Snow Days Yarns!!!

 While some complain about the snow, I look forward to using the time to spin yarns. If you got snow, then make yarns! I had a lot of batts so I dove in and made some lovely yarns!

 The batt above made this yarn. I am calling it "Red, Green and Blue"...

 This yarn is called "Dawn", it reminds me of the morning sky...

 This yarn is "Earth Day". The colors of water and earth!

 ...and this yarn is "The forest in early snow". The greens in this yarn are so pretty speckled with white flecks.

 This one is "Sherbert"! Reminds me of all the colors of sherbert ice cream!

 This yarn is "The Gray". It is made with black faced scottish sheep wool and an alpaca over lay.

 This one is "Northern Lights". Sadly the camera doesn't do it justice. Lots of dark blues and glitz flecks too!

and finally I have no name for this one but just love the pastel colors. Reminds me of the coming Spring where I will become busy and not have the time I have had this winter to devote to some much needed spinning, crafting, cleaning and destashing unneeded things. I am such a fan of Snow Days!!!

February's Farm Friend of the Month!

I have been wanting to do this at the urging of a few of my friends, the Farm Friend of the Month! Each month we will introduce a new one.
This is "Belle"! She started it all on the farm. I was gifted her and 3 other sheep some years back and she is the matriarch of my "Babydoll" line. She is an Olde English "Babydoll" Southdown sheep. I currently have 4 generations, with hopefully the 5th generation arriving next month.
She is a bit of a stinker though. She has taught all the others to begin hollering for their morning rations at 5:30 a.m. each day. Old Belle is going to be 12 this year and we hope she will slow down that nonsense but it seems she has taught the others to do the same! Always kind to the others and will often take on baby sitting the new lambs. Belle is retired from breeding and is enjoying just laying back except when it comes to breakfast!

Lock Spinning and enjoying a Snow Day!!!

 For the most part people hate Winter, but for me I find a lot of down time in it. It's a time for me to "get things done"!  I have been spending a lot of time with my spinning wheels which makes me happy! My wool room is filled with fibers to be spun. I came across this huge bag of fall colored locks!

 I proceeded to "fluff" up the locks, pulling them apart and apart and apart...

 ...and then I began to spin. When I spin locks, the last two fingers in my left hand pull the fiber back creating a lead line. My right hand holds the locks at about 90 degrees wrapping it and allowing the spinning wheel to take it, wrapping it and laying it into a beautiful yarn!

 Here you can see a part I missed. Such an easy fix! Pull some of the yarn out, take a lock and wrap it around.

...and her it is up close!  The colors remind me of fall, my favorite time of year! 

Here is the finished product still on the jumbo spool, all 70 yards of it! This is why I truly love snow days!!!

Good new from the hives!

Good news from the hives but not for this little girl! I saw her in the snow, down the hill from the hives, looks like she didn't quite get back home. Last week when we had warm weather all 3 hives were out for "cleansing flights" aka taking care of business! Yes even bees have to "go" and they will hold it for quite a long time until the weather is warm enough to leave the hive. So for now, knock on wood, the hives are holding strong through the winter so far, but we are not out of winter yet!

Core Spun in Raspberry shades...

 This marvelous batt of Romney, Wensleydale and Mohair was a delight to spin. I was eyeing it the other day and thought how much it reminded me of red and black raspberry...

... so I grabbed this spool of thick strong cotton cord to use as a core for my yarn.

 I spun, bringing in the fiber at a 90 degree angle wrapping it around the cotton core, the whole time thinking how much it reminded me of raspberries growing in the summertime.

and the final up close product! Over 80 yards of thick and thin core spun delight!

Godspeed Old Mo...

This morning we lost old "Mo" our sweet, loving and heart of gold ram. I had never met a ram that would actually cuddle with you, hug you and treat you like your presence was a treat to him. He romanced the ladies and was just kind to everyone in the barnyard. We took "Mo" in a few years ago and he was already over 10 years old then. He had gotten frail and weak over the past few days. I bedded him down last night in a fresh layer of straw and kissed him almost knowing that he would not be with us in the morning. I am so blessed to have had this boy on our farm. His offspring posses the same kindness that he had. Rest on my sweet boy...

The chickens know...

Don't those chickens just know?! We may be in the dead of winter, with snow storm after snow storm, but the girls know that the days are getting longer. They have been laying like mad! Here is two dozen eggs in two days! You go girls!!!

