Digging in the Dirt

First, a gratuitous photo of one of our older hens, an Americauna. the chickens are great at digging in the dirt!


Dave got the tiller going, and the rain held off long enough to get the garden area tilled! The back left corner is where the Sheepie Hilton compost pile was. I shoveled about half of it over the garden after the first tilling, then the rest stayed put... mostly. Sheep compost is wonderful! I plan to put the tomatoes in that location.

This is an expansion of our last garden - in 2009 during one of the best growing seasons that I can remember. This garden is maybe twice as large. The portion behind and to the left of the shed is new, as is most of the back towards the stump.

So, first I laid out the garden using Territorial Seed Company's new Garden Planner. What a great tool! I moved plants around and around until I liked the layout.


I started with the potatoes. The "potato towers" have intrigued me since I saw one at the Island County Fair two years ago. Potatoes take so much garden space when grown traditionally. The towers let the potatoes grow up, and produce more potatoes in the vertical space. There are many versions on the web, and I designed my own (of course!).

We had taken this field fence wire down several years ago, and I was about ready to take it to the dump. It had been grown into the grass and took some doing to get it loose.


I chose to make my towers about 3 feet in diameter, so that's just over 6 feet of length. The bolt cutters made quick work of cutting the wire lengths. Then, I wanted the towers to be low enough that I could reach the bottom, but high enough to grow lots of potatoes!

Bending the tops down, doubling the wire at the top, then rolling it into a cylinder, securing with the cut wire ends... voila - made a potato tower. Actually, the length of fence was enough to make 6 towers.



Above is the wire doubled and ready to roll. Below are 4 of the towers sitting in their planned location (yellow squares at the left of the plan above).

The box at the left, full of junk mulch quality fleeces, has a role to play. You'll have to wait until later to see that part.

So, below are four of the potatoes placed at the bottom of their tower, ready to be covered with dirt. I got three varieties this year, Satin (a yellow midseason), Carmine (a red midseason), and Burbank Russet (the most popular potato in the US, late season). This one is Satin.

As they grow, I'll add soil, compost and maybe straw. New potatoes will grow from the covered stems. The longer the stems, the more potatoes will grow. At least that's the idea. It's important to keep the growing potatoes from the light, so as I fill the tower, the sides will have to be covered with something dark.

Next I laid out some of the paths, and put boards down to walk on. This helps keep the soil from compacting around the plant roots. The broccoli, Brussels sprouts and Leeks were the next to go in. Here they are waiting in their assigned locations - green and purple boxes on the lower right of the plan.

The starts have been living on the patio awaiting this day. I repotted the broccoli and Brussels sprouts once, giving them more growing room. I was pleased to see vigorous, healthy new roots on all the transplants.

Above are my tools of the trade - board walkway, kneeling pad, garden gloves, trowel, organic fertilizer and PLANTS! Feather, one of the barn kitties had to "snoopervize". The hole left of the gloves has a bit of fertilizer in the bottom, ready to be mixed in before putting the plant in.

Below, the little leek plants are in their trench, waiting to be covered. They had nice root systems, too, and were easily separated. We use young leeks like green onions, so planting them close together allows some thinning along with a nice harvest during fall and winter.

So, 2/3 of the potatoes, all the leeks, and the broccoli and Brussels sprouts are in the ground! There is much more, of course, to go in. Now the pots that contained the broccoli, Brussels sprouts, and leeks will have squash and melon seeds planted in them, so they can get a good start while the unsettled, cold weather forecast for the next week passes.

They look so little, with lots of space around them. Assuming all goes well, they'll fill in soon enough, and I'll feel for the boards with my feet through all the greenery. Better, will be the eating!

PS. The sky was getting dark and threatening as I was finishing. The last photo was taken with a flash! As I was going back into the house, the rain started... again. It's still raining... hard.

Fiber Test Results

...came back today. I was starting to think the package had been lost. So, here are the raw results, some surprises, and some changes in my keeper sheep.

