Lost and Found
This is about something lost and found on more than one level. First off, this story is an old one, lost in a folder on my hard drive. I happened to find it this morning and thought I would add it to the stories here.
So here’s the story of some other Lost And Found things…
Guinea Birds and Keets
We only have one batch of guinea keets so far this summer. They are incredibly cute when they are little, but as The Farmer puts it, they are the “opposite of the Ugly Duckling story.” They grow up to be, well, a little strange looking.
Happy Birthday Toby!
Yes, today is our American Farm Collie’s birthday. He is 7 years old. Wow. He was soooooo cute, too.
Toby his first day here on the farm.
Rats & Chicks
Well, Rats…
So remember me talking about clearing rats out of the feedroom back in February? They made a stinking mess (literally), and chewed up a years worth of peacock feathers to making nesting material, and ate who knows how much of the peafowl’s food. I finally realized they were even getting into the bag of large-sized dog bone treats, and munching their way through those as well.
Anyway, we cleaned out the mess in the feed room, and everything was put in metal cans. That included putting any peafowl food that didn’t get eaten during the day into a metal can at night (sorry guys, no more midnight snacks).
Sheep Shearing Done!
I was thrilled to be able to mark off my to-do list — “sheep shearing done!”
Since our previous shearer quit the business, we’ve been muddling along for a couple of years doing it ourselves. We’re not good at it. Believe me, that’s a massive understatement. It takes us forever, the sheep are a ragged mess, the fleeces are ruined, and I’m usually laid up for at least a couple of days afterwards. But my previous efforts at finding a new shearer had not meet with success.
This year, however, we got lucky. VERY lucky.
Valrhona getting sheared
I put an ad on the Tennessee Valley Barter list and some kind soul passed it along to a shearer they knew, Charlie Meeks. He was nice enough to agree to come all the way from Florence, Alabama, and shear our little trio of sheep, plus take the ‘saddle blanket’ off our llama. Hooray, hoorah!!!
So this past Wednesday he showed up, and in the time that it took him to set-up his equipment, shear 3 sheep and a llama, and get his equipment packed back up… well, we might have got ONE sheep done.
Watching someone shear sheep that knows what they’re doing is like poetry in motion.
Sheep Shearing Video Part I. . .
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Sheep Shearing Video Part II . . .
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The sheep are sheared quickly, and it’s a nice smooth job.
Almost done!
And at the end, there is actually a lovely, usable fleece!
We had a nice cool day for shearing, but the weather is warming back up and supposed to be in the high 80s F. today. Whether they realize why or not, the sheep should be much more comfortable without all that wool!
One naked ewe!
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My other two naked ladies!
And even the llama should be a little cooler, having got the last ragged bit of fleece removed.
One good barrel cut for a cool summer!
She had a tangled mess left on her back from losing her wool last fall after she was sick and lost her baby. The new wool growing in was the only thing holding it in place, but we left it in there over the winter to give her a little more warmth! Now she can start over with new growth, and not worry so much about the heat.
It’s great to have one of the major spring chores done here.
Thanks bunches Charlie!!!
>>> PLEASE NOTE: Charlie is no longer shearing sheep, and his contact information is no longer available. <<<