Phatfiber!

I decided to send only samples from The Counting Sheep Farm (usually I send some from both My8kidsmom Hand Dyed and the farm) because I have some wonderful local fiber in stock right now.



The beautiful Corriedale came from a farm very close to me (and a good friend)......


This is by far my favorite fiber. It is a beautiful blend of 70% Alpaca, 15% Cormo and 15% Silk. The Alpaca came from White Cloud Alpacas and of course the Cormo came from our farm.

I bought this Romney at the Michigan Fiber Festival. The fleece won a second place ribbon.

Click on the picture to visit the etsy store. As always if you would like a pound or more contact me directly as there is usually a price break.

New Batts at Counting Sheep Farm

Stop by and check it out!

Etsy update!

I am in the process of updating www.countingsheepfarm.etsy.com with these yummy fibers! Hope you can stop by and support the sheep! All the fibers with the exception of the silk comes from local farms.

Another trip to the mill .......

It was raining cats and dogs in my corner of the world and I have had a bad week so I decided to make a trip to Zeillingers and pick up my freshly processed fiber. I am blessed to be somewhat close (it is a 2 hour trip) to my fiber mill, plus I needed the time in the car with God :)
This is Romney I bought from a local farmer. I wish I could remember the name of the sheep, it was an adorable name.
This is corriedale, also from a local farm (and a friend)......
and this is my favorite! It is a another Cormo, Alpaca and Silk blend. All fibers will be up in the etsy shop soon.
In parting I thought you might enjoy this picture :) Pippen is always riding around on my husband's shoulder and she thought she would see what the view was like from my head! My husband couldn't resist taking a picture of his two favorite girls!

Ramblings.....

Before we get to our regularly schedule blog I would like to share this blog post with you. As I was driving to a town close to my house I passed by a large dairy farm, now sitting vacant, with an auction sign in front. I thought Lona's post was good "food" for thought.


After rescheduling because of the rain we finally have our icelandic ewes sheared :) They are waiting to be skirted and are on the list for tomorrow. (the long, never ending list......)
This beautiful fleece comes from Maisy. This picture shows the cut ends. Once it is skirted I will post pictures of the full fleece.
And this fleece is from Daisy :)
Just so you can put a face with the name, pictured above is Maisy......(isn't she so cute?)
and this is Daisy, happily chewing her cud.

We have BamBam and Pebbles together for breeding. We will be milking the Icelandics and making cheese (for our own use until we can afford to jump through the required hoops) and soap.


This is my new milking parlor! The shepherd has been working diligently, and has the beginnings of two stantions. We are considering adding a Jersey cow to our farm. I am still happily making cheese and my lasagna with homemade ricotta and mozzarella was a hit at the last church potluck!

We have added yet another bird to the family (Jack makes six!) Jack will be the last addition for a while. While at the vet with Tyler, the reception asked "Do you want a cockatiel?" Apparently her husband was not too fond of him :(
Tyler amazes us everyday with his large vocabulary. He whistles songs, belches, rings the phone (and the sets off the alarm clock, not to mention the microwave) and says many words and phrases including:
What?
Quiet!
Give me a kiss.
Do you want something?
Hey, Come here!
and his latest: Hey Todd! (I must say that alot!)

Update and Free Shipping!!

Sorry for the terrible picture but be sure to check out the new batts in the etsy store! And mention FREESHIPOCT and I will refund shipping now until Monday Oct. 19th
I don't know how it goes at your house but here if it isn't one thing it's fifteen! The washing machine is slowly dying, along with the dryer; it is taking the poor oven about 30 mins to reach temp and we won't mention the trouble my husband is having with his truck.......then we find this in my daughter's ceiling:


Just in case you can't tell, that is a yellow jacket nest. Tell me, how did she NOT hear that when she went to bed????? When the weather started getting cool they start coming into the house to look for food. Nice huh? Did I mention the house is full of birds???? Luckily Orkin was able to convince me they wouldn't harm the birds with the insecticide.

It's that time of year.......

Time for winter squash and apples (lots and lots of apples) and the general putting away of food. The mornings are getting cold here in Michigan, very cold(!) and I am glad to pawn off morning chores to the kids :) (Don't worry I do my share of chores!)

Mama cow is still supplying us with plenty of milk and there is cheddar and parmesan cheese in the basement, cottage cheese in the refrigerator and the beginnings of lactic cheese ripening on the stove.

Fall means it is time to start homeschooling again so each morning we all sit around listening to the stories that are lined up for the day. One morning, after Tyler had been here about 3 days he decided he wanted to come sit on my lap and enjoy the story with us. Life is good!

We are looking forward to finally shearing the Icelandics on Friday. After several rainy days we had to reschedule, here's to hoping this time goes off without a hitch!

We've gone to the birds!

Some time ago I shared pictures of Charlie my Meyer's Parrot. Since adding him to our household we have also added Stinkerbell (pictured above) a Parrotlet,
Pippen, a Sun Conure (sitting on my husband's shoulder enjoying birthday festivities),
and Tyler! A beautiful 10 year old African Grey. Tyler is a rehome but seems to be fitting in well here. Needless to say I am in love!
We'll be back with our regularly scheduled wooly programming! (There are Icelandic lamb fleeces and we start put our breeding groups together tomorrow!)