First, the Shetlands, since I think there are more Shetland readers than Gotland readers. :-)

Format is Name/Breed/age/AFD/SD/CV

Astrid/Shetland/3/32.1/10.2/31.8

Barish/Shetland/4/27.2/6.2/22.9

Bessie/Shetland/5/31.4/7.3/23.3

Blanca/Shetland/2/25.7/5.4/20.9

Electra/Shetland/9/31.6/6.3/19.8

Mindy/Shetland/2/27.9/7.3/26.3

Toffee/Shetland/2/24.7/7.1/28.7

Average - 26.66 - not bad!

So, the surprises - Astrid has a much softer feeling fleece than her micron results show. However, she will be for sale.

Bessie has been below 28 for the last 2 tests, so she's worth retesting. I didn't expect Toffee to be as low as she is, so she's coming off the sales list, and is staying. Electra and Barish are similar to previous results. I didn't expect Mindy to be so low either, but I'll leave her on the sales list. Blanca has a nice tight peak, both Toffee and Mindy have significant "tails" on the higher side - shown in their higher CV's.

Now the Gotlands, starting with the yearlings:

Alice/75%Gotland-25%Shetland/1/29.5/6.8/23.1

Caidon/87.5%Gotland-12.5%Shetland/1/28.2/7.3/25.9

Cocoa Puff/25%Gotland-75%Shetland/1/24.4/7/28.5

Dancer/75%Gotland-25%Finn/1/27.5/7.6/27.6

Eclaire/37.5%Gotland-67.5%Finn/1/25.8/6.1/23.7

Fiona/67.5%Gotland-37.5%Finn/1/25/5.3/21.3

Marie/75%Gotland-25%Shetland/1/30.4/8.0/26.4

then into the adults:

Bits/50%Gotland-50%Finn/4/34.6/6.8/19.8

Bossie/50%Gotland-50%Finn/4/32.4/6.8/20.9

Bunny/50%Gotland-50%Shetland/4/35.6/9.3/26.2

Chamois/50%Gotland-50%Finn/2/34.3/7.4/21.5

Daisy/37.5%Gotland-25%BFL-25%BL-12.5%Shetland/2/36.7/8.0/21.8

DeeTee/50%Gotland-50%Shetland/4/33.9/8.9/26.2

Gem/75%Gotland-25%Finn/2/35.5/9.6/27

Jewel/75%Gotland-25%Finn/2/39.9/10.8/27

I've been selecting for finer fleeces in the Gotlands, too. Gotland sheep are not fine fleeced, althought the lamb fleeces are often under 3o micron afd. So, I'm seeing higher AFD's in the higher % Gotlands. I'm hoping to select for finer fleeces still within the standard range for Gotlands.

So disappointment wise, 75% Gotlands, Gem and Jewel, have 35.5 and 39.9 microns at 2 years old. Alice and Marie are near 30 afd in their lamb fleeces. Bunny is their dam at 35.6 afd, and Hoppy is 33.61 afd, so I was hoping these two would mature in the low 30's. They still might.

Also, Bits as a 2 year old tested 27.4/6.3/23, considerably lower than this result. Six of the fleece tests came from sheared fleeces, where I guessed at the midside, last rib location. Bits was one of these, so she deserves to be retested. Bunny and DeeTee also showed increased thickness since their 2 year old tests, so maybe Gotland sheep coarsen for several years... or again, maybe I just need to retest those six (Bits, Bunny, Bossie, Chamois, Gem, Jewel)

So, there they are, just as they are.

Just so the blog includes photos, here are Cocoa Puff:

and her daughter Licorice Drop. Licorice is 50%Gotland/50%Shetland.

- Franna

Lamb Photos

Finally. FINALLY. We had a good photo day - dry, warm, good light, and me at home - when I could go sit with the sheep and take some photos. These lambs are between 7 weeks (Ashley and Lenny) and 3 weeks old (George).

We have 6 more Gotland ewes due the end of the month.

Shetlands - Electra with daughter, Spark, sired by FirthofFifth Barish

Shetland - Bolt is Spark's twin brother. He is for sale.

