Rain at Last

The News from Windrush Farm—it rained!

Oh frabjous day, it rained at last, and buckets and buckets of the wet stuff.  My rain gauge was broken last summer by the ever-so-curious buck Elvis, since departed, so I can only judge by the depth of the feed buckets I had to overturn before feeding the pellets this morning to all the hungry, waiting animals.  It looked to be at least three inches, which seems more than generous.  I called my friend Barbara Dornan who lives out the Tomales end of Chileno Valley Road and who is an official rain measurer.  Unfortunately, her rain gauge was fastened to a post that went over in the high winds, after registering one-inch plus.  So, I am sure that I am overestimating the quantity, but I know it sure did rain. What a joy.

        

The grass seems to vibrate with relief that the thirsty roots can now swell with water and drink in nutrients, and that neon green that comes with well-hydrated plants is starting to almost visually hum.  I couldn’t believe the intense color of the moss on my little brick patio that faces north.  

This rain will wash out the fleeces for the shearing in February, and the pond is definitely filling up.  Tomorrow I will need to go out and pull up the boat, before it floats away.  

Still, the pond needs lots of filling.  You can see in the picture a white pipe that funnels the water into the pond from the gutters on the south side of the barn roof.  In the first very rainy year after I had the pond fixed for leaks, it rained so hard the pipe was covered.   That must have been five years ago, and a feat never repeated. You can just see a depression along the edge of the pond marking the height the pond was last year, so I figure the pond needs to come up at least five feet, and that is quite a lot of rain.  Since the pond has no creek flowing into it, the only time it really fills is when the rain is so hard or so steady and the ground so saturated that run-off fills the ditches we have created to bring water into the pond.

Everyone looks wet, but wool can be totally wet and still work as an insulating force for the animal.  Don’t forget that sheep have an internal temperature of 102F, unlike us poor cold humans with body temperature set at 98.6F, so sheep run at a higher temperature and the wool wet, even wetter, helps keep them warm.  

I went to check on the rams and was delighted to see that they were all getting along together. Yolo seems to miss being with his ladies the most, while the youngsters don't even seem to notice.  


So time to be indoors, cleaning closets, knitting, and reading, at last.  By Valentine's Day, the fruit trees are in bloom, so that doesn't give me much time off.  Especially as I need to prune all the fruit trees, and have on my list setting in bare root plants of strawberries, more asparagus, and some Asian pears, morello cherries, kiwi vines, and some horseradish roots.  There are also summer-blooming bulbs to be planted and the large containers should be repotted. Well for now, let it just continue to rain.

January Chores

January has brought unusual cold, crisp, cloudless nights, 28 to 31F, and warm balmy days with temperatures rising into the high sixties.  Instead of being indoors during the day, enjoying the patter of rain, spinning or knitting, or even warping an inkle loom,  I am outside working up a sweat digging in the vegetable garden, catching up on chores that could have been done in December but I thought would wait until March.  The sunrises have been spectacular, clear with skies washed with gorgeous pink colors, and although, I have been wishing for thundery and rainy gray, I have grudgingly appreciated these rosy tinted mornings. 

Garlic should have been planted back in November, and I had cleared a raised bed to plant, but I never got back in to finish up.  So, on a warm and sunny January 3, I got out and started setting the cloves of garlic into the prepared bed.  The garlic came from Chester Aaron, an incredible garlic guru and friend who has been searching out garlic for sixty plus years, buying, trading, and importing from acquaintances all over the world.  Unfortunately, my planting maps were lost, so I only know these garlics as his, but with no provenance.  Still, they are delicious, and come June, I hope this planting bed will provide a large enough harvest to last me a year.

 January is the time to take the rams out from their breeding flocks, and to isolate them from their ladies. I don’t want lambs born too late in the spring, as the grass may be dying down as the rain sputters off.  Of course that is the usual pattern in a normal year, who knows about this kooky 2012.  The rams went in about October 26, a bit late for my  breeding program, so I am expecting babies later than usual, about March 26, after a five-month gestation period. Ewes cycle about every 23 days, and some of the ewes may take a couple of cycles to get pregnant.  I expect babies into April, but, I am hoping no later as May is iffy for the grass to hold out as good nutrition for moms and new babies.

Yolo, the Shetland ram was pretty aggressive, and I was concerned that he, with his big horns, might fight with the younger Wensleydale x ram, who although bigger, seemed reluctant to lower his head and charge. 

My practice, when putting two rams together, is to start them in a small space in the barn.  I add some feeders and old tires to clutter up the space so they can’t back off and gain enough traction to damage each other.  Rams, in unfettered spaces, back off and rush at each other with enough force to break one of the warrior's necks.  To add more confusion to the barn mix, I put in the two young Shetland twin boys who had been born late in July—that was a surprise!— and were ready to be separated from their mother. As a first step, I put the two big guys in side-by-side pens so they could get used to each other’s smells and sounds.  Then, I shoved the big Wensleydale in with Yolo, and fed them both some alfalfa.  While they were eating, I put in the two small boys. 

  

Yolo was not happy, but he couldn’t maneuver well with all the tires and feeders tripping him up in the small space.  I nervously watched from outside the pen until it seemed to be going well, with neither big ram able to wind up enough speed to do the other damage.  However, when I returned to check them after about an hour, Yolo had one of the small rams shoved into a corner and was bashing him vigorously.  I managed to get the little guy out, and he eluded Yolo after that, jumping nimbly back and forth across the feeders and tires to keep out of his father's way.

After another day, penned up and peaceable, I let the whole crew out into a side pasture.  Everyone meandered around, grazing happily with no bashing, so I loaded them up in the truck and took them down to the lower pasture, where they will be guarded by the two big llama boys.

