Woolly Customers

Spring tumbled by fast! Our retired dairy ewes are fat on Montana's "speed-grow" grass. All the wild life here--forage, animals, weeds etc-- grows "hell-bent for leather" fast  in June. In 3 days our pastures went from modest to scary!

We are still glad we did not breed the ewes for spring lambs.....but about April I needed a lamby-fix. We enjoyed a visit to Warner Sheep Ranch in Ft. Shaw. Diane and John raise about 300 Targhee crosses for wool and meat. The lambs were-- as always--adorable. The sweet, warm smells of a full lambing barn may not dance on everyone's senses like they do mine....but it was heaven to me!

bums at Warners

Square Butte gives Warner's ranch a picturesque backdrop

speckle-faced cutey

In April, our Deacon informed me she was preaching the Good Shepherd's Sunday sermon and she needed an ovine primer. The Deacon is a spinner and weaver--though admittedly not recently. She knows about fiber--but not the "producer". After telling me she had learned that "sheep are stupid", I told her she better come meet my stupid sheep and make her own judgement. Our Deacon had a lovely "sheep meet and greet" with my girls, who confided to her that they are not stupid.



In March I  enjoyed selling fiber at the Fresh Food Forum in Great Falls. I sold 2 Wool CSAs. What IS a CSA?? It stands for Customer Supported Agriculture. SO....2 people paid for 2 "sheep's worth" of wool from our 2015 wool clip. This comes out to about 3 lbs washed and carded. I agree to skirt and wash the wool and send it to the local mill, Sugarloaf Mill in Hall MT. Some folks want a blend of colors, either Natural or white. My 2 girls Dinah and Lucy obliged by each donating half of their fleeces. The CSA customers get updates and pics of the sheep they got wool from, plus invites to skirt and wash the fiber with me. Soon, 2 new fiber enthusiasts will have their first taste of local Freisian wool roving for marvelous creations! Two Wool CSAs are still available for this year. Call or email for more info. See the Sales page for prices.

Mission Mountains

Mission Mt. Sheep Dairy

Bring on the dairy queens at Mission Mt. Sheep Dairy

Last Saturday wore dramatic storm showers accessorized by sun drenches.  Rob and I made a one-day dash; 5 hours each way; to Ronan MT in spectacular Flathead Valley. Sandra Nolan purchased bred Fresian ewes from Black Sheep Creamery in WA state last fall. She just received her Grade A Dairy license for her new business, Mission Mt. Sheep Dairy. The  dairy ewes all looked familiar.....we know many of their relatives! Sandra's dairy is first class and comfortably small. Their place is warmly handcrafted and beautiful! Good luck to Sandra and Gary!

Year of the Sheep

Happy New Sheep Year!


Today is also St. Brigid's day and Imbolc. Brigid was a shepherd and lover of God and His creatures. She was known for extravagant generosity, hospitality and creativity.

Imbolc celebrates the coming of spring announced by the birth of lambs common this time of year in the northern hemisphere and the lengthening days . Another Return of the Light festival is  the Feast of the Presentation celebrated  February 2 where Christ is hailed as the Light of the Gentiles.

In central Montana we have seen twice as much snow as normal the past few months. But we enjoyed a "winter-break" recently with 2 weeks of melting and thawing temperatures.

However, our break came to a screeching halt yesterday with 6 inches of snow and plunging temps. Just in time for spring lambs! We pray for our many friends in the midst of lambing right now, and are still glad we opted for no lambs this spring.

Without the prospect of lambs, we have been able to enlarge our indoor ewe space twofold! On this very snowy year, I smile every time I walk in and see the girls dry and content with plenty of snow-free space to relax.

I may miss the ancient drama of lambing; and certainly will miss lambs frolicking in the pastures.( I will undoubtdly need a "lamb fix" or 2 at friends' farms.)


But, where there is sheep there is wool and our "shearing ritual" is just around the corner.
My 5 girls have put ALL their energy into making great fleeces this year, and it shows when I finger their locks!

Watch for fresh  2015 fleeces available soon. Be sure to check out the last of our beautiful natural colored Dairy wool rovings from last  year too.

Dairy Wool hats from Black Sheep Creamery knit-kits. See their website!

