We've had visitors!

So yesterday, our friend Katherine came over for a visit. She's here for the summer in the area working with the Glimmerglass Opera down the road here (we're hoping some culture will rub off on us ). I was thrilled when she agreed to bring along her instument of choice to play a ditty or 2 for Nora. She's never heard a violin in person before, and for a few minutes was overwhelmed by the volume it produced in our humble abode.

Later in the day, she played again and Nora decided it was definately good. Dance music, even.

Katherine knits as well (can it get any better?) and is working on a pair of single repeat 'Afterthought' colorway. Just for Lisa, we got pics. I have also been promised pics of the completed pair.

Some friends of hers came with, and we toured the farm. Ann-Marie, also in the orchestra, and her boys Eric and Christophe. They saw the sheep, the piggers, baby chicks, the works. Christophe the younger brother has the makings of a great spinner, and scored a skein of the slightly heavier SuperStrong sock yarn for a scarf.



It was a great afternoon and I'm SOOO glad they all came!




On another note, check out what Nora drew and then TAPED to her door:




Please note that if you read it from right to left, it says "No mom dad" below a circle with drawings of mom and dad and an X over the circle (note how sad we look), with Nora at the bottom corner (note the smile on her face). Correct me if I'm wrong, but wasn't this type of signage supposed to start when she was well, a little older??


And thanks, the hand is doing better. Still hen-pecking it, but recovering.

I'll get right on that.

Have you ever noticed that when you have to endure some periods of forced inactivity, that you find yourself wanting to be the most productive? You suddenly seem to be inspired to even clean something, and procrastination is a thing of the past.
That would be me. Well, actually, (to quote some good '80's slang) that would be me on drugs. Antibiotcs & pain pills, really. You see, I was 1/2 way through butchering some chickens yesterday... and I'll bet you can see where this is going. In one masterful stroke, I managed to NOT remove the neck bone I had decided needed to be removed, while simultaneously slicing open an inch gash across my knuckle bone. With a boning knife no less. Excellent emergency skills, and a babysitter already on site made the afternoon as painless as it could be, all things being what they were. Thankfully, while she said I could see tendon, I didn't do any damage to anything except soft tissue. And, as it was a very thin knife, she used this wicked cool skin glue called dura-blast (I think) so no stitches. Did get the tetnus shot though. The skin glue doesn't hurt at all, while the alcohol/jet fuel based commercially available product 'nu skin' stings like (insert very bad word here). Go figure. Anyways, I'm hen-pecking for typing and it's stoopidly slow for me & my usual 45wpm so don't expect gobs of email from me. Any typing done here is likely via dictation to my handy farm-help Kacey.
The yarn for the next club kit is skeined & ready to go, but as I can't get the bandages wet for 7 days, I don't have many dye-slaves of my own here, and while Nora dyes some beautiful stuff, she's just not up for club projects just yet.
In the meantime, I'm mulling over names for the new/wrong yarn here. We're keeping it (EZ says you never know when a mistake may be a design feature). It's 75% wool/25% nylon, sock-yarn weight 4 ply and it does felt. A couple of suggestions so far:
Car-Cozy Yarn
Versitae (pronounced versit-i) because it's...well, versitile.
Lemonade
I know there were a couple of others but I've misplaced those brain cells right now.
So, if you have a suggestion, leave it in the comments. If you like one of the couple here, leave it in the comments.

Comment Responses:

Lynne, Pat & others:
Several have suggested the car cozy yarn for lace shawls - I like this idea immensely, and I've got a 600 yard skein and a 1200 yard skein right here waiting for 'the hand' to recover to see how those quantities work in the dye pot and what needs to be adjusted to handle that size to cater to that market.

Trainlady, re postscript. No lambs were harmed this time. Tragedy has touched us in this manner in the past with no respect to age (lambs and ewes have bit the fence, so to speak). Most times, they survive the ordeal.

Food for Thought:
Do you know where your food comes from?

(taken from eatwild.com news page)

Corn Prices Too High? Feed the Animals Candy Instead

The growing use of corn for fuel has doubled the price of corn for animal feed. Typically, corn comprises about 70 percent of the diet of animals raised in confinement. To offset the spiking cost of corn, many feedlot managers are replacing some of the corn with candy and other “junk food” that has been declared unfit for human consumption.
According to an article in The Wall Street Journal, this sugary, fatty fare includes banana chips, yogurt-covered raisin, cookies, licorice, cheese curls, frosted wheat cereal, Tater Tots, Kit Kat bars, uncooked French fries, pretzels and chocolate bars. One feedlot operator from Idaho confesses that he feeds his cattle a 100 percent “by-product” meal.
Grass, the native diet of grazing animals, is a rich source of protein, antioxidants, and omega-3 fatty acids. Has anyone measured the nutritional value of meat from junk-food-fed cows? Candy may be cheap, but it’s cheating consumers out of meat’s natural nutrition. Consider grass-fed, instead.
(“With Corn Prices Rising, Pigs Switch to Fatty Snacks” Lauren Etter, Wall Street Journal, May 21, 2007.)

The Knitting Goddess is Cruel.

You know, here I thought that because I wasn't really working on a knitting project, that the knitting goddess couldn't 'mess' with me, ya know?
I mean, what was she going to do to me? Dust my knitting needles? Move the pink yarn over to the box with the orange yarn? Not much going on in the knitting front around here, just a couple of rolled-brim hats for upcoming fall craft shows. I was safe from mischief, or so I thought.
Enter the next order of base yarn for me to dye for OTHER knitters.

Ordered: Serious poundage (in the triple digits) of our FlockSock base yarn 75%superwash/25% nylon blend pristine in it's undye-ed-ness.

Delivered to my door: Serious poundage (now mocking me with it's triple digits) of a 75% wool/25% nylon NOT superwash yarn. Which definately felts.

"What's that?" Says the Knitting Goddess. "I can't mess with you?" She giggles madly while waving her magic needles in my direction. "Hang on."

I may as well cast on for that Harlot Bohus now, cause what could go wrong?

So, if you'll excuse me, I must go make some lemon-ade. And a pattern/kit for a felted car cozy...

Post Script

Dear Sheep:

Please consider this a post-script addition to our little chat earlier this year.

I'm sure I mentioned the 'don't drop dead' part as being very important, even critical to all our survival so to speak.
Please if you would be so kind, pass on to your offspring, and feel free to remind each other while out grazing 'round the ol' water hole.... electricity kills. Let's avoid sticking our heads THROUGH the electric fence for that one little bite of grass, shall we?
You know the fence is on, you know it's going to hurt when you get zapped, it shouldn't be very difficult to figure out what's going to happen when you begin dancing wildly because you're getting zapped and you've wrapped the fence round your wee little hoof, neck or entire body for goodness sake.
And, if your plan is to sacrifice yourself and 'bring down' the entire fence so the flock can run free across 2 counties.... stop now. Your flock mates seem a bit smarter than you, because if you succeed in bringing down a portion of the fence, they usually do not take advantage of this BECAUSE THEY HAVE TO CROSS THE ELECTRIC FENCE LAYING ON THE GROUND and your twitching self. And, to add insult to your injury and possible death, the few who brave the zap & head for greener pastures STOP TO GRAZE the nearest green pasture. That's right, no one runs free, or escapes the farm. They stop right next door in the very pasture I would have moved you tomorrow.

Thank you for your attention, feel free to go back to grazing. Away from the fences.

All our love,

The Shepherds

I've got new socks!

Years ago, I read or heard about this psych professor who would have his students go out and give a try to a list of 'stunts' designed to study social responses blah blah blah. Anyways, my 2 favorites from the list of things to do, were for crowded elevators.

1. Be the last person to board a crowded elevator. Face the crowd and grin. That's all, just smile. Really big & happy-like. Now, I don't know about you, but that's just disturbing and kinda scary.
2. Be the last person to board a crowded elvator. (I sense a lack of creativity on the part of the professor.) Face the crowd and announce boldly and with much enthusiasm: "I've got new socks!"

My brother once thought this was absolutely the best hands-down way to greet and freak out complete strangers. He was right. Now, I would like to chime in with him and announce proudly:

I'VE GOT NEW SOCKS!!

