helpful advice

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Preparing for shearing day

Posted in fibre fun, helpful advice, sheep, spring on April 24, 2011 | Leave a Comment »

My four sheep are Shetlands, a primitive double-coated breed that, in the early days, would shed wool (or roo) every spring, eliminating the need to be shorn. That’s before Shetlands started being bred for thick, even, single coats. Now it’s a mixed bag: some Shetlands are double-coated, some are single. Some shed and some don’t. [...]

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Gropings of a beginning goat milker

Posted in goats, helpful advice on April 22, 2011 | 3 Comments »

We have been separating the babies from the mama at night, locking the wee ones in the barn in a giant dog crate. This is what 12 hours of no kids does to Frieda’s udder: But from that gloriously full bag she sports in the above photo, this is our pathetic yield: Not even a [...]

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At least I didn’t have hay in my hair

Posted in helpful advice, let us give thanks, meat growing on February 10, 2011 | 11 Comments »

The city girl set her perfectly made-up face in a photogenic expression of confusion. Overhead fluorescent lights shone down on the complex highlights of her magazine-model hair as she tried hard not to skip a beat. Her eyelashes, carefully coated in two crisp layers of mascara, blinked up at me. “You’re going to butcher chickens?” [...]

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