2015 Roc Day (St Distaff's) Spin-in at Hastings Book Store
Great Falls Spinning Guild

Winter moon-set

Holiday Hot Springs/Cold Snap

Christmas Sing-Along

Catchup Season! New Dairy Wool Rovings!!

new dairy cats  in  training

See the sales page for our latest natural colored Friesian roving!
The past 5 months have been our crazy season! I added a part-time job and things got crazier!! That is my excuse for the HUGE lapse in posts!
We did LOTS of sheepy things this summer including, milking and cheesing; showing fleeces at the state fair, and helping our neighbor boy with his market lamb project.
Our neighbor, Shaun won honors for the top carcass lamb at the Choteau county fair, and was THE ONLY lamb to meet ASI Lamb Certification standards at the abbatoir.

July gelato with sheep milk and grandpa

August Tipi adventure with granddaughter

Tucker the Ram

Our fleeces did well at the Great Falls Fair- blues and reds. And all sold.

Autumn horses

Thankfully between everything I did get a little more time riding our geldings this fall....
We had a spectacular fall with above average temps and plenty of sun. The tree colors glowed for weeks!

Sister Jane, Poor Clares of Montana,
 receives a donated wheel

new wool comforter

Rob and Lucy

Black Sheep Creamery ewe lambs

Black Sheep Creamery Raw fleece at DSANA tour

the blue bootie crowd tours the creamery

The great weather kept us busy outdoors taking on "one more little project before the snow flies..." We managed to rebuild-improve 2 fence lines; and I got a great new wool comforter put together with our ram's fleece carded into batts by Sugarloaf. We are REALLY enjoying our new wool comforter now that the snow IS flying!

Inside Black Sheep Creamery

A major highlight to cap a busy season came for me last week. We travelled to Western Washington to see freinds and family...and attend the 20th annual DSANA Symposium. The Dairy Sheep Assoc. of North America has been the small but guiding organization for sheep dairying on our continent since I started milking sheep. Many of the farms we helped start as "sheep producer and cheerleader", are now active leaders in this organization and they hosted the annual symposium in Chehalis at Black Sheep Creamery this fall. I sold the first dairy sheep to DSANA secretary Terry, who organized this large event. And good friends Meg and Brad at Black Sheep spent many hours tasting and talking sheep cheese in our kitchen.
SO.....this was  a culmination of all the years and fairs and emails and displays and classes I have  promoted for the past 20 years. It was exciting for me to meet and hear the latest research from Spooner Sheep Station in Wisconsin, and see movies of European sheep dairies of over 10,000 animals! Star author and cheesemaker, Gianclis Cauldwell  taught classes and lectures. The all-local banquet was superb, and we enjoyed catching up with Meg and Brad, tasting new cheeses over jelly jars of  wine.
At the Black Sheep Creamery farm tour  our entertwined story was told by Brad as he showed off their farm to folks from 4 countries and all over the US. As some of the first Dairy shepherds to inventively market their wool, Meg has launched a Friesian Yarn and Wool business along side the artisan cheeses. Her yarns are lovely and have catapulted Dairy Wool into national spotlights.
SO-- I was very proud to have been a small part of their team!

Black Sheep Creamery ram pasture

DSANA was a great cap for our current  milking season. With my new school job, and family-home repsonsibilities, we have made the decision to step away from lambing for a while. We will still have dairy sheep and their wool.....but after Dinah dries up this fall, we won't likely be milking for a while.
However, we met new Montana sheep dairy folks and learned of exciting things happening in Montana sheep dairying! Soon, I hope to have a source for sheep milk to continue feeding my sheep milk habit! For now, our freezers are full to overflowing with sheep milk and Dinah still gives enough for my tea. So I can go on being the sheep dairy cheerleader I've been for years to come!
*ps-- see the sales page for more from Dinah!

Weaning Week!

All 8 lambs grew fast and furious.
They had SOOOOOO much fun sliding down the "buffalo jump" cliff in our pasture and romping through the cotton wood grove.
My folks visited from WA state and enjoyed their antics.
The neighbors called to say how much they enjoyed their antics too. Alas....it all has to end too soon!