Just LOOK at what one of the club members made for ME!! Dudes. I am totally thrilled. As I sat here staring at the 1/4 knit lonely sock cast on in the wee hours more weeks ago than I care to count up, I might have mentioned the lack of hand-knit socks and the irony of it all, what with all the SOCK YARN that goes out the door here. And then these show up on my doorstep. Snug as a bug in a rug are my toes :) A billion thankyouthankyouthankyous to you Pat, thank you.

Please note for the record: The right foot looks a little... well, 'off kilter'. This is because of the 6 or 7 foot surgeries on that foot, it is NOT the socks!! They fit perfect.

Now, just when things couldn't get any better, ON THE SAME DAY, these also arrived:
Let's get a close up, shall we?

Helen has made me 2 of the most lovely potholders I've ever used to pick a pip'in pot off the stove with. They are double-knit, with colors different on each side, wickedly cool. She's a mighty creative gal, thanks Helen - I love them!

My daughter was not quite as pleased that none of the packages had her name on them, but she did enjoy wearing my new socks and using the potholders as blankets for her Barbies that afternoon.

Addendum to the Numbers.

First and foremost, my husband says I am to point out that the picture of the shearer is not of him shearing a sheep, but of the shearer who was also here shearing that weekend. The shearer sheared just over 200 sheep in 2 days, and we're very glad he did!


We caught that racoon the night we purchased the trap and were very pleased with ourselves... And then the next night lost 3 more hens to his big brother. We caught him as well. So far, the trap sits bated but empty and the hen house is down to 11 hens & a rooster. I find myself on the hunt so to speak, for new laying hens to replace the missing crew. No easy task, as folks who have hens for sale seem to want to convince me that the 3 year old scrawny bird sitting sullen in the back of the coop is really a 'good layer'. At that age and condition, the term 'good layer' translates to 'good at laying around all day eating and producing NOTHING'. The search continues.


The 5 little chicks are learning to fly I discovered, as I found mom and chicks roosting last night on the counter of the milk room they are currently staying in. They now share their home with 26 chicks. I'll try to get pics tomorrow of the mob of yellow fluff out there.


Eric has injured his neck leaving me in charge of EVERYTHING. I am exhausted, and pretty darn tired of farm chores (for more on that, see Lisa's latest post here. She came to visit, a wonderful time was had by all but I am to darn tired to go into more detail.


It did finally rain, and everything looks nice & green, but I worry about hay for the winter here. I don't know if we'll get another cutting from our farm. Price of winter could be high, we'll see.


Comments on the comments:

Let me say, I am sorry if I have not replied or responded to questions in the blog. First of all, blogger won't LET me reply directly. Secondly, well, I've been off my game lately (see spring=exhaustion).

So here goes:


Woolgirl: time to knit? time to KNIT?? Uh huh. You mean, like, with needles? I understand 'startitis' but what do you call it when you have so many projects you want to start that you stand in the middle of the fiber room and just stare in a daze with a handful of needles in one hand and an inhaler in the other for the minor panic attack in the other? time to knit she mumbles.


Andrea: Your welcome! The yarn fairy grins with glee :)


Colleen: We *try* to shear the sheep before they lamb. It's easier on everyone, even the lamb because they no longer recognize their mum after she's been sheared, I kid you not. Not to mention trying to sort sheep with lambs in the pens. No way to find the pair & keep them together through the whole day/ordeal. And, for the wool, it's better because lambing can cause a 'break' in the fleece (where the wool stops and starts growing again literally making a break or weak spot in that section of the wool fiber/strand). Very good question.


Jo at Celtic Memory, how'd that Imbas sock turn out?? and did I hear you mention Slytherin for House Socks? You should check out the House colors here...


Colleen: Rental Sheep have had lambs (a good portion of them anyways). Pictures were delayed due to well... more than 340 ewes giving birth and only 2 shepherds. I'm working on them, and the fleece from the rentals! Don't despair :)


Sorry, not much in the way of pictures. I'll leave you with this: Anyone want to guess what this is?

It's all about the Numbers.

Hi, remember me? Here's a quick, brief run-down (run into the ground, run-down) of what we've been up to around here. There's way more by the way, these were just the highlights of spring and lambing.

More than 200 sheep sheared in 2 days.... and 5 stitches for spouse in a shearing accident.













More than 80 fleeces to skirt - this is just a few of them...












The rest went into the wool-pool bags.

















More than 280 lambs (we were just to tired to keep counting by that time).

More than 16 bottle lambs total, with 7 still on the bottle (not bad considering the total lambs born is probably about 350-375-ish).

11 lambs who would have been bottle lambs grafted onto other mothers. (major happy about that one!!)

2 emergency c-sections to save the lambs.

7 animals treated for fly-strike (you do NOT want details on that)

8 new pigs on the farm.

1 steer off to butcher.

What felt like a bazillion-teen skeins of yarn for Cookie's Garden, the spring sock kit for the club.











1 set of double rainbows.












Deja-vu with another astronomical number of skeins of yarn for The Summer sock kit for the club... (pick your own 3 out of 5 ice cream flavors - what was I thinking??)

10 broiler chicks (round 1 - round 2 would be 25 to be delivered next week)

21 hens laying an amazing number of eggs (quiche, anyone?) , down to 13 - see the next 'number'.

1 raccoon who lightened the hen-pen by 8 hens in 4 days... followed by the purchase of a trap.

200 bales of hay at about 600lbs each (that's 1/2 of what we need for the coming winter, folks).



2 1/2 inches of rain in almost 6 weeks (very bad).
5 brand new baby chicks with mommy-hen (2 peeking out here).

Team Work

"Ok now's our chance to escape!"

"I saw this in a movie once, and it worked for the fish."

"Everyone: Lift UP!!"

Surfacing for Air

VERY quickly, I do still exist. I have TONS of pictures waiting, and I've gotten as far as downloading them from the camera... which is a huge step forward.

I expect to catch you all up to date on the farm life in the next day or so, but for now let me just say that we recorded 28 lambs just for today. 28 new lambs, people. The spring newsletter is here, and should go out tomorrow but let's face it - it's ALREADY tomorrow and I haven't gone to bed yet so expect a postdate on that for Wednesday because my reality check is obviously broken.

Before I forget, if you have left a comment and hoped for a response... I cannot figure out how to answer you privately as Blogger sends me a copy of your comment via a 'no-reply' email address which seems sort of silly. So, I'm really really really not ignoring you or your question and I'll answer some of the asked questions when I start catching up in the next day or so on blogging. With pictures. Lamb pictures, shearing pictures, cutest-ever-4-year-old-pictures, yarn pictures, and numbers. LOTS of numbers.

Now I'm going to bed. Don't anyone wake me for at least 5 hours.

The Force is strong with this one.

Well! The snow disspeared in record time - as soon as the sun came out that is. And, I'm fairly certain that the sheep can actually hear the individual blades of grass growing. You'll see them trying desperately to graze what little stubble is out there, when suddenly, a large group of them will head in the same direction with singular purpose (mildly borg-like) only to arrive at a mysterious destination in the middle of the field.... only to begin grazing stubble in the NEW spot.

Anyways, yesterday was the first really warm, sunny, why-the-heck-am-I-doing-barn-chores-wearing-a-wool-sweater day. And we found this out in the pasture, motherless and forlorn first thing in the a.m.

She is a sweety. Another ewe was valiantly trying to be her mother, but failing as she herself isn't due for several weeks and has no milk to offer. Mom was no where to be found, and after a careful search we decided she was a single orphan. Now let me tell you. When we bring the ewes into the barn yard, they line up at the feeders for a bit of grain and it is an impressive site. We do this for a couple of reasons.

1. Sheep are not the brightest creatures. Reminding them that the rattle of a grain bucket is a yummy thing, keeps them running for you and that bucket in the middle of summer. This is especially handy when a fence comes down and the sheep are out of their pasture. (the grass really is greener on the other side of the fence.) The fact that all year long they continue to fall for this trick is a tribute to their brain-power, and yet they do occasionally outsmart me. nice.


2. It gives us the opportunity to trick them into confinement so they don't try to eat the bale of hay as it comes of the tractor, sacrificing themselves under 600lbs of feed. Or the wheel of the tractor.