Shetland twins - Orville (ram) and Popcorn (ewe)

Another shot of Orville. Sire and Grandsire both have mid 20's micron adult fleece. Orville is well built with soft, crimpy fleece. He's for sale.

62.5% Gotland (with BFL, BL and Shetland) ram - Patch is very light grey.

Gotland - Morgan, Patch's twin brother. Morgan will be a medium to light grey as an adult. Both Patch and Morgan have nice, curly fleeces and are for sale.

62.5% Gotland/37.5% Shetland ewe - JayDee is for sale.

JayDee again.

Gotland - DeeJay, JayDee's twin sister. DeeJay is also for sale. JayDee will be fairly light grey and DeeJay will probably be medium to dark grey.

Gotlands - Angie (50%) and daughter, Delilah (68.75%). Both have incredible fleeces and nice bodies.

75% Gotland/ 25% Shetland - George is for sale and might carry brown.

Mutt sheep - Scottish Blackface/Gotland/Shetland.
Lenny and Ashley playing King and Queen of the stump.

Shetlands - Abe and Astrid, his dam. Abe is sired by Barish and is for sale.

Abe in another shot, liking that nice, spring grass!

Shetland - Toffee, 2yo, in full fleece. She is for sale.

Thanks for visiting the EverRanch lambs!
- Franna

Speaking Spaniel

The big Seattle Kennel Club dog show draws a lot of spectators. Breed information booths fill three whole rows the length of the building. This year (as last year), three Spaniel clubs went together to rent one booth - "Spaniel Central", with the Mount Rainier Sporting Spaniel Association taking the lead. Cascade English Cocker Spaniels and the Pacific Northwest Welsh Springer Spaniel Club joined in. Clifford and I spent two hours in the booth meeting people, talking "spaniel" and promoting the breeds. Some of you might recognize the clip on the monitor as coming from "The Working Welshman" - a wonderful video showing how conformation affects hunting performance, showcasing Welsh Springers, but applicable to all spaniels.

Clifford particularly likes young girls. He's reserved around others, will tolerate being petted, but will make eye contact with the young girls in the aisle, wag his tail and grin at them with his eyes and ears until they come up and make a fuss over him. It works.

- Franna

Home Made Egg Nog

After experimenting for several years, just off and on - not extensively, I came up with an egg nog recipe that suits my taste buds! This round of taste tests was inspired by our chickens, who're just getting up to laying speed this spring.

I'm a sucker for egg nog lattes and warm egg nog, yes, sometimes fortified a bit. :-)

Now I have my own - I don't have to rely on seasonal, store bought egg nog with its laundry list of chemicals and heavy sugaring.

Here's what I'm drinking:

1 big mug
1 whole egg, fresh from the nest
1 tsp sugar
dash/pinch of allspice
bigger dash of freshly grated nutmeg

I put a bit of milk in the bottom of the mug - maybe a tablespoon, add the egg and beat with a fork. When it's pretty well homogenous, add the sugar, allspice, nutmeg and more milk. Beat it some more with the fork. Add milk to fill the mug. My size mug in my microwave gets 2 minutes on high, then stirred, followed by another minute on high.

It comes out smooth and creamy with just a hint of custardy texture. It's golden yellow from our free range eggs and just sweet enough. Just right for a stormy Monday morning... or Tuesday, Wednesday....

Too late for a photo, it's already gone!
Franna

EverRanch Ashley and Lenny

Scottish Blackface, Eve, presented us with these twins late on Ash Wednesday, the first day of Lent. Their sire is 75% Gotland. The Gotland influence is amazing even on a Scottish Blackface fleece!

- Franna

The House Pumas

After stealthily ignoring the pumas for most of the morning, I managed to catch them on their perches.

Here's Toby on the back of the sofa. Toby's second favorite perch is on this Scottish Blackface pelt. His favorite perch is the very top of the kitty tree. The two kitties used to share this perch. Now Toby lops over on all sides all by himself. Kat still fits neatly inside.

