Shearing day is tomorrow! Of course as soon as I called and booked with our shearer, the weather forecast started predicting nastiness. Six to twelve inches of snow in parts of Minnesota. Four to six in our area. This morning we awoke to only a dusting, but by the time I'd finished morning duties there was a full on blizzard. Ducks came out briefly, only to retreat back into their shelter. I found Flan and his ladies back inside on their perches, so I took pity on them and put their heat lamp back on. I'll be mighty pissed off if they get sick now, after keeping them safe during this long and brutal winter.
When G gets home from work tonight we'll put up the shearing enclosure (super fancy, made of pallets) and fix the outer door so none of them escape (like last year).
Princey will finally get another much needed hoof trim. But most importantly that right horn of his will have to be trimmed. It is only about a centimeter from his eye now. When I went to Osceola last week to drop off a fecal for the flock I asked our vet if he'd order me some gigli wire so I could deal with it, but he just gave me a piece instead! Hope it goes smoothly. Princey isn't going to like being restrained and his horns handled.
I'm excited to have skirting to do, my hands will benefit from all the lanolin after being beaten up by cold, and then we'll have to decide what we plan to do with eight fleeces! I had a major disappointment this week. My knitting guru is closing up shop. She was such a great lady and mentor, and I have no idea where I'm going to market our yarn now. She sold a lot from local farmers and spinners.
The Shepherd's Harvest Festival is next month, and we're really looking forward to that! I'll be taking a spinning class, and going to a wool marketing seminar. It's fun to see all of the fibre enthusiasts and their wares, live sheep, herding and spinning demos, and try to learn from people who've been doing it much longer than we have.
I drove up to Osceola, Wisconsin last weekend, and I joined this group:
They don't meet too frequently, so we'll see what I get out of it, but I had a great time chatting with all of the women, of all ages and experience. Well almost all ages--I think I was the youngest but ages seems to range from 40s to 80s. They were all very friendly and had some great advice for me! The next step is for me to find a used or inexpensive wheel. One woman was spinning the most beautiful fibre I'd ever seen. The strands were about four or five inches long, and shining like polished gold. She noticed me admiring her work (that seemed entirely effortless in her skilled hands) and she explained that it was a blend of baby camel and silk. She was an elegant looking woman likely in her 40s, with a sleek grey bob, nicely dressed, with a full sleeve tattoo on her right arm. On her left wrist, a honey bee. Another woman had snake and flames stickers on her wheel. Into motorcycles it sounds like. People sure come in "wondrous varieties" (paraphrased from Morgan Freeman in Robin Hood)
The founder of the guild raised border collies for twenty years. Another lady who reminded me of my Nan drove horses for 15 years, and still has a Morgan and a Norwegian fjord. It was a good exercise in 'not judging people by their cover'. That woman was small, like my Nan, and might not have weighed 100lbs. Yet she can drive 1000lb animals. Pretty cool.
In other news, G and I decided that I can go and do the working with horses in harness workshop this summer! It's hands on, with a bunch of videos for me to watch first. Best way for me to learn!
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