3. Prior to lambing, it gives us the chance to get a good look at everyone, catching and handling any ewe with a problem.

In this case, it gave me the chance to walk through the barnyard while they were all head down in the feeder looking for the errant mother. Now, I'm sure you all can guess how we do that here. Even my 4 year old knows what to do, and she's quite good at it. We walk the line of bums, looking for tell-tale signs of labor and/or delivery. Couldn't find a thing. Husband finally found her about an hour later, by accident as he was catching another ewe with a limp. He noticed blood the size of a quarter on this ewe's back leg. Talk about a good eye! Noticing that on one sheep out of 300, in mud up to their bellies. We are impressed by him on a daily basis. Anyways, this was as suspected, a first time mum suffering from the 'what the heck came out of my butt' syndrome. I'm happy to say that after 24 hours tied in a stall with her offspring, she is now untied and no longer trying to head-butt the poor thing. Why she even grudgingly gets up to let her nurse! Serious progress. In a couple of days she might even get nervous when I take her lamb away for a moment.
That lamb? This afternoon she weighed in at a whopping 5lbs 7oz. She probably weighed under 5lbs at birth. We are seriously impressed with her will to live. Not bad for a preemie!

Sock Progress: I'm happy to say, that if I give up 5 more minutes of sleep a day, I can actually add a row or 2 to this sock. And let me just say, I LOVE my knitpicks circs. LOVE.

What's in the dyepot you ask? Harry Potter. Or, at least Harry Potter themed colors. House colors to be exact, go check them out here at www.nysfarm.com/harrypotter.htm and while everyone seems to want the self-striping yarn, patience is going to have to be the word of the day on that one. To make that project feasable, I'm still working out a better mousetrap for skeining/dyeing. I'll keep you posted.

Word of the Day: Demoralizing.

Definition:

1. To undermine the confidence or morale of; dishearten.



2. To put into disorder; confuse.

This is DEMORALIZING. I mean really. Let's look at the calendar, shall we?? This was yesterday's picture. And, please note that the crap on the tin roof of the barn over the visible slider door, was ALLLLLL on the ground in front of the door this morning. And, just for fun, does anyone want to guess how long it took to do chores & feed 340 odd sheep in that? To long, people. To long. Finishing just in time to start evening chores. And, it's raining on top of it all. Which, I might add is NOT melting the snow, since it isn't really snow... it's slush. 8 inches plus of slush. Back-breaking, shovel breaking, tractor-getting-stuck, slush. I'll stop now before the twitch under my left eye starts up again.

Painter's Tape - EXCELLENT idea from the comments the other day for the 4 year old, hardware store here we come.

Sock Progress: Needles came, thank goodness or I was going to start knitting with bar-b-que shish kebob skewers. Don't think I wasn't fixing to see what size they were! Anyhow, we lovelovelove our new knitpicks 32inch size 1 needles. So, if anyone needs a 29inch size 1 & 3 COMBO circ, I've got you covered. If not, than I suggest avoiding Boye needles like the plague. Interesting conversation with them the other day by the way (I get on the phone & call folks when I'm cranky about their poorly constructed tools). According to her, all of their size one needles have a larger than guage size join from needle to cord and back again. Apparently, I shouldn't have a problem with it, regardless of the fact that YOU CAN'T USE THEM FOR SIZE ONE PROJECTS (and yes, I realize I'm shouting). She didn't see this as much of an issue for some reason. After several hopeful and polite questions, I finally asked where I should send the useless needles so that they could refund my money (the store I bought them at was closing it's yarn section - probably because they kept selling useless needles). With only mild grudging, she gave me the address. I do not in any way blame her, but for heaven's sake people (Boye in particular) - what were they thinking?? And to tell me 'they are all that way' in a voice that clearly said 'you are mildly off your rocker for thinking a size one needle actually be a size one needle...'

Also, for the record (Again Boye, listen up) their website does not work. The parent company website links to 4 different companies, one of which IS THEIR OWN WEBSITE (duh??) another is Boye which does not function... and finally, one of the other remaining actually has a customer service number you can all. Excellent job Boye, excellent.

I'll never catch up.

Holy Crow, I can't believe it's the 12th of April.
April, people. And it is SNOWING. Not a quick little flurry, no, we're accumulating this crap at an alarming rate. Perhaps my attempts at thawrting the time/space thing for my own nefarious dyeing, knitting, and other fiber-related dastardly deeds, have messed with Mother Nature's timing. Well isn't that handy. The only time warping I've done is prolong the CRAPPY weather, instead of helping to make a dent in the 'to do' list inside the house.
And, I'd LOVE to show you a picture of progress on that sweet little blackjack sock, but it would look suspiciously THE SAME except on a longer set of circs. Now, if you read the last post, you would expect progress as I've purchased a longer set of circs to enable the 'magic'. But here's the thing. I bought this here 32 inch size 1 Boye needle. And, ya know the join where the needle 'joins' the length of plastic cord to connect to the other needle? Well, that little tiny teeny 1/4 inche or so length of plastic is all that stands between me & progress. I cannot slide my size 1 stiches over it's SIZE 3 CONNECTION. Now, did I miss something here??
Here's my theory:
In my efforts to avoid sock knitting so as to get something ELSE done around here, I have not replaced my lost size 1 needles, long gone. Until now. Driven Encouraged by the Harlot, I might have run head-on into a needle display at a lys with wild abandon the thought that I might find something useful. I might have wound some yarn, and gotten as far as the toe before trouble found me.
My theory is, that I angered the knitting gods by avoiding knitting, and this is their curse: to be desperate to knit socks, and unable to do it. Kind of a Greek Tragedy sorta thing, eh?
Well, ta heck with them, I went shopping and SEVERAL sets of size 1 circs are on their way. One sock? Heck with that, we're casting on SEVERAL socks with ALL of the new needles and leaving them recklessly about the house for random knitting moments.

In other news: Harry Potter. Have you heard of him? Silly question, I know. Anyways, I'm putting my dye pots to good use (again) and working on 'House' colors for the knitters out there. Check the website for the Potter page, and check back here for more posts & pics as I work on options for colorways.
I'm thinking of offering solids in all of the colors, as well as 2-color skeins... and I've been working on some type of self-patterning dye-job that doesn't require me to skein yarn around the room over couches & lampshades for the dog to trip on and the daughter to hang her toys on. It really Does. Not. Work.

Question of the day: Can anyone tell me (without suggesting I spend 3 hours searching the 'help' files of blogspot) how to MAKE this thing see all of the proper sentence punctuation? I mean, I know we've lost some writing skills with all this computer 'stuff' but I should still be able to put 2 spaces after each sentence and this freakin' blogger system refuses to see even one, let alone the 2 that are supposed to be there. I hate for folks to think I don't have a clue about basic writing skills... A little help here before I go nuts?

Still Catching Up.

Knitting Tip Number 2.
There is nothing magical about a 24 inch loop. 29 inches, 32 inches, both very magical when it comes to knitting a sock on (or is that with?) 'the magic loop'. No matter how hard you try, this will only end in madness.


And Miss Tsarina, yes, you should feign enlightenment for my sake & let me keep what little dignity I have left. We shall forever more pretend understand that these knitting 'revelations' come to me in divine moments of knitting bliss and serenity. Very ZEN-like ya know. (ya'll got yer boots on, right?)
And, since we're taking time to respond to commentary, that 'top down raglan' is coming along nicely, thank you very much. More on that later.

The lovely toe-up toe (duh) using my own BlackJack multiple repeat yarn. I must say, I am LOVING the tiny little color repeats.








Note to whoever keeps searching on 'Beautiful Icelandic Girls'. DUDE. (at least, one assumes it's a dude...) These are SHEEP. Now, move along please. And, on the off chance that the fact that they are SHEEP does NOT bother you, PLEASE I beg of you, move along even faster.


Quote of the day: Do not anger the Dragon for you are crunchy, and taste good with ketchup.

Knitting Tip Number 1.

