January trip to Florida

Just checking out the updated editor for blogger and thought I'd add a few pictures from my trip to FL in January.

Skirting fleeces and dyeing raw wool

I have a great sense of accomplishment today as I have 200 lbs of my wool bagged, compressed and boxed and ready for a freight truck to take it the processor. I also decided to try dyeing raw wool and was amazed at how clean it came in the process. I'm sure the mill will still wash it again but it certainly removed most of the lanolin and alot of dirt - so a bit less weight to ship. Wish I could have done it with the whole 200 pounds. Guess I would need more hours in the day to accomplish that. Mokie (one of our standard poodles) had a hard time finding a place to lay in the living room.

Aaron's winter visit

Aaron was home from San Francisco for nearly a week. He helped with all sorts of farm chores and was amazed that he had retained his ability to back up hay trailers and stock trailers so well. Since he graduated from culinary school he also served up fantastic meals. I would definitely have to watch out for weight gain if he was around more.

Surprise Calf

Found little Noell Christmas Eve amongst the cows still on pasture. Had to go home and hook up the stock trailer and bring her and her mom home so mom could have some better feed. She's a happy, healthy, frisky calf. Mom is registered as a three-quarter Lowline and dad is our own smallframe White Park bull, Whiteman. I'd say she's just about perfect.

Dec. 23, wintery morning in western Montana

Today turned out to be quite interesting. Awoke to find a ram lamb in the yard and quickly noticed that the two adult rams had joined the ram lambs in their pasture. All gates were still closed so I knew it was time to check the electric fence. Discovered a broken wire on the fence dividing the two pastures and was quite pleased that I had quickly solved the problem. Unfortunately, that wasn't the case and despite spending the entire day walking every inch of the fence I've yet to find a major ground. So here's hoping the sheep and cows are still in the proper pastures come morning.

Latest Hats

The black and white hat is black merino with one layer of white cashmere on the inside. The second hat is a blend of turquoise Bluefaced Leicester wool and teal merino wool. The BFL made the hat a little stiffer than I had wanted but it will be a warm hat that makes someone happy.

I'm just back from my three day show in Missoula - Under the Big Sky. This was the first year for this show and it was a great success. It was well juried and well attended.

Hat Making Frenzy

Getting ready for my three day show at Thanksgiving has kept me in non-stop motion;