Flannel sheet season

The most wonderful time of the year is flannel sheet season, not Christmas. This is the best time of year for wool and mohair sales, maybe that is what makes it feel like Christmas. A shepherd in the South has only a few short months to sell a fiber that is so warm, as it is hard to sell wool and woollen clothing when it is 90 plus degrees so many months of the year. But the flocks eat year round so the shepherd must make hay while the sun shines. The monthly meeting of the Peachtree Handspinner's Guild was today and I am fortunate to have so many supporters of a small farm flock. I joined the guild in 1986 and some of the spinners have wool from my sheep that are long gone, but their fleeces are still waiting to be spun. One of my favorite lines to tell buyers of handspun and knitted or woven clothing is that it may seem expensive, but it will last forever if taken care of properly.

Money

Okay, I had a good show at SAFF, now where does all that money go? Booth fees $325, goat show fees $156, fuel $100, motel room $367.53, food around $100 we took the cooler, vet fees $45, farm help while I'm away, about $200, a years work of shearing, washing, dyeing, picking, carding, spinning yarn, packaging, printing, displays, and my aching back, priceless. And if there is anything left over repair this shelter hit by the wind Monday morning. What do I gain from all this hard work? Good health and body, a mind that is always busy planning and creating something that works out sometimes and sometimes doesn't but is always clicking even in my sleep, always good fresh food, feeling needed by a bunch of goats and sheep that depend on me, a reason to get up and get out every morning even if I don't feel like it. I've got to climb that mountain every day and I'll never get to the top, but like the song says, "It's the climb".

Rain quota

It finally came, our quota of rain for the month, 3 and half inches fell in the last few hours. Got all the sheep and goats fed their grain, but some had to wait on the hay until just before dark. Summer got her shearing even tho she was damp, I will shake it out and go directly to the washing machine. Got to keep shearing to get them all done before winter. Made a trip to the feed store and grocery store. Tried lifting KeeKee with some harness straps and a woven feed sack, moved her legs, they are not broken, and felt around for swelling, there was none. The light finally came on in my head, she has a butting injury. I have seen it before this time of year, when the temperature drops and the wind blows, the does will butt each other hard, just like the bucks and rams, and sometimes one of them will buckle to the pressure. She is moving about from side to side and is trying to lift herself with her front legs, getting stronger everyday, only time will tell if she will recover. Lost a very nice buck one fall, to a head injury, there is nothing to do but give pain killer.

Cookie Doe

Cookie Doe was the last of the yearling does to be shorn, you can't tell in the picture but she is black with a white belt, just like an oreo. She has tons of fine hair.Next up to be shorn are the three buck kids. Washed Twinkle's dark red fleece and dyed two mohair fleeces. Still got stuff to unpack. Made time to grill hot wings, roast red potatoes and pick a fresh salad for supper. Ate four meals out while at SAFF and none were very good, haven't eaten out since last years show. Turnip greens are cooking down tonight for tomorrow's meals. Sold the last of this spring's Cormo cross fleeces today, will be shearing the sheep the end of November or December. Something happened to KeeKee, my brown doe that makes soft, curly shawl yarn, while I was away. I found her Monday morning off to herself, she was wet so I knew she had not been able to get up and go in the barn during the storm we had early that morning. I cut a piece of plastic to sled her into a big pen in the barn. She is bright and perky, eating and drinking and pooping, can turn herself around and switch sides, but can't stand. I'll try to make a harness tomorrow to lift her so she can try to put weight on her legs.

The fun part is over

Back to work. After feeding and taking care of everyone I decided it was high time to band more bucks. First and hardest was a bottle kid from last year that is hard to keep away from the does, then on to two more in that pasture. Gave them a CD&T booster, a little pain killer and wormer, since it is so stressful. After noon I unloaded most of the truck, much more to do tomorrow. As we were loading up at SAFF Sunday afternoon, I noticed a very organized vendor rolling shelves of yarn and fiber into her trailer, I was overloaded and just threw bags of fiber into the back of the camper, today I am paying for it.Good thing I don't have to go across those big truck scales to be weighed. Later in the day I started two dye pots and washed a very nice Cormo-BFL fleece.  The weather is perfect for outdoor work so I need to shear more goats.

Reflections of SAFF

We couldn't get our wares set up fast enough for the early bird shoppers Friday morning. So they helped open bags, looking for their treasures. It was the best selling day I have ever had. I credit that to the sheep and goats for the lovely fiber they grow and to Meredith, the best marketer of Tina stuff I have ever had the pleasure to witness. She has Southern charm. All I did was birth those lambs and kids, feed and care for them, shear them, wash the fiber, dye, pick, card and spin, package and load up the stuff, then haul it 224miles. A good bit of work, but it paid off. Evan was in charge of keeping an eye on the goats we brought for show, look cute and give the sales talk. He did a good job. Saturday morning was the goat show. We had two junior buck kids to show in the same class, Curly's kid was first place, Ruby's was third. We had a yearling buck, Miracle Grow ,take first place. Charming an adult buck, took first place and Grand Champion. Cookie Doe took first place in the yearling doe class and Grand Champion doe. Summer was first place adult doe. Cookie Doe and Charming went in for Best of Show against the white goat champions, I knew a colored angora goat could not beat a white angora goat. Cookie Doe took Best of Show. We were pleased. Sunday started off feeding and watering, hooking up to the trailer and get what we could ready to come home. Meredith was selling wool and mohair. It all went so quickly since we were so busy. We made new friends, visited old friends, heard good news, sad news, but had great time. The Asheville area was lovley. Evan wants to bring sheep for show next year. The drive home was went smoothly, unloaded goats, took a shower and got to bed around 2 AM. Woke up sometime in the night to dogs barking at the thunder and rain, up by 7 to get going again.

Leaving Thursday

Last Thursday we left for SAFF. After feeding and checking all the sheep and goats I loaded the show goats on the trailer, put tags in their ears and headed out to get health papers. That went smooth, but on the way back to the farm I had brake trouble, no brakes, two times. After riding around the shop and hitting the brakes hard and nothing happening, I decided to go on to SAFF. By this time my friend and helper Meredith was here, we loaded her things ( enough food and clothes to last a month), into the already over loaded truck and trailer and took off to pick up grandson Evan in Canton. I was so pleased Evan was finally getting to lay out of school for one half day to help his Nana with the show goats. We made it to Jasper, about 35 miles out, I noticed a back trailer tire wobbling. I pulled over to check them, it was not wobbling, the tread was coming off all four tires, they had dry rotted. A car load of teenagers stopped to ask what was wrong, I told them, he said to go down the road to the left to the tire place and they would fix me up. I almost missed the turn, slammed on my brakes, that were working now, pulled in the lot, there was a woman laying out in the sun, in the parking lot ( with her shirt pulled up over her head), in front of the bay where her car was being repaired. Odd. But I walked in the shop, it was full of colorful characters with foul language. What was I to do, the tires would run off the rims if I went farther. The store owner was a very nice guy that apologized for the strange people. Said to pull on up and they would put on 4 new tires for $306. What good fortune, but it took the guy 2 hours to get a stuck lug nut off. We left there, a little after 4,( with the colorful woman still laying out in the sun, shirt still pulled up), and continued on our journey. It was about 7:30-8:00 when we arrived at the fiber festival, unloaded the goats, bedded them down, fed and watered them. Went to the arena to set up our fiber booth, got everything unloaded but had to leave about 9:30 when the barn closed. Had a late supper at Cracker Barrel and went to our room.