Announcing 2010 Classes at Kristin Nicholas' Leyden Glen Farm

I've been threatening for a few weeks now. After wrangling with Paypal code, taking both my computers in and out of the shop a few times (happily, they are both fine and it didn't cost me an arm and a leg - thank you Brown Computers of Brattleboro), I am all set to say today...

Here's the new schedule for Kristin Nicholas' Getting Stitched on the Farm Classes for 2010:

JULY 31/AUGUST 2010

Blueberry Themed Knitting/Stitching Immersion Weekend featuring knitting and stitching, learning about sheep farming, learn how to work with color in your stitching, enjoy an old-fashioned hayride and eat lots of local wild blueberries, lamb and more.


Here's a piece of knitting that I embellished and added edges to. You'll learn how to do this and more.


AUGUST 14/15

Blueberry Themed Fabric Decoration Immersion Weekend featuring block printing on fabric, embroidery on fabric, and painting on fabric, a farm tour, a hayride and eating lots of wild blueberries and more.

The lampshade below is how I paint on fabric with textile paints. I'll be teaching you how.


Here are a couple pieces of fabric that I made with block printing. You'll make the blocks to print from and print some fabric to take home.


October 2/3
Knitting and Stitching Immersion Weekend featuring knitting, stitching, a farm tour, a hayride and eating lots of farm-grown food. If the sunflowers are still blooming (frost willing), we'll celebrate them. Local apples will be in their prime for a quick round of homemade cider making.

Hop on over to my "Get Stitched Classes" Website for more information and registration procedures.

This year, I've given you all plenty of notice to plan your vacation around the "Get Stitched on the Farm" classes. Our area is full of fabulous places to visit, tour, enjoy and shop at. I've given you a low-down of highlights on this page of the "Get Stitched Classes" website.

No. 84

Meet Number 84. It's a miracle he is alive. About ten days ago, he was born in the barn, a twin to a mama. He was quite small but for the first couple days he did fine. It was very cold that first week of his life. Afer a couple days, he wasn't thriving and growing and became weaker. The Farmer kept him and his twin penned in with the Mama for longer than the usual one of two days. It became clear that the Mama didn't have enough milk for both lambs. The bigger stronger lamb was thriving. One evening No. 84 looked awful and we knew if we didn't get him warm, he would be gone by morning. To tell you the truth, we didn't have much hope for him.

For a few days, he lay in our bathroom next to the heating grate on a couple of towels. He had very stinky scours (baby lamb diarrhea) and every morning, we expected him to be gone. The Farmer didn't give him milk nor stomach tube him. Although readers may think this sounds cruel, after years of experience caring for sick lambs, My Farmer has the intuition to do the right thing. Some lambs just don't have the strength to even eat. Trying to feed them can just be too much for them.

No. 84 hung on and after about four days, The Farmer began feeding him just a little bit of lamb milk replacer with a lamb nipple on a seltzer bottle. In a couple days, he started to hold his head up. The Farmer began increasing the milk.

Last night in the middle of the night I heard a noise downstairs. I got up thinking one of the cats wanted to come in. Down at the bottom of the stairs was No. 84 wanting some milk after having escaped his bathroom bedroom.

This morning over breakfast, No. 84 was there with us. At night he follows us into the library/tv room where we have a woodstove. He plants himself behind the woodstove. Smart lamb. He's probably out of the woods now but we're going to wait a few more days, until the cold subsides to take him back to the barn. I keep the mop handy and have stocked up on paper towels. All in a day's work around here.

We don't always have success like No. 84 but when we do, it makes you feel good. I'm actually kind of relieved we don't have as many lambs in the house as last year. You can read about it here and here.

Books for Tween Girls and Brattleboro, VT

I guess I have to finally admit that Julia has reached the "tweens." She's been telling me this for a while but I refused to agree with her. It's not so bad - in fact yesterday when we were walking down the street in Brattleboro, on our way to Knit or Dye, I was telling Julia how I loved the age she is now. I much prefer it to the two's, the three's the four's. This is so much more fun for me and I think for her too.

Julia and I just listened to Time's Up (#12 in The Beacon Street Girl Series) on CD borrowed from our local library. I was skeptical about it thinking it wouldn't be of much interest to me but I was pleasantly surprised. Knitting plays a huge part in the story. There are some nice story lines about inter-generational relationships and about time management too. A good book for knitters to share with their tweens - so says this mom!

Julia is into reading series books and I think it is great. Currently she is working her way through The Beacon Street Girls, The Main Street Series (Ann Martin), and the old 1970's Babysitter's Clubs (also Ann Martin). Haven't been able to get her into Nancy Drew yet. Oh well.