Whew, what a relief! With a fence and a road separating them from the ladies, they should, I hope, stay where they are. I don't have to dance around when I am feeding, watching my back so I don't get rammed by the impatient guys.  Still, I will be checking on them regularly to make sure they don’t break out.

Christmas Eve Day in West Marin

Christmas Eve morning, and the day dawns with barely pink clouds and crispy, crunchy frost everywhere. 

The thermometer on the porch measures 28 degrees, which means it is probably 22 to 25 degrees out in the open air.  I worried about my pipes, so last night I walked down and shut off the well, drained out all the hose bibs, and left on the taps in the house.  With the well shut down, I didn’t have to worry about the pipes freezing, but it did mean I had no water running in the house.  Better dry overnight than broken pipes and 

service calls in the morning.

When I went out to see the sheep, I was amused to see the tops of the  Shetlands frosted as delicately as if they had been to a fancy salon.  

I turned them out, and they sniffed the frozen grass, and one of them tried munching on a bit.

  

                                                                 

On the other side of the barn, the Corriedales licked at the frozen water in their tank. 

I had to take an axe to break the 2-inch thick ice.  It is winter.  
                   

                                                                           
The chilling hours are good for the fruit trees, helping to insure a summer crop of apples (good to remember when your fingers are so cold they feel they are falling off.)


No water until I started the well at 10am, but I have a five gallon container I use to fill pots and pans and coffeepots until water runs again.  It is rather like camping indoors.

Wish me a Christmas present of rain, to warm up the air, nourish the grass, and start the creeks running.  I have enough water in my well so I don’t have to worry now, but not come summer.  Think rain to help the farmers, please.

Cherish your friends and family, and celebrate the lengthening days together.  

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Winter on Windrush Farm

Mornings are cold and frosty, with temperatures down in the twenties.  The sheep don't mind, as their coats are now eleven months old, about a staple length of five to six inches.  Early in the morning, as the sun is just rising through the distant eucalyptus grove, their breath come out white and steaming.  They are very hungry, as the grass stays short, what with the cold nights and little rain discouraging the growth of new grass, and so I have to block off their feeding area so I don't get trampled as I pour out their alfalfa pellets into the six different bucket containers.  I am rotating the pastures so the sheep don't eat the heart out of the grass, killing it before it has a chance to grow larger.

Frosty mornings on the farm

You can see how long the wool is on this wonderful Leichester x ewe, and I will be excited to see the whole fleece when we shear in February.  This photo was taken at dusk, and you can see she wishes to know why I am photographing instead of feeding!


Here is  Cookie, who has the wool of a CVM x, a California Variegated Mutant, with finer crimp, quite soft, and a lovely shade of brown.  Her staple length is about 4 inches

These are some of the Shetland sheep flock, and you can see the lovely colors they come in.  They were bred to furnish many tones of color to the spinner, weaver, and knitter.  More about the Shetlands later.  They are smaller than most sheep, and cry out with a very distinctive baa, quite high pitched.

Fall Fiber Fest Sunday Oct.16

Sunday Oct .16 from 10:00 - 4:00 is Fall Fiber Fest at Windrush Farm.
There will be demonstration of carding, natural dyeing, spinning and a lot more. There will also be brick oven pizzas. This is the 6th annual Fiber Fest and each year more people join us.
localwoolpastures.com
For CSA Members:
This will be the first time that Local Pastures CSA will distribute the wool they had processed this year.  There are beautiful greys,  natural whites and mixes thereoff. Bulky, worsted and lace weight and single and 2 ply.  We also have roving.  Subscribers to the CSA will have first pick.
We are starting the day for the CSA subscribers with a farm breakfast at 9:30 and hope that eveyone will remain for the festivities of the day.

Come join us and check  out our website for specifics on joining the CSA.

Yolo Woolen Mill visit

Yolo Woolen Mill

(Doesn't this look like Charly Chaplin's Modern Times Movie)

Mimi and I visited Jane at the Yolo Woolen Mill again.  Picked up quite a lot of wonderful yarn and brought alpaca and wool to Jane.  We are experimenting with 80% alpaca and 20% wool, in a DK weight. It has to be 2 ply and it has to have some wool to hold together.  This should be such a soft yarn, I can hardly wait to see how it comes out.

We brought home some wonderful yarns and are in the final throws of setting up the CSA. (Check out the preliminary write up at localwoolpastures.com).  We can see that we need to do larger lots, because the skeins go fast.  Mimi has been selling the yarn at the farmers markets and I have sold quite a lot from BMA.  I have also knit several sweaters to see how the yarn feels and works and how much one needs for larger garments. 

So our visit:

This time I took my camera.  I am always so impressed with the size of the machinery.  It truly is out of another era. This place could not survive without Jessie, who is the operator, the machinist and the mechanic for all these machines.

From roving to yarn

This is the back of the machine

This is the front of the machine

When we were there we saw fleeces from many people we know. It is wonderful to see and hear about  other shepherds and what they are doing.

Marin Independent Journal Article

Check it out.  This last Thursday a fabulous article was written by Paul Liberatore of the Marin IJ about Black Mountain Artisans/Weavers. Front page picture and full page write up with many photos. Local Pastures was mentioned of course.

We received a new truck load of the most wonderful fleeces. Last Friday Mimi and I went through a lot of them and designated how they should be spun up at the mill.  Several greys and several black fleeces and many whites.

We are planning to make a trip to the mill to drop these new fleeces off and hopefully to pick up some finished goods. We will keep you posted.