Hello again from Maybelle Farm.  It is Wednesday May 16th and all is well at the farm.  It has rained for the past two days but today the Moms and lambs are out together and everything seems to be going O.K.  The four moorit lambs have a hard time telling which Mama they belong to, and who is my brother or sister!!  I have taken a lot of pictures of the lambs and hopefully will be able to use one of them for this summer's t-shirt design.  The lambs are very fast moving targets so many of the pictures won't work!  Yesterday Sandy (the Activity Director from Thompson House) brought a very good friend Marie up to the farm to visit the sheep and meet the 5 little lambs.  I'm adding a couple of pictures and it was so nice to have them visit and see my studio.

Jonathan and I went to Northampton,MA on Monday to pick up a lift-recliner for Jonathan.  Now the problem is, how do we fit it thru the front door........chainsaw perhaps and then super glue??  I am pretty sure my son David can figure out how to get it in the house.  Both Jonathan and I have sore throats, coughs and feel terrible - maybe from the pollen I think?  I took an anti-histamine yesterday but it didn't seem to do much for me.  After the cloudy weather today it looks like a stretch of beautiful weather ahead for the weekend.

Darcy will be adding some new classes that we have scheduled at the farm so please check them out.  I just love having classes here at the farm.  I will be hosting a skirting party in the near future for all the members of the River Spinners Guild.  They can come and learn to skirt Shetland fleeces, have a lovely lunch, meet the new lambs and have a day of fiber play!  I also hope to set up a wool dyeing workshop because its such fun to see what each person creates with combining colors.  I gave a Romney fleece to a lady that will be using it at a workshop in Jamaica.  I will try to get pictures and have her write about what she is teaching the children.

Well, its time to go do some housework and run up to check on the Moms/lambs in the pasture.  So-long from Maybelle MaMa

Hello again from Maybelle Farm.  Its Thursday May 3rd, 2012 and all is well at the farm.  I'm attaching some pictures of some of the lambs with Rowan and Declan and also a picture of "Odessa" the last lamb born at the farm on Saturday April 28.  She weighed 7 lbs and Lyra is her mother.  This year we got two beautiful little moorit ewe lambs, two moorit ram lambs and one kalmoget ram lamb.  I love having lambs but it is a stressful time, now we can just enjoy all the silly playing as the lambs hop,bounce and run all over the pastures.  We have had some very cold, rainy days so they have only been out once.  After thunderstorms/rain tomorrow, the weather looks good so they can be outside.  The grass is growing like mad fury and next comes the black flies!

Agathe, Olivia, Emma and Bill Hoos went with me to Dutton's farm in Windham last Friday to pick up 20 bales of 2nd cut hay.  It was a great adventure as they had never been to the farm.  We all climbed up into the hay loft and threw out the hay.  Agathe, Olivia, Emma and I went to Walpole to Tractor Supply, Ocean State Job Lot, Mr. G's and had lunch.....what a fun day.  Saturday afternoon I had Darcy call Bill because it looked like Lyra would have her lamb and so "Odessa" was born about 7 p.m. that night.  We all got to see that delivery and make sure everything was fine.  What a wonderful mother Lyra is and Odessa is just a very sweet, lovable little ewe.

Well Declan is having a nap and its almost time to go to the town hall for "Tap Dance" class.  Our dance recital will be on Saturday June 2, 2012 at the Wardsboro Town Hall. The children have done a great job and the costumes are so pretty.  I just love getting all the costumes and putting on the recital.  Its just pure play time for me.  So-long from Maybelle MaMa.

Hello from Maybelle Farm.  The lambs have finally arrived and it's so exciting.  On Friday morning Star had little twin lambs. Bill, Agathe, Olivia and Emma Hoos helped me with the delivery.  Star did a fantastic job and had a very straight forward, good birth. First came a beautiful little 5 lb. Kalmoget ram lamb we named Oakley.  Next was a tiny little 4 lb. Moorit ewe we named Olivia.  After Star cleaned them all up and they had nursed well, we moved them all to their own clean stall.  My "student nurse" Emma with her purple rubber gloves held the bottle of iodine and the scissors, while my assistant "Dr. Olivia" with her purple rubber gloves cut the cord and dipped the cord in iodine.  We then weighed each little lamb and came out of the stall.  Everyone was doing fine so we cleaned up and waited for the next birth. 

