Hello from Maybelle Farm. 
It's Saturday morning Sept. 18th, 2010 and I write this blog with a very sad heart.  My son David arrived yesterday morning at 5:30 a.m. with the sad news that his beautiful Newfoundland dog "Bogart" had died about one hr. earlier.  He had asked to go out but it was raining very hard, so he came upstairs and lay down on the small rug at the foot of Daivd's bed.  Bogart coughed and David jumped up, but it was too late!!!!l  I guess its better that it was quick but they are such a part of the family and everyone is soooooo sad. 
David's children are Austin 8 yrs. old and Ella that is 3 yrs. old.  When I went there late morning Ella said "YaYa, BoBo in doggie heaven".  I told her yes he was because he was such a good old man!  Austin took me out to show me where they put him, near his favorite spot by the stonewall.  It is such a hard thing to go thru but none of us would trade one minute of our time with our pets.  It is incredible ,the silence that is left in your home without them!

 Well, we have to keep going and today David is taking the children with PaPa and going to a truck pull in Wilmington,Vt. for this morning.  I'm going to do a pork-roast in my crock-pot so we can have pulled pork for dinner tonight.  Its a beautiful,sunny day so I have so much work to do at the farm because a reporter is coming Tuesday morning to interview me about Maybelle Farm.  Its very exciting for me, and I just hope I don't talk like Donald Duck........because when I'm excited or nervous I tend to rattle like a magpie!

 I think this afternoon I will make another batch of green tomato relish and that will be so tasty this winter.  I guess its time to go set up some portable and move some sheep.  This is Maybelle Mama signing off for today.

Hello from Maybelle Farm,
It's Wednesday evening Sept. 15th,2010 and it looks like a possible frost is in the forecast! OH, NO, I made green tomato relish last night and want to make one more batch before the tomatoes are gone.  I really think it is too early for a frost so I'm going to pretend I didn't hear the weather man!

We did our Wet Felting Class on Sunday Sept. 12th with Cheryl Flett!   WOW!  It was just soooo much fun and everyone went home with such beautiful flowers and lots of ideas for more flowers.  I just love seeing the ladies surprise when they make such pretty flowers.  When you start with just some dry fluffy wool, you cannot imagine that it will turn into a flower.  So we did skirting, washing wool, carding and spinning on Saturday and Wet Felting on Sunday! WHEW!

Note:  The rug hooking class with Stephanie Greene  on Sunday Sept. 19th is canceled and will be re-scheduled soon.

I'm trying to work out a date to go to Sandwich, New Hampshire to pick up my two little ewes "Princess Leia" and "Star" but Jonathan's car ended up in the garage and we are waiting for parts!  I'm taking my little sweet Percy to Kindred Spirit Farm where I'm getting my two little ewes and also Jabbah a little ram lamb.  I can't wait, but until the car is fixed and we can get a day that works for both farms.

I have mailed out three raw fleeces in the last week:  "Tasha", "Aphrodite", and "Apollo".  I've also mailed out roving and it seems like the fiber business is picking up.  I have finally finished a white Appaloosa horse that I have been working on for a very long time.  I'm going to add a couple of wet felting pictures from the Sunday class and also a picture of the horse I made.

 I guess that is about all I can manage for tonight so Goodnight from Maybelle MaMa.

Hello again from Maybelle Farm.  It's Saturday night and I'm just about ready to put on my flannel pajamas and crawl into bed.  "Crawl" being the real way I feel tonight.  I was up at 5:30 a.m. and went to Toby Hill to pack up my sweet little Catherine.  She went back to Cambridge,MA. with her daughter Laurie and Jerry.  It was so sad to see her leave because I have taken care of her all summer.....we have played most of the time making jam, chutney, marmalade and going out on rides and just enjoying every beautiful day.

This was such a wonderful summer with so much sunny weather and the garden was crazy.  It was really hard to keep up with the summer squash, zucchini and beans.  There were not as many blueberries or raspberries but the blackberries were very plentiful.  Catherine wanted to give me something as a little gift so I thought long and hard about what would be nice.  I came up with a "flicker".  Its used to card wool and my friend Alison was here today teaching a class "Skirting, washing, carding and spinning a fleece".  Alison just happened to have a flicker for sale so now every time I use my new flicker to card wool....."it will be a very sweet reminder of my little Catherine! 

At Alison's class, we skirted a fleece donated by Arwyn.  She was born a black/white spotted lamb so the fleece came out a very light gray with touches of fawn and white...YUMMY.  We also had to wash up a little of Tinka, my very LARGE Coopworth and it is incredibly beautiful.  My grandaughter Rowan stayed with me today through the class and my daughter Darcy took her son Declan to a "Touch a Truck" event in Brattleboro.  Declan is three years old and anything with a motor is just super interesting for him.  He got to sit in an eighteen wheeler, a beverage truck, a hummer,etc...  It was great until he tried to sit in a garbage truck.......yuck the smell almost made him gag! 

Todd, my son-in-law, made lots of new labels for all the kits and roving packages I'm putting together for the November event at Mt. Snow. Jonathan mowed out in the fields across from the farmhouse and it makes the fields look so nice.  I had the Vet here on Thursday Sept. 9th and my little Percy got his CD & T shot, a lovely lime green scrapie ear tag, wormed and scrotum check!  He is now ready to go to New Hampshire to be a real little stud muffin!  I also had an OPP blood test done and when the results are back, I will get his health certificate to take with me when Jonathan and I deliver him to his new farm. 

Arly (that is Percy's Mom) has been limping, so the Vet checked her and she has a scrape with a small puncture wound and he thought she probably ran into a wire or stick.  I've kept her in for two days and given her some aspirin and she is much better tonight.  My poor old Ram Blake continues to just get more and more lame and I'm just letting him enjoy every bit of time he can outside in the lovely weather. 

Tonight my son David invited us down to his house for supper.  I was beyond thrilled as we hardly ever go there.  I made coleslaw, a pasta salad and macaroni & cheese for the children.  David grilled hot dogs and fixed a nice fire in his fire pit and we roasted marshmallows.  Ella, my little granddaughter, curled up in my arms wrapped in a blanket and almost went to sleep.  I took her inside, gave her a bath, washed her hair and put her in her pajamas.  That was the first time I have really taken care of her and I got a hug and a kiss.  My grandson Austin mowed our yard and helped here all afternoon then after supper, he was weed whacking all around their house.  He is like the energizer bunny and just can't stop! 

Tomorrow is a very exciting time here at the farm.  Cheryl Flett is teaching a Wet Felting class that is making flowers with vines. There are at least 8 people signed up and it is just way too much fun.  It is incredible to see how these classes have taken off and grown.  I'm also selling raw wool, roving,etc. on Etsy which has been really great.  I also got a call from a lady from the Vermont Farm Bureau and she asked if we raised our sheep for wool and I told her "Yes"!!   She said she is going to send a reporter here this coming week and interview me and write about our farm!!!!!! YIPPEE, I'm so excited. 

Well, I've finally run down for tonight so will sign off.  Goodnight from Maybelle MaMa.