Our barn gets full real fast when 8 new sheep start growing. This spring, sheep flock grew from 6 to 14 and the barn was getting swampy! We shut all in at night as predator control, so..... healthy barn space is important! Plus at 5 weeks, it was time to start milking the maiden ewes. After weeks of slowly teaching the ewes to get on a stand, endure headgates, and listen to a compressor hum....it was time to wean some babies.


Thankfully Tyler Tucker of Tucker Family farms in Victor MT(near Missoula) is building his milking flock. He bought all 4 ewe lambs. Our friend, Lynda Henning in Great Falls wanted new spinning fleeces in her "spinners flock" so the black boys: Chrome and Zorro went to her ranch.

Chrome and Zorro

sheep in a jeep

Tyler Tucker and creamery foundation

Tucker Family Farms

Last week was a whirlwind of concerts with our kids, rain, lamb placements and milking stressed ewes. My new "school mowing job" was supposed to start.....but rain put that on hold long enough for us to haul 4 sad lambs  in the back of the jeep to Victor. 

A long(and noisy!) day of 11 hours of driving. But....seeing Tyler's new creamery and milk parlor going up and his flock of 100 dairy sheep gave us great delight! He should be licensed to make and sell cheese by summer's end. Look for artisan sheep cheese under the Tucker Family Farm label from their website or Missoula and Hamilton shops.

Sheep dairying is taking off in Montana! We are so excited! A couple months back the first sheep dairy was licensed at Poor Orphan Creamery near Bozeman. Lark Smothermon milks Icelandics in a portable, open air parlor and sells cheese and fabulous fleeces through her website.Check out the youtube video of her parlor.

I digress.......So our pasture is less eventful than it was for those fast 6 weeks of lamb races. But the barn smells better and is less crowded. And milking is progressing.

Haynes' Merinos

MAWS was a great success and loads of fun. I especially enjoyed meeting new fiber folks in this region. And everyone enjoyed the tour at Beaverslide Drygoods  as we met sheep ranchers Leanne and John Haynes of Dupuyer. They have made raising Delaine Merino sheep for fiber, and turning it into excellent yarn, their ranch focus. All for the love of sheep.  Happy Summer!

Beaverslide drygoods

Haynes Merinos

milkers deserve their clover patch!

Mothers and Good Shepherds

Lambing went fast and well here this year! All 3 ewes are first-timers or "maiden ewes". Sugar lambed first all by herself; a set of twin, white ewes. Unfortunately, about 8 hours into mothering, she rejected one. That one came in the house as a "diaper-lamb" and learned how to take a bottle for a few days...... Much to the delight of the grandkids!

Dinah was getting a bit ketotic and we started energy drenches. She did get all 3 babies out finally after several hours of labor. She was exhausted and I pulled the final big boy. She has 2 boys and a girl-the boys are black and spotted!


A week went by and we got our house-lamb back out to the barn to be a sheep....but we still bottle her often. The other ewes started settling into their mothering routine together away from the main pasture. After 4 tries we finally got a temporary "mothering-pen" up that Sugar didn't tear down!
       
On Mother's day we woke to a white-out blizzard. It looked impressive as we drove to town, but fortunately, didn't stick much.
After church we let out the ewes, and as Lucy left the  barn, we noticed a baby hanging out her backside! She wasn't due for a week!

She lambed white triplets on Mother's Day/Good Shepherd Sunday! What an appropriate day!
All sheep are together, and doing well now. We just got them back onto the main pasture with the grandmas and hope they don't crawl thru the fence to visit our horses!

COMING SOON!!
MAWS-Montana Assoc. of Weavers and Spinners is holding their biennial conference in Great Falls June 5-8. It is at Heritage Inn. Just google them for more info.
They have opened up single-class registrations for those who do not want to pay for the whole conference. Email Cathy at  tuliplefleur@earthlink.net for info on single classes. See the website for class offerings; a wide array from shibori dyeing to lace weaving and wheel mechanics.

I am leading a "Meet the Sheep" tour to Beaverslide Drygoods on Saturday, June 7. Plus--I will deliver a  "World of Fiber" slide show on Friday night as keynote speaker.
Hope to see you there!

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!