When doing a provisional cast-on, use yarn so brightly colored that a street trollop would be embarrassed to be seen in it. So garishly different from your actual project yarn that horror is expressed, even by the color blind. Do NOT use yarn the same color and/or weight and texture as your project yarn, especially when the project is on size 1 needles. Ever. Not even for just a couple of stitches. EVER.

Catching up, one step at a time.

So in the wild, these are the signs that the elusive 4 year old-asaurus has been here before you.

Please note the 'SharkTales' Sticker found on the butter sometime around midnight while mom was having the preverbial 'midnight snack'.

While eating, this tell-tale sign was found on the whiteboard:

Note how small mom's space is... the small square on the right. Notice how the wild four year old-asaurus has broken through the extensive fencing system strayed out of the confines of her wilderness park generous space allowed for her 'work', ever encroaching on the mother's tiny, eeked out scrap of modest space. Steps must be taken to reinforce fencing on the wilderness park review 'whiteboard etiquette'.

Setting the record straight.

Dear Sheep,

Most of you have been with me for a while now, and we still don't have what I'd call a good working relationship. I'd like to take this opportunity to explain my expectations for you. Perhaps after this, we'll both enjoy our jobs a bit more here on the ol' homestead.

1. I expect you to (and this is critical) NOT drop dead.

This is a biggy girls. It is distressing to see you acting completely healthy and fine, only to find you on death's door 12 hours later. It is even more upsetting to spend the next several hours making you as comfortable as possible inside the barn, feeding you by hand, providing delicacies like honey-laden yogurt and important meds to sustain you, only to find you dead in the middle of the night when I come out to check on you. Please have the decency to make up your mind much earlier: Either simply drop dead, or buck up & stay healthy enough to not come into the hospital barn. And FYI: it would be ever so handy if you do decide you can't possibly go on, if you would drop near a gate or something, so we're not hiking to the back of the back 40 to fetch you.

2. Getting to know us.

Now, some of you have been with us for several years, and all of you have experienced the 'routine' of the seasons and what goes with them at least once in your lifetime. We are the shepherds, you are the sheep. We feed you EVERYDAY without fail. Same ol' us. We wear the same jackets & winter hats & boots, say the same thing to you, move you in & out the same pastures and gate systems every single bloody day. Please stop acting as if you have no idea who we are, or what we're doing. If you see the chute system in place, cast your mind back a measly 2 weeks to the last time you saw it. Do you remember that NOTHING bit you in the arse, poked you in the neck, chopped off any vital bits, or permantly distanced you from your flock mates??? Well for cripes sake, it's the same thing over and over and for the millionth time, over again. Now please put your self in line and get your pampered little fluffy butt through the chute.

3. Chute System Ettiquite.

Speaking of the chute system, if you do happen to feel a small sting through the 15 inches of wool on your bum, that would be the ever-so-gentle electric cow prod. Now, keep in mind that IF you are feeling this, than (pay attention please)
You. Are. Doing. It. Wrong.
I cannot stress this enough. Please stop backing up, turning around, or trying desperately to LEAP up and out of the chute system. It is not built to kill you, ya ninny. If you happen to be first in line, consider that good as you'll be first out and stop trying to defy the laws of physics by putting you and the 6 sheep behind you, into the exact same spot. You cannot now and never will be able to occupy the same spot. Stop. Trying.
Not sure what to do in the chute? Watch ewe number 876 for example. She walks in at a brisk pace, all the way to the end or at least to the sheep in front of her, has even been known to push the ewe in front to help squeeze in a few more behind her (not sure how she knows to do this, but we love her for it). She stands calmly, and best of all, does not COMPLETELY freak out when we reach over the side and touch her in some manner to administer whatever we're there for this time. I mean for heaven's sake! I'm standing right there next to you every time you go through the chute, and you looked right at me when I leaned over to do whatever it is. This is NOT a signal to try to LEAP out of the chute, it is the signal to perhaps brace yourself and hold still.
One more thing. If you happen to notice short blue containers referred to as 'foot baths', please try not to leap over 9-12 feet of water/med-filled baths. You severly over-estimate your leaping skills. You will not make it, and you will likely fall and bathe in the 2nd or 3rd container. This is stupid distressing and costly in time and meds. Simply walk through and stand until released. No sheep has ever died walking through a foot bath, but there have been threats to those who do not, so heed the warning girls. We eat you for dinner. Literally.

4. Be friendly with the ram, and raise your lambs.

So, you have (basically) 1 job here on the ol' homestead. Have TWINS and raise 'em up good. This begins in the winter months when we introduce you to your new boyfriend. He has one purpose in life sweetie, and your it. Be nice to him, cozy up to him when the mood strikes you, and ya know, let nature take it's course. In a few months, your going to have lambs (note again, the plural reference. one lamb gets you into trouble.) and I'd appreciate it greatly if you'd follow this short list of guidelines:
I understand urges, but please avoid any that include dropping lambs in puddles, manure, or smack up against the fence line (especially the one that bites you on the nose when you try to get to the grass on the other side - it's electric and bad for lambing). Aim for somewhere dry, out of the wind, and hopefully not in the middle of the flock. Get some privacy if you can. I mean, it's a 40 acre pasture, I'm sure you can find a spot by yourself.
And just a note here for those that haven't lambed yet but notice another ewe in labor. Leave her and her new lambs alone! They are not your lambs, nor will you want to keep them when your own pop out. Save us all the trouble, and wait for your own.
Now, once you've had your lambs, please for the sake of the species and your mortal life, clean the buggers off and help them nurse. Don't run from them, this happens to you every year, same schedule. You should all be over the new mom 'what-the-heck-came-out-of-my-butt' syndrome so get a grip.
Lastly, lLet them nurse WHENEVER they want, not just when your bulging udder demands it. Here's a clue: If they don't look good, than YOU don't get to stay alive long look good.

5: Shearing.

Besides lambs, most of you have the ABILITY to produce a decent fleece. Now, we do our part by providing quality feed for you all year long. Please for the love of your life fleece, hold still on the shearing board. We do this every year, you don't shed so stop trying. The guy with the clippers is GOING to remove your fleece. He WILL NOT hurt you if you STAY STILL. Think of this as the dayspa: new hairdo, get a pedicure, no shots. Just relax, and find your freakin' happy place, will ya? It only takes about 4 minutes.

A note to the rams on the farm:

Rams, the only thing I'd add for you would be to behave yourself. Your job is to be a lover, not a fighter. I know you have short attention spans, but listen carefully:
If you put your head down and aim for any part of any human body with any HINT of aggression, You. Are. Stew. I don't care how pretty you are, how great your fleece is or how good looking your lambs are because here's the reality:
Your beautiful, wonderful spinning fleece you think is securing you a 'life' here also doubles as one INCREDIBLE pelt. And, your good looking lambs can easily be repeated next year by using one of your offspring for next year's ram. Now go graze quietly until I need you again next winter.

Ladies, I've enjoyed our little chat. Now, please review this at your leisure and chat amongst yourselves about everything we've discussed. I hope this clears up any misunderstandings we've had in the past, and clears the way for many years of calm and enjoyable flock & pasture management.

All our love,

the shepherds.

Winter 2007 Newsletter

Below is the regularly scheduled newsletter, but before I get to that I'm remiss in posting a picture of the twins that were born in February, so here they are. Please take note of the 2 very different fiber types. These animals are definately different in every possible way (well except they are both boys). This is the result of crossbreeding. Sometimes, you can even find different types of fiber on the same animal!

---

Vancalcar Acres
Winter 2007 (already?) Newsletter

392 Elwood rd Ft. Plain, NY 13339 518-993-4326

Does anyone remember me saying this in the last newsletter? “We are NOT expecting a February lambing group again!!” Well, next time you think I’m about to make a statement like that, just begging the Fates to giggle and slap me on the side of the noggin, stop me. So far we only have 3 lambs, but as I do morning chores, I’m pretty sure there are several other girls due in the next 10 days or so.