It's not often I find something in the NY Times for Julia to read but this article caught my eye about the re-issuing and updating of The Babysitter's Club Books for girls. Much to our local librarian's chagrin, Julia is trying to read everyone of this series. She is up to #84 she tells me. They were all withdrawn from our library. Interlibrary loan has been very busy filling her requests. She reads one or two a day.

I say, great literature or not, if she loves them and wants to keep reading - kudos. She is so excited about the new pre-quel mentioned in the NYT article. I never read the BSC books - I missed them. Did any of you? Any other ideas for reading for tween girls that you have found?

If you are local, you might like to visit the relatively new shop called Knit or Dye in Brattleboro. Owned by a lovely young woman Rachel, the shop is well-lit, well-stocked and really pleasant. Rachel is even stocking my Julia Yarn (thank you Rachel). In the basement there is a lovely little tea room called The Twilight Tea Lounge. Brattleboro is loaded with all kinds of interesting independently owned stores including a slew of bookstores. It is worth a drive if you have the time. Delectable Mountain is another not to miss fabric store. There's a Gallery Walk too the first Friday of the month in the evening. We are lucky to live so close...... Good weekend everyone.

Cold Day to be a Sheep Farmer

Below zero this morning with wicked biting wind. Not the best day to be a sheep farmer. The water tubs looked like this.


The silage is frozen. The Farmer peels little bits off the giant bale to feed to the waiting ewes. Eventually the sun will help melt the silage so by mid-afternoon it won't be quite as slow and tedious to feed. I know - I was in charge the other day when The Farmer had to go out of town. Made me appreciate what he does even more.


Never the less, the barn yarn looked calm and serene, if a bit busy. Do you see the ewe using the "scratching post" for a massage?


The older lambs are getting really playful. They have discovered the manure pile and love to play king and queen of the mountain. For all you composters, the manure is removed from the greenhouse barn once a year in the fall. It gets set just outside the barn. In the summer or late fall, after resting a year, The Farmer spreads it on his hay fields with a manure spreader. Good stuff!


These guys were snoozing in the sun.


Isn't this one the cutest? Love the little black nose.


And these twins look intertwined, don't they?


Good weekend everyone. Thanks so much to Kay and Ann over at the fabulous Mason-Dixon Knitting Blog for giving my new book a plug! I loved what Ann wrote - how she compared my neutral colored sheep photos to my very colorful knits. It doesn't exactly make sense, does it? But that's how it is outside at our farm this time of year. Gotta get a color fix somehow. Might as well knit colorfully! Don't you love their books? They have such a great sense of humour and convey it so well on the pages of their books. They're also not afraid of Fair Isle and steeking. Girls after my own knitting heart! Thanks again guys.

Lessons from Sheep

Unexpected snowstorm today.

Over 140 lambs thus far.


Three this morning. This set of twins belong to a young Border Leicester cross. She wasn't so sure about coming in the barn. The twins are tiny but tough.


Another new lamb being carried into the barn with Mama close behind. The Farmer is wearing his Quarters Cap made by The Farmer's Wife (that would be moi).


Taking photos of sheep in the snow is fabulous fun. They all look so lovely lying in the snow, not moving and letting it snow down on them. Peaceful is the word I am looking for. They could care less about the snow, unlike humans who let the media get them all tensed up about an upcoming storm. I'd say I am closer to the sheep's view of snow - take it as it comes and don't make a fuss. Something I have learned by watching them. Animals are smarter than humans in many ways.


Twin lambs frequently nap glued to each other. Often they are intertwined, both asleep. This little guy is snoozing on his brother. Who needs a pillow?


Good day everyone. I've got to much to do and don't know how I am going to fit it all in. Taking a lesson from the sheep - don't worry - do what I can and the rest will fall in line.

The Farmer Answers - Part Six

On Sunday, it was a beautiful sunny day. The little lambs love to sunbathe in the bright sun. The Farmer places the bales of hay in different spots for feeding. The sheep won't eat the entire bale so the end of it makes a perfect bed for everyone to nap on.


Farming Lesson of the Day: Docking Tails:

We use an "elastrator" to "dock" the lambs' tails. This is done when they are a day old. A very small and very strong green rubber band is put on the tail using a special tool. The band cuts off the blood supply to the tail which will then fall off in a couple weeks. Here the band going on.


Here's what it looks like the first day.

This little lamb's tail is about to fall off. Can you see how it is shrivelled?

This year, The Farmer is "docking" all of the lambs' tails. In the past he only did the ewe lambs so it would be easy to identify the ram lambs that we used for our lamb business. This year he changed his mind for some reason. Having a short tail helps the sheep stay clean and free of manure. It is healthier in the hot humid summer when flies and maggots can infest a sheep and kill it quickly. Nothing more gross in the summer than a sheep infested with maggots. UUUUGGGHHH.