Yesterday was Rowan Kathleen's 8th birthday and I went to the barn to do chores.  I asked Jonathan to call the Hoos family and they arrived at the barn for Colby to lamb.  The delivery was not progressing as it should so Bill, Agathe and Emma went to do some errands.  Olivia and I waited and watched, then realized that things were not working how they should.  We went to the farmhouse to get Todd to help us.  While we were in the house, on our camera screen (our closed circuit TV feed from the barn) we saw a head, but no feet!  Oh my goodness, there comes a lamb! We raced back to the barn but Colby could not deliver the lamb.  We got her into a small stall and Todd checked!  Both front legs were back, the little lamb was breathing but Colby couldn't push him out.  Todd was able to help her deliver a beautiful Moorit ram lamb we named Odin.  The second lamb popped right out about 5 minutes after the first one and we named him Otis.  Otis is Moorit with one fawn ear and is full of energy. I am going to attach some pictures of these adorable little babies.  We are now waiting on Lyra who looks to be about a week or more behind these other two mother sheep.  I will keep you posted as to when she has her baby or babies!

I took Declan to Flood Brook school to meet Darcy, as it was visiting/screening day for the incoming kindergarten students.  He was a little nervous but excited too.  He even got to ride on a school bus.  My sister Bev went with us to Londonderry and I stopped and picked up stuff for lunch.  It was hailing when we left Wardsboro to go to Londonderry and has rained a couple of times this afternoon.  Its pretty nippy out tonight and I've shut the barn to try to keep the Moms/lambs warmer.  Well that is all from Maybelle Farm for tonight.  Goodnight from Maybelle MaMa.

Hello from Maybelle Farm.  Its Tuesday April 17th  and we yes we survived another shearing day at the farm!!!!!! WHEWWWWWWWW!!! Craig and Philo Marcotte arrived at noon and we finished at 5:45 p.m.  They sheared, wormed and trimmed hooves on 37 sheep and I am over the moon excited about some of the fleeces.  I love every fleece but it's so exciting to see the fleece from some of our Shetland cross sheep.  Clementine and Chet are a Coopworth/Shetland cross from Tinka and Luther.  Clementine had a 9 lb. fleece of stunning white lambs wool!  Chet had 8 1/2/ lbs of charcoal sparkling lambs wool.  Chloe and Cecil are twins from Juliette that is a Coopworth/Shetland cross.  I bred Juliette with Thistle and so Chloe had a dark moorit 8 lb. lambs wool fleece.  Cecil had a dark charcoal sparkling 8 lb. lambs wool fleece.  My beautiful white Custer that is a pure Shetland had a lovely white lambs wool fleece with an incredible crimp.   I have some amazing fleeces this spring and can't wait to skirt some of them.

Maggie, Cedar and Flopsy from the Hoos Farm did a wonderful job being sheared.  It was Maggie and Cedar's first shearing and they look like little fawns now.  Bill, Agathe, Olivia and Emma Hoos arrived at 10:30 a.m. to help us with shearing and I am so grateful for all their hard work.  I know Darcy and Todd appreciated their help and it made the day go a lot quicker and easier.  Darcy and Todd have their own system down to a science on shearing day, so to have extra help is always so nice.  I got up early and made 6 dozen donuts and had juice, soda, bottled water, brownies, etc...  Then Agathe arrived with lots of chips, cookies, etc...  I ordered grinders and bulkies from the store for lunch and it was a great day.  Oh yes, about 20 minutes after I got home, my phone rang and our neighbor said there was a sheep running down the road out in the gully.  I called Darcy and said I would be right up.  By the time I got to the farmhouse, Darcy was out at the barn opening a gate and letting Vinca back into the pasture.   Vinca had let herself out under a gate in the front pasture that Darcy had cleaned, spray painted and put back without the rabbit-wire.  That meant that Vinca could scoot out under the gate and go for a little stroll around the farm!

I was not quite sure I could get out of bed this morning but I'm up and functioning.......sort of!  My poor Java has very sore front hooves and I gave her some Banamine and shut her in a stall with Aphrodite for a couple of days.  Poor Old Tally was shivering so I let her out mid-day to warm up.  I want them to be out in the sun but then you have to worry that they will get sun-burned!  Tonight the temp is supposed to drop to 28 degrees.  Yesterday in the high 80's so no wonder the sheep are shivering.  I'm going to shut the barn tonight and possibly put a sweater on Tally!

Craig said he thought that Colby will have her lambs in this next week.  Star probably will be next and Lyra doesn't look very big but maybe she will just have one small little lamb.  It will be a very good feeling when lambing is over.  I'm always so glad when shearing and lambing is behind us.

This is school vacation week for Darcy, Rowan and Declan.  They are going to Johnstown,NY to visit Todd's mother and so I will be on lamb watch here at the farm.  I will be busy here setting up portable fence and moving sheep around for grazing.  It's supposed to rain this weekend and we certainly can use it.  I hope it will make the grass grow fast.  The sheep certainly can take the grass down very quickly.

Tomorrow is my son David's birthday and I think I will make him a pecan pie for his birthday.  My granddaughter Rowan Kathleen will have her 8th birthday this coming Monday April 23rd.  Well I have to go start something for supper and then go do chores.  It has been a very nice day here at Maybelle Farm.  So-long from Maybelle MaMa.