It has been a busy winter as the sock kits by Tsock Tsarina (Lisa Grossman) at www.tsocktsarina.com continue to keep the dyepots cooking with several new kits and a sock club. Lots of new FlockSock sock yarn colors are in the works, some with an eye towards St. Patty’s day. If you’ve never knit socks before but would like to, take a look at the Learn to Knit Tsocks Kit titled ‘Tsocks 101’. Everything you need to know. Yarn for an adult pair, yarn for a sample/child’s size to give you the chance to test the different options Lisa provides. Different styles of heels, toe-up, cuff down, and new stitches to learn and challenge you. The kit even comes with a set of Double Point Needles. Everything you need to be an expert sock-knitter! Did I mention the color pictures throughout the book for extra how-to help? Check the website for samples.

Up until this year, the farm Blog was an online version of the newsletters. As many of you have asked for more frequent updates on things around here, I’m giving it my best shot on the blog. I’ve learned a bunch of new technical things, which is great for this old techie. Did you know I was building websites when it was all done by hand, line by line of code in Notepad? Back then, being able to make the background a color other than gray, and put up an actual TABLE was amazing. Do you have any idea how long it took to build a website?? But that was another life, and I digress. If you don’t know, the blog lives here: http://fiberfarm.blogspot.com

Fiber: We’re planning to shear sometime in the end of March/beginning of April. Every spring someone asks, so I’ll get the reminders out of the way here. If you are renting a sheep, please remember that you may not get your fleece or yarn until (typically) the summer newsletter, the end of the rental year. For us around here, that usually means August/September timeframe. Even though we shear in early spring, lambing follows close behind and is intense for several weeks. I will be skirting your spinner’s fleece myself, as I can’t seem to get the other family members to be as picky as I am about it. If you’ve rented a knitter’s sheep (or flock)… remember, I have to spin it ;) . If your fleece or yarn happens to be first on the skirting board, you may get yours sooner, but until I figure out how to warp time to suit my own dastardly plans, everyone can’t be first.
Grassfed Meats:

 Lamb currently available by the cut in limited quantities.
 Pork orders: taking reservations for ½ or whole now, we expect to go to butcher in April More info on the spring newsletter, or you can email or call me to discuss. $50.00 deposit for ½ or whole. Contact me for pricing and availability, and cut options.
 Grass-fed ground Beef in 10, 25 and 50 lb sets. **Not your typical ‘trim’ ground beef! We’re taking the whole steer and making ground beef and a limited number of prime cut steaks (filet mignon etc). This is extremely lean ground beef, I find no grease left in the pan when browning this ground beef. Contact me for pricing and availability.

Pelts: I have 3 white good-sized pelts available right now, these are machine washable. $120.00 and free shipping.


Eric, Jennifer, Nora & the animals.

Winter Break is Over!!

Wow, I can't believe how fast the time has flown. And yet, in some ways, it went very slow.

Last week was winter break for Nora. Now, when I was in school, we didn't have this 'winter break' thing. We were off for xmas & new year, and then we toughed it out until Easter for spring break. We had to walk a mile to school or the bus stop as well, none of this bus at each house thing. There were gangs of kids all over neighborhoods waiting for the bus when I went to school... but I digress.
So, Nora was off of school for last week, and most of the week before due to folks being unable to even FIND the roads, let alone plow them. And, the week before that, she was home sick. I tell you what, when she's in high school she's going to be so mad she won't get 3 weeks to binge on cookies and 'Dora' of quality time with mom again!

If you'd like to see the 'aftermath' pics from last weeks' storm, they are here:

Storm

I would like to point out that we had 38 inches of snow. 21 of them in 4 hours, according to the town barn at the bottom of our hill (yes, it's good to live that close to where the plow trucks live). I would also like to point out, that if you live in a city/state that tracks it's average snowfall (as opposed to say, Phoenix Arizona where 'snow' is that stuff you shave off the wall in the freezer) than you really should know where your snow shovels are. Please note the plural version of 'snow shovel'. You should also note that when your county, and the several surrounding counties have declared a state of emergency... when one of the plow trucks is on it's side in a snow drift/ditch and the crane they brought in to lift it out is now also buried and useless... when your neighbor stops by on his snowmobile and asks if you need him to carry a message to any other neighbor... do not call the town barn insisting that they plow your road immediately, when you can't even GO anywhere. Instead, begin packing to move, because you really ought to be in Phoenix.

We did have another lambing, a lovely set of twins. I will get the pictures off the camera as soon as the batteries are charged. In fact, I am getting ready to go out & check the flock now, as there were a couple of girls who look to be fairly close to a motherly way.

Looking for your opinions: Color repeats in your yarns? How long should they be? Random or repeating? Post your thoughts here & let me know what you think.

It snowed a little today... and it's a bit breezy.

This is my Volkswagon Vanagon (Pop-up camper style, for those who are interested).

This picture was taken at about 5pm Wednesday evening.

Incidentally, last night at this time I could see the entire vehicle, even entire tires.

The Lawn Tractor? That's your everyday riding lawn mower.

Ah yes, and here, for perspecitve is that same Vanagon at about 1pm. See the wheel well? I told you it has tires.

And, you can forget about a plow on the front of a truck. Those are cute & all, but not at all useful here. Tractor with a bucket. And the haybale you ask? Well, if you're familiar with driving in the snow, you know that it's common to toss a cinderblock or 50lb bag of kitty litter in the trunk. The weight gives the car a little 'traction'. Well, think of the round bale of hay as a 600lb cinderblock for traction. You have to learn to think outside the box a little around here :)



This was about 10:30 this morning. Please note that I had already cleared the deck of snow at about 8:30 am, there were probably 8 inches of snow when I shoveled.
For some reason, the snow did not pack against that gap of the porch so it's hard to see, but there is at least another 4 inches of snow pictured here.



Look familiar? 3pm. Pretty cool, eh?
No. this is
So.
Not.
Cool.




8pm. We've added a little more snow I think. I'm going to bed now, but I leave you with a couple of things to ponder. First, when I look out my kitchen window at 11pm, the vanagon has snow up to the windshield. This is daunting to say the least. Secondly, if you are looking for a good leg workout, put on the heaviest workboots you own and a fullbody carhart zip-up suit. Add appropriate longjohns (2pair), wool sweater, dickie, hat, earmuffs etc. Now (and this is where it gets fun) Add a 45lb toddler in similar attire to your back in true piggy-back style. Ok, ready? Great! Now wade through snow drifts that average hip-deep for about 100 feet. Feeling good? How about those thighs? Bunns of freakin' steel. How's the breathing because I forgot to mention the 40mph gusts of subzero temps driving the still-falling snow into your face. Refreshing! Did you make it from the barn to the house? Ok, now take off all the crap, get that 4 year old to the potty, suit back up and get back to the barn. What's that you say? No problem because you've already blazed the trail? You are a very funny person because do you remember that 40mph breeze I mentioned? Your trail is SOOO gone. Have a nice work out, I'm going to bed. Oh and by the way, while your out there, could you shovel off the porch for me? Thanks, I appreciate it.

P.S.


And I forgot to mention!! This weekend we had our first lamb born. Mom must have been pollinated, because we aren't supposed to begin lambing until May. See the snow in the pictures above? Nope, to much to think about right now. Maybe in another post we can discuss lambing in the winter without a proper barn.

Stud-Muffin

It is definately winter here. February. Now, normally we have put studded snow tires on the car by now, but it was such a mild winter, there was no reason for them. Until now, that is. Now, with everything a blanket of white and the roads covered in slushy snow, and crazy drivers out on those roads it is time for studs.

So, I don't know to much about how this all works, but basically they take a perfectly good tire and shove short little nails or 'studs' into the tires for traction. Typically when I run over a nail, I puncture and ruin a tire. When they put nails in my tire, I am once again able to drive. Go figure.

Anyways, 2 days ago, while trying to take my daughter to school, my husband stood laughing at me at the window while I tried to get out of the driveway. After several attempts to move through what seemed like a small amount of snow, he finally came out and towed us out to the road. The irony was not lost on me that when I struggled to back out of the driveway, the town plow truck drove by... I'm sure I heard him giggle.

Upon my return from the school, like a complete idiot, I pulled right back into the driveway where I normally park. I guess I'm a glutton for punishment because nothing had changed... and so when I got ready to leave again later for the appointment to have the stud tires put on, he had to drag the car out again. Let's all take a moment and be grateful for tractors.