More from The Farmer Today

Question: I have a question about the de-worming... I know that for horses the deworming is prevention only. If you de-worm too late and the horse already has worms, the horse will die because the de-wormer will kill the worms while they are in the horse's heart blocking blood flow. Is thie same thing true for the de-wormer you use on the sheep?
The Farmer Says: Sheep always have some worms in their stomach. Although there are several different types of worms (taper worms, round worms, etc.) it is round worms that tend to cause the most problems. Killing the worms will not kill the sheep or lamb. In fact, worming sheep when they have a relatively light worm burden is a waste of time and money. Also worming when it is not really necessary can increase the chance of worms building up resistance to the worming medicine. Drug resistance is becoming a very serious problem.

Question: Hey Farmer! We've been dying to send you a few questions: Which model MASSEY-FERGUSON are you using?
The Farmer Says: I have two Massey Ferguson tractors. The loader tractor which gets used the most is a Model 4235 60 horse power tractor. The larger tractor which is used for all the haying operations (mowing, raking, baling, etc.) is a 6480 120 horse power tractor.
These days all the major tractor manufacturers make a good tractor. I chose Massey Ferguson because we had a dealer in my town. The upstairs part of the business was a 100 year old general store. The downstairs part was the tractor dealership. If I was having a problem with my tractor, I would simply drive it down to Streeter's Store. While they were fixing the problem, I could go upstairs and buy an ice cream cone, some fish hooks for later and shoot the breeze with Whitey Streeter who made it his business to know all about your business. Sadly, Streeters closed its doors for the last time a couple years ago.
Kristin Says: I wrote about Streeter's Store several times on my blog. You can read about it here. It's funny but I get e-mails every once in a while about Streeter's Store - usually from people who lived in town long ago and wonder if it is still around. Happily, the building is being used again. There is a package store (for those of you not from New England, this means beer, wine and liquor) in one half of it and soon to be some kind of tea room if they can ever get the permits straightened out. Maybe I will write about that when it finally opens.


Question: Do you keep a count of all the sheep you've ever had on the farm? how many?
The Farmer Says: Although I don’t keep count of all the sheep I’ve ever had on the farm, I know that it’s quite a few.

Question: Which hat/sweater combo from Kristin is your favorite to wear?
The Farmer Says: I guess my favorite hat/sweater combo is the one I can find that morning.
Kristin Says: The man is in need of a new sweater. Several have moth holes in them. I must say, he isn't high on the list - I'm always working on something for upcoming publication. I must make that a priority. I do manage a hat once in a while.

Question: What's in your flask: Scotch or Jameson?
The Farmer Says: Although I don’t have a flask, a good single malt scotch or a very good cognac while sitting next to the fireplace sounds just fine.

Question: Have you ever thought of posing in a dedicated Farmer calendar? Like January in the Carhartt suit with twin lambs, February in the Carhartt suit with a red hat, March in the Carhartt suit slightly unbuttoned for the warmth - no hat, and so on, perhaps a couple of months with sweaters. Maybe one month with Jeremy, another with Eyeore, maybe one with the chickens. And the dogs. And the cats.... Semi-serious question. It would be part of the Kristin Nicholas/The Farmer/Julia family lifestyle series..... perhaps a reality show is a possiblity - The Farmer + Kristin + Julia + 200+ animals..... just free-thinking here...
The Farmer Says: I have to admit that I know who suggested that I pose in a dedicated Farmer calendar...... If I’m already starting to unbutton my Carhartt suit in March, I have a feeling that she will be unwilling to accept anything short of The Full Monty by Christmas. I guess I will be needing a lot of that really good cognac if I’m to follow through with this proposition.
Kristin Says: This is why I love my friends - Always thinking of ways we can make money and keep the farm afloat although some I'm pretty sure won't come to fruition!

The Farmer is almost done, only a few straggling questions to answer - if you want to send anymore questions, please do but make it early in the week. Several of you have asked this to be a regular column and we will try at different times of the year. Lambing is the most exciting time of the year (if taking care of little lambs is your kind of thing) here on the farm.

The Farmer Answers - Part Five

Wet cold rain today. No school for Julia. It was too icy for the school to send the buses out. Good choice, I must concur. The Farmer has been to the barn and no new lambs were born today. Thank goodness. Wet cold rain is harder for lambs than 10 degrees and snow. Yesterday it was a beautiful sunny day. Here's some new arrivals with The Farmer and "The Farmer's Daughter" looking on.

Back to the Q & A with The Farmer today.