And here is Kat who took over my chair while I was stalking Toby and capturing his spirit in the black box. I caught her while she wasn't looking, at least not looking at the lens.

This is our other house kitty - no longer a puma. She's actually doing fairly well for a 15 year old kitty. Spike disappeared for days last year. Sometime in there she got injured and almost starved. She managed to come home, but I didn't think she'd live. Obviously, she lived, but didn't heal well, so now she's our "broken" kitty with a pronounced limp in the rear. She gets around well enough to climb onto the living room sofa and chairs and mostly keeps to herself and seems happy. She came in to see what I was doing - stalking her nemeses, Kat and Toby.

Later, Toby wrestled me into my chair, where he held me down and forced my hand to repeatedly stroke his fur, while he mesmerized me with his enchanting buzz. It was all a plot to get his spirit back. It worked.

- Franna

Toby and Kat

Almost 2 years ago, I found these kittens amongst the straw bales in our trailer. Today, they're happy and healthy house pumas. The calico is Katrina (the Calico) and the tabby is Toby (the Tabby). At the time it was a big decision to take them and bring them indoors where their feral mother wouldn't be able to find them. I'm glad we chose to raise them. :-)

Adventures at the Beach

Dave and I started our life together as a couple 11 years ago very near this site, on January 1, 2000. There was so much hoopla about how all electronics were going to die or malfunction as the calendar turned over to Y2K. Businesses large and small updated their computer systems and installed work arounds to keep the calendars intact and continuous. It all worked! As we sat on the beach at the turn of the year, drinking champagne and talking about our future together, none of the lights went out and the world continued. There were awesome fireworks at midnight :-)

You don't get to see this view often from the jetty at Westport. These are the Olympic mountains... from the West side. If you look really, really hard, right through the middle of the photo, you can see ERN on the other side of the range.

Gotcha! ...didn't I? Yes, ERN is there. Of course, you can't see it in this photo. We can, however, see the other side of the range from ERN on a clear day... and imagine looking through to Westport.

We drove to our favorite stretch of beach, south of Grayland to find this... This stretch of beach is known as "Washaway Beach" and wash away it has! This used to be about 200 yards of beach access road, complete with rest rooms about half way down. It has been reclaimed by nature! Every few years, a house falls into the water. The constantly shifting sand spit is not permanent. Long Beach, Westport, Ocean Shores, and other coastal places are built on sand spits, and will eventually be remodeled by Mother Nature.

We chose another portion of the beach to enjoy.

The dogs love to run on the beach and chase each other and the shore birds. Clifford, especially, loves to chase the birds. The birds stay well out of reach, and he barks his frustration at them, and continues to run.

The Labradors just love to run, both in and out of the water. Winnie and Villa are racing each other and the surf.

...and they check in when asked to.

Back from the surf, there was a small pond, partially frozen. We spent quite a bit of time here with the dogs. They explored and slid on the ice, chased the shore birds who'd taken refuge here on the open water, and chomped ice. When they got to the edge of the ice, their footsteps created a harmonic within the ice and it made an eerie, musical sound that carried far along the beach. Here's Villa, checking it out.

And Clifford fallen through at the edge. Notice, it's pretty shallow, so we weren't worried about them getting stranded or stuck.

And here's Winnie with a prize piece of the ice.

Just so you don't think it's always this clear and sunny... Westport is very near the rain forest of the Olympic mountains. While the temperature might be moderated by the Pacific, the clouds build up against the mountains and many more days than not, it is cloudy and wet.

Regardless, it's one of our favorite places, and we don't get there often enough. This year, our visit happened to be during the very limited razor clam season. As low tide approached, more and more people and vehicles arrived. We packed up some tired dogs and ourselves and made our way home - still in sunshine, but in much colder temperatures.

- Franna

Feliz Navidad

For the third season, our sheep played a supporting role in the Highline Christian Church's Living Nativity. Here they are with the Shepherds honoring the baby Jesus.

Llamas play the role of beast of burden for the Magi. They are quite regal.

