son and daughter-in-law (as long as fire season hasn't started). They live in Pollock Pines, work for the Forest Service, and spend a lot of their off-time enjoying the mountains so they know all the best places. Last week we took a short hike to Bassi Falls. This is an easy hike to take with dogs because you are never far from water.  I took my 44 mm lens--and I have to get used to it again when I switch. 

 This is Sam and Kirin, my grand-puppies. Here they are with Matt & Kaleena. Sam and Kirin pose better than Rusty and Maggie. By the way, Maggie did so well on this hike. It was only a couple of months ago when I got her that I wondered if I'd ever be able to take her somewhere off leash. This is probably the first time that she has ever had a chance to go for a walk in the mountains. She got along well with Sam and Kirin, who each tower over her.  Here is the only photo I got of all four dogs--like herding cats. Sam and Kirin go for the water, Maggie still tries to move away from the camera and Rusty comes towards the camera to watch shadows and sparkles. Sitting in a tree?On the way home we drove to Big Hill, where there is a heli-spot and fire lookout. That light spot surrounded by shadows in the middle of this photo is Bassi Falls.

A day in the mountains and a day with my kids. I need to do this more often.

Farm Club Goes to the City - Part 2

In the last post I showed photos of Farm Club's trip to Hayes Valley Farm in the middle of San Francisco. After visiting the farm we thought about what to do next. Kathy asked us if we'd ever been inside City Hall. We could see the dome from the farm. We decided to go there. I'm going to admit something. I've lived in the country all my life (well, I don't consider my life starting until after moving from SF to Cotati when I was 10) and rarely venture into "The City". Sacramento doesn't count. After I pass Vallejo going west I leave my comfort zone. I don't know how to do negotiate public transportation because I never go there. It was good to have friends who have experience with this (and the right apps). So we caught buses and streetcars for this tour around the city. Way better than driving downtown. First stop was City Hall. It is a beautiful building. There are interesting displays downstairs... ...and there are weddings going on upstairs. We people-watched awhile on the front steps. It seems that wedding parties leave about every 15 minutes.  After hanging around City Hall for awhile we decided to head to the Ferry Building ... ...to see the "foodie" shops there. I found this book that I remember having as a kid and then reading over and over and over and... to my kids.We found the right bus back to the NDGW Home. Being creatures of habit, we ate at the same (wonderful) restaurant where we have had dinner the last two years. Then we spent the evening knitting and weaving and chatting. We had a leisurely breakfast of lemon pie we had purchased from the neighborhood pie store the day before and we made it back home by the afternoon.

This was a very welcome day off and it was fun spending it with good friends.

The Bone Yard

I was cleaning the barn before Meet the Sheep and gathered up all the skulls and horns that I had collected over the years.

 I took advantage of the sunny day to clean everything and I matched up horns to skulls.   I sold the two horn skulls already, but the 4-horn skulls are for sale on my website. 

What do I do with these horns?Here is something that I think is interesting. Take a look at these horns in these two photos:  I measured the horns so that I could describe them on my website. The horns in the first photo are 23" long and they measure 9" around at the base. The horns in the second photo are 24" long and measure 10" around. I never think of the curled horns as being as long as the upright ones, but it makes sense that they are.

For comparison, the longest horn on the skull at the top of this post is 20" and the lower horns are 13". The longest horn on the second skull is 28". The longest horn on the second 2-horn skull is 31" and on the last skull is 21".