After I published the last post (a bunch of seemingly unrelated ugly photos) I thought it was pretty stupid. I do have something to tell about how they all relate, but that story will wait until I get around to it and in the meantime I have deleted it. This is a better bunch of photos that I took yesterday on the way to the barn.
I just wrote a post using photos that I took Across the Road from our mailbox. I started that to document the changes in the field that we see from our house everyday. The photos themselves are kind of boring and not all that attractive. Here is some of what I see when I walk Across the Road. (And here is Rusty's version.)
Last year the main crop was sunflowers but there is a corner of land owned by someone else. Last summer's crop on that parcel was corn.
Hot dog.
Irrigating the sunflower field.
Pollenating the sunflowers.
Stickers in someone's fur.
Sometimes our road seems like an alfalfa highway.
Swarm of bugs.
Another hot dog. 
Irrigation water. This sure looks appealing when it is 100+ degrees.
Signs that I'm not the only one Across the Road. 
Hope of the next harvest.
We don't have very much acreage, but across the road is a much larger parcel. We appreciate living here and being able to walk, run the dogs, and just a enjoy the view across the road. In 2013 I planned to take photos from the same location, of the same view, and at the same time each week to document the changes through the year. You probably don't mind that it didn't work because who would want to see 52 photos of the same thing? This field has been planted to alfalfa for several years but in 2013 there were sunflowers. Here is the year Across the Road:
January 10
January 25
January 31
March 7
March 26
April 4
April 11
May 5
May 21
May 28
June 13
July 4
July 12
August 8
September 30
October 10
October 18
November 24
December 31
There you have it. I stood at the mailbox for each photo. But the photos are obviously now always the same view or even using the same camera.
The most striking thing in my mind is how dry it was last year. The Central Valley of CA enjoys a Mediterranean climate which means hot dry summers and cool wet winters. We rely on winter rainfall to replenish aquifers and reservoirs to provide the water that keeps the valley from being a desert in the summer. This link shows graphs of the average precipitation and temperature for our area. According to accuweather.com the average annual rainfall for Sacramento is 18.5". We have had only 30% of that (5" in all of 2013). The hills (and the field across the road) should be green right now with the growth of the annual grasses that germinate from fall rains. Grass started to grow with each of the two (only 2) rainy days that we had but has mostly dried up.
On the bright side, I'm not slogging through calf-deep mud when doing chores and we don't have to run the sump pump to keep the the water heater in the basement from flooding.
Hoping for a wet 2014!
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.
From a management standpoint having new lambs in July is not very smart. It's like managing two separate flocks. On the other hand, it's always fun to see new lambs. More importantly I like to support the efforts of UCD and the Veterinary Medical Teaching Hospital in presenting the Livestock Nursery at the CA State Fair. It is a major attraction and helps to provide much-needed education to the public.
This year I took five pregnant ewes to the fair, and I visited the fair yesterday.
Dona has twins. I bred some of the ewes to Faulkner, the BFL, as well as to a Jacob ram. It was more important to have lambs, any lambs, than to have purebred Jacob lambs. I decided that in breeding out of season using two rams would be safer than counting on just one and that by using Faulkner I'd be able to tell which ram sired the lambs. I think that I have one of each here. The lambs are quite different looking.
Phyllis had a single ram and Clover had twins, all sired by Faulkner. 
Isadora was bred to a Jacob ram and has a nice single ram lamb. I had a phone call today that Foxglove has also lambed with a single ram. 
Here is a view of the nursery first thing in the morning. When I left at noon the place was packed.
I wandered around the fair for a little while before I left. I thought I'd check out a few of my favorite spots. I won't get much time to do that once I get there with the other sheep at the end of next week.
There is a memorial to September 11. In the background is a steel beam from one of the towers and in the foreground is a sphere on which is inscribed the names of all the victims of that horrendous tragedy. It floats and spins gently on a cushion of water.
I breezed through the art show. This caught my eye. That is plastic bottles (400 of them) pouring out of a culvert.
Here is a sculpture made of nails.
