September 2022

Harvest season!


The summer flew by in a flurry of life, long days, late dinners with friends, time in the pool, and time with community.  The flowers in the dye garden have been bursting with blooms and colors, we have had a couple U-pick events at the farm because the bounty from the garden is enough to share.  Stay tuned for future dates as the season shortens. The lambs have been growing and are soon ready to go off to their next destination, which is always a celebration of our hard work, and filled with joy and sorrow.  We are happy to have most of the lamb shares sold, only a few slots are left, and we will be able to offer USDA cuts in the coming weeks.

Jake has taken up weaving and has been busy making beautiful scarves and rugs, I have been busy getting them added to the website.  Honestly, sitting in front of a computer all day is not my most favorite thing to do, and I often avoid it until I absolutely have to do it.  I will get those added today, along with new classes and fun roving, so many new things are coming this fall.  

We welcomed a new flock of Cheviot ewes to the flock earlier this month, they are a really neat breed of sheep!  In the early spring my friend told me about this flock and the shepherd, the flock has been well cared for using sustainable practices and produce really nice lambs each year.  We have been looking for a sheep breed that had a similar flavor to the amazing taste of Icelandic, but had larger bodies for our customers who really want to eat a lot of lamb.  North Country Cheviot fit the bill!  NCC (as they are known) thrive in any climate, and does remarkably well on low quality pastures.  The breed registry states; "North Country Cheviots are a "hill breed" of sheep. They evolved on the rugged Scotch highlands and of necessity had to thrive unattended by man and search for food on wild unimproved land. In these conditions' the ewes usually lambed alone and the newborn lambs survived by their near-miraculous ability to get-up, nurse and run just minutes after their birth."  Sounds like the perfect addition to our farm!  Since we have gotten them we have been delighted by their personalities, how well they have fit in with the Icelandics, and how well they have done on the land.  NCC fleece is unlike Icelandic fleece in every way, they have a helix style crimp to the fiber, only are shorn once a year right before lambing, and the knitted garments are resistant to felting!  I have a pair of mittens the previous shepherd gave me, I've already washed them in the washing machine and they didn't shrink or felt at all!  Amazing!  

The NCC will breed first, we will hope they lamb a full month before the Icelandic sheep do so we can move them out into the winter paddock right away.  We are bringing in a black NCC ram from a breeder who will service the ladies for a little over a month and a half.  We are sending our Icelandic ram to a friends farm to spread his genetics to that flock, and have decided to bring in a four horned Jacob ram to breed the Icelandic flock for cross bred lambs next year.  So many big changes that we are excited about, I am already excited for the 2023 lamb crop!  

We also have new sheepskins in stock, we typically sell out of these fast because they are so beautiful!  This year we gladly got the skins from our friend Beth, who runs Sheep Sorrel farm in Welch, after her lamb harvest.  Beth raises Clun Forest/Dorset cross lambs, which make large beautiful white spongy sheepskins.  These skins are about 4 feet long and 3 feet wide, with 1 inch wool on them.  We have sold a number of them to yoga teachers to use as yoga mats!  Make sure to check out the skins on the website or come visit us at a farmers market to feel their squishy amazing for yourself.  
Make sure to reach out if you are looking for lamb, once the cuts come back from the butcher I will load them on the website.  I hope everyone is enjoying this beautiful fall weather!



A word from the flock

Hello!  We are the new flock of North Country Cheviots!  Our flock leader is Payton, she was a bottle lamb and has set the tone for the flock, we are somewhat stand-off-ish but also really excited to get to know our new home.  Our first week on the farm we stayed in the barn, we got to know many of the new sheep through the stalls of the barn, they are funny looking horned sheep with long long wool.  After that we were given space on the hillside, we enjoy running up and down the hill, kicking our legs in the air, and calling to each other.  Now we are out in the big pastures and are enjoying eating lots of yummy grass and apples that fall from the trees.  The other sheep eat veggies that the farmer unloads each Friday, we haven't tried them yet but the other sheep seem to really enjoy them.  

We were never around dogs and have tried to get close to the one they call "pepper" but she always runs away.  The other sheep run away from her, we haven't quite figured this whole relationship out yet..  We also overheard the shepherd lady talking about shearing, she said that the other sheep will be shorn soon, they must really grow fleece fast!  We don't get shorn until spring!  We hope they are not cold all winter long, the shepherd lady assured us that they would not be.  

We enjoy our new home, it is nice here and the views are pretty amazing.  Payton allows the shepherd to scratch her face, each of us is slowly allowing this as well.  At first we were pretty scared to leave our other farm, but this farm is a good farm and we are happy here.   




New Roving and lots of new classes!

Woolen Mill


 I have been very busy in the wool mill for the past weeks, the summer has flown by as I worked on customer orders and milling some of the beautiful wool I picked up this spring into roving.  I have updated the website with lots of yummy roving to spin, so go grab a few braids for those fall and winter projects.  In August we held a Spin with Ewe with Amy from Nash Lake Farm, we discussed blends and breeds and spun a lot of fun new stuff.  This month we are doing a class called "breed it or blend it" where we will spin 6 different fleeces that are pure, cross-bred, and blended.  It will be a super fun class so make sure to sign up for the in-person or virtual event. 

I am also thrilled to partner with Trinity Muller with upcoming dye classes, she will teach two bundle dyeing classes, one with yarn and one with silk scarfs.  These classes will be held here at the farm in our new space, and will use flowers from the dye garden.  Trinity has been researching new dye techniques that we will hopefully use on new lines of products in the future.  Hope to see ewe at one of the upcoming classes!





Lamb meat




This year we welcomed more lambs than ever! This means we are able to offer more lamb meat to stock in your freezer. Lamb is very nutritious and high in minerals such as zinc, magnesium, selenium, and vitamin B 12 & 6. Lamb is also high in protein and monosaturated fats which are really good for heart health. 

Our lambs are grass-fed, offered free-choice minerals, and we practice natural methods for health management. We allow the mothers to naturally wean the lambs to reduce stress on the flock and honor their natural cycle. Our lambs are born in the spring and butchered in the fall, with a hanging weight average of 35-45lbs. We use a local, female-run butcher to process the lambs and offer whole and half lambs to customers. Once you purchase a lamb from us you will be one of the first notified of the following year's lambs.  We only have a handful of slots left, so don't wait to get on the list!  

We are also thrilled to offer cuts of lamb to our customers again this year, we will have a variety of cuts and brats available in the coming months.  I will update the website when new products arrive so check back often.  

If you have questions about lamb please reach out! We take pride in our lambs and love talking about why Icelandic lamb meat is the best lamb meat.  
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As always, thank you for reading this far! I hope to see ewe at a class soon!

Theresa, Jake, Padruig, Opal, and the whole flock.