Question: If you were not a farmer, then what would you like to do?
The Farmer Says: If I weren’t a farmer, then I think I would enjoy being a forester. It would be fun and rewarding to work with small landowners to advise them on how to improve their forests or woodlots. And what better office than to be out in the trees and wildlife.

Question: My husband, his sister and I just moved to a small farm (28 acres). How much does it take to sustain a flock of sheep? We're talking about meat and for fleece. (I want the fleece, they want the meat!)
The Farmer Says: I will have to make a few assumptions since I don’t know where your farm is. Assuming that it is in a part of the country where there is adequate moisture and the soil has at least a moderate fertility level, you should be able to stock the farm at 3 to 5 sheep per acre. If you have very fertile land and you practice pasture rotation, you could probably raise that by a few sheep.
When determining your stocking rate, it is also important to realize that grass doesn’t grow at a steady rate. In New England, our pastures usually start growing in April. The pastures reach their peak growth rates around the beginning of June and then slow down dramatically during the summer months. There is another smaller growth spurt in early fall. On our farm, I will sometimes graze over 100 sheep per acre but only for a day or even less. It is important to remove the sheep when the grass is grazed down to around 2 inches in height. The pasture should be rested until the grass reaches 6 to 8 inches in height.

Question: I purchased some Leyden Farm Lamb and it was wonderfully tasty stuff (even though the husband wouldn't touch it) but I noticed the congealed fat was yellow! I'd never seen yellow fat before - is that because there were no hormones and it was all grass fed?
The Farmer Says: To answer the question about the yellow fat, I contacted a fellow grass farmer who also works in the Agriculture Department at UMASS/Amherst. Kyle says that it is absolutely because the animal was grass fed. The carotene in the grass gives the fat the yellow color.
Kristin Says: Thanks for purchasing our lamb. At the moment, our supply of lamb is very low but we're hoping to do a better job next year anticipating customer's wants and needs. It's all one big experiment! We knew starting a retail lamb business would be full of all kinds of learning and we weren't wrong.

Question: When/How do you separate the lambs from their SheepMamas ? Is it hard for them ? Do you think the Mamas still recognize their babies from afar ?
The Farmer Says: I’m never in an particular hurry to separate the lambs from their mothers. I guess generally they come off their mothers at around 90 days. The exception to this is lambs sold for the Easter market who come off earlier. I guess this is a pretty relaxed system when compared with dairy calves that are removed from their mothers the first day of life.

The photo below shows The Farmer bringing in a new lamb with the mama close behind. The new lambs are held in these temporary pens for a couple days to help them bond with their mamas and to keep an eye on them. Sometimes it is impossible to bring a new lamb in - the mama just won't participate. If they are that wild, we just leave them alone (they have a real will to live as does their baby most likely).


Question: You use the term sustainable for your method of farming. Could you please explain more about what sustainable farming entails?
The Farmer Says: Sustainable farming means different things to different farmers. To me, it is sort of a web in which you are sensitive to the fact that many things are interconnected. Much of our land is hill land and therefore susceptible to soil erosion. We keep this land in permanent pasture to hld the soil in place. By careful planning of grazing and resting periods, we are able to build up the fertility organic material, and soil organisms such as earth worms, microorganisms and beneficial soil bacteria. Over time the soil improves rather than degrades.
The livestock raised on the farm should be suitable to the soil conditions, topography, and climate. My role as a grass farmer is to use the sheep as a tool to harvest the grass which is a result of photosynthesis and water and produce a saleable product in the form of meat and wool. Finally, in our case, we market the lamb meat at a price where we can make a reasonable profit. This is what sustainable farming entails on our farm.

Question: Do you have hired help? If so, who, how many, how much?
The Farmer Says: For the most part, we operate the sheep farm without hired help. Last summer I hired a twenty year old kid to rake a field of hay while I did the baling. I remember thinking that it was pure heaven. You’ve got to love 20 year olds. They can stay up partying all night and still be productive on a tractor the next day. It’s been a long time since I could do that.

Question: What breed(s) of sheep do you raise and why? If starting with a small flock, how many acres would be needed?
The Farmer Says: My flock is based on Romney sheep. Romneys are calm, reasonably productive and do well in a grass based operation. As I said in a previous question, you should easily be able to stock at 3 sheep per acre.

Question: Do you have any "milk" sheep - why or why not?
The Farmer Says: I don’t have any milk sheep. The idea of having to milk a flock of sheep twice a day gives me the hives. I would however consider introducing some milk sheep genetics into the flock toimprove the ewes milk production for their lambs. This can be a tricky proposition though. Too much milk sheep influence will give a poor lamb carcass. Too little milk sheep influence and you didn’t get the increased milk benefit that you were trying for.

