Waiting No Longer...

God answered our prayers...with my husband so ill we have been praying that lambing would happen with the ewes doing all the work. God answered our prayers when He allowed my husband to be home from the hospital for 10 days as lambing occured. The hospital he was at and has since returned to is about 50 minutes away. I was a little stressed about being here and there all at the same time...they did it themselves with a little assistance for the last lamb!

Above is our oldest daughter, Katie with her favorite girl, Nala. Our youngest daughter, Lauren selected a Disney theme for this year's lamb names.

Our stats for 2011: 10 rams and 3 ewes. 3 singles and 5 sets of twins. Like I mentioned...we prayed for safe deliveries and healthy lambs! Thank you, Lord, for taking care of us!

All of the lambs except the last one born were sired by Mapleton Thunder, a moorit and white yuglet flecket.

On April 2, Electra, a first time mom, gave birth to a black ram lamb. Then we waited a week and...

On April 10th, Lucy gave birth to a ewe lamb and a ram lamb. Nala is a smirslet katmoget. Not sure of what color to call her...light grey or white? Simba is a moorit with a few white hairs on his head.

Then on April 11th, Amelia gave birth to two ram lambs. Above is Buzz, a moorit boy.

Below is Woody, a fawn katmoget.

That afternoon on the 11th, Camille gave birth to look alike lambs. Above is Peter Pan and Tinker Bell wouldn't allow me to photograph her. She is a darker brown but both have sugar lips. So I guess they will be musket? These two came from a first time mom and they are our tiniest lambs of the year.

At daybreak on the 12th of April, Charlotte gave us adorable lambs. Above is Slinky, a moorit and white yuglet flecket ram lamb that is mostly white. His sister is below. Jessie, is quite a pip!

Jessie has a real perky personality. She is a moorit smirslet sokket.

Later that day, Gina gave us these two beautiful RAMS. On the left is a moorit and white boy named Donald Duck. To his right, Mickey Mouse, a black and white yuglet flecket.

For the past 3 years, Shania has given us ram lambs. We sure would love a beautiful spotted daughter before she is retired! On April 14th she gave us a moorit and white yuglet flecket ram.

Here is Prince Charming (Charm). He looks just like his father.

Last but not least is this little guy sired by Rare Find Farms Cory. He will be a little musket guy and is unnamed as of yet.

Needless to say...all these precious boys are for sale. Choosing ewes to keep was made quite simple this year!!

I would love to spend more time with the sheep but the hospital calls. Please keep my husband in your prayers as he continues to battle pancreatitis and its effects. Possible surgery next week and hopefully home before too long!!

Shearing will commence next weekend! Yippee!!

Have a blessed and beautiful Easter as we celebrate our reason for living!!

Ladies-in-Waiting...

And waiting and waiting...soon...we hope! Our shearer, Anthony, came out to help Katie and I get the pregnant ewes ready for lambing a couple of weeks ago. Crutching, CD&T, deworming and hoof trimming were on the agenda that day. We love our mamas!! They are so friendly at this time. Above is Lucille Ball, grey katmoget, second time lambing. Bred to Mapleton Thunder.

If you follow our blog you know who this is. This is Shania. She is one of our favorites from Windswept Farms. She is also bred to Thunder.

Above is our precious Cara. She had a year off and is back in business. Cara and Rare Find Farm Cory give us "ghost" kats. Can't wait to see lambs this year. Her lambs end up being the friendliest Shetlands we ever have.

Here is Amelia Earhart, a fawn kat. She will be a second time mother and is bred to Thunder as well.

This is our Camille, a Cara daughter. She will be a first time mom that is bred to Thunder. She is one of our brown based "ghost" kats.

Not photographed were Gina, a yuglet sokket, and Charlotte Bronte, a smirslet sokket, and Electra King, a grey kat, all bred to Mapleton Thunder. Eight ewes in all, bred and in waiting.

Here they are...there are also 2 yearlings in the picture that we have kept here with the bred ewes. All of our other sheep reside at my nephew's house.

When do they begin? Friday will be day 146 for Electra, Gina- date unknown, and the rest will be the following Friday through Tuesday...one right after the other!! Katie and I can't wait.

So...where have we been since the last post...on January 4th (12 weeks ago today) my precious husband, Rothey, was struck with necrotizing acute pancreatitis...MEAN stuff...it became infected. He has been in the hospital for 85 days and is now waiting to go to reheb. He had mulitple organ failure and was in ICU for 38 days. He ended up being on kidney dialysis, had a tracheostomy, central lines, 8 different drains in his abdomen, 3 surgeries to remove dead infected tissue...on and on... The Sunday after this began, our dog, Belle, became very ill and we had to have her put to sleep...our plan was always for Rothey to handle it... Our stove died, the toilet was leaking, the blinker on the truck went out, lambing is coming...life continues...all this to say... My God is an Awesome God...my husband is truly a miracle (only 3 % of people with pancreatitis get it this badly and I don't know what the survival rate of that is)...My Jesus has been with us every moment...sometimes carrying us...sometimes holding our hand...and oh, the peace we have experienced!! He has given us strength and courage...and our faith has grown...and we have lived through it to tell others all he has done!!

