Happy Easter!!

Our ewes find some greens as  "neighbors" pay a call!

felt snakes!

Grass is finally greening here in central Montana and the trees have wee buds popping. We green up later than other places I have known.....but once its time, the resident flora dash madly towards summer. The dash has begun! For the last month the weather didn't always look like spring--but our full calendar certainly heralded the season!

NeedleFelt wizards!

I enjoyed participating in Highwood School's Art week in early April by teaching 3 Fiber Felting workshops. K-2nd graders made wool bead bracelets; 3-5 graders made wooly snakes and the Highschoolers certainly dove into needle-felting in a huge way! What fun to teach the basics of wool and of the ancient art of felting!

100 years ago, 819,000 sheep lived in our county! That is a LOT of sheep! We are pleased to be a very small part of that heritage and appreciate the opportunities to again kindle interest in shepherding.

May 1, we plan to help out at Choteau County Extension  Ag day for county 4th graders. We'll talking about sheep and wool.

June 6, I will be Keynote speaker at the Montana Association of Weavers and Spinners Biennial Conference in Great Falls. See their website for class info and registration.
This event is at Heritage Inn and features a dizzying lineup of amazing fiber arts classes. Everything from kumihimo braiding to wrapped fiber dollmaking, lace weaving and more!

Visiting freinds

I will speak about Fiber Farmers Around the World in honor of the UN International Year of the Family Farm.There will be plenty of photos courtesy Wild Fibers magazine. And I will lead a "Meet the Sheep" tour to a local Merino Ranch that markets their wool as lovely custom yarn in a nearby shop.

Our lambs are ready to pop. Apparently the young, vertically challenged ram we brought in last winter was able to fulfill his "obligations" pretty handily! Our 3 maiden ewes are  full of babies and filling with milk.
All are healthy so far and we look forward to a good lambing. However, we DO NOT look forward to training 3 youngsters to the milkstand! And, for the first time I will train all 3 to a machine milker--God willing!

Special Easter Guest

Easter was lovely here and we were joined by a special guest from our son's family--Rainbow the preemie goat! Her presence at table made the occasion complete!

Cascarones Easter Eggs

Easter Kids at Play

Egg Hunts

Rainbow the Goatling

Springy Kids

Needlefelting with highschoolers

felt snake handlers!

felt bead bracelets!

felt beads are good clean fun!

Shearing Day! New CSA

Beulah before her beauty clip

Beulah get a "do"

If you want rain--wash your car.....

If you want snow--shear your sheep!
We did not really want snow!
In fact, we had just melted out from under at least a foot. And the ground was actually thawing enough for it to soak in!

So, after a couple warm days of psyche-thawing, sun, we tempted fate and had she sheep sheared!

"You want to do what??"

Wooly Lucy

Sugar in Wool

Sugar gets out of wool

Of course, actually...... this was the only time our college-age shearer could do the chore on his spring break. So we really had no choice. And we are REALLY grateful temps did begin to rise before we sheared. But.....my ewes were questioning the authenticity of their shepherd the next morning when we awoke to about an inch of crusty snow.
But, it melted out fast and we are back to relatively temperate times now. SO they can all adjust to their new sleek selves.

Miracle diet!! Dinah sheds 15 lbs!

Josh Pekukonis is studying horticulture at MSU and is shearing his way through college. Even as he raises Navajo-Churros amongst other things.
He is a dandy shearer; careful and gentle. The sheep look like they are ready for a show! And the fleeces are gorgeous.

We started a Montana Wool CSA this year and have sold 2 already. there are only 3 left! Check out the new CSA page for details.

Fresh Food Forum in Great Falls was about more than food this year! We had a super time connecting with many young families and others interested in supporting their local farmers. What a great way to start spring!
I met so many interesting people and talked about everything from cheesemaking to herbs. Watch for the Sunburst Unlimited's Fall Harvest Festival for another round of great, growers gatherings!

3 lovely coiffed young ladies

Nun Island and Fresh Food!

We recently enjoyed a trip to our "coastal" home, near Seattle. We lived most of our lives in the Puget Sound region and have myriad family and friends in the area still. So....in spite of their winter rains.... a trip home sounded like a break from our Montana winter "snows and lows." We were not disappointed in the rain department. And though the greenery and February shoots breaking the moist soil were a welcome sight; the rain and bumper to bumper traffic soon cast our thoughts towards our Montana home. But, we really were glad to see many friends and family.
A major highlight was our stay at Our Lady of the Rock Monastery in the San Juan islands. We are Benedictine Oblates of this Monastery, so our visit was welcome by us and our community there. Last time we visited, we had our son's family with us and our grandkids dubbed Shaw island where the Monastery is located, "nun island".
Off to "nun island" we went in a downpour. And, though more rain was on the menu, the clouds broke as we neared the Anacortes ferry dock. Our voyage was rocky with whitecaps and rough water in the straits and island passages. But....sun illuminating water and sky gave stunning colors only available in that land of rain.
At the monastery farm, seven nuns work hard raising Costwold sheep and wool, raw Jersey milk, hogs and poultry. They also chant their prayers for the world in Latin, seven times a day. Three farm-interns were excitedly preparing for their first lambing! The curly, natural color and white fleeces of Costwolds bring good money, as do the breeding animals.  Sophia, a white ewe, was in "lambing mode" the first day of our visit and all guesthouse-"hands" were on deck to interpret her every move. When all the interns had given up watching, Sophia lambed twin white ewe lambs. A nice treat! They are so darn curly!We were also treated to more sun than forecast and some excellent winter beach time.




