Shearing Day

On a beautiful Saturday in March our Shearer Nathan Good came to the farm to shear our angora goats and sheep. Nathan has been shearing our animals for several years now and does a wonderful job! Our angora goats are sheared every 6 mon and depending on the breed the sheep are sheared either every 6 mon or annually.

They fuss and carry on but it doesn't hurt them and Nathan is very careful with them. He knows just what to do! It takes Nathan about 15-20 min to shear an animal. The goats are trickier than the sheep. The goats bodies are more angular than the sheeps!

This is Sophora...halfway completed!

This is what Pom Pom and Abigail look like after their haircut! That's Abigails ram lamb next to her...I for got to mention we renamed him Abner...Rambo just didn't fit. He's doing fine now!

We did have a shearing day surprise though! Two of our yearling angoras who we didn't think got pregnant lo and behold are. When we sheared them we discovered that their Milk bag, udder, were very full! A clear sign that they will be kidding soon! LOL

All Good Things In The End!

Yeah my PhatFiber Box arrived! These are some of my little ones! They make you smile on any day! Cheap therapy!

Take a look at this! I just love the presentation!

Winemakerssister..awesome stamp! Could you make an angora goat??? Pretty please!

Love the sachet presentation and yes I want more than just fiber! What will I do with it all!!

My favorite colors! NerdClub's roving is awesome!

Altered visions fiber is fantastic! Can't wait to spin it up!

My weakness is handspun...more please!

What alot of effort on Betty's part and the colors are very soothing...just like the cuppa tea I'm going to have while pondering what I'm going to embellish with her mini skeins!

Too cute...My husband called and I told him the best little thing in my box was the stitch marker from Yarndemon! It looks just like my little dog! Could I also have an angora please!

What a bright spot in my day! My PhatFiber Box arrived! What started out as an uncertain path has led me and I'm sure others into a whole new buisness/marketing stratedgy that really works! I am thrilled! Check out what PhatFiber is all about by visiting Jessies blog , http://phatfiber.blogspot.com/.

I don't think I could let this day go by without mentioning that 1 year ago today our 1890 bank barn was burned to the ground by an arsonist in the middle of the night...We awoke to explosions from the propane in the barn at 3:19 in the morning. I got to it first and their wasn't anything I could do it was fully engulfed. It was the most heart wrenching thing that has ever happened to me! I knew my does and their newborn kids were still in the barn and I couldn't get them out..it was just too late. We lost 16 angora goats, every piece of farm equipment we owned, all my horse tack, goat and sheep tack...just everything! We didn't even have a bucket for the animals that were left who were on other parts of the farm!

We have rebuilt...see pic of new barn! We have replaced most of the animals and have begun to replace our equipment! We have moved on but will always remember that cold March night!

New Babydoll Lamb

Isn't he adorable! This is the first babydoll lamb we have had born on the farm! He was born about 11:50 pm on March 4. His name is Rambo!

Fortunately we heard his mother, Abigail, over the baby monitor and were able to get outside quickly. He was very lethargic and unable to stand. I think it was just so cold!

Abigail was cleaning him off but it was so cold we helped by rubbing him with towels, putting him under the heat lamp and finally I went an got my hair dryer. Since he was so cold, I wasn't going to bring him in...I was determined he wasn't going to be a bottle baby! I tubed him three times with colostrum from Abigail and then remember reading about giving them some coffee to jolt their system!! Guess what it worked! We still our keeping an eye on him as he doesn't appear as thrifty as I would like him to be...but he is still with Mom and seems to be doing okay. He is up and nursing...just doesn't appear to have alot of energy.

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.