History in the making...

The first white Christmas in Hendersonville since 1981...

I was just 16 years old at the time...nothing stands out in my memory about that day.

My Belle, a dachshund-terrier mix, is 17 1/2 years old and celebrating another Christmas as an "old girl."

Began a Shetland shawl on my triangle loom with the above yarn on the 26th, my wedding anniversary, as my husband was out with the tractor scraping driveways...

Completed 7 foot shawl in a record four days...

Finished product commissioned by my brother in New York for his wife...

Wow!! Much going on in western North Carolina over Christmas break!!

Hope everyone has a blessed New Year!

A Visit To America's Largest Home

Katie and I enjoyed a day at the Biltmore House in Asheville, North Carolina. Katie's first visit to this amazing home was when I was teaching 6th grade in the public schools and was pregnant with her. Now she is 22 and we could really enjoy it together!

It was cold enough to feel Christmas-like but not cold enough to be miserable.

Inside decorations for Christmas included a huge live tree in the dining room. Thirty something feet tall, I believe. It was adorned with huge ornaments including full sized presents among the branches. We were told that Mrs. Vanderbilt would have all the employees and their families in for a party. Children 11 years old and under received gifts each year that were actually in the tree. It was amazing! Of course pictures were not allowed inside.

George Vanderbilt bought acreage that totaled 200 square miles. Here you see the beautiful Blue Ridge Mountains. Much of the land was sold to Pisgah National Forest upon his death. Wow!!

Here's my lovely Katie posing in front of Vanderbilt land. Her bag contains beautiful Christmas ornaments purchased in one of the shops in the old stable. We love to collect ornaments wherever we go.

Here is the greenhouse where amazing flowers grow. An orchid room was what pleased me the most. You will see many of the lovelies below.

OUTSTANDING!

We also visited their farmyard. They raise a flock of sheep and herd of cattle on the property.

Someday we will return and take a nighttime Christmas tour...

It's beginning to look a lot like...

CHRISTMAS! Snowy weather this early is quite unusual for us here in Hendersonville, NC. Last year was an unusually snowy year and weathermen are predicting a calmer winter for us (or so they say).

It was exciting to wake up to 3 or 4 inches of snow that was only to have been snow flurries and snow showers.

The sheep seem to have enjoyed a nice day in the barn. Hopefully these mammas are growing some sweet little lambies!

Merry Christmas! May you have a blessed season celebrating the birth of our Lord Jesus!

SAFF 2010

Southeastern Animal Fiber Fair October 22-24, 2010

Talking about trained Shetland sheep! Here is Camille, a yearling ewe, being shown by Lauren.

She is a "ghost" kat. As you can see, Camille knows just what to do!

I was in the show ring during the ewe lamb class and the aged ewe class so we haven't any pictures.

On Sunday, the 24th, the Open Wool Sheep Show commenced.

Our first class was for ram lambs. Lauren placed 1st with our homegrown black ram, Midnight. Katie was 2nd with Mapleton Farm Thunder. Our judge was looking for a lot of crimp and of course, soft fleeces.

In the Shetland ewe lamb class there were 13 entries. April Showers was 3rd, Hearttrob (Katie's new ewe lamb) was 4th, Aurora was 5th and Stormy was 8th.

Here is our judge examining Camille being shown by Lauren. This was the yearling ewe class.

This is Katie showning Solitaire. (This same judge picked her for first place at the NC Mtn. State Fair in September.)

She is inspecting Electra's wool. Electra being shown by Joe, Lauren's boyfriend. Boyfriends in our family are expected to help with all aspects of our sheep! :)

Katie's Solitaire won the yearling class and here she is showing for Champion Shetland ewe. The grey katmoget in the front is Scarlet. She was ours and is now owned by someone else. She was the first placed aged ewe.


And the Champion Shetland ewe is..........

Solitaire...proudly shown by Katie.


In the aged ewe class we were 2nd with Cara, 3rd with Sprinkles, 4th with Shania, and 7th with Amelia out of 11 ewes.

Out of about 25 pairs in the all breed pair of ewes, Cara and Sprinkles placed 7th.

In the Shetland fleece class we were 1st with the black ram lamb, Midnight, 2nd with Heartthrob, 4th with April and 6th with Aurora.

Overall, a very nice show!!

We also entered 7 fleeces in the fleece show and sale. The judge this year didn't judge by comparison--1st, 2nd, 3rd, etc. She judged using a scorecard. I believe that anything over a score of 90 was a blue ribbon. All 7 of our fleeces won blue ribbons. Our lowest score was a 94 and the highest was a 98 with Shania's fleece. We were very pleased! We sold one of the two we were offering.

We sent 2 of the show fleeces to Davis Ridge Fiber Mill, in West Virginia. We sent 4 show fleeces to Fleury Sheep & Wool Fiber Processing in Georgia. Can't wait to get them back!! The Fleury's purchased a ram lamb from us several years ago. They raise Shetlands and they love their fleeces.

