Just some rainy day randomness brought to you by our cats!
Shadow is my other office cat but he wanders in and out. He has a very definite opinion of mornings- and they are not good!
He might be tiny but he’s not late to dinner! He has all the foods- and needs to grow into those adorable ears.
August 4, 2021
Well, he was not very interested in our walk this morning? It’s only our second one you silly dog. Maybe the fence row is not as exciting a walk today?? ha! He did end up going with me though. Today he was walking my speed. However, just like my sheep, he insisted on walking on the path. Didn’t give a hoot where I walked. At least my animals are consistent right? bwahahahaha!
Such high drama! He is such a funny dog- I swear he was put on this earth to make me laugh every day. Even on the worst of days! Smooches from the sheeps everyone!
August 3, 2021
Jolly and I have decided to walk every day along the fence row of the hayfield. It is a beautiful walk and we get out early to avoid the heat of the day. Jolly found all kinds of nifty things to track. I hope his tracking deters the coyotes. We have a huge pack of them out here. We have an agreement with them- you stay on your side of the fence, we’ll stay on ours. Lately they’ve been taking a shortcut through the hay field. Jolly is such a good boy to walk with! He probably weighs 140+ pounds now. Yikes right?
Jolly found the grass up there tasty??
This side of the hayfield runs along the pasture next to our house. The woods are very overgrown but I have a plan for that!
Jolly and I decided since the woods cannot be used for hay, we should fence it in so the sheep have lots of shade! We would have to work on that project a little at a time. Wouldn’t that be awesome though? Healthier for the woods and the sheep too.
Now we move onto my work day in the Fiber Palace! Have a great day everyone- smooches from the sheeps!
August 3, 2021
In my last post, I wrote about my trip to Sara’s in Baltimore, MD and promised to post photos of her sheep. Here we go!
Nenana- the cutest Romney sheep ever- look at those little curls on her ears!
Eli (left) and his son Linden- both Leicester Longwool sheep.
Violet with the white nose and Farfel hiding out behind her- we see you! They are both Leicester Longwool sheep.
Leicester Longwool sheep are a rare breed that have such great history. George Washington raised them at his home at Colonial Williamsburg. There is still a flock of Leicester Longwool sheep there today.
Leicester Longwool breed information
August 2, 2021
Headed out to MD two weeks ago to visit my friend Sara in Baltimore! We had a great time ticking things off our bucket list. Museums of history, Gettysburg and so much more. She has a flock of Leicester Longwool sheep I adore. And two little dogs Dot and Muffin. i Miss Sara so muchI I will post photos from my trip in another post but for now- this was my welcome home from the plane. Sweet home Wisconsin!
If you zoom in, you can see what a gorgeous skyline Madison has. The Capitol building is in the middle of the photo. Madison is located between two lakes.
A photo from the plane- no filters, unretouched.
June 2021
We are so happy to have a few more beautiful sheep! They arrived last week and are working on settling in. Ailsa is a Bluefaced Leicester and she brought 3 Cotswold sheep with her. I will be adding their bios so keep an eye out!
Hello everyone! We’ve skipped right into summer it seems. It’s around 90 degrees and looks like the temps will be here for a while now. Ugh! We have all the fans turned on for the sheep, llamas, alpacas and horses. They tend to spend most of their daytime hours in the barns to stay cool. The sheep love to be inside the old barn leaning against the stone foundation. Add the fans and it is downright tolerable out there!
Keeping the water tanks clean and full of fresh water is important too. We also have kiddy pools filled up for the alpacas, llamas AND the Pyrs. They all love to splash around to cool off. The alpacas and llamas love a good shower too. Then they all go roll in the dust. Go figure right? I swear they will do ANYthing to ignore my pleas for them to keep their fleeces clean. Good grief! Good thing the only actual rule for the animals here is to live happy and healthy right? I wish the horses enjoyed water as much as the others do. They do like to stand in front of the fans though. It helps keep the flies off their faces!
We have a lot of wool available that will be posting on the sheep’s website soon! If you are interested in a specific fleece, please email the sheep! Smooches from the sheep!