Question:You said you started with Romneys; are all your sheep Romneys? Why this breed?
The Farmer Says: My flock is based on Romney sheep. Romneys are calm, reasonably productive and do well in a grass based operation. When we were beginning we had heard that they do well on New England hill farms.
Kristin Says: Our flock used to be only purebred Romneys but a few years into it, we learned that if we crossed our Romneys with other breeds the lambs would be hardier and have more will to live. Over the years we have experimented with different breeds by purchasing rams. Right now, we are using a Cheviot ram, a Border Leicester, a Shetland/Romney cross and a Romney ram. It is fun to see what the different babies look like and to watch how they do on our grass based pasture management system. This little guy who is so cute is probably mostly Romney. He does have brown ears and legs.


Question: I was wondering if you ever thought about making sheep's milk cheese. Too much trouble? No interest? wrong breed? I know little about sheep, but as I had always heard that they were not very friendly I wondered if sheep who were milked regularly become more easy to handle.
The Farmer Says: I don’t have any milk sheep. The idea of having to milk a flock of sheep twice a day gives me the hives. I would however consider introducing some milk sheep genetics into the flock toimprove the ewes milk production for their lambs. This can be a tricky proposition though. Too much milk sheep influence will give a poor lamb carcass. Too little milk sheep influence and you didn’t get the increased milk benefit that you were trying for.
Kristin Says: I just finished reading a great book called Goat Song. It is about a writer (Brad Kessler) and he and his wife's first year of goat farming and making cheese. I suggest it if you are interested in this kind of literature. A bit of it was a little too precious for me. Raising 4 goats as opposed to 200 plus sheep is a totally different thing.

We're not done yet - hope to be able to post some more of The Farmer's Answers tomorrow if time permits.

Interrupting The Farmer for an Important Knitting Announcement

This Saturday, January 23rd, PBS's Create TV station is holding a Knit and Crochet Now Marathon. Check your local channels for listings. Create TV is one of PBS's digital signals - on our WGBY it is 57-004. I might not cable or satellite or high speed internet service but I get PBS's Create TV! How amazing is that? For those of you who don't know, I am a "knitting expert" on this PBS t.v. show. I go to Detroit once in a while to tape segments. It's been a fun experience and I am over my television appearance jitters for sure.


Julia is threatening to watch her mom on t.v. all day long. I will stay far away from the t.v. when I'm on - I hate to watch myself on t.v! I'm glad I have been given the opportunity, don't get me wrong. Here's the link to the new Knit and Crochet Now website. There are awesome free patterns on it, videos, and you can sign up for the weekly newsletter. The new season is just beginning (we taped it in October). I don't think they will be showing the new season but they will have all the past seasons on this "marathon." Here's the line-up of the shows and the times they will be broadcast. What a way to spend a Saturday - knitting and watching t.v. It all begins at 6:00 a.m. EST. Check it out here! But don't forget to go outside and take a walk!

In other knitting news, I'd like to introduce you to a new, very easy, but extremely colorful "Kristin Nicholas" creation modeled by our own "Julia." Available in my Shop as a instant PDF download, Julia named this sweater and hat set her "Cozy Cap and Pullover." This sweater has been in her rotation of sweaters this winter and it is surely her favorite. I think she may be the only child at her elementary school who wears wool and animal protein blends! We'll see how long this wool-love lasts! She is already showing a partiality to cashmere. I hope she finds a good job! When I look at these photos from ten months ago, I can't believe how much she has changed in looks. Here she looks like a child and now, she is changing so quickly it is scary. It's a good thing I took these photos when I did!

The incredibly beautiful photo I took of Julia in March of 2009 served as our Christmas card this year (see below). What a moody shot. I didn't know what I was catching that day because it was late and dark and the sun was low. You can see the crocheted flowers on the yoke of the sweater which dresses it up a bit. I added French knots to the flowers to make them more realistic. I've got 2 videos on my sidebar I made for you - one for the simple crochet flowers and the other for how to make a French knot.

Let me tell you a little about the day we took these photos - I know you all will get a kick out of it. It was late winter and the weather was finally getting a little warm. Spring was in the air and sugaring was finished. I had finally finished this sweater. In the back of my mind, I was planning to do a bunch of new patterns that would be available on my website, not in my books. The grass was threatening to turn green. Green grass was not the look I was going for so I knit in great urgency. I crocheted and embroidered the flowers, sewed them on and hoped for an overcast day. As luck would have it, no sun was out and the grass only had an inkling of green to it. I picked Julia up from school and told her she had work to do. I promised her $10. Off we went in search of a place on our hill that wouldn't look too springy.