Now, I have studded tires on the car. I can go places that I had feared to go before, like the parking lot of the grocery store and my own driveway. Things are a little different now, the road noise is amazingly loud. So loud that I keep thinking I forgot to shift gears or something as the sound 'winds up' as the speed increases. Oh well. Crank up the radio, the heater, and check that we're in the right gear every once in a while. I have studds on the car, and don't care about anything else.

Things I've learned while my 4-year old has been sick.

UPDATE DEC 2007: **If you found this link searching for information on colds, cold medicines, cold treatments and children with any of the above, the post with way more information for you, is this one: http://fiberfarm.blogspot.com/2007/11/search-words.html I've made a post just for you, because your not the only one searching for info on that subject who finds themselves here.

My daughter is in preschool. She has before this, not been 'exposed' to other children on a regular basis and so we have been experiencing the best her immune system has to offer. Head colds. Over, and over, and over, and over again.
Now, they say that kids will build up an immunity to colds, getting fewer of them. And, that there are about 200 cold viruses out there. I've lived a long happy life so far, and have had my share of colds. Spent plenty of time in public school, after school babysitters, lots of cold exposure. So, could someone please explain to me, why I have ALSO caught every cold she has brought home? She went back to school today, after being home for a week as we all recovered from this round, and here are the things I've learned.

1. If the sick child sits on your lap, she will cough in your face. Not on purpose (I think), but it will happen. When you wipe her nose, she will cough. When you are tucking her in or getting her dressed, she will cough. Through all of this you will remind her to cover her mouth, use a tissue, wash her hands (and yours). What will you learn from this? You will get sick. Now, excuse me while I cough.

2. Cough medicine, is a joke. Unless it has codiene in it, it will not work. Period.

3. The 'bear' on the children's show 'Franklin' is NOT the same as the character 'Little Bear' on the childrens' show 'Little Bear'. All this time, I thought they were, but there are enough differences that I now see the error of my ways and have watched those 2 shows this past week plenty of times to be completely sure.

4. It is impossible to count out yarn yardage for a skein of yarn on your first try. And most likely the 2nd and 3rd tries won't be all that reliable either.

5. It can very well take 4 or more hours to dye a single skein of multi colored yarn. Dye one section one color... get glass of juice for sick child. Come back and rinse that section of yarn... rewind Disney Snow White. Come back and prep new color... wipe child's nose, wash and sterilize everything remotely related to that episode. Come back, dye new section of yarn skein... cajole child into taking medicine. Come back, rinse that section of yarn... well, you get the picture.

6. Whoever designed the Play-Doh containers has no children. I can barely open the freakin' things, how do they expect small children to do it??

7. Sick children can survive on air and juice for days. And everything they think they might want to eat 'tastes funny' (thank you, head cold). This means you throw away the equivelant of what they normally would have eaten.

8. Zicam is hands down the worst tasting, most foul product on the market to be put in your mouth for any purpose.

9. As expected, Zicam is also hands down, the only zinc product out there that seems to actually make a difference. Probably specifically because it tastes so bad, words cannot describe.

10. After about the zillionth head cold, you will pay just about any dollar amount for Zicam. Invest heavily before illness strikes. While your at it, pick up 3 bottles of lame cough syrup, a box of REAL sudafed (not the pansy stuff they sell now and pretend is sudafed) Pseudoephedrine Hydrochloride, and some Halls cough drops.

These are important things to remember if you have young children with school careers yet to begin. Good Luck.

BlackJack!

Ok, my favorite vice in the casinos is really craps, but blackjack holds a close 2nd. Taffy on the other hand, I'm not so keen on. Gets stuck in your teeth, takes FOREVER to eat, and until that taffy is in your mouth and your jaw feels wired shut, you don't really know if you like that particular flavor. Better hope you DO because did I mention it takes a long time to eat?
Anyways, now that you know what candy NOT to get me on my birthday (I prefer gift certs. to a dayspa for a good massage), I remind you of the colors of taffy. Specifically, BlackJack Taffy like the kind shown here:

Now, a very nice gal in the FlockSock Sock Club, mentioned that on her yarn wishlist she was hoping to find yarn that sounded familiar in a flavor sort of way. This was odd for a "color of yarn description", as I normally don't eat much yarn. So, I set up the dye pots. When I was finished, I realized why the yarn looked good enough to eat:

BlackJack!

The skein in the middle is a one-of-a-kind so forget it, I ain't doing THAT again. Now this really still sounds good. Knit to a section with pink yarn. Come to that section again, but instead of more pink, you have black. Or white. Reality? Amazingly huge pain in the arse to dye. Sections of skein grouped into smaller, random sections for tiny dye pots... well, let's just say that it sounded good in my head but outloud? not so good. Yarn in tiny dye pots of different colors, (while trying to maintain white sections as color in and of itself) spells disaster when you need to REMOVE from tiny dye pots, transfer to sink, and RINSE little sections by color and keep them seperate until completely rinsed. And away from white sections. Ya, we're not doing that again. (P.S. anyone need some 'tiny' dye pots, you just let me know.) My favorite is the one on the far right side. small color repeats over the whole skein. I plan on taking 5 minutes (see previous post) tomorrow and knitting a swatch from this one.

I think this might be the valentine yarn that goes up for sale, what do you think? Take your pick of skein 1 or skein 3. Forget skein 2, unless you offer me gobbs of legal tender. Gobbs. Large, huge, stuffed pockets.

MIA

SO, has anyone seen my missing 5 minutes? You know when someone says "can you just put this frozen 100 feet of garden hose in the bathtub to thaw so I can finish watering the flock, honey? It will only take 5 minutes..."
Somehow, there is a timewarp in my house. I come out with 4 year old in tow at 7-ish in the morning with lots of Plans (note capitalized word, this implies importance). Most of the Plans, are small things on the 'to-do' list. Most don't really take more than a few minutes, but before I know what has happened, it is time to start dinner and several Important Planned Items are as yet, unfinished. Most not even begun.
And, if you live in my timezone (aka timewarped house), you know that the day is not over. It is in fact, never over. Much like some lost episode of the Twilight Zone, I am always able to convince myself that 'as soon as I finish THIS, then I'll have time for THAT.' But I've noticed that before I finish THIS, something else becomes the THAT which immediatly becomes the current 'THIS'... and I never seem to get to THAT.
It is 11pm, I am on day 2 of a migraine and did I mention it is 11pm? Most meds don't work, so I use codeine occasionally, and while it works doesn't-do-anything-but-I-feel-like-I'm-making-an-effort-by-taking-it, it tends to keep me awake of all things. So, here I am at the dyepots finally getting to the THAT which was my PLAN for the day. Orange for Lisa for Swan Lake, Lager/dark beer for Oktoberfest's upcoming toast to St. Pattie's Day Beer Drinking Festivities, and some very interesting ideas from some Club Member's wishlist.
Please don't ask for pictures tonite of any of this, or the THIS and the THAT will never become the OTHER (there is always OTHER to be done. Like taking pictures, that will only take 5 minutes... wait, I've heard this song before...)

And, as a note to Lisa, nice clean pillow case. Hows' about I send you my laundry to wash use for felting projects?

Now, I'm off to rinse all the freshly-dyed yarn so I can go to bed, I PLAN to take pictures in the morning of the fruits of my laobr tonite for all to see.

Fall 2006 Newsletter

Vancalcar Acres
Fall 2006 newsletter
392 Elwood rd Ft. Plain, NY 13339 518-993-4326

Time has been flying by here. It’s late fall on the farm, and we’ve officially begun supplementing stockpiled pasture grass with large round hay bales. The girls number 282 right now, just shy of our goal of 300. It was a difficult summer here, and we have decided not to purchase any replacement ewes this winter. We will strive to build our numbers next year from within our own ewe lambs born this coming spring. We are planning our breeding groups this December for a mid-May lambing start. We are NOT expecting a February lambing group again!!
We went to the New York Sheep and Wool Festival in October this year as a vendor, and met several of you face to face. We had a great time, we hope you did as well! We introduced 5 sock kits with designs by Tsock Tsarina (Lisa Grossman) at http://www.tsocktsarina.com/. Our hand-dyed sock yarn and her patterns were a hit and we’re backordered now on yarn to fill after-show sales of those kits. If your waiting for yours, I expect the yarn to arrive around the 15th of December. I’ll be up all night dyeing yarn J Pictures of the sock kits are on the website under ‘sock kits’ and there will be a sock club beginning in January, details will be online in the next couple of weeks.

