Sunrise Haven Farm

Between my annual vacation, and the annual illness that always immediately follows it, I have not updated this site in a while.  The sheep are doing well, fairly oblivious to the insane weather fluctuations we’ve been experiencing.  They graze happily during pouring rain, whipping winds, and blizzard-like snow - and look awfully silly with white puffy piles of snow atop their heads too.  At seemingly random times they will wander into the shelter.  I’m not sure what drives them inside, if anything.  The weather at least does not seem to be a factor that they consider when deciding where to be.

Meanwhile, I have been trying to stay warm by the fire in dreary depressing January (particularly while ill). This lends itself nicely to working on warm wooly tasks like carding, spinning and knitting. There is not much nicer than curling up in front of a hot woodfire with a steaming cup of cocoa and a big pile of wool.  OK, maybe I would prefer Caribbean sunshine and a beach, but until then…

Update! A selection of my products will be available THIS WEEKEND ONLY at the Leesburg Farmers Market.  This batch will include some of my handmade braided wool rugs and bags, carved horn buttons, and my lovely California Red sheep’s wool yarn. I may even have some knitted items and stained glass pieces available! Please stop by if you’re in the area.

I am learning to spin - and loving it! I had a lesson from Linda Brown of Graustark Llamas, borrowed a wheel, and have really been enjoying practicing this new skill.  This white yarn is the first bobbin of wool I spun, using roving from Linda’s sheep:

and of my practice at home - some pink blended Romney roving I had lying around, pre-spinning and on the
wheel:

You can tell I’ve overspun the fibers on the wheel, by the way it’s twisting going onto the bobbin. But still not bad for a beginner I think, and I am enjoying practicing so I’m bound to get better as time goes by. I’m looking forward to choosing my own wheel and trying out the fibers from my sheep. Each breed is so different! Another one of the joys of shepherding.

Roscoe is a happy boy. I let him in with the ewes to start breeding last Sunday. Which means a new crop of lambs in April. The weather is getting colder but the happy sheep have fleeces that are 3 or 4 inches long now so they don’t seem to mind at all.

I am off to help teach the braided roving rug workshop at the Shenandoah Valley Fiber Festival tomorrow and throughout the weekend.  I’ll also be helping the Loudoun Valley Sheep Producers Association with sales at their Wool Shop (where my yarn, buttons and rugs are for sale).  The LVSPA is also selling its hot lamb sausage products at the festival this year so I may help out with that too. Busy fall, and not much posting online. Lots of work done today… divided the ewe lambs from the adult ewes and started feeding the adults a bit of grain in preparation for breeding, cleaned all of the waterers and feeders, and cleaned the last remnants of our little fall festival out of the yard. I’ll be flushing the ewes for the next couple of weeks, then let Roscoe in with them… anticipating more April lambs!

Fall is creeping in, with its chilly foggy mornings and falling leaves. It’s new year’s day today, by the Hebrew calendar, and the weather here on the farm is absolutely ideal for my liking.  Bright and sunny, but not too hot to work outside digging in the dirt. As a matter of fact, I just finished trimming and mulching the apple trees.

The pits of those “peaches” that I tried last month really did contain something that looked like an immature almond, but as it looked immature I wasn’t going to try eating it.  Maybe next year.

The sheep are doing well, grazing happily. I’ll be selling undyed wool yarn spun from our California Red sheep, and buttons that I carved from Boer goat horn, at the Bluemont Fair tomorrow. If you’re in the area, come on by!

I harvested my first peaches last week! Strangely enough, they are growing on my almond tree…

I planted a variety called Halls Hardy Almond a few years ago.  One tree was eaten and destroyed and the other was severly beaten up by our local deer, but the second tree has been hanging on and growing.  It bloomed this spring, and last week I harvested fruit from it!  They look like peaches… and they taste like peaches… so I’m guessing my almond tree is growing peaches.  I did a little research online and it seems that this particular variety is a peach and almond crossbreed.  After eating the fruit, I tried to crack open the nuts (peach pits?) and it broke my old rusty nutcracker.  I am anxious to find out if there is actually an almond inside - maybe I’ll get both fruit AND nuts from this tree going forward!  I might just plant a few more.  The fruit was yummy!  Now to invest in a new nutcracker.

I’ve finished! I knit this sweater from yarn that was sheared, carded and spun from my lovely California Red sheep. I carved the buttons out of horn from my goat.  Looking forward to wearing it when the weather turns chilly.

click image for larger version

It’s hard to work outside in the summertime! Everything here on the farm seems to think so too. The plants are all thirsty, and the sheep stay in the shade trying not to move very much.  Time to be lazy, siesta, and work on plans to do things when the air isn’t so thick.  The lambs are growing well, as is the pasture.  The pond is still at a decent level, but is dropping some.  I’ve finished knitting a sweater from the yarn made from my fleeces too! I just need to carve some buttons from horn and attach them, and it will be ready to wear.  I will post pictures as soon as I complete it.  I’ve never knitted a sweater before and I’m terribly proud of myself.

As a final Argyle note, I received results back from the lab today that say the limping and inability to stand were caused by severe arthritis in his leg. They said most of the cartiledge in that part of his leg was gone and he was probably in a great deal of pain, so euthanasia really was the best course of action we could have taken.  I still miss him of course, but I’m glad he’s no longer suffering.

Argyle is gone, we had him euthanized this morning.  There was nothing more we could do, except end his suffering as quickly and painlessly as possible. Sad.