March Samples for Phat Fiber!

Our March samples for the Phat Fiber sample box have been sent. The theme was Celtic for this month and I changed my mind a zillion times as to what I would send! I finally decided after reading several posts from other contributors that some people would be interested in seeing and using some "in the grease" fleeces. I sent in some Border Leicester (from the rolling hills of the UK) Corriedale (well New Zealand, could be considered

Celtic) cross natural colored wool. This wool is from our ewe Godiva. Godiva is 2 and just had her first set of twins a brown ram and a white ewe. Her wool is nice and soft, maybe not next to skin but nice garment type and is a fabulous dark brown with lighter tips. Here is a picture of her with the twins and a picture of the March samples.

Phat Fiber Giveaway Winner AnnaMarie!

AnnaMarie of Vermont a http://phatfiber.blogspot.com follower has won the Farmgirl Chic giveaway! Her idea of naming our little goat Casper The Goat was just perfect for him. He is mischevious buy shy! Above is picture of him at 4 weeks of age. Look at what she won as well 1 full pound of assorted washed wool and mohair fiber! To get your hands on more "Fresh From The Farm" goodies check out our stores at http://farmgirlchic.etsy.com or at http://stores.ebay.com/Farmgirl-Chic.

Preliminary Sale List

This is preliminary sale list as we have several yet to kid and lamb. Please contact us at mlverill@aol.com for further information. Storm brown border leicester cross ram lamb. Sire is a registered "Deakin" ram. 150.00

Merlin white border leicester cross ram lamb. Sire is a registered "Deakin" ram. 150.00

Bob registered color factored white yearling buck. Sweet disposition 100.00.

Patrick 2yr. registered black buck proven sire 250.00.

Tinker white wether kid out of registered parents. Would make a good spinners pet! 50.00

Shrek is a huge chocolate brown kid buck who just wouldn't stand still for me so hence the two photos! He is out of two red registered parents and will make an excellent herdsire 400.00.

Barack, yes Barack medium red with faded red top knot kid buck from registered parents 400.00

Sebastian medium red kid buck with faded red topknot registered parents 400.00

Wizard faded red wether registered parents nice spinners pet 50.00

"Boy" white wether kid registered parents good spinners pet 50.00

Girl white color factored registered doe 4 yr. 200.00

Clarise daughter of Clara white age 3 yr. possibly bred? 100.00 with kid 150.00

Clara white doe 4-5 yr. 100.00 very good mother

Selena registered white color factored 1 yr. old doe 150.00

Penny registered black doe 1 yr. 250.00

Heidi registered reverse badger doe 1 yr. 250.00

Witch registered 7yr. faded red doe good mother twins this year 150.00

Shea pictured with her two black doelings Flora and Fauna. Shea is 4 years old registered sire Darryl 150.00 Flora and Fauna 200.00 each sire registered Patrick.

Popcorn white color factored doe sire registerd Appollo 2yr. 150.00 with kid 100.00 without

She is due to kid in late March early April

New Kids at the Barn

It has been a whirlwind this past month!. We have had 15 angora kid goats born and 4 border leicester cross sheep born! All have survived and have been healthy! A few sleepless nights, frigid temperatures, slick ice and a few cantankerous new moms but for the most part it has been a very successful year! We still have 1 babydoll sheep yet to lamb and 3 angora goats. Tomorrow I will post a preliminary sale list.

Farrier Day Angst

Along with all of our fiber producing animals we also have two horses. We first were "given" Blondie when she was 20 she is now approaching 24 ( she is on the left) and then we have Cruzer who Steve bought because he wanted a big black horse. Cruzer will be 14 in the fall. Well needless to say I have absolutely no time to ride them but that could change and I could never get rid of them...no matter what my husband thinks. Well every 6-8 weeks they need to have their hooves trimmed or new shoes put on depending on what time of year it is. Well I admit it I have farrier angst! Blondie is fine and just a dear . She would stand still until the cows came home but Cruzer is another story! With the first farrier I had he would rear and buck and was just awful hence my dread! Now with the new farrier he is much better but I still have that apprehension in the back of my mind that he is going to act up. It is totally the uncertainity...because he was fine today. What a relief! Another 8 weeks of reprieve from farrier day Angst!

This little guy was born on January 24 and his mothers name is Periwinkle. She is a registered white angora goat and his father is a registered black colored angora goat. For the time being we have just been calling him "Boy" as we are giving the winner of a giveaway that we are sponsoring an opportunity to name him. The winner of the giveaway will also win 1 lb. of assorted washed fiber. So what's up with the giveaway???

Back in December I was approached by a gal named Jessie to be a part of something called Phat Fiber,http://phatfiber.com. Phat Fiber is group of indie fiber artisans and the assorted fiber related stuff artists who create items such as soap, tea and chocolate! What happens is each month Jessie gathers samples of their product puts them together in a box and then at an appointed time sells them on etsy,http://etsy.com. It is a win win idea for everyone! The consumer gets to sample before they commit to a large quantity of a particular product, the artist gets to get their product advertised and Jessie makes a little for her time!

We will be a part of the February box and the giveaway will be published on Jessies blog, http://www.phatfiber.blogspot.com sometime in the near future!

We have been very fortunate to have had so many healthy kids! We had 3 born on January 22, 5 born on January 24, 1 born on January 25 , 1 on January 29 and 2 born on January 30th. Several red does and bucklings, several whites and 1 gorgeous black doeling. We still have 5 does yet to kid and 3 ewes to lamb so we are anticipating a healthy kid-lamb crop this year.