Remember the saying, “Many hands make light work”?  That is one of my favorite sayings because it is So True!

Work was fun today.  Shareholders Bonita, and daughter Abby, came to help out, and we accomplished many tasks that had been weighing heavily on my shoulders.  Granddaughters Lizzie, Ally, and Georgia (“The Three Sisters”) were also here and helped out as wranglers and as go-fers!

First up was the trimming of several of the alpacas hooves.

Then there was the delousing of ALL of the goats (even Zeus and Blackie, who were NOT amused).

And finally the worming of the boys, which was pretty crazy, so there were no hands to take pictures!

Bonita and Abby jumped in with both hands and both feet.  Abby has vet tech experience, so she was a pro at giving the meds from the beginning.  She even taught me a few tricks!

We finished in record time, had lunch, then Bonita helped me pack up 1 ounce packages of kid mohair for our 2011 shareholders.  Yummy, soft, fiber, ALL of which will be distributed to my faithful shareholders.

I said goodbye to our hard working guests, and my hard working grandkids, ate a bite, then went off to load up more hay from my supplier.

Life is like that some days, full of hard work that really needs to be done, and I am TRULY GRATEFUL when there are many hands here at the Farm to help!

Our new fence is finished (Yippee!), but I’m racing out of town and don’t have time to properly take pictures.

In the meantime, here’s a picture that’s just too sweet.  The Welder made a loyal friend while he was here, our little wether lamb, Vanilla, who stayed right with him, nibbling on his clothes and wanting to be petted.

Too cute!

Tomorrow I’ll tell you all about Arkansas and my new friends.

But until then, read the story of the origin of Shetland Lace, and perhaps you’ll begin to understand why I am so taken with the subject.

Should we go to Shetland in 2013 for Wool Week?

Read the story and let me know!

Enjoy!

Dove

When we moved to the Farm 2-1/2 years ago, I wasn’t planning on raising sheep.  I wanted to continue to raise German and German-cross rabbits, and to add Suri alpacas and Angora goats.

However, my husband had different plans.  He wanted to raise sheep, specifically Shetland sheep.  He had researched many breeds, and was drawn to the Shetlands for their small size, their primitive nature (they haven’t been cross-bred or genetically modified), their hardiness (they exist well in hard-scrabble conditions), and the description of their wool.

So for his birthday that year, I drove to Missouri and bought him 3 registered Shetland ewes.  Yes, I brought them back to Texas in the back of my Suburban.  If you follow this blog at all, you now know that I cart animals around in my ’07 Suburban quite a lot.

Two of the three, riding peacefully

Here lately, I’ve become mesmerized by all things Shetland — the sheep, their life on the Shetland Islands, their beautiful woven blankets and knitted lace, and the amazingly thin yarn the women used to spin by hand.  I’ve read the eBook that you can find in the Google bookstore entitled Sketches and Tales of the Shetland Islands (written by Eliza Edmonston in 1856).  Chapter XIV is entitled “The Knitters.”  If you love to knit lace, and don’t read any of the rest of the book, read at least that chapter!

But my greatest find to date is a silent film made in 1932 and entitled “In Sheep’s Clothing.”  In 10 minutes time, it provides a very special glimpse back to life with Shetland sheep on the Shetland Islands.  Enjoy!

On Wednesday we gathered the sheep in pens scattered around the barn and prepared for the arrival of Danny Smith, our shearer.  Once he arrived and set up his equipment, we went into hyperdrive to keep up with him!

There’s never any question about Danny.  He gets started and just doesn’t stop.  He sheared all 37 animals one right after another, and trimmed their hooves, before taking a break. Our group was his second shearing job of the day, and after he and Marilyn sat down with the rest of us for a leisurely lunch, he was on his way to Waxahachie to shear one more group before driving on to Odessa to stop for the night.  Every time he comes, I wish I had his stamina!

Shareholder Kate pitched in to do various jobs.  She is a seasoned Farm Hand having helped out during many shearing operations at our Farm.  Here she is attempting to coax a newly shorn Buddy out to the east pasture….

She also assisted in gathering up the fleeces and stuffing them in bags.  (Cute hat, eh?  Kate knitted that herself!)

New Farm Shareholder Sandra also came out for the day and got her hands in the mix helping with fleeces, running into town for bags when we ran out (oops), and assisting in separating the nannies and kids from the sheep.

DD#1 Mandy and her three girls were also here, as was her friend Fran.  You won’t see Fran in any of the pictures, though, because she was the one taking them! (Thanks, Fran.)

We discovered that Lizzie (Mandy’s oldest, age 11) has lightening fast hands.  When she sets out to catch an animal, that animal is going to get caught, even if it means snatching it by the horn across the feeding trough!  All the girls, as well as Fran’s kids, were a big help, both with wrangling animals into the pens and catching them when it was there turn.  I do believe it’s a distinct advantage to be low to the ground!

One other chore that had to be done was checking the horns on the wethers.  They do not grow fast, but they do still grow, and if left unchecked, can actually push into the side of the skull and kill the sheep.  These sheep still retain many of their primitive characteristics, and will not signal that they are in pain.  To do so in the wild would make them a target for predators.  The small horns were easy.  Bonanza’s horns, however were quite a different story.  We managed to get one cut off and a good start made on the other. But finishing it up will require another hacksaw blade!

All in all it was a delightful day!  Perfectly cool, crisp, weather. and many helping hands made short work of a big job.

Now to get started washing all of that lovely wool!