May 24, 2021
Shearing day is done for Spring! The sheep are busy sorting their fleeces and we will be adding them to the website as we go. If there are specific fleeces you are interested in, please email the sheep.
You can read about our shearing days here… And here…
Grab a cup of coffee and meet the sheep too! Look forward to hearing from you any time!
Before:
And after!
The sheep recently located their original blog from years ago. The stories are so fun we are ‘re-running’ a few here… This post was written by me, April 15, 2013
Catching up on things around here- finally! This is what Jim and I did Easter morning. Lots of the sheep wanted to be 'lambits' like they saw in a commercial on TV this year. So of course we happily obliged! Bobbi (left) and Andrew (right) went first- although as you can see, Bobbi was not so sure it was in fact a good idea?
Becan (Shetland sheep) was having a giggle at their expense... Oopsie! Then BECAN was the lambit!
Simon the gigantic goat was happy to get in on the fun.
Andrew not so much.
Sara's sheep Polly was a good girl. She decided she wanted to model BOTH hats!
A good time was had by all (for the most part) and it was a perfect way to spend the morning. We are all so easily amused! Smooches from the lambits!
www.homesteadwoolandgiftfarm.com
March 23, 2021
Gadzooks Jolly dog! You have grown up to be as big as a sheep!
March 14, 2021
Since we have four big dogs and a really small house, Jim and I don’t put up a traditional Christmas tree any more. The tree invariably meets with disaster at some point! I have a lot of family ornaments and such and I miss seeing them. SO, decided to hang them up in my china cupboards. They are protected, I can see them all the time now- and I do not have to dust them!! Can’t ask for much more than that right?
March 13, 2021
Today was our first inaugural Spring walk with the sheep. A sheep parade if you will. My daily walk is to the far end of our biggest pasture. I can’t do that when we have as much snow as we did this winter though. I miss our walks! Today the sheep were a bit silly about it. Seems they thought they were in trouble for not being where they should have been? Even though they should be in that pasture? They were capering about hopping and bouncing around- out of my reach! Stinkers!
March 12, 2021
SO, the Pyrs would not stop barking last night and it turned out they were just doing their jobs. I was out at 2 a.m. reminding 3 sheep which gate they need to use to get out of the yard now. We shut the gate into the barn and opened the one on the driveway for them. That is their path to the hay in the driveway now. I always go out when I hear a sheep crying at night. The three girls were standing at the old gate, staring over into the pasture at their friends. Who were munching and sleeping, ignoring them. I thought they were 'lost' so I walked out to the other gate and they ignored me. Walked over behind them and they walked right on out the gate like good little sheep. Stinkers. They just didn't want to walk home in the dark. Need to get them some miner lights I guess?
Was so tempted to just open the barn gate and let them in. Then I remembered if I do that once, I will be out there at 2 a.m. every night for the foreseeable future. The llamas and alpacas were sounding off when I went out too. There were no signs of coyotes so I will translate that as 'shut the heck UP over there.' They are so funny!
PS- the sky was so clear and the stars were beautiful!
March 10, 2021
How is this even remotely comfy Jolly dog?? Makes my bones hurt looking at you this morning!
*You can read more about Jolly and his pack here…
February 25, 2021
We’ve had a mighty snowy winter this year in Wisconsin. For years we’ve had mainly rainy/sleety winters. Lots of ice. Turned out we’ve gotten a little complacent about our plans to distribute the round bales of hay to the sheep? Sheesh. Time to re-vamp the plans before NEXT winter!
The drifts are so deep we cannot safely get the bales into the pasture without the tractor or skid loader getting stuck. NOT a good thing. Since we can’t get out there, the big group of sheep is dining alfresco- on the patio- aka driveway. I have a new sheep TV channel outside my windows and I love it. They are not used to this situation so are a bit unsure they are allowed to be over here. When I open the back door to let the dogs in/out, the sheep scamper back through the barn to the other side of the fence. All innocent like ‘see? we were here the entire time.” They are so funny! Come on Spring!
….puny human!