I was honored to be involved once again. The sheep and the Shepherds did well. From left, the sheep are Electra, Toffee, Bessie, and Mindy, all registered Shetland Sheep.

Wishing Peace and Happiness to All

- Franna and the EverRanch Critters

Adventures in the Snow

Yesterday, Dave left to retrieve the travel trailer, aka spare bedroom, for the upcoming Holidays. We're expecting our kids plus one for both Thanksgiving and for Christmas. We have a 3 bedroom house - one for us, one for wool, one for exercise equipment. There is a loft bed in the exercise room that no one likes and a hideabed that is serviceable. The trailer makes it much nicer for guests, especially for a couple. :-)

Snow and cold weather was predicted some time ago, so we knew it was coming. ...right.

Sunday evening, the kitchen sink drain started leaking - a lot. One of the fittings on the P trap broke and let the connection come apart. Well, an "easy" fix, right?

The ground was white on Monday morning, but bare and wet on the roads with a "forecast" to stay above freezing for most of the daylight hours.

We live on a hill. It's not just any hill, it's a pretty steep haul from the valley floor to where we are, plus we're in a cooler micro-climate than the valley, often with frost, ice and snow when the valley is just wet. Sometimes, it only takes going the half mile to the main road to get out of the slippery stuff. There are 6 semi-direct ways to get up here from the Auburn-Sumner area, one major state highway (hwy 410), two main multi lane arterials, and 3 windy (windey?) local roads. All are steep and long to get up the 300' or so to where we live.

So, I asked Dave to phone me about the conditions of the road when he got to the valley floor. He did. "It's just wet", he says. "Go for it", he says. "It's easy", he says.

Well, I had to take the sink apart, let the dogs go potty, find the car keys... FIND the car keys. The Honda keys were a.w.o.l. That left the pickup (which was a good thing in the end). The pickup that was still attached to the horse trailer, parked on a slope where I was going to dump the bedding.

Sooooo, I managed to pull the trailer and pickup up into the upper driveway with a minimal amount of sliding, but no go on backing up to park the trailer. It wouldn't move even a foot backwards. Well, I figured on trying it again from a better angle, so pulled it around into the middle driveway and up the slope at a faster pace, sliding around the curve. Yes! It went up the steep part of the slope, but again wouldn't back up the lesser slope to its parking spot. Yet again a third time I tried, this time going toward the garage to back it up going down the slight incline. However, this time I couldn't even get up to the upper driveway. Plan C - back up and park the trailer next to the Honda in front of the house. That worked.

Time is ticking away. The roads are still wet, but it's now almost 4, and snowing lightly. Still, Lowe's is only 10 minutes away, should be plenty of time to get there, get the parts, and come home. I was even going to the bank along the way.

Driving down the hill was uneventful, people were driving up and down with no obvious trouble, though I noticed someone had slid into the deep ditch some time earlier. At the bottom of the hill - about 2 miles from home - it was completely different. The roads were slick, the snow was coming down hard, and it was blowing. What???!! I kept to my plan to get to Lowe's and get the part, but dropped going to the bank. I did NOT want to spend the next 2 days without a kitchen sink!

My truck is 2WD, has regular tires, and is light in the rear (pickup trucks are rear wheel drive). I slid where others didn't. It was tricky getting going from a stop, so I ran a few yellow-to-red lights. Got to Lowe's, got help, and the parts! I held old and new up side by side and carefully compared. They looked like a good match. (Remember the puzzle with 2 drawings and you get to find the differences? I usually find all but one - pretty good, I thought.)

It took about 30 minutes from when I left the house to heading back. That 30 minutes made a huge difference in the road conditions and the traffic. The road leading up to our hill was packed with snow and ice. The vehicles going slower than I could walk. As I crept along in line with everyone else, I wondered whether people were actually getting up the hill, or were turning around and coming down, wondered whether I could even get turned around if my truck lost traction on the hill.

Finally, at the very last option for turning around before the hill started, I did. I was going to walk home. I parked at Game Farm Park, only a couple miles from home and ordinarily an easy walk.