In the California Living exhibit I saw a crocheted bicycle...or I guess it is a bicycle with crochet touches.
Lots of beautiful quilts.
Solano County always prides itself on winning awards for the exhibit in the County Building. This year's display was a bit different. It not only included the rich agricultural diversity of the county, but told the story of Travis Air Force Base. 
My last stop was The Forest, a relatively quiet and cool spot in the busy, sun-drenched fairgrounds. This time, with the AZ tragedy still fresh in my mind and my fire-fighter sons both working now, I took notice of this memorial.
It was 107 degrees today and the weather people are predicting 6 days of 105 degrees or over. After a few days of this already I am thinking about a hike we took a few weeks ago.
This is a trail in the El Dorado National Forest from Wright's Lake to Twin Lakes in Desolation Wilderness. We went with my son, Matt, my brother and nephew (who were going to continue into Desolation for a backpacking trip) and, of course, the four dogs.
With my 40 mm lens I get views both ...
... grand and ...
...close.
It's dry in the valley and foothills now, but at 6000+ feet there are still plenty of wildflowers.
I love the granite boulders and huge views in the Sierras. That distant mountain is Big Hill, where there is a fire lookout and where Matt sometimes works.
Dave and Jack were to continue hiking and discussed the options with Matt who knows this area well.
It's not always easy to get a group photo of all four dogs. 
We are so fortunate to live in an area where we can get to the mountains in just a couple of hours and that we are able to enjoy it by hiking.
But this is what I'm thinking about today as the temperature soared.
Silver Creek cascades over granite and forms beautiful waterfalls and refreshing pools along its length.
That's Matt with Sam and Kirin. I took a dip too and I would relish that now.
Rusty and Maggie like their water a little more shallow.
We hiked about 8 miles I think. Toward the end Maggie didn't want to leave the pools. I think the water felt good on her feet.
This is one of Twin Lakes in Desolation Wilderness.
As much as I love to read, when I look at blogs I'd rather see photos...especially good photos. That is one reason I like Celi's blog, thekitchensgarden . I don't know how Celi finds the time, but she writes a daily post and it's fun to keep up with what is going on at her farm. Celi recently posted a request to see the views from her readers' back porches.
My back porch view isn't too exciting:
The back porch looks directly at the back door of my on-farm shop where I teach classes and sell fiber and yarn and related equipment. It's less appealing right now because we have been remodeling it and it's essentially a construction zone for the time being. Nevertheless, Farm Club members enthusiastically encouraged me to send Celi a photo.
Celi's idea made me think of other views that I thought I'd share. How about the views from the barn? 
From the second story of the barn looking northeast. That's G-2 (Dan's hide-out) on the left, and G-1 is hidden in the trees. My shop is barely visible in the break in the trees on the right and the house is behind that. By the way, none of those trees were here when we moved here in 1999. I'll have to post before and after photos some day.
View from the barn looking south. I irrigated yesterday so the sheep are all locked in to the barn area. Normally they would be in the pasture, which is strip grazed using electric fence.
View from the second story of the barn looking northwest. We are on the western edge of the Sacramento Valley and those hills are the easternmost part of the Coast Range. The mound in right foreground is the all important manure compost pile which features prominently in several Lamb Game Videos.
What about a view OF the barn?
Here is a view of the barn looking west. The sheep are on the non-irrigated side of the fence since the pasture will have to drain for a few days before they go back out. The house and the shop are to my right in this photo.
This is from the pasture looking north. 
And if I turn slightly and look more north I see the end of the shop and the house that my mom used to live in. Our house is right behind that one.
What about a view INSIDE the barn?
This isn't all the sheep. There are about 60 adults, counting rams, and 80+ lambs. There is Amaryllis in the upper right. The sheep can go under that fence, but Amaryllis has to stay on the other side so that she doesn't get the alfalfa I feed to the sheep.
There is another view that is important to me. We have only 10 acres, but it feels like much more because we are fortunate to live across the road from much larger farmland. This year's crop is sunflowers. It doesn't look like much now, but in a couple of months I know I won't be able to put my camera down when I walk over there.
