Lamb Update

World:  meet Ziggy Stardust.

He was born around 12:30 Friday morning.  Around 1 am we heard him bleating and headed out to the corral to check in.  As he was getting to his feet, there were shooting stars in the sky, so we needed a pretty stellar name.  Also, I didn't know for the first several hours whether Zig was a boy or a girl.  Hence the David Bowie inspiration.  I think he'll be a rock star in his own right though.

Dutchess and Ziggy are doing really well and are together in the barn right now to get bonded and rest up a little.  We'll probably let them rejoin the flock on Monday. 

Lamb Watch

Update: 

still no lambs.



Dutchess is still as fat as ever. 

Unexpectedly Expecting

This past Fall, Adam and I decided that since the yaks would be breeding for the first time, we would take a year off of sheep.  We moved the rams to the other side of the barn, even though they were less than a year old and (we thought) not yet ready for breeding.  We planned on putting them all back together this fall, and then having lambs against next spring.

The sheep had other plans.

We apparently separated the ewes and rams too late, because Dutchess is pregnant.

Very, very pregnant.

So we will have lambs popping sometime in the very near future. 

In the meantime, Cisco is keeping a watchful border collie eye on everything sheep.

(And yes, he is sitting in the lavender boxes.  Of course.)

It's Official

We are now Skirted Fleece Mill, LLC!
We got the name approved and the corporation set up with the state this week.

And because we've been very absent- lots of paperwork + a very brutal cold and flu season around here- we wanted to show that yes, our animals are still alive and doing well.  So, in pictures:

Feeding Time

V

Niobe

Gaia

Maiden

Morning meeting

Dutchess

Approved

See this piece of paper?

That is our Certificate of Conditional Use.

We passed the Damascus Township Supervisor's board tonight, and we are done.  With the local paperwork part of things at least.

The rest of the work is just starting, but for tonight- we are done. 

Public Hearing

We're gearing up for our Public Hearing on Monday, with only a little bit of nervousness.  I'm really really hoping that they will pass us Monday night so that we can get this show on the road.  And while they didn't say specifically that we could invite supporters, they also didn't say that we couldn't, so if you are interested in having a fiber mill in your area and want to come out to show some love, the meeting will be January 16, 2012 at 6:30pm at the Damascus Townsip Municipal Building. 

60 Conklin Hill Road
Damascus, PA 18415

Forward Thinking

Whew.  We had a great time over the holidays but it sort of went by in a blur of being sick and having a house full of people, twice, and I have to say that I'm kind of glad that things are settling down again.  As much as I loved seeing everyone, it's nice to be able to get back to something that resembles normal.  Even if normal for us is a relative term. 

The certified letters to the neighbors have all gone out and the receipts are back, so everyone knows about the upcoming public hearing.  We're not expecting a lot of opposition; in fact, we got a call from one of our  neighbors wanting to know what on earth a "fiber mill" was and why she was getting mail about it.  Adam explained things to her and we got a lot of "well, you have good luck with that" and "bless your heart" so I'm hoping that's a good sign. 

On the more personal fiber side of things, Adam's pointed out an alarming trend to me.  Some people who knit have the capability of realizing that after summer comes fall and then winter, and so if they want warm woolies to wear in January they start thinking about that sometime in June and then by the time the snow hits they're all cozy and warm.  Me?  I got sick the week before Christmas and decided that my feet were cold, so I better start knitting a pair of socks.  Nevermind that I have a whole bin of socks up in the bedroom, going up to get a pair was just too much effort.  Knitting socks seemed like a much better plan.  (I will admit that two weeks later I still only have one sock, half finished.)

Now, I would plead that I was running a bit of a fever at the time and thus not thinking very clearly but I have to admit that yesterday when the cold snap hit my head was cold...

so I knit a new hat.

The moral of this story is that if you can't plan ahead, bulky yarn and size 13 needles are your friend.

Also, if I was smarter, I would start next year's winter knitting now.  But we all know that's just not going to happen.