Back home in Montana the snow keeps piling up. We are 1 foot above normal! March has come in roaring like a polar bear with negative temps in the 20's.
But.....next Saturday, March 8, is the Fresh Food Forum at Great Falls MSU campus. This wonderful, free event features local family farmers selling product or teaching and is the perfect way to look toward spring.  Gardens from Garbage hosts the event and offers a day of inexpensive, family-oriented gardening classes on many springy topics. Local growers will have plant starts available.

I will be hosting a table for Heifer International. HI has been fighting hunger through agriculture and education for decades and I volunteer for them periodically. Check out their website for more info.
I also will be hosting a table for our small sheep farm and will have many of the items on this blogsite available for purchase.
Think Green for Spring!

Under Brigid's Cloak

"Fa bhrat Bhrighde! Be under Brigid's cloak!" is an ancient Irish blessing. Today, Feb. 1, is St Brigid's Day. She is one of my favorite saints for many reasons: she's Irish; she was known for hospitality, generosity, careful animal care, justice and faith. Brigid started a great center of Christian life at Kildare in Ireland and most likely presided over male and female monastics there. She was devoted to perpetual praise of God, oversaw spectacular illuminated manuscripts--some believe The Book of Kells to be from her Foundation. She is called "The Mary of the Gaels" after one of the many legends surrounding her life and may well have been ordained a Bishop. She is the ultimate" renaissance man"--long before the "renaissance"--and definitely not a man. Her cloak had  many legends associated with it, one of them being that the stars of the Christmas sky were placed on it by the Holy family themselves. To "be under her cloak" was a warm greeting of blessing between friends.

We too rest under a sparkling starry cloak this season. The winter cloak of brilliant white comes and goes here in central Montana, but our meadow wears it throughout the season even when other areas periodically melt out. Today, with 8 new inches and single digit temps, millions upon millions of stars glitter across the hillsides and cliffs, flatland and trees. The pervasive, white and shining mantle reminds me of Brigid's purity and generosity, as well as the steady coming of the light at this halfway mark between Winter Solstice and Spring equinox.

This season, which the ancient Irish called Imbolc, is the traditional start of lambing season in many parts of the world and also in Montana. Many shepherd friends are already sleeplessly keeping special watch on their flocks by night and day. I recently visited our friend Geraldine's ranch, Montana Aerie. Geraldine and husband, Tom Key, raise registered Columbia and Border Leicester sheep. Their new lambing barn is a windless and warm haven for their rounded ewes. St. Brigid's cloak hovers over them as well.


Tomorrow, the Christian church celebrates the Feast of the Dedication, when the infant Jesus was presented in the Temple according to Jewish law. While there, his parents met 2 prophets, Simeon and Anna who   prophesied memorable words concerning Jesus. He is  "the Light" according to Simeon, bringing full clarity to the many "light celebrations" around the world at this time. Each scintillating point, in our winter "Brigid's cloak" of snow, reminds me of that Light. We are ALL under His Light.

Happy Holy Days

A whirlwind autumn gave way to winter last week. A visit from mom for Thanksgiving, record low temps in early December( negative 35), a new job, Advent, and more have filled our days to bursting.
We have been blessed with a traintrip to the North Pole with the grandkids, good theatre, music and hard work. Advent was white here and so is Christmas. Weather has varied from near +60 to negative 40 in the past few weeks. Must be Montana!
The sheep do well in this weather with their full winter woolies on. The horses have done very well also in spite of amazing white eyelashes and hoarfrost faces during "the negatives". I hope to get time for spinning and weaving now that the Holidays are fading. God's  blessings to all during this season of quiet.


Hoarfrost Harvy-negative 35

Wearin' woolies to the North Pole



Fiber-like icecrystals on the grass



shoveling for the sheep

Bridget The Ever-Milker

     "Tuffy"; Uber-Milker; "Our Lady of Perpetual Lactation"........

These are a few of the nicknames Bridget earned over the past 10 years with us.