This is the view of the field from my mailbox. I have been taking a photo of this same view once a week since January with the idea that it will be interesting to see at the end of the year.
Remember, without irrigation the Sacramento Valley would be a desert all summer.
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.
A couple of weeks ago I went to Auburn, about an hour away, to the Shepherd's Picnic hosted by Dan Macon and Flying Mule Farm. I went as a visitor even though I brought a table with books and a few supplies. I did not set up a booth though, so I was free to enjoy the day at liberty. Dan had the day set up kind of like we did for Meet the Sheep, with activities scheduled every hour or so.
Shearing was first.
Dan does his own shearing.
Here Dan throws a fleece onto the skirting table. 
Beautiful, clean wool.
Next was a discussion of pasture management and flock management. Another friend, Farm Advisor, Roger Ingram, also helped out. I recorded some of what Dan and Roger talked about because I thought it would be great to share with Farm Club and others. One of these days I'll get around to editing it so others can listen.
One of Dan's former interns brought one of her milking sheep so that she could demonstrate milking.
After milking she shared previously pasteurized and cold sheep milk. That was my first taste of sheep milk and it was great!
Dan's co-workers are invaluable assets to his farm. Mo, Taff, and Ernie have starring roles in Dan's blog as well.
Dan, his daughter, and the dogs put on a herding demonstration.
What a beautiful spring day in the Sierra foothills! This is gorgeous country, especially when it is so green this time of year. I will admit that during lunch I lay down in the grass and the warm sun and fell asleep. I don't do that very often!
I found a new Season. Field Trip Season. I've had 4 field trips here in the last couple of weeks. I don't get very good photos during field trips because I'm the one who is leading the field trip, but I'll use a few. Today I'll share yesterday's field trip because I got to be a participant (as opposed to leader) of part of it.
Fibershed sponsored a field trip for representatives of Smartwool, Northface, Lucy (and maybe others) to learn about our end of textile production. Many (most?) people who purchase and use fabric, individually or commercially, don't necessarily have a sense of where it comes from. The goal of this trip was to expand the awareness of fiber production--the animals, the farmers, the soil and plants--and the importance of supporting sustainable local farms, and the idea that there is plenty of wool grown in N. CA but not the infrastructure to turn it into cloth. That is a primary goal of Fibershed--to set in motion the creation of that infrastructure and to create thriving businesses that support farmers, designers, fiber processers, and consumers. Whew! Pretty lofty goals? I am always amazed at what Rebecca (creator of Fibershed) has coming up next. I really hope that you'll spend some time on the Fibershed website because I think it's one of the most important non-profit groups you'll find.
On to the field trip. I expected 5-6 people. There was a busload! First stop for us was the pasture.
The sheep performed admirably. I had waited to move the fence for the day's grazing until the field trip was here. The sheep rushed to the fresh pasture just like they always do.
This is the group in the pasture. We spent a lot of time discussing pasture management, irrigation, choice of breed, wool types, etc.
Friend, Dona, brought this board over, getting ready for Meet the Sheep on Saturday. Some of the braver visitors tried it out.
The second part of the tour was a trip to Mary Pettis-Sarley's ranch in the hills west of Napa. 
Mary has a variety of sheep, cattle, and alpacas who live in a beautiful setting.
She creates Twirl yarn using unique blends of the fibers she grows.
The yarns are all natural colored or dyed with natural dyes from plants that grow on the ranch. The "I" in these labels indicates that the dyeplants are invasive species.
A major challenge of raising livestock in the hills is the predator problem. Mary has 17 dogs, most of whom are various breeds of livestock guardian dogs (LGD). They can be intimidating when you drive onto the property, but aren't so scary once they know you're on the approved list (or maybe that you're not a 4-legged hungry visitor).
Mary let out the bottle babies...
...and I think her part of the field trip won the Cuteness Factor award.
We were accompanied by two of the pets on the way to Mary's wool washing station.
