God’s going on a road trip

god with his mother

God is a little white ram lamb that was born April 2nd.  Ben, my 5 year old friend named him.   God is going to a new home today.   Yes, God was for sale.

Lambs can be sold right after birth, but generally waiting until weaning is over is good thing.  That way they have learned something from their mother, have bonded with a flock instead of a human, and have gained all of the antibodies and nutrients they can from nursing.

God is a Vermont style merino.  He is fully wrinkled and will have a outstanding fleece.  His mother’s fleece is ultra fine with a micron count of 17.  That is about as soft and fine as cashmere.  It is wool that does not itch because it is too fine.   Merino micron is getting finer and finer with a records being set yearly for fine micron bales being bought for record prices.   Italian wool brokers love love love fine wool.

god's best friend

God’s best buddy is Molly May.  They are about 2 weeks apart in age.  Lambs will bond with other lambs the same age.  Molly May will probably cry for a day or so looking for God.  Hoot, God’s mother will also cry for a day or so.

God will most likely be a little scared and will feel lost for a while.  I think that there are other lambs at the new  farm, so hopefully he will adjust quickly.  I will give God a little burst Nutri-drench just prior to the trip, a vitamin hit coated in molasses and then when he arrives,  I will suggest to the new owner to give him electrolytes if needed.

Stress with moving and separating from mother can cause an underlying issue to come to the surface.  This is a healthy lamb, so I am not expecting much of anything.   God will see the vet at 8:00 this morning for his vet check and health certificate.  The drive is about 2 hours and by noon, God will have a new home.

De-stashing

Transition.  Time to clean out, evaluate and move forward.   Barb is coming over on Tuesday and we are going through my knitting and spinning books.  They have been stashed in the closet along with rolls of Christmas wrapping paper, hoops for rug hooking, dyes, jars, and a 10 year collection of Spin-Off and Wild Fibers.

When I am in a designing mode, I don’t look at the books, just so I know that what I am producing is from me.  There are no new knitting stitches, just how they are arranged and the color and texture.  So easy to lift from others, better to leave the inspiration in the closet.

But I have slowed down to a snails pace with my knitting and am unsatisfied with projects.  Not much delight in spinning and no desire at all to card or comb the wool.  I find myself thinking about needlepoint and reading novels and quilting and gardening.  All things I cut out when I am busy with sheep, spinning and knitting.  Time to move away from the art and towards something different.  Time to clean out the closet.

Barb will take the books and notions to her shop.  If I return to this, then I will know were to go.  She will make good use of it all.  I don’t like hanging onto a lot of stuff.  Especially for the sake of having it “just in case” I might need it later.  Clutter.  Weeds that get in the way of my growth.

I have been having a ton of transition dreams lately.  I have dreamed of dying, peacefully.  Not scary at all, just an awareness of a change of consciousness.  A dieing off of my old self.  Also a powerful dream last week of an eye, then followed by a circle in gold with a diagonal cross behind it, like a sun burst.   The eye is an easy symbol to recognize, but the circle and cross is tough to find reference to.  Also a few nights later, many of my rings, plus other ones all together, all gold with precious stones,  maybe 20 or more.  That was a bit odd.  I have given most of my good rings away to girlfriends over the years.

So my consciousness/awareness is in transition. I have made the decision to cut back on the flock to a smaller number and am now actively looking for outside work.  I haven’t figured out why I want to de-stash the closet so badly, but it has been bugging me for a while now.  I am excited, like a little kid before Christmas to see what is in store for me next.

T. Boon Pickens and keeping sheep

I saw something funny yesterday. CBS interviewed T.Boon Pickens in a thinly veiled attempt to get him to endorse either McCain or Obama. He was there with Katie talking about his push for Wind Power and putting up enough wind mills in the center of the county to then put cars on natural gas, thus cutting our need for oil by 30.%.

He was asked if he had given his theory to President Bush. He had, but according to Pickens, Bush was more interested in Bio Fuels from corn. Pickens said that he wasn’t going to give any money or “support” either candidate, but that he was looking for the candidate that embraces wind power. (He is a self proclaimed Republican and has been a McCain supporter in the past.)

I bet ya candidates will start talking about wind power this week. I wonder if they will stomp on the Bio Fuels idea and talk about the increase in feed costs for livestock, thus making farming more expensive.

We have decided to reduce the flock by more then half for the winter. Most of my lamb crop is going to Rhode Island along with Moses. God is leaving next week for Southern Vermont and I am talking with two other shepherds about the other rams and some ewes. With these sales, I will have sold enough stock to cover all of my farming expense, plus be able to invest in some farm equipment. Bub’s wood splitter.

After a good year off, I have made the decision to go back to work full time and continue farming on a scaled back level. The cost of raising a small flock has nearly doubled in 2 years. It does not take long to build up a flock from 6 breeding ewes, so by keeping the older girls, I will still be able to raise lambs and wool and have the sheep pay for themselves. However, I will not be able to support myself.

My sheep have only begun to bring me income this year, but not enough to call it a salary.

I would need to have much higher numbers and I would have to already own more grazing land, hay fields and haying equipment. Oh, and I would have to already have a larger barn that could house more livestock. Since that ain’t the story, for the sheep to break even and keep the land clear, a small flock will do.

I wouldn’t mind a windmill on our property. As a matter of fact, I think they are cool looking. But even with T.Boon Pickens pushing the idea, it will take quite some time for the idea to really go main stream. Here in Vermont, where we are known to be liberal, putting windmills up is fought tooth and nail. Many Vermonters want the views more then the power. Go Figure.

I wonder if the candidates will get on board?

Found another turtle

Yesterday another turtle crossed my path.  It was a female painted turtle about 5 or 6 inches long.  Bub and I were coming back from our trash outing and took the back road home.   We spied her from a ways away and stopped the car and picked her up to bring to the kids.

Em and Liz have a turtle at home named Skipper Dee.  From Eloise, who reminds me of Lulu.  The turtle was Lulu’s but it lives in Em’s room.  They let it out all of the time and it cruises around while they clean the tank.  So I rely on the girls keen turtle identification skills.

Mum, it is a painted.   Oh and it is a female.  See the tail?  It is short and girl turtles have really short tails.  Skipper’s tail is long and he has long front claws. This one has short claws.  They come out of the water to lay their eggs.  That was what she was doing.

They put the turtle back outside after examination. We all washed our hands and went on with our day.

This turtle will not bother my sheep.

We have been super busy with the 4th of July.  The girls were great help and worked two solid days getting ready for the event.  I was hired by our town to coordinate the parade and events after.  We had a ton of music, food and the best weather possible.  There were over 90 groups who marched or drove in the parade. It took several hours to line up everybody and I fully understand what chaos is now.   But folks watching the parade couldn’t tell.  So good points for us.

The fireworks were over shortly after dark and I think we got home and to bed by 11:00, and up the next day at 5:30 to do sheep and head back up to the school to pick up all of the trash left over.  Took about 1 and a half hours to cover the campus and we filled two bags.  One with bottles and one with trash.   I was really impressed.

We dropped the bottles off at Sue and Judith’s.  Sue uses bottle return money to purchase flowers.  Then to the market to get the goods for Em’s Vermont graduation party. Then we headed home.

Turtles mean to slow down.  Be patient. Be connected.  Yes.  I will.  (After I finish up the details of the 4th and  write all of the thank you notes.)  The sheep will not mind.  They are doing well with spotty attention.