Fiber: As some of you know, we lost the majority of our fiber clip this past spring. Because of that, there has not been much roving available around here this year! Occasionally, I’ve made special purchases of superwash merino fiber, wool/silk blended fiber, wool/mohair blended fiber to dye and card. I am expecting more wool/silk in the next week, and have just gotten merino top roving for dyeing. Watch the website for the fiber to go up for sale. We will be shearing the flock in mid-April this coming spring, so our own fleece will once again be available soon after.

Grassfed Meats:
Lamb currently available by the cut in limited quantities.
Pork orders are on hold here. We have a new group of heritage-breed piggers out in the garden doing a good job of roto-tilling things now, but they are not ready for butcher yet.
Taking reservations on freezer lambs, availability of mid-December, and mid-January.
Grass-fed ground Beef in 10, 25 and 50 lb sets. **This is not typical ‘trim’ ground beef! We’re taking the whole steer and making ground beef and a limited number of prime cut steaks (filet mignon etc). This is extremely lean lean ground beef, I find no grease left in the pan when browning this ground beef.
Poultry: We raised out about 20 broilers this summer. Processed here on the farm, they were very flavorful and it was good to know where they came from. So much poultry in the grocery stores is raised in caged or at the minimum, indoor penned environments and fed low doses of antibiotics and other additives in efforts to maintain them under these conditions… well don’t get me started! We will be raising at least 3 groups of broilers next summer for our customers.
**If you want more information about current standard commercialized growing and processing of beef, visit http://www.eatwild.com/index.html and read her articles and scientific references. Sobering information!
Pelts: I have 3 white good-sized pelts available right now, these are machine washable.
What’s on Sale: Going to be driving out this way? Bring a cooler and stock up. 25lbs of ground beef from our grass-fed steers, made from the whole cow… not just trim! Just back from the butcher, get 25lbs at the 50 lb price of $4.00/lb, packed in 1lb tubes.

Eric, Jennifer, Nora & the animals.

I'm in denial about winter's fast approach here. I pretend it's not as cold as the thermometer says, and continue out the door in a sweatshirt... but it's not working very well anymore. I had to spend serious time scraping ice off the car the other day, and there was definate snow covering the grass that stayed way longer than it was welcome while it warmed up.
I'm almost overwhelmed by the desire to start knitting with large needles and thick yarn to make huge warm 'things'. With little time to spare from other required projects, I'm afraid that will have to wait. Why don't we have these desires in the months when we don't NEED those heavy warm 'things', when we might have time to work on them?? Looking back now, it seems I wasted good knitting time on silly eating & sleeping. I could have had so much more done by now!

Stopping to catch our breath around here!

As you can see, I'm a bit behind in posts and newsletters. The summer newsletter took 2nd place in the schedule when the flock had some health problems battling the constant wet weather we had this year. Things are finally under control, and I realize that it's time for the fall newsletter! It's on the to-do list here now for this week, and will be posted when finisehd.
I had a wonderful time at Rhinebeck this year! I teamed up my dyed yarns with designer Lisa Grossman (aka Tsock Tsarina) to introduce 5 amazing works of art disguised as sock kits. One even has pre-beaded lace for the cuff! They have been very popular, and a sock club is forming.
Nora turned 4 and has started pre-school. She loves every minute of it and doesn't understand why she doesn't go on the weekends.
Several new Butcher Block CSA monthly subscribers, welcome to the family!
Tons of new sheep in the rental program... and tons of them already rented!
I've been making soap again, and have a nice sheep's milk soap recipe that we really like.

Spring 2006 Newsletter

Vancalcar Acres

Spring 2006 newsletter

392 Elwood rd Ft. Plain, NY 13339
518-993-4326
www.nysfarm.com

Well, it has been an amazing spring here. It’s the 1st of June, and the first chance we’ve had to sit down since March! Our ‘regularly scheduled’ lambing season started off with a bang. A week before our planned due date, a yearling gave us a set of quads. Several days later, lambs started appearing like popcorn all over the pasture, to the tune of close to 330 lambs, out skipping around the fields today.

Fiber: Eric was injured earlier this spring, and was unable to shear until just recently. Those of you waiting for your fleece or yarn from your Sheep Rental, he has begun shearing, and we’re working on them for you! I’ll keep you posted. We’re working on lots of new roving and blends, as well as hand-dyed variegated yarns. Look for them on the website in July.

Grassfed Meats:
Pork and Lamb currently available by the cut.
Taking reservations on ½ or whole pigs, as well as 40-50lb pork packages including a variety of cuts, bacon and sausage.
Taking reservations on freezer lambs as well, availability beginning late summer.
Taking reservations on ground beef packs in 10, 25 and 40lb sets. **This is not typical ‘trim’ ground beef! We’re taking one whole beef calf and making ground beef and some beef jerky. This means the ground beef will be made from cuts like filet mignon and T-Bone steaks! Very lean.

Poultry: Still working this out, since shearing is now a priority, we will probably put this off until later this summer.
Pelts: Currently sold out again. More on the way to the tanner, let me know if your interested, I will contact you when they come back.

Well, that’s all for now! Thanks so much for letting us keep in touch with you,

Eric, Jennifer, Nora & the animals.

Recipes

Baked lamb shanks over rice

Any number of lamb shanks
Paul Newman’s Balsamic Vinaigrette Salad Dressing
1 can Diced Tomatoes in water, not tomato juice/sauce
Green beans (optional)
Cinnamon, salt, pepper.
Rice
Butter
Orzo pasta
Chicken bouillon
Marinate shanks in salad dressing 30min to an hour. Transfer to baking dish, add tomatoes with no water removed and green beans to suit your appetite. Arrange shanks so tomatoes are comfortably around/on them, sprinkle liberally with cinnamon, and lightly with salt and pepper. Cover and bake at 300 degrees until meat falls off bone, 2 hours works great for us.
Rice: melt 3tbsp butter in rice cooking pan on medium low (3-4 on my stove). Add ¼ cup orzo pasta to butter, mix with butter, stir frequently as the orzo browns. While orzo is browning, add 1 cube all natural chicken bouillon to 1 ¾ cup very hot water and dissolve. Once orzo is browned, add water, one cup of rice, and liberal dashes of cinnamon. **Be careful adding bouillon stock! Butter spatters when you add water! Turn heat to med.high, bring to simmer. Stir, cover and turn to low. Cook rice as usual, until done. Takes 20 minutes here for us.
Serve shanks with tomatoes & green beans on bed of rice. A perfect side dish would be pita bread, humus and tabouli salad available from some deli markets, and middle eastern restaurants for take out, if you don’t want to make it yourself.

Winter 2006 Newsletter

Vancalcar Acres
Winter 2006 newsletter
392 Elwood rd Ft. Plain, NY 13339

518-993-4326

www.nysfarm.com

Late Notice!!! The Winter Newsletter is a bit late this year, and we apologize. We do have a good reason though… we have had an unexpected winter lambing from some ewes we purchased that we THOUGHT were not bred! As of the first of March, we have 56 new lambs in the barn. 4 sets of triplets!! An awesome thing for us, but reminders about why we prefer spring lambing on pasture when freezing temperatures aren’t going to risk the little lambs. A couple had to come in by the fire to warm up, but everyone is doing fine. Well, we’re a bit tired but the sheep are fine!

What an odd winter for weather! It’s February now, and we had enough warm weather in January to completely thaw the ground and start grass growing in some places! Maple syrup was running, and the trees were thinking about budding. We were even able to put up some temporary fences and graze the sheep up by the pond for a couple of days. They were thrilled and we saved on some hay. Of course, reality set in this month with minus 10 wind-chills. The Native Americans didn’t call this the crying month for nothing!