Now I'm jealous, not only of the property, but of this. Maybe I'd wash more of my own fleeces if I could figure out a set-up like this.
Here is where the fleeces are dried. Mary had several fleeces spread out so that the visitors could handle them and feel the characteristics that we'd been talking about all day.
A couple of scarves knit with Mary's yarn.
As I drove way I saw some of Mary's cows. As it happens, these cows are the daughters and granddaughters of Jennie, a Brown Swiss cow that Mary got from us when we left our dairy life in 1998. Talk about happy CA cows. These truly have a happy life.
Look at their view of the Napa Valley if they choose to look up from all that grass. (Alpacas in this photo--they were right next to the cows.)
Dan and I went for a hike today not too far from here. The loop is about 4.5-5 miles with spectacular views.
It's been dry this spring, and the greenery won't last long, but there are a lot of wild flowers right now.
Also a lot (A LOT) of poison oak.
I love the effect of my new lens with the shallow depth of field, but it's sometimes hard to work with, especially when I'm trying to snap photos quickly.
"I'll catch up...Just taking photos."
Western Redbud is one of my favorites.
Not that I need a another thing to add to the to-do list...but I saw a blog that has a weekly photo challenge and I thought it might be fun to participate. This might only last a week--we'll see. This week's challenge by A Word in Your Ear is Clouds. Without working very hard I could go back just a couple of weeks to find these photos that I took the day after I got my new lens from Santa.
This is the field across the road from my house and the next one was taken just up the road.
What is a sunset without clouds?
Notice the fog rolling over the hills--fog is just clouds on the ground, right? These sunset photos are taken from my barn looking to the west. The last photo, below, is another that I took from the field across the road.
I love the mountains, but not in the winter. I am not a snow person--I have a hard enough time staying warm without any snow. My son and daughter-in-law live in the mountains and spend a lot of time enjoying the outdoors in all seasons. We joined them for snowshoeing the other day.
It was a beautiful day. I realized that, because I avoid the mountains in the winter, I never see this beauty in real life. All the views looked like calendar photos.
This is Union Valley Reservoir in the El Dorado National Forest. No one else had been there since the last snowfall. 
There were huge expanses of untouched snow. Gorgeous.
The snow had a sparkly crystalline surface which even Matt and Kaleena, who spend a lot of time here, said was unusual. 
We had one experience which, fortunately, turned out OK, but could have been tragic. 
Sam, one of M & K's dogs, bounding ahead of us, fell through the ice into a creek. When he couldn't get back on the surface he panicked and Matt had to rescue him. (You can see the photos in Rusty's blog.)
Fortunately, among all of us we had spare socks and pants. Also, fortunately, Sam wasn't in the lake, but in a stream (although it was still waist high water). 
This was my first experience with snowshoes and it was Rusty's first experience walking through the snow. He finally figured out that the snow was fluffy enough that he could sort of plow through and didn't have to lift his feet all the way out of it. He was also obsessed by the sparkles in the snow. Look back at the other photos of him and you'll see that he is just staring at the snow. (That's a Border Collie thing--not staring at the snow, but obsessing over sparkles or shadows.)
I took a lot of photos with my new lens but there is a lot to learn about photographing snow. I have a hard time seeing the meter through the lens when I'm wearing sunglasses, and without the glasses I can't make out what I am sort of seeing. So there was a lot of trial and error. Some were over-exposed, but there are enough decent photos for me to enjoy.
A few weeks ago I said something about wanting a macro lens and Santa heard me. Here is a sampling of what this lens can do. I need to learn a lot more though. It's not that easy when you are working with extremely shallow depth of field.
It seems that this lens does pretty well for landscape too...
...and portraits.
Who lives here?
How about here?
What a beautiful day, though cold. Good Morning.
At Meridian Jacobs farm we raise Jacob sheep and sell locally grown wool fiber, yarn, and handwoven goods. We teach fiber classes and sell Ashford, Clemes & Clemes, and Schacht spinning and weaving equipment. We encourage farm visits with field trips and our unique Farm Club.
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