Hello from Maybelle Farm,
I am writing this on Saturday Oct. 23rd and I've just come home from our local "Gilfeather Turnip Festival"  The Gilfeather turnip, which is very sweet to the taste, originated here in our tiny town of Wardsboro.  I usually am a vendor at this event but decided not to do it this year because it has always been heavy rain and cold.  This year the sun is shinning (of course) and it's windy but beautiful.  There was a very good crowd of tourists and they sold out of food by 1:30 p.m. 

My nephew Shawn was a vendor this year and he is just an incredible artist.  He is selling beautiful wooden spoons, plates, etc. that he carves and has done so well today.  This is his first time as a vendor and everyone just cannot believe what he can make.  I am so over the top proud of him and will attach some pictures so you can see what this talented man creates.

I have had a very nice day today.   I have been staying up at the farmhouse  as Darcy and her family left Wed. evening to visit Delaware and will be back tomorrow.   Darcy's golden retriever Kara and I have slumber parties every night... pop corn and watching T.V. 

I moved sheep to different pastures this morning, came home took a shower and ate breakfast then went to Townshend to the feed store and bought grain/cracked corn and chicken food.  I stopped back to my sister's house and she went to the Turnip festival with me, came up to the farmhouse for lunch and went back to the Turnip festival so i could take pictures of Shawn's booth. 

I've got to go to the barn next and unload all the grain then put some porkribs in my crockpot for supper.  I'm going to work on winding yarn into balls that I have overdyed.  Its sock yarn and it was fun to overdye with red, blue, turquoise, green, salmon, purple.  Then I'm going to knit a sample of the colors made into a design for wild socks!!!! 

Oh yes, my son David took Kara (Darcy's dog) over to his house for a visit.  She was very excited and loved it but was very nervous like  "Oh boy, I really like it here and all the attention, but maybe I shouldn't be here......maybe I'll get in trouble".  I took grain to David and Kara came home with me and fell asleep under the kitchen table.  She was on major overload but David and his family were thrilled to have her there.  How they miss their sweet old giant Newfoundland dog  "Bogart". 

Got to close and go get busy.  We have a needle felting class here tomorrow.  Cheryl Flett is teaching "Pumpkins with Attitude".  That should be a very fun class and I will add some pictures after the class is done. 

So-long from Maybelle MaMa.

Hello again from Maybelle Farm,
I am writing about the wonderful Fiber Fun day that we held at the farm yesterday, Saturday Oct. 16, from 10 a.m. to 3 p.m.  It was one of the nicest days, to be with other ladies that love fiber, food and fun.  We ate, laughed, talked, spun mystery fibers, ate some more, laughed and spun some more.  It is such fun to work with fibers that you might not have spun before and to try to guess each one.  It was a cold and windy day but we were inside, where it could have been warmer, but when your working with fiber and spinning wonderful yarn... you try to ignore the cold!  

I want to thank Carlita, Margie, Karen and Somara for attending our event and making the day so delightful for me.  It was such a treat to watch Karen, who had never used a drop spindle, spin such nice yarn for her first time. Carlita brought her new spinning wheel and let Margie use it.  Margie also tried out my beautiful Robin wheel.  Somara brought her small table loom and showed it to the ladies while I ran down to the house to check on my dog.

I truly have such fun searching for new fibers each year and learning about more and more types of fibers.  This morning I moved the sheep into different pastures and Donald came and cleaned out the stalls in the barn.  I am very lucky to be able to graze the sheep in pastures with portable but it is now bow hunting season so that makes me a little nervous, especially with the black sheep across the road! 

My two little new ewe lambs continue to be such sweeties and follow me around.  Rowan has a Wysong cardboard box that she takes into their stall each night to hand feed them and visit.  I have decided that " Orion" the Shetland ram from Kindred Spirit Farm will be the one I choose to come to Maybelle Farm this fall.  Jonathan and I will go over to get him sometime in November. 

Today I went with Darcy, Rowan and Declan to Keene, N.H. to Target to do some shopping, out to lunch at Chili's and then grocery shopping at the new Market Basket.  We got home and I put fresh hay in the stalls, minerals out for each group and chores all done by 6 p.m.  I fixed supper and then hemmed two pair of pants for my grandson Austin.  I have read for a while and then decided to updated our  blog.  I have on a nice cozy flannel nightgown and my electric blanket heating up my bed so I will say goodnight from Maybelle Mama.

Hello again from Maybelle MaMa,
It's Wed. Oct. 6th and I have just come back from the barn where I've been visiting with all my sheep.  Its raining really hard so everyone is in the barn.  They stand in the door looking at each other like "You go out there, I'm not going to.....Oh no, I'm staying in here where the nice dry hay is and watch the rain fall"! 