February 16, 2021
Fletcher and his Great Pyrenees pals are sick to death of being stuck in the house the past week. They are like a bunch of bored toddlers I swear! They know it is too cold to be outside very long so their answer is to want out every 15 minutes or so. All. Day. Long. Good thing they are so adorable right? Ha!
My Pyrs are not dogs that like to play with toys- unless they’ve managed to steal my barn boots and chew them up. Then hide them in the orchard. They think they are sly. That I can’t see what they’ve done. After leaving the evidence in plain view. Bwaahahahaha! They are so funny!
Did you know 100 pound dogs can move every so quietly when they want to? Can’t tell you how many heart attacks they’ve given me over the years. I’ll see them on the living room couch, next second I turn around they are in front of me. Directly in front to get where they think I am going- first. They are really stealthy counter surfers too.
They are also the smartest, most loving dogs. They only do tricks if they WANT to but expect treats for just being in the room with you. And I almost always happily oblige them. I’ve created wonderful, beautiful monsters!
February 13, 2021
This is the longest stretch of bitter weather Wisconsin has had in recent years. It will be a wind chill of -25 to -40 until Monday. Have you ever wondered what winter chores are like in such extreme temperatures?
Mainly we spend time keeping the barns well bedded down. The barns are warm on their own but the sheep need some extra ‘nesting’ material. Keep those naked little legs warm, since they refuse my offer of leg warmers every year. Fresh water is important so we make sure the water tank heaters are doing their job. In weather like this there are times we still have to crack ice on the water tanks. The sheep also need extra corn mixed into their grain to help them keep warm. We feed hay from big square bales that are outside. Shoveling around them for the sheep is not unheard of- specially with drifty snow. We also bring some inside for them to snack on. The alfalfa hay keeps them in good shape in winter.
The most important thing to me is catching the illness or struggle of a sheep before it is out of hand. They are good at hiding illness, in the wild they are prey animals so that is part of their nature to stay safe. For US a sharp eye is needed to see it. Most of the time we are able to keep things from becoming a major health issue. We watch for sheep losing weight, pneumonia and anyone having trouble getting around. The weather can really wear down older sheep. Anyone needing a boost or some extra pain med stays inside full time- most likely for the remainder of the worst weather.
So far our older blind sheep Sweets is in for extra care. Keep good thoughts for her ok? Smooches from the sheep!
Been busy staying caught up with yarn today. Almost there! Hope you will grab a cup of coffee and come visit the sheep tonight! Smooches from the sheep!
Dyed Yarn… Natural colors… Meet the sheep…
February 11, 2021
Our Noodle is a deaf Border Collie who is 15 years old now. She is a typical BC, busy and too smart for her own good! Several days ago she was unable to get up and had a vicious head tilt. The vet diagnosed her with vestibular disease. It is a malfunction in the middle ear and effects balance. It also comes with neurological issues. The vet sent her home with a course of antibiotics and anti-nausea medicine. She is always on a pain reliever for her arthritis. She scared the you know what out of us.
Today finds her much recovered! I was not hopeful that first day but the vet said in 72 hours we would know if she would improve. 24 hours later Noodle is able to get up on her own and toddle about for short distances. Whoa! The neuro issue with her eyes has almost completely stopped. (The eyes ‘bounce’ due to and the pupils are very dilated.) Today would be 48 hours and to me she is stable and improving. What a relief! She is one tough little dog! Keep good thoughts for her ok? Smooches from Noodle!
February 2, 2021
Everyone was hoping I would step out of the barn with Fruit Loops! However, I feed treats to them from the other side of the fence. Learned long long ago that the sheep are fine running into you like linebackers! The first time I got bumped over by a sheep was by our very first sheep Woolamina. She was a big Suffolk sheep and so sweet. Supper time was usually casual until the night I was walking her into the barn with her bucket of grain in my hand. She was behind me, as always, but took the corner short and down I went. She was trying to get her head in the bucket- she didn’t mean it but down I went. Right into muddy barnyard mess! I’m much more careful now because that was not the only time I got tumbled. Once in a while they DO give me a bump though. I think they have a right good laugh about it too!
