11/20/2007

HAPPY THANKSGIVING 2008 !

Greetings from Snowy Cummington. It’s snowing this morning and making the paddocks look pristine and clean, with sheep laying down collecting a white covering on their fine fleeces. Perhaps abit romantic, but the snow is a welcome quiet to our, oft times, hectic lives. Even in the middle of breeding season, there seems to be alot of chores pressing at us… cordwood stacked closer by the house and barn, clearing of manure from the paddock, trimming trees, cutting trees, milling trees, putting the garden to bed with the final planting of the garlic and shallots…. And so the wool washing begins. There was a repreive for a couple months but now that the woodstove is burning there’s a lovely passive drying system in place for the wool to dry in a days time or so. I’ll start dying wool now too. I have 12 new colors to experiment with and look forward in blending and spinning some one of a kind yarns. I’ve been spinning for weaving over the whole summer. I’ll be setting up the looms now planning projects like shawls, throws and scarves.

The really great news I want to share as well, is that I was able to purchase five new Leicester Longwool ewes! There are three new ram lines within the new group and two of the five are proven ewes that are in with "Charles" now getting bred. The three ewe lambs are in full fleece and are in good condition. This occurance was a blessing and a huge boost for my breeding program. I am indebted to the seller and will be focused on keeping them in good steed.

Due to the increase in ewe stock I will be able to sell all the ewe lambs next season. I plan to sell all the lamb stock next year and hope that the list of interested buyers will be active and useful. I am also holding one open ram lamb, registered natural colored "Leavon" over for the winter. He has great potential for crossbreeding. Dicken was not sold this year so he’ll also be available for sale, he’s a purebred Leicester Longwool ram. I’ve planned to harvest Paragon this year. He’s been a good ram for crossing onto my other longwool ewes, producing healthy and fast growing lambs with great wool and carcass quality.

The wool business is doing well and between doing NY Sheep Fair at Rhinebeck and the website, things are going forward. I will only be doing two shows next year and hope to develop the website business and focus on weaving.