Fiber: We’ve invested in some Patrick Green Carding Equipment for fiber processing this winter. This has really sped up processing time, as well as shown vast improvements to the quality of our roving and batts. I’ve been carding some stockpiled colored fleece, and blending the last of a gray/brown corriedale with silk. The results are a beautiful honey-colored roving with a sparkle from the silk. I have some lovely things hanging around here for blending; angora, camel down, mohair, cashmere, bombyx and tussah silks, spin-able acrylic (spins like silk), and can’t wait to see how they all turn out! We’ve been washing and dying the last of the lamb fleece from last year in an effort to make space for the coming shearing in March. It’s going to be a bit overwhelming around here at that point as we’re shearing 300 this time instead of 130! We’ve included a sample of roving from our new equipment for the spinners (custom hand-spinning available of our fibers). Other colors available in the acrylic, as well as an acrylic/wool blend, just give me a call.
We’re thrilled to offer Jagger Brothers full line of yarns for the knitters & weavers. All worsted spun, these are great for warp as well as weft, and knit wonderfully. Color cards are on our website in the woolroom under yarns. Currently available on the cone by the pound with discounted prices for our minimum order of 2 cones (mix & match from any style), contact me for pricing depending on the style of yarn. Limited colors/styles currently available in 400yard skeins, check our website for those details at www.nysfarm.com.

Pork: We have fresh pork in the freezers now, available in limited quantities. While pigs do need a portion of grain in their diets, they are grazers and love to eat grass, roots, and hay, and we let them have all they want! They produce lean, flavorful pork here, something unheard of from the grocery store.
All cuts are $6.00per lb
Bacon, ham, & ham steaks are $5.00per lb
Sausage is $5.00 per lb. (sweet italian)
Sausage comes in either link or in 1lb-ground packages for frying up loose or slicing into patties. Hams are not just for holidays anymore! We have 4-5lb hams perfect for everyday dinners. Send an email or call to check availability. Shipping is available to most areas, contact me with your zip code to get a shipping price. Check out the recipes at the end of the newsletters for perfect easy ham glaze and what to do with leftovers. If you miss out on pork now, we’ll have more available around June.

Lamb: We also have some limited lamb available, contact me for availability, selling by the cut. We have ground lamb and lamb sausage available in 1lb packages as well. Shipping is available to most areas, contact me with your zip code to get a shipping price.
All cuts: $5.00per lb
Ground Lamb: $4.00per lb
Lamb Sausage: $4.50per lb (packaged loose like ground beef)
Organ Meats: $2.00per lb (heart, liver, tongue)

Beef: We will have beef from our farm available this summer, June timeframe. We’re planning on mostly ground beef with just a few cuts and some awesome beef jerky. This means the ground beef will be very lean and flavorful since it won’t be made up of just ‘trim’, it’s made from all the cuts together. Ever had Filet Mignon ground beef? Well, this would be as close as you can get! More info on this in the spring newsletter.

Poultry: We always have pastured/free-range chickens on hand for fresh eggs. We are planning on adding broilers to the farm this summer, but we’re not sure how many yet, so check the spring newsletter for updates on that one. We’d like to get pre-orders on Heritage Breed pastured turkeys for your Thanksgiving dinners now so let me know. You may think it seems early to think about this one, but there is a timetable for these things and you can’t rush Mother Nature! Heritage Breeds are slow growing, and more flavorful. They take about 6 months to reach maturity, so we can’t wait until August to think about birds around here, we hatch them ourselves from our own small flock and they start laying in March. Just let me know if your interested, and that will give me a good idea what to keep here to raise for our customers.

Pelts: Currently sold out, but we’ll have more available late spring/early summer. If you’d like to reserve one, we have several colored (moorit) lamb fleeces being processed. They do go fast though!
Well, that’s all for now! Thanks so much for letting us keep in touch with you,

Eric, Jennifer, Nora & the animals.

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Recipes

Ham Glaze for Baked Ham:
¾ cup packed brown sugar
3tbsp pineapple juice (optional)
¼ cup honey
¼ cup orange juice
1tbsp sweet-hot mustard or dijon
1/8 tsp ground clove
Combine ingredients in small sauce pan, blend well. Bring to a low boil stirring frequently for a couple of minutes without scalding (low boil). Set aside, it will thicken slightly. Bake ham on 325 covered with 1/4c water and a splash of orange juice in the bottom of the pan for 2 hours. Remove ham from oven and brush generously with glaze. At this point, I raise the temp of my oven to 350 for the last 45 minutes and leave the ham covered. I don’t think my oven temperature is accurate, and the ham should finish in the next 45 minutes, so adjust your oven temp accordingly for this entire recipe. Apply more glaze several times in the last 45 minutes of cooking time. Be sure to test ham for doneness with a meat thermometer! Left over glaze is excellent drizzled over sweet potatoes as a perfect side dish, or as a gravy on smoked ham steaks.
After you’ve munched on sliced ham for lunch the next day, take what’s left and make the best split pea soup you’ve ever had!

Split Pea Soup:
In a large pot add 16oz split green peas (2 cups) and 4 ½ cups water. Bring to a boil, stir well then turn down to medium-low with a lid (should be a low simmer/boil). Take the bone from the ham and cut a couple slices off, and dice into very small pieces, almost shredded ham. Add that to the soup, along with the bone. I shoot for about a cup of diced ham, but you can do more or less, but don’t skip the bone! That’s where all the flavor is. Stir your soup periodically, the peas are turning to mash. Add about 1/8tsp pepper, ½ - 1 tbsp dried onion flakes and about ¼ tsp powdered garlic. Salt shouldn’t be needed with that ham in there. Allow the soup to simmer until dinner time, peas should be thoroughly mashed. Feel free to modify seasoning to taste. Goes great with sourdough bread, and the leftover soup can be frozen for quick meals later.

Fall 2005 Newsletter

Vancalcar Acres
Fall 2005 newsletter
392 Elwood rd Ft. Plain, NY 13339

518-993-4326

www.nysfarm.com

Well I can’t believe we’re well into fall here. We’ve already had a very early snow storm that left us with a scattering of heavy snow that was gone the next day.
We had a booth at the New York Sheep and Wool Festival in Rhinebeck this year, and have just gotten everything finally put away from that event. We got to meet a few of you face to face finally, and had a wonderful time visiting with old friends. We introduced acrylic as a spinnable, blendable fiber in both 100% and a wool – acrylic blend ranging from 30 – 45% depending on which color you chose. So far, the feedback has been good we’re looking forward to having many other colors available soon on the website!
The website is finally up! We’re still updating things, and adding pictures but there’s a lot to see on the new site, so visit us there at www.nysfarm.com
Oscar the Border Collie is working himself into the family very well. He’s had a few formal lessons and has been a HUGE help around the farm, almost from the first day he joined us! Even the guard dogs like him. Speaking of guard dogs, we’ve adopted one more Italian Maremma here on the farm. Her name is Mya and she is a gentle and affectionate dog. But don’t get on her bad side! I don’t think we’ve ever heard a louder, deeper warning bark than hers! We are thrilled to have her here with us.
The calves & pigs are doing great, as are the birds. The rams are across the street grazing pastures down and conserving their strength for the coming breeding season. We will be using 8 rams this year, as we gear up for about 300 breeding ewes!! Just wait until lambing starts J
We finally managed to find time and warm enough weather to move some strawberry plants into the garden. Looking forward to summer already!
Several of the sheep on the Rent-a-Sheep program were snatched up at the Festival in October. The listings are posted at the website, www.nysfarm.com but pictures are not quite there yet. Thankfully, we’ve finally gotten a new digital camera and we’re working on pictures this week of the animals, new rovings and yarns that are available. Don’t forget to check back!
There are still a few freezer lambs available, our next date with the USDA butcher is Nov. 14th which is FAST approaching! If you miss out, contact me about individual cuts, ground, or sausage by the pound. Shipping is available to most areas, contact me with your zipcode to check.
Pelts are currently sold out, but we’ll have more available soon. Please check back in a few weeks.
For information on the ‘Rent a Sheep’ program here at our farm, visit our new website www.nysfarm.com and stop by the WoolRoom. If you have any questions about anything going on here at the farm, or would like to arrange a visit/tour, please get in touch with us. Contact@nysfarm.com

Thanks for letting us keep in touch with you,

Jennifer, Eric, & Nora, the sheep, cows, pigs, dogs & birds all say hello!