Of course, I took my cell phone and the sink parts - I wasn't going to leave those fateful parts. At least I could wash dishes and fill water buckets for the animals in the kitchen sink!

Then, Dave talked me out of walking. It was getting dark, the hill has no sidewalks and little shoulder to speak of. I was wearing a light colored coat, but had no flashlight. Les Schwab was still open and not far away. I went back to get chains. They were busy, but happy to sell me chains, and to install them in the now blizzard like conditions.

The change in the truck's handling was immediately obvious. The truck no longer fishtailed when starting to move, and I was sure I could stop. Now I would be able to turn around and come back if the roads were blocked.

I knew the shortist route was already choked, but I checked anyhow. Right enough, it was at a standstill a half mile away from the start of the hill. I turned around again, and tried for option 2, another wind-y local road. It took a long time to get there. Everyone was more or less sanely creeping along.

At the turnoff for option 2, it looked like a few people might be getting through, but more were sliding and effectively blocking the road - and this route started with a small hill - the steep sections were out of sight!

Option 3, further down the road, was closed off with flares. People were parking on the ample shoulder and walking. A few brave(?) souls were going up anyhow. They disappeared into the blackness and I couldn't tell if they actually made it up, or slid and parked. I still had options, so continued south, winding along the bottom of the hill.

No one was even trying to get up Option 4. It is the steepest and most winding of all the ways up the hill.

Options 5 and 6 come together at the East end of Sumner. I got to the turn at Option 5 (multilane arterial), just to see the police blocking it off, and routing traffic around.

I turned, as directed, and went into a mini-mart just past hwy 410. What a mess! Cars were everywhere. No one seemed to care which lane they were in, whether they were going forward or backward, or who was in the way.

Highway 410 (option 6) was going to be my drop dead backup plan. It is the least steep, but most out of the way, route up the hill to HOME. I could hear tires spinning and above me, I could see all the cars on my last hope route stop and go creeping... mostly stopped. Somehow I was going to get HOME. I needed to be there for the dogs and the sheep.

Okay, I thought, I'll go back to Option 3, park, and walk the 5-ish miles home.

As I started through the intersection leading to the closed Option 5, the police were gone and several cars ahead of me drove around the barricades and up the hill. Why not?, I thought, I don't have much to lose besides a long walk in the snow. The chains were working well, I could stop and start again, turn around if needed, and there was no one stuck, blocking the road that I could see.

Driving in the oncoming lane wasn't comfortable, and I expected to see flashing red lights in my mirror or oncoming traffic any second. A couple hundred yards later, there was a train of about 7 vehicles successfully heading up the hill! The leader kept the pace to a steady 15 mph and the rest of us followed.

It's about 1.5 miles to the top of the hill. There were several abandoned cars, mostly off to the side of the road, tire tracks testifying to their futile struggles to stay on the road. Then, we made it all the way up and past the barricades closing the downhill lanes! Only about 5 miles to go, and now mostly on flat roads!!

At about 8:30 pm, I arrived back at home, safe and mostly sound, "only" 4 hours after I started out on the 30 minute trip.

The first thing I did was test fit the plumbing pieces. ...and test them again. ...and turn them upside down, swapped them, and tested again. ONE thing was different. Remember the puzzle? One end was female threaded, and so was my exit pipe. After all that, the dishes are now soaking in the bathtub.

Tomorrow, they say, it's supposed to thaw.

Tracking Dog!

About three weeks ago, October 24th, Dave and Winnie, Clifford and I competed in the Puget Sound Labrador Retriever Association's AKC Tracking Dog test. The grounds were beautiful and allowed good viewing for spectators, and for videotaping the runs. Both dogs passed their tests! Winnie for her first title - Winroc Winsome Winifred, TD, and Clifford to become -

Ch. Briarbanc Brych Red Dog, TD, RE, AX, OAJ, OF, JH, CGC.

Clifford's video is on YouTube - http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Pztay-55xHw

(I was having "issues" getting the video into the blog itself.)