Bridget was born at our Washington place in '03, on St Patrick's day.
She earned the name of our favorite Irish Saint, Bridget, who is patron of dairies and shepherdesses.
Bridget was the first lamb of Venus and Hank--our black ram, and first foray into natural colored dairy sheep.
Venus decided to reject her little black lamb. We raised the darling, black Bridget in the house, in diapers. She enjoyed old Marx brother's movies, the cats, the kitchen, the couch....you name it.  She made the most of her hard beginning!!
Bridget's first lamb was a premie and born dead. Another set-back.
Learning to get on the milk-stand was a trauma as Bridget seemed inclined to slip off....but she perserveared (and so did we) as she was an excellent milker.


Soon, the first commercial sheep dairy in Washington state, Black Sheep Creamery, was started by our friends, Meg and Brad Gregory. A jaunty drawing of Bridget became their logo. 
Bridget's next lambs were a set of 3 black  beauties.

The next year's lambing, she endured a bad bout with ketosis requiring 2 vet visits and expert lamb pulling. Triplets again. But.....as the vet said.... "she's a Tuffy".
Another set of lambs the following year and her abundant udder lost its ligature pinning and became pendulous. We decided against breeding her again.
This is when her career as "uber-milker" began.
We tried in vain to dry her off that fall. She kept making milk--enough that we could not ignore it.
Next spring she upped her production to match the ewes who had lambed. Amazing! Rob says, "Her "on switch" just got stuck!"

For the following 6 years she continued to lactate whether we wanted her to or not.
We became accustomed to, and grateful for her fresh creamy milk in the winters, when all else were dry.
We thought, surely moving her to Montana would "shut off the switch". But no.
As the oldest sheep we moved, we worried about her making climate transition and the trip. She did go down in the trailer part way here. We were unsure whether she'd make it.
But "Tuffy Bridget" sprang up and out of the trailer as soon as the door opened. She endured the first Montana winter in the drafty rented cow barn and came into glorious milk on the lush green grass here over the past 2 summers.
But, this fall Bridget lost condition rapidly in spite of our various attempts to keep her well. We knew she should not face another winter.
So did she. Two days ago she stopped eating, and the fight was gone from her eyes. It was time for her to leave us.
We will certainly miss her fresh winter milk. And her silvery fleeces. And her "flock-boss" presence in the barn.
Over 10 years of life, and 7 of it in continuous milk production, Bridget gave us 100's of pounds of milk and cheese and dozens of lbs of lovely wool.
It is fitting that the likeness of this "Ever Milker Ewe", who gave so very much to us, should grace countless sheep milk products from Black Sheep Creamery.
Rest in Peace Bridget

Winter Woolies

 Our first snow fell last week. Rob was pictured on the front page of the Great Falls Tribune carrying the mail in the 7 inches that fell that day there. He was wearing wool socks and long underwear top to bottom. A pet peeve of ours is that the US Postal Service does not have ANY wool clothing available from their official  uniform suppliers. And the 1000's of USPS employees are required to wear official uniforms ---at least on the outside! Wool outperforms synthetics in average conditions, let alone extreme ones! Synthetics get colder when they are wet; they do not breath when a person in sub-freezing temps works up a sweat; they chafe skin to an unbearable degree when wet or cold. Wouldn't it be great if our USPS supported US wool producers AND kept their employees better equipped? Ok......Enough of the "peeves".

**If you need handspun yarns for your holiday projects check out my sale pages. I have new yarn blends all the time, or can custom spin for you.
I have 2 pretty new rovings for you spinners.
And cute sheepy tree ornaments which also make good nativity scene figures.

The term "smallholding" is used in England to describe small farms. In this land of really BIG holdings--like our friends who farm many 1000's of acres--"small holding" seems to fit what we do on our modest 4 acres.
SO on our smallholding, we have been winterizing for weeks. We made the final "animal addition" to our place with the arrival of our new ram-lamb from Tucker Family Farms in Victor MT. Tyler Tucker's uncle, who lives near us, found the time to haul our sweet ewe lamb, Twinkie, over the Rockies on the 4 hour trip to Victor. He then brought home our new little ram, affectionately named, Tucker.  Tyler and his wife have been busy developing their organic, self-contained farm....and having their first baby! So life there has been hectic. We are grateful to know this delightful family! Other activities here include reducing the animal census, drying off the milkers, setting up heated watertanks and heat lamps, worming, hoof-trimming etc. I even got a new snowshovel!

The Montana Farmer's Union conference was a happy success! Five MT wool businesses showcased their products in a booth we organized. Area spinning guild members staffed the colorful booth and delighted people with their spinning and weaving skills. Our grandson, Toby, helped me set up the Fiber Market as well as my Heifer International booth.


As you do your Holiday shopping, Heifer International offers a unique approach to gift-giving which you may enjoy. They seek to end world hunger through gifts of agricultural development, so people in various parts of the world can become self-reliant. Check out their website at www.heifer.org  for "honor gifts" of animals, trees, water and more.

Blessings on your Thanksgiving!