It’s hard to believe that April is almost over. What a glorious Spring we’ve had. I’ve
savored the last five weeks of mild weather and watching the grass and trees
turn green. It seems that most farms
have at least one big old apple tree.
Ours is next to the house and it is in full bloom. It is breathtaking. We’ve already had salad greens and baby
spinach from the garden. Peas, onions,
garlic, and potatoes are up. I got an
early start in March. But after that, I
had to get busy with other things. So
the rest of the garden won’t get planted until the middle of May.
We are all done lambing. Finally, we had more ewe lambs than
ram lambs. We have four Lincoln rams:
Imax, Imogene, Ida, and Ike. We have one
Romney ewe, she is colored and her name is Imogene. We have four Leicester Longwool lambs:
Indigo, Ike, Isadora, and Ivy. Can you
tell that this year we are on the letter “I?”
They’ve been able to be on grass during the day since last week.
It’s crunch time. Shepherd’s Harvest is two weeks away. I’ve been getting wool to our new local mill
in Houston, Minnesota almost weekly. I
picked up a large order from the mill I usually use (Rach Al Paca in Hastings)
two weeks ago. I’m washing wool and
carding wool just as fast as I can. As
always, there is wool everywhere.
If you’ve never been to Shepherd’s Harvest, I highly
recommend it. This year marks the 15th
annual Shepherd’s Harvest Festival. It
is held at the Washington County Fairgrounds in Lake Elmo. Llamas, Alpacas, sheep, and goats are on
display in the barns. Shepherds like me
bring their fleeces to be judged. There
are many other competitions as well. There
are great classes and workshops. The
most fun are the four buildings of fiber venders. The yarns, the colors, the textures are a
feast for the eyes. Really, if you haven’t
ever gone – YOU HAVE TO GO. We’ll be
there with sheep in the barn and our booth is in building B. We share a booth with EK Sheep. They raise Lincolns and they’ll have their
Lincolns in the barn.
This week is our first delivery of the new CSA year. I always try to get it out at the beginning
of the month. But sometimes things get
away from me. I teach during the school
year and have four kids at home, so I’m going all of the time. This month, the shepherd’s shares consist of
naturally white Aran wool. I’m really
excited about this yarn. I’ve been
working with Rachel at Rach Al Paca for almost two years to produce traditional
Aran and Guernsey yarns. We finally did
it. This yarn has a lovely soft sheen or
luster. Eugenia, a
Lincoln-Romney cross provided the wool. (That’s
her and Dennis in the photo) The spinner’s shares are getting art yarn
kits. This is something new that I’m
putting together and will have available for sale at Shepherd’s Harvest. Each kit contains carded wool, glitz or Angelina,
locks, ribbon or trim, and beads. It’s
all color-coordinated and I tried to pick out colors according to your
preferences. Have a great month, enjoy the fiber, and I hope to see you at
Shepherds Harvest!