My two sweet little ewe lambs, Lyra and Star, just follow me around the barn while I do chores like two little puppies.  They listen for me to open the door upstairs in the barn and begin to talk to me as soon as they hear the door start to open. "Baa,baa,baa,baa"  and I can tell which cry is Lyra from Star.  They have very different little voices.  On the way home from NH with them, Lyra  cried until her voice had a definite Lauren BaaCall sound!  Star was Ethel Merman right from the first blat in Jonathan's ear.  He practically drove off the road with that first blast and we finally stopped and put an old army blanket on the side of the crate facing us to muffle her racket!    She settled right down for the rest of the ride.  I still cannot get over how calm and sweet these two little girls are.  They follow me into the grain room and watch as I fill up their water bucket.  Follow me back to their stall, then around the barn as I do chores.  When I put them out in a pasture, they still just follow me around until I leave.  They graze and check out the other sheep but mostly keep their eye on my house to see if I'm coming out and they start talking to me!

I finally feel rested from the crazy weekend.  Last Saturday Oct. 2nd I took care of my grandaughter Ella until 4:30 p.m. then raced up to do chores and get ready to go play to a square dance in Dover,VT.  My brother Alan picked me up at my house and we went to get Jim Knapp, our guitar player and off to the town hall.  We played from 7-11 p.m.  When I got home I just couldn't sleep and finally fell asleep at 1 a.m. 

My alarm went off at 5:30 a.m. and up to do chores, walk my dog Lettie and get ready to go to the Vermont Sheep & Wool Festival in Tunbridge,VT.  I drove Cheryl, Alison and myself and WOW what a day. (Read my Blog from Monday for more details.)   We got home about 8 p.m. and I have been exhausted ever since.  Today I can say I finally feel up to par. 

Cheryl was back at the farm Monday night for a fiber class.  The two girls taking the class have learned to spin and they are naturals at it.  They were at the fiber camp and just love all the fiber classes.  They even entered some of their projects at the Vermont Sheep & Wool Festival. 

I'm working frantically on needle felting projects, dyeing wool, knitting, etc... for the November Northeast Hand Spinners Gathering at Mt. Snow.  I am very excited to be a vendor there but its also a lot of stress because I've never attended one of their events and don't know what to expect.  The  Friday,Saturday and Sunday so I hope I have enough products to sell and I also hope to take one or two classes if possible.  My little Catherine is arriving this afternoon until Oct. 15th up at Toby Hill.  I'm so excited to see her tomorrow and spend more time with her.  I will be working at the Tasha Tudor Museum on Friday afternoon and then at the Tasha Tudor booth at the Newfane Heritage Festival on Saturday Oct. 9th from 10-5 p.m.  I just love getting to spend time with Natalie and chatting with all the people at the festival.

Well, I have rambled on long enough this morning and need to go do things like laundry, cleaning and all that bothersome stuff when I'd rather be working and playing with fiber!!!!!  I am going to pick up my grandchildren Rowan and Declan after school today and bring them home.  I'm hoping it lets up raining and we will stop for a little treat "Ice cream cones"!!!!!!!!

Have a nice day from everyone at Maybelle Farm.

Hello from Maybelle Farm,
It's 8:45 p.m. and I have just gotten back from the Vermont Sheep Festival at the Tunbridge Fairgrounds.  Alison and Cheryl went with me and we had more fun than you can imagine!  We talked and laughed all the way up and back.  We got up there at 9:30 a.m. and registered for our class at the Town Hall, that gave us a free pass to the event.  We went to the fairground and I worked at the t-shirt booth from 10 a.m. to 12 noon.  It was just the most beautiful, sunny day and what a nice event. There were so many nice vendors, workshops, animals,etc.etc. 
I got to visit with Chet Parsons and he was teaching a workshop.  It's always great to get a chance to chat with Chet and laugh about silly stuff.......of course he caught me buying more wool!!!!!!!  I need more wool, like a dog needs more fleas!  Cheryl and Alison walked around the fairground and were very good restraining themselves as far as buying lots of fiber!  At noontime I met them and we went around and bought a few things but were very good........"O.K. do I really need this? Put that back and just walk away.......don't look back, just walk away"! 
Then it was time for the Nuno Scarf Felting Class so Cheryl walked up the hill with me to the town hall.  I will attach a picture of the scarf I made and I'm going to add some beads to it.  It was such fun and there were 10 people in the class. We got to visit with Patty Blomgren for a few minutes and she was teaching workshops all week-end and doing a fantastic job.  Posted below is also  a picture of her spinning class. 
We left the fairground at 5 p.m. and stopped in White River Junction and ate at the China Blossom restaurant and that was such a treat.  We dropped Alison off in Windham and back to my house, unloaded the car and Cheryl was off to Wilmington.  WHAT A WONDERFUL DAY! 
I think having the Vermont Sheep and Wool festival at the Tunbridge Fairground is just the perfect spot and everyone was so nice there.  Congratulations to all the people that work so hard to make this event happen and successful.  I got to see Ruth Ticknor, Kat Smith, Vickie Ball, Mountain Vewe Farm  and so many other nice vendors.  I am on a fiber high and just enjoyed today so much. 
Goodnight from Maybelle MaMa.