It rained during his track, and you can hear and see it on the video. He did a terrific job - after he got through his first turn. Watch on the video. We overshot the corner by about 15 to 20 yards before he worked back and committed to the turn away from the camera. On the last leg, Clifford is coming toward the camera and gallery. It is a view one seldom gets to see of a tracking dog. Watch how hard Clifford is concentrating on the track. He doesn't even notice the gallery until they start cheering after he finds the glove.

Good dogs, Clifford and Winnie!

- Franna

PS. For those of you who aren't familiar with AKC tracking tests - the dogs have to follow a course which was plotted by two judges the previous day, then walked by a stranger to the dog 30 minutes to 2 hours prior to the dog attempting to follow the course. The start is marked by a stake with one more stake 30 yards out along the first leg of the course. In the Tracking Dog (entry) level, there are 3 to 5 turns, both left and right, each leg of the course is at least 50 yards long, and the total length is between 440 and 500 yards. There is an article belonging to the tracklayer at the start, and one at the end, typically a glove. The dog must follow the course by scenting, and find the end article. Most dogs take 6 months to a year in training before they're capable of passing the test. They only have to pass once to earn their Tracking Dog title. Tracking tests are in such demand that dogs have to be "certified" as ready by a tracking judge before they can even enter a test!

Breeding Season!

It's always a challenge to figure out who goes with whom, when do we start, and when do we end. I maintain a small flock of purebred Shetlands, and breeding up the Gotlands. Firth of Fifth Barish came all the way from Minnesota to be the Shetland "man" here, but first he stopped at Michelle's Boulderneigh farm. Barish came "home" from Michelle's last week and went in with my six synchronized Shetland ewes, Electra, Bessie, Astrid, Blanca, Mindy and Toffee.

Actually, the first breeding group here was Caidon (87.5% Gotland/12.5% Shetland) with three sold % Gotland sheep - Queen, Razel, and Ruffles, and the four Finns, Niblet, Freckles, Pinky and The Brain. These girls went to a farm in Ephrata on Monday. Danson (75% Gotland/25% Finn. With 2 sisters and several daughters here, he was kind of superfluous) went with them to catch any that Caidon didn't.

Yesterday, Barish and Dancer went to service ewes for Kendara, leaving space here to shuffle sheep into more breeding groups. So, it was kind of like dominoes. The 6 Shetlands had to vacate the Hilton breeding suite, so they went into the ewe lamb pasture, after the ewe lambs were locked in the barn. Three ewes from the ewe lamb group (Alice, Marie, and Cocoa Puff) and one from the big ewe group (DeeTee) went into the lane, so they could be led into the Hilton breeding suite.

It got a little exciting when Caidon jumped this fence as this first group of ewes - for Jack - went by to their breeding pen. We quickly penned them, caught, haltered, and tied Caidon and put up the electric topline. He promptly checked it with his nose and stayed put.


We then haltered and led *Jack* into the breeding pen with the four ewes. I realized after taking the photo that all 5 are Gotland/Shetland. Left to right they are Alice (75% Gotland), Marie (Alice's twin), Jack, DeeTee (50% Gotland) and Cocoa Puff (DeeTee's daughter, 25% Gotland). Puff is pushed back and looks small in this photo, but she's almost as big as Alice and Marie. This group has the potential to produce brown (grey) as well as (black) grey. I'm excited about these lambs ... well, okay, I'm excited about all the lambs :-)


Next, Angie (50% Gotland/25% Shetland/25% Finn) and Daisy (37.5% Gotland/25% Border Leicester/25% Bluefaced Leicester/12.5% Shetland) were separated from the "big" ewe group in the barn and again brought down the lane - this time into Caidon's lair. This photo is fun - showing Daisy with her higher set "Leicester" ears and Angie and Caidon with lower (just above horizontal) Gotland/Shetland ears.


Here's another view of Caidon. He's got a nice, long body, 4 square legs, strong topline, beautifully curled fleece. He has knobby, loose scurs which sometimes occur on polled breeds of sheep.