Poor kid, I make her work. I'm not the best photographer and I need to try a lot of variations to get the image I want. The first place we went was our neighbor's field where our sheep often graze. There I got this photo and the Christmas Card. I love the colors, the cloudy sky and Julia's cold look.


In this photo, Julia was dancing. Aren't those red boots the cutest? They were inexpensive rubber boots I picked up at the grain store. Sadly, they no longer fit here. Thank goodness the sweater still does.


Next, we hopped in the truck and moved on to a woodland scene with leaves that were already laying on the forest floor for at least five months. It was still pretty and I loved how the colors of the sweater popped out from the brown and gray background.


I hope you like this new pattern. The yarn and sizing specifics (it is sized for toddlers to children, no adult sizing) can be found on my website here. Here's the thing - even if you are a beginner, you can knit this sweater! It is knit entirely in garter stitch (knit all rows). The stripes are made by alternating colors every second row - it's easy - trust me. The yoke is made all in one color. The instructions are given for knitting the neckline in the round so some purling is involved there. But, if you knit the neckline with one shoulder seam open, you would be able to work the garter stitch back and forth and then sew the seam closed. You can order the pattern here on my shop page.

I think that the simple striping of garter stitch looks so much harder than it is. If you want the stripes to stand out and look stripey, make sure you choose colors that contrast greatly. If you want a more subtle stripe, then chose colors that aren't as dark and light. I used my Julia Yarn in Magenta and Espresso for the base stripes and Blue Thyme for the yoke. There is no end to the variations you could make to this simple striped sweater and cap.

Here's the question for the weekend. This is always something that fascinates me when I go around teaching or run into knitters on the street. So many times they say to me "I only knit. I don't know how to purl." It always blows my mind that there are many people afraid of the purl stitch.

So, do you only knit? Or do you know how to purl too? Do you like to purl or do you disdain it?

The Farmer will be back next week with more answers to your questions. And of course I will have more lamb photos. See you on the tellie (telly?).

The Farmer Answers - Part Four

Today's Lesson: Worming a Sheep

Sheep have to be wormed several times a year. I use a "worming gun" which has a metal tip on it. The worming liquid called Ivermectin is in the container which is on my back. I dial up the dosage depending on the weight of the animal and the gun automatically doses the liquid into the sheep's mouth when I squeeze the trigger. This is a similar treatment to when you treat your pets for worms. In the summer if sheep are not treated frequently, the worms can easily overwhelm them and they will die.


From Kristin: It was really busy here Wednesday. A dozen lambs born were born (lamb count now 114) and we had a friend's birthday party.

Not a lot of time to answer questions - sorry. Hopefully The Farmer will be able to answer some more tomorrow night. We've got a lot of stuff going on besides farming Thursday. Yikes!!!!

Here are two new twin lambs born Wednesday morning:


I love this photo of this little white lamb suckling its black mama.

The Farmer Answers - Part Four

Question: Is having a donkey watch over the flock better than a llama? I noticed only recently that you have a llama too but am wondering about the benefits of a donkey...
Another Similar Question: Why not two llamas or two donkeys? How come you have one of each? Different skill sets?
The Farmer Says: Often our flock of sheep is broken up into two or three grazing flocks. We try to have one guard animal with each flock. Both the llama and the donkey are somewhat effective in predator control although they are not fool-proof. We are looking into getting a guard dog possibly.
We don’t know too much about llamas or donkeys – we’re learning. What we have been told is if you have two llamas, they will be ineffective as guard animals because they are more interested in each other. Llamas are extremely social animals. As for the donkey, we don’t know if having two would be helpful or a hindrance. We’re happy with just one.

Question: What happens to the fleeces or lambskins from the butchered lambs? Does Adams dispose of them or do you get a share if they're sold? What happens to the carcasses and organs and other byproducts of lamb processing?
The Farmer Says: I’m not sure. I will have to ask Adams what they do with the lambskins and the other by-products. We get the hearts, kidneys and livers back and sell them. I know that if we wanted them back, we could get the sheepskins but would have to pay extra to salt them. We would then have to ship the salted skins to a tannery. Once again, it is a matter of economics and money. We have had sheepskins processed in the past for our own use but it is very costly. With cheap New Zealand imports, it would be hard to compete. Only so much money to be tied up……

Thank you all for your interest in our sheep farm and your fabulous questions!

The Farmer Answers - Part Three

Today's Lesson: Piercing a sheep's ear for an eartag.

There are many different kinds of eartags for sheep. The one we are using at the moment is an old-fashioned tag called a Temple tag. It is small and not too visible. Kristin wanted me to use this type of tag so that it wouldn't show too much in her photos.

