From the Pastures: Count your blessings

Hard to believe it is almost the end of the year. I must say that I am not sad to see 2021 fade away. It has been another challenging year, as I am sure it has been for a lot of other people. I am choosing to focus on our many blessings, especially our new granddaughter.

This year we are a little late moving the rams in with the ewes. Our flock normally lambs at the end of April or first of May. This year it will be the middle of May. The delay should not cause any issues with the Shetlands. The Scottish Blackface maybe a little smaller at fair time. They will still show nicely.

Again this year, our Shetland ram is a solid black. He gave nicely colored lambs last year and I am looking forward to the colors this year. I have a nice bunch of yearling ewes in with him. Their fleeces have a lot of crimp and are very soft. I can see some nice yarn in those fleeces.

This month in the mill we have been focusing on customer orders, so I have not had much time to process any of my fiber. My helpers have had to reduce their work hours due to health issues. We are happy to have a new employee. She is a great help in the store and is catching on quickly to processing procedures in the mill.

Each piece of equipment has specific steps in operation and then each type of fiber will process differently. There is a lot to learn and it takes some time to get the experience. She is excited to learn and likes to work with fiber. This time of year I plan the different colors and yarns I would like to make with my flock’s wool. This gets me excited for the warmer weather when I can do a lot of wool dying with fresh wool from shearing.

Happy holidays and a blessed new year!