The Shetland girls got integrated into the small ewe group in the barn. They immediately went to the hay feeder to "tuck in". Here are Toffee (upper left), Eclaire (below Toffee), Astrid (behind 'Claire), Blanca (visible green tag), Randi (little white lamb), and Bessie.


In the back of the barn, Mindy and Bessie (along with one of the Speckled Sussex hens) go through the new bedding looking for goodies.

...while Fiona settles into the corner to chew some cud.



In the other section of the barn, 7 of the big ewes are held in anticipation of our possible December AI. We should know by mid-November if the AI will be reality. Six of the ewes are in this photo - from left top is Eve (Scottish Blackface), Bossie (Gotland/Finn), Gem (75% Gotland), Chamois (Gotland/Finn), Jewel (75% Gotland), and Bits (Gotland/Finn). Bunny (Gotland/Shetland) is out of the photo to the right, and alpaca, Acclaim, peeks over the top of the feeder.



More sheep! This group is the ram lambs, most of whom will go to market in a couple weeks. These fellas are Gotland crosses, one Shetland and one SuffolkX. There are some nice sheep in here that would have been keepers if they'd been female.

Here is Dusty, the Shetland ram lamb. He's a grey gulmoget, friendly and very cute.
So, I'm done with sheep shuffling for a while. It's time for the voyeur part - if I want to know when lambs are due. :-)

- Franna

For Sale - EverRanch Cocoa Puff

This is Cocoa Puff. Puff has been an eye catcher from birth in April. She is 25% Gotland and 75% Shetland. She inherited the light brown "modified" color from her Shetland sire and wide curl from her Gotland/Shetland dam. She has a small krunet spot.

Puff looks a lot like a Shetland, is friendly and halter trained. She will mature slightly larger than a Shetland. She is also for sale! Puff can be sold open or bred to our 75% Gotland/25% Shetland ram, Jack, who also carries brown, or one of our other rams.

Puff is available for $150. I can deliver within a reasonable distance and am making trips into Western Oregon, Eastern Washington and Whidbey Island in the next several weeks.

Interested? Just let me know.

- Franna

Super 17

The Island County Fair has an Open Class exhibit category that they call the "Super 17". To enter, one must have an entry in each of the 17 categories:

201 Division A: Food Preservation
201 Division B: Baked Goods
201 Division C: Needlework
201 Division D: Quilting
201 Division E: Sewing
202 Division A: Fine Arts
202 Division B: Photography
202 Division C: Adult Arts & Crafts
202 Division F: Fiber Arts
203 Division A: Floral
203 Division B: Vegetables
203 Division C: Fruits
203 Division D: Grains & Grasses
204 Division A: Homemade Wine
204 Division B: Beer & Hard Cider
205 Division A: Educational Displays

Whew! That's quite a list. (hmmm, I count 16 - and that's straight from the website) They've decided to hold workshops on each of the categories in order to promote the challenge. A couple weeks ago, my friend Joanne and I went to the wine making workshop. This photo shows Terry, the 2010 winner of the Super 17, Joanne and our table of "ingredients".


This wine was super simple. Made from white grape juice, sugar, yeast, yeast food and some tartaric acid (I think). We made it in gallon sized batches, and about a dozen of us were at the workshop.

A few minutes after adding yeast, it became neutrally bouyant and suspended througout the liquid. Pretty!

We tasted some of the results from the 2010 fair. It wasn't too bad! We also got to taste some mead (fermented honey beverage), and that was quite good.

Dave and I already have cider "brewing" for 204, Division B - Beer and Cider. Of note, is that the beverage doesn't have to be alcoholic. :-)

In past years... way past years, I entered lots of baked, canned, dried, floral, vegetable, sewing, quilting and needlework categories at the Benton-Franklin County Fair when I lived in Richland, WA. Those shouldn't be too difficult to come up with, and I even have several UFO's around. The Fine Arts, though. Hmmmmm, that's going to take some thinking, and probably a lot of trial and error.

Should be interesting!

- Franna