I use a special tool similar to a whole punch to pierce the sheep's ear.


The tag is fed through the whole in the ear. It doesn't hurt her. This tag will stay with the sheep for her entire life.


Question: I too would like to know about selling the fleece for spinning. Of interest is Wensleydale sheep ( I ordered locks from England because could not find any in US). Meat and fleece may not be compatible goods.
The Farmer Says: We are really concentrating on getting our retail lamb meat business up and going. Perhaps one day we will concentrate more on our wool but at this point we only have so much money to invest in developing our business.

Question: How is it having a wife who is so art oriented when you are so earth oriented? Do you LOVE the way she paints your rooms and your life? Seriously I love her colors!
The Farmer Says: I enjoy the fact that Kristin is art oriented. I enjoy art as well although not with Kristin’s level of passion. I feel that my sunflower field is my art. I tend to do things slow and methodical whereas Kristin thinks nothing of painting a room some wild design at 2:00 in the morning. Sometimes you just have to go along for the ride.

Question: Do you have a lawn that requires mowing?
The Farmer Says: Yes we do. Sometimes we use our sheep to mow the lawn. Other times we mow it. It depends where the sheep are and how fast the grass is growing.

Question: I'd like to know.... does the Farmer has another job off the farm or does he work full time raising sheep?
The Farmer Says: It would be impossible to feed and care for our family on the income from our sheep farm. I am self-employed and sell drilling supplies to excavation contractors. To say the last couple years has been challenging would be putting it mildly. Kristin works hard writing books, designing patterns, and teaching knitting. We are hoping that this year our farm contributes more to the income of our household, whether it through our lamb business or Kristin's knitting and stitching on the farm classes.
Kristin Says: I'll be announcing the new dates of the farm classes next week. As I always say (and truly mean), we all thank you for your support of our farm and my products.

Question: How do you manage things like vacations or medical emergencies that would require leaving the farm?
The Farmer Says: It is very difficult to leave the farm. Mostly, I don’t leave. At Christmas we go to visit Kristin’s family for a few days. I usually drive separately because I can’t be away from the sheep too long. We barely ever go on family vacation. If we do, we have a fellow neighbor farmer look after the sheep and I put them in an large pasture so they have enough food for the number of days we are away. We are lucky to have friends who are farmers too. Luckily my health has been good. We will cross that bridge if it presents itself.


Question: What's the prospect for small farms such as yours? Will they be abandoned in the next twenty years because it's too hard to earn a living doing what you do or because a larger corporate enterprise takes them over?
Also, is all this talk about eating locally, sustainablility, and being "green" just the new fad that will disappear due to higher prices and competition for food? With the planet's population exploding and this country's economy in difficulites, will people be able to afford the luxury of knowing what they're eating and where it came from?
The Farmer Says: Operating a small New England hill farm is definitely not the road to riches. This is definitely not “Farm Journal” country where you are farming several thousand acres of corn and soybeans. Instead it probably leans more towards Wendell Berry.

The idea of eating locally, sustainably and generally being green although definitely part fad has managed to introduce a whole bunch of people to what good food can taste like. I don’t see people abandoning good food just to chase the next world saving venture.

Question: If you could change one thing about the government's agricultural policies, what would that one thing be?
The Farmer Says: I don’t know if I can pinpoint just one thing that is wrong with our government’s ag policy. I guess to answer this question it is important for you to know that my farm is a small New England hill farm. If I was farming in Hays, Kansas or Fresno, California my answer would be a lot different. But from where I’m sitting I have a problem with our national obsession with producing vast amounts of commodities such as corn and soybeans. We tend to treat these commodities as weapons in our quest to export them to every corner of the world. And thanks to our friends at Monsanto, we try our damndest to bulldoze over anybody who has a problem with genetically modified products. To hell with the farmer and even the consumers – the only winner here are the huge multinational corporations.

Question: How do you both have the energy to do everything? Do you have help on the farm? I admire you both so much, and Julia has so much patience to model all the wonderful knitted garments.
The Farmer Says: We wish we had more energy! There is never enough time to get everything done. No, we don’t have any help on the farm. We can’t afford to pay anyone to help us out. Once in a while, I may have a neighbor help me out to finish haying a field when the weather isn’t cooperating but we usually trade favors instead of money. I guess you could call it old-fashioned bartering.


Lamb Count Today 102.

More from the Farmer tomorrow. Thanks to all of you for reading. He is loving the comments!

The Farmer Answers - Part Two

Today's photo shows The Farmer using a feeding tube to revive a weak lamb. The rubber tube is fed down the lamb's throat.


The Farmer milks the ewe for the milk into a paper cup. He pours it into the open end of the feeding tube. By gravity, the milk drips into the lamb's belly.