We didn't purchase many things at SAFF this year. I did get an embroidered long sleeve t-shirt from Sunny Meade Woolies in Kentucky. It has a cute sheep on it, of course! Katie and I both also bought 2 yarn bowls. We first bought small single bowls from Brandon from Davis Ridge Fiber Mill (my husband's second cousin). A friend made them for him to sell at shows. Then we each bought one from Knit Witch. Mine is a large double yarn bowl that I use to hold my roving as I spin. It is wonderful. The roving doesn't run all over the room. Katie bought a shawl pin and then she bought me a beautiful sheep from Fiber Dream Santas made from her Cotswold locks as an early Christmas present. Thank you, Katie!!

SAFF is our favorite sheep related event of the year. It always goes too quickly!!

Breeding groups have been put together and the next event? LAMBING, of course.

http://www.fleurysheepandwool.com/

http://www.sunnymeadefarm.com/

http://www.knitwitch.com/

http://www.fiberdreamsantas.etsy.com/

http://www.davisridgefiberfarm.com/

It Was A Grand 'Ole Fair!

Last week we were preparing for the 2010 North Carolina Mountain State Fair. Rothey and Katie loaded 16 sheep Friday morning and delivered them to the WNC Agricultural Center. We love being in the barn "talking sheep" with others after settling our flock and setting up our information table.

Saturday is the shorn fleece competition and then the junior show begins. I enjoyed a day of spinning since we no longer have showmen 18 and under. This year we had so many more people interested in "talking sheep" instead of asking all those "interesting" questions---are these goats? Why do those other sheep have coats on? What do they do with the wool they are trimming? Yes, we had plenty of those questions as well.

Sunday at 10:00 the open show began with the ram lamb classes. In the picture above Lauren is in pink on the left with Midnight and her boyfriend, Joe has Jack Frost. Then comes Katie with Mapleton Thunder.

Katie was very pleased when Thunder took 1st place out of 11 natural colored Shetland ram lambs. Jack Frost was a respectable 3rd and Midnight was 4th.

After the ram lamb and yearling lamb classes, 4 rams compete for Champion Shetland ram and Reserve Champion. We were very excited to receive the Reserve Champion ribbon. (You can tell by the smile on Katie's face!) Thank you, Kara!! :)

Below, Katie is showing Rare Find Farm Heartthrob for Lynn Michaels. Katie is now the proud owner of this little ewe lamb. We weren't planning on bringing any more ewes in for a while but she was irresistable!! Lynn will bring her to SAFF in October after she is shown at our NC State Fair in Raleigh.

In come our natural colored Shetland Ewe lambs. Lauren has Stormy, Joe has Dew Drop and Katie has Aurora. Stormy and Aurora are twins. I was somewhere in the ring with April Showers. There were 15 ewe lambs in this class with only 8 placed. April received a 4th place, our best. Stormy was 7th and Aurora was 8th. There were lots of pretty little girls in this class. The judge kept talking about how diversified the Shetland fleeces were and that she was going to go with what she liked best.

Below is the yearling class. We entered 4 yearlings. Camille placed 2nd in the white class. In the natural colored class Katie is showing Electra, a grey kat. Joe has Christmas who will be leaving for Virginia in a few weeks. Lauren has Solitaire, a light grey kat. There were about 10 yearlings in this class and Lauren placed 1st with Solitaire. Electra was 4th and Christmas was 5th. We feel successful if we can place in the top half of the class.

The pair of ewes for each breed is always a fun class. Katie with help from her 4-H friend, Kelsie, placed 1st with Cara and Sprinkles, two aged ewes. Lauren and Joe were 3rd with Jackie and Camille. There were about 10 Shetland pairs in this class.

We are very fortunate here in NC to be able to show aged ewes. They are usually our best trained sheep. They know exactly what to do in the show ring. After showing for many years, Katie and Lauren prefer to show without halters. These ewes walk in with presence and enjoy being in the ring.

Lauren is above with Cara. She had a year off from breeding. Joe has Amelia and Katie has one of our favorites, Shania. There I am too with Katie's ewe, Sprinkles. Joe and I use a halter just in case! :)

Lauren placed 1st in the white aged ewe class with Jackie O. There were 13 natural colored aged Shetland ewes and Lauren placed 1st with Cara. Katie was 2nd with Shania, I was 5th with Sprinkles and Joe was 8th with Amelia.

The 3 Dotson girls took Jackie, Solitaire and Cara in to the Champion Shetland ewe class. Lauren was proud of Cara when she took Champion Shetland ewe! Just look at that smile!

We were very proud of our sheep and all the contacts we made with people that loved them too!

Our shorn fleeces placed well on Saturday also. In the white class, Solitaire was 2nd and Camille was 3rd. Katie later sold Solitaire's fleece. In the natural colored class Abby was 1st, Christmas was 3rd, Shania was 4th, Electra was 6th and Amelia was 7th. I believe that there were 12 entries.

The weather was hot and beautiful this year! Rothey and I even rode the chairlift...twice! We were able to get home and unloaded in the daylight...a weekend of fun!! It was a grand 'ole fair!!

Yes, my Dad would have been proud too!! I sure missed calling and telling him about all our sheep and their ribbons. Ribbons or not, we know we are champions. Dad always made sure we knew!!