Road Trip with Sheep...Black Sheep Gathering 2022

The last weekend in June—time for one of my favorite events—Black Sheep Gathering. We had decided months ago that we would go this year—and Dan was going to go for the first time. I wondered if it was a ridiculous plan considering the price of gas.

We forged ahead. This is the ten sheep, ready for the road. We took one yearling ram, two ram lambs, 3 ewe lambs, two yearling ewes, and two 2-year old ewes. Directions are easy: Turn left out of the driveway on N. Meridian. Turn left on Allendale. Turn right on I-505 and that becomes I-5. Stay on I-5 all the way to Albany, Oregon. The fairgrounds are right off the freeway.

All of California was incredibly dry. This is part of Shasta Lake.

Here is more. You can’t call this part a lake now.

Some of the burn scar from the last couple of years. We drove through miles of burned forest north of the lake.

I was on the look out for a couple of pieces of road art that I remembered from previous trips. I big truck was in the way so I barely got a shot of this as we passed.

I’ve always liked the dragon with the view of Mt. Shasta.

The landscape was greener the further north we drove.

We got to the fairgrounds in Albany in the evening and got the sheep settled in. I didn’t plan to put up much of a display, but found a few of my signs so that people could find me.

Wandering the barn the next day I saw the Valais Blacknose sheep. There will be more in another post.

We showed Friday morning. This is Dan showing Meridian Axis. It was a very small show with my ten sheep and two others.

The Jacob sheep show was over in time for me to catch the judging of the Jacob fleeces. I took 1st, 2nd, and 3rd. Before you get too excited you should know that mine were the only entries. The judge, Judith MacKenzie, did have favorable things to say about them—about the first place fleece: “This is a beautiful one. Probably one of the better ones I’ve ever seen.”

I wandered over to the vendor hall to catch some of the Sheep-to-Shawl contest. The shawls hadn’t been judged yet, but the Silverado team posed for a photo with their beautiful shawl that would eventually place first. This clasped warp is so striking in black and white. I wrote an article on clasped warp for Easy Weaving with Little Looms, Summer 2020, but I haven’t wound a clasped warp on a floor loom…yet. It’s in the plan for the next month or two.

I have to share these photos with the “but” there were so few sheep in the show. This is Meridian Benji, a ram lamb.

I had to check my photos closely to distinguish them on my phone because the markings on these sheep are very similar. This is the yearling ewe, Meridian Lupine.

Stay tuned for Part 2 of Black Sheep Gathering.