Guess what time it it? GUESS WHAT TIME IT IS????

 IT"S MAPLE SYRUP TIME!!! Today the equipment was taken out, cleaned, the electric drills were charged...

 ...the collecting buckets were also pulled out and cleaned!

 The evaporator and storage tanks were uncovered...

 The holes were drilled...

...the taps were placed and they started flowing!!!

The tops were placed which helps to keep debris and rain out of the sap, and away we goooooooo! It's Maple Syruping time!!!

Lovin' in the Barnyard

 The other day as I was doing this and that in the barnyard, I noticed that "Mo" our sweet old ram had cut himself. I sprayed some Bluekote for wounds on the area.

 Soon I found it on Norman...

 ...on Cyrus...

 ...and on Winchester...

and on Teddy as well! A lot of rubbing and affection going on down there!

New England's Fickle Weather

 The weather here in Connecticut has been well, quite fickle! We have gone from sub zero, negative temps up to the 50's, snow storms, ice and what have you! We have herded all 8 sheep and 6 alpacas into one small area. In the picture of the sheep you can see "Freddy" in the back ground staring at the fence that has been pulled to keep them off the hill.

The Alpacas are none too happy as well, having to bed down with sheep at night, the nerve! The ice has also been bad, to prevent broken legs and falls they have had to stay in the small area with them.
Today we are expecting over 2 inches of rain which would be 2 feet of snow! It seems the January thaw has set in if not just for a little while!

Biding ado to 2013!

We said farewell to some of favorites here on the farm this year, Angus our llama, Royal, our first alpaca, Jesse and Charlie, half of our K-9 security team as well as Honey Bunny who had a short life but was so special for her short time.
 Our farm experienced our biggest and most successful honey harvest, marking a point in my beekeeping journey where I feel I finally got it!




The biggest point of our year was when our beautiful daughter got married in September to the love of her life.

 Tim lived his biggest dream, to give his daughter away at her wedding. He walked her down the aisle with the greatest of love and pride.

 We were able to get a great family photo that day, Tim, myself, our daughter Brynn and our son Timmy.

As they gave each other their vows it was everything I could do to hold it together. All in all, it was a much better year than last year. It was a year of discovery, of more inner peace and more of living in the moment. As we actually get to the end of this year we look back at all we have to be thankful for, health, happiness and family!

The Lucet

 You are probably asking yourself, what is she talking about now! The picture to the left is called a Lucet, a weaving tool that goes back to the Viking times! Colonial soldiers would carry them and make cords for their uniforms in down times in the battlefields. So of course, with my love for history, I had to have one and I got one for Yule!

 It is actually very easy to use. You thread your yarn through the hole in the Lucet which I learned about in the Colonial home where I work...

 You begin the first loop by bringing it around to the left side and then back to the right side setting up the first loop that you will bring the yarn over...

 On the right side you bring the loop over and turn the Lucet to the left...

 Here you can see it better, the bottom loop comes over the top...

and here is the finished product! I used some handspun Alpaca for my first try at it. You can go really fast once you get the hang of it!

Our newest member of Coon Hollow Farm!

Here she is! The newest member of our Coon Hollow Farm family! We have not named her yet, but will soon. She is a blue or chocolate English Angora. She is silly, sweet and made herself right at home!
In November, we sadly lost Honey Bunny, not sure why, one minute she was fine and within an hour she had passed. So her breeder gifted me with a new little girl and we move on from here. Looking forward to bunny hugs and bunny grunts again!

We said goodbye to "Royal", our first Alpaca this week. He was with us from the beginning. As mean and awnry as he was he will be truly missed. We found out from our friend that his mother died on the same day. We never could figure old "Royal" out, he just never seemed happy, ever and he was mean as mean could be. We will miss his attitude and his eminence! RIP old "Royal"!

Sacrifical Drones!

 After a couple of good snow storms lately, I went up to the hives to check them and remove any snow from the entrances. What I found was a lot of dead drones in the snow. A post I made a few weeks ago had me wondering why the workers had not thrown out the drones yet. All the big bees in this picture are the drones (males).

You can see the difference in their size compared to the worker in the right hand corner. So it truly is winter, the drones have been sacrificed from the hives. The workers and the queen cannot afford the free loaders throughout the cold weather!