This tool has saved many, many lambs. It is very easy to do (Kristin can do it).

The Farmer's Answers - Part Two

Question: Following along with you guys has been wonderful.... As a city kid and vegetarian for 30 years (we started meat again 3 years ago) I have a hard time with the idea of eating animals you know personally.... Anyway, how do you decide which ones to eat? Do you ever get so attached to any of them you just can't eat them? In my naivete it would be like eating my cats...who goes next?
The Farmer Says: I have no trouble eating my own animals, nor do Kristin and Julia. It's what we do. My lambs live a fabulous life. They are well cared for and spend most of their life out on pasture eating grass, clover, and wild flowers. This is about as far from Industrial Farming as you can get. And besides, they are incredibly flavorful.
Mostly, we ship the rams. They go to the slaughterhouse when they have reached the proper size. Our goal is to ship a 100 lb. animal which will yield approximately 40 pounds of finished meat.

Question: What is your favorite part of farming? What is your hardest/least favorite part of farming?
The Farmer Says: I like the fact that there is so much variety and I am always outside. My least part of farming is the days when I lose an animal to a predator or illness.

Question: I've seen you mention moving the sheep to different fields. Do you own all the land your sheep graze on? Do you "crop" share with friends and neighbors? What is the average estimation for calculation the acreage needed to feed your sheep?
The Farmer Says: The majority of the land that I farm I don’t own. I use land from six different landowners. Although they all have certain expectations, the bottom line is that they want their land to be well cared for. As to acreage needed, I’m not sure. It depends on the type of land, amount of rainfall and season of the year. I just try to make it work.

Question: When a ewe dies, can/will another ewe 'adopt' the orphaned lamb for milking and feeding purposes?
The Farmer Says: Normally a ewe knows her lamb and wants nothing to do with any other lamb/lambs. You can get another ewe to accept a lamb that isn’t her own by putting the skin of her dead lamb onto the other lamb. Sometimes you can get a ewe to accept another lamb by rubbing the birth fluids of the ewe onto that lamb. (See the photo in yesterday’s post).

Question: If you were not a farmer, then what would you like to do?
The Farmer Says: I have another job selling construction supplies which I do to pay the bills. I would love to farm full-time but it isn’t economically viable to support our family with only a farm income. I can’t think of anything else I would want to do. Maybe work in forestry.
Kristin says: Once a farmer, always a farmer. He was born into a farming family with two other brothers. One of his brothers is a dairy farmer and the other has cows, horses, and chickens along with his full-time job. It is pretty much impossible to take the farmboy away from the farm. I have never tried, nor do I ever plan to. It is who he is.

Question: Do you guys garden and raise your own produce too? If so do you use your manure for fertilizer?
The Farmer Says: We have a vegetable garden and a one acre sunflower garden for cut flowers. We use our sheep manure for fertilizer but it seems that there is never enough. I am always begging my brother for his cow manure.
Kristin Says: I frequently get a manure spreader load of sheep manure for an anniversary or birthday gift. He dumps it next to our vegetable garden near our compost pile. It is one huge pile and takes me at least a year or two to use it all.

Question: I was wondering if you ever thought about making sheep's milk cheese. Too much trouble? No interest? wrong breed? I know little about sheep, but as I had always heard that they were not very friendly I wondered if sheep who were milked regularly become more easy to handle.
The Farmer Says: Milking sheep is a totally different business than raising sheep for meat. I grew up on a dairy farm which my brother still farms with dairy cattle. At this point, I’m not interested in milking sheep. We would have to invest an extraordinary amount of capital which we don't have just to begin.
Sheep are flock animals and prefer to be with each other. Most sheep aren’t very friendly although there is always the exception – hand raised bottle lambs and Julia’s sheep Cora. (The black sheep in the photo below is Cora at the hay bale. She is calling for her lambs!)


Question: Now that I'm facing having to treat my entire sheep and llama flock on an intense and ongoing basis for parasite types and amounts I've never dealt with before, I'm concerned about preparing proper dosages for each of my sheep. I have such a disparity of sizes and ages, I'm clueless how much each sheep weighs. I know dosages are based on sheep weight. Is there a trick to doing this with any accuracy without buying a $2K livestock scale?
The Farmer Says: We don’t have an expensive livestock scale either. I suggest you look up your sheep’s breed in a sheep handbook. They will give an average weight for ewes and rams. Take that weight and figure your dose for that weight.

Question: Do you have to manage deep snowfall with machinery or do the sheep just act as natural plows?
The Farmer Says: Deep snow doesn’t tend to be a big problem for sheep. I would much rather have a snowstorm than an ice storm.



More tomorrow.....