Hello from Maybelle Farm.   It has been awhile since we shared a farm blog. It's been a snowy winter, with more snow on the way tonight.  We are worried that the rams may be able to walk over the top of their fence soon!  

We bred 4 ewes at the end of November so we will lamb the end of April.  My friends Christine and Pat brought 6 ewes to the farm to be bred by Zorro during the first part of December.   He was a very happy ram and what sweet ewes he had come to stay with us for a few weeks.  They quickly learned that I was the food source and discovered that I carry animal crackers!  They went back to their farm the end of Dec.  It was a very quiet Christmas and I fixed Christmas stockings for everyone which my children and grandchildren picked up took them home.  We did not gather all together as we usually do.  I hope we can get back to our regular traditions soon.

We headed into New Year and I got my first COVID shot on January 12th.  I have gone back to work doing home care just just 1 1/2 miles from my house.  It is a wonderful job and I am happy to be busy doing nursing again.  We also got our first big snowstorm of the year and ended up with 28 inches of snow!  Wow, hello winter!

Then Inauguration Day arrived on January 20th in Washington D.C. and there is Bernie Sanders wearing those now infamous mittens!  I see him and call Darcy....look at Bernie’s mittens!  Well, I go to work a couple of days later and orders start popping up.....we are selling mittens, mittens, mittens!  My granddaughter used an app on her phone to take a photo of Bernie and I next to our pasture!  We even got some coverage from a local NBC station.   We have been selling our mittens for 2 - 3 years and are very proud of them - both the quality and how well they are made.  They are called Twice Baked Mittens we have made in a woolen mill for us in the mid-west.  They use our sock yarn for the cuffs, the body is recycled sweaters and lined with fleece!  They are truly lovely.  Thank you Bernie!

And now for some sad news.   I bought a beautiful black registered Shetland ewe from Maple Ridge Farm 2 years ago. Her name was Charlotte and she had a little white tuft of wool on the top of her head and on her nose. She was the last registered Shetland to come off the Maple Ridge Farm and I was so excited to continue the bloodline. She was born in April 2017 and was such a beautiful sheep.

This past June, after shearing, Darcy noticed she stayed behind and didn’t go with the group as she was having a hard time walking. We brought her into the barn and had our Vets come check her out and both thought possibly a spinal injury. It went on for awhile and they suggested acupuncture. We did that for several times a month and were hopeful but then no better. I then tried Holistic medicine and they seem to keep her comfortable, but no improvement as she still could not walk around. So I called the Vet and they came today to put her down. I hope that she is pain free as she crossed the rainbow bridge and is running free in a field of flowers. Rest In Peace sweet Charlotte!

We had another snowstorm at the start of February and 12 inches of snow.... about 6 more inches of snow and Zorro and his buddies can walk out of the pasture!!!  We have had some pretty cold weather but Zorro and his 3 buddies hunker right down in their shed that we pack with hay....sort of like their own igloo!

I also went on February 9th to get my second COVID shot.  We are saying home, and staying safe as much as possible.  So, please wear your mask, and stay safe and things will get better if we all do our part.

Hello from Maybelle Farm. We have had a busy fall at the farm trying to get things taken care of before winter.  The foliage was beautiful and lasted longer than usual, which meant we were able to have the sheep out on pasture until just a few weeks ago.  Darcy, Todd, Rowan, and Declan have done so much work on the pastures, fencing, and in the barn.   

One sad thing to share is that back in August we had to have the Vet come to put down sweet Leo. He was a bottle baby that came with the Border Leicester sheep we got from Putney in 2013. He was a silly sheep who was more like a large pet dog that had no idea he was the size of a small cow!   Rest In Peace sweet old Leo.   

We also have had three different Vets here to treat Charlotte - one of our Shetland ewes that has a mystery injury that we are working on fixing.  We first noticed she was having a problem after shearing back in June.  She seemed to be having trouble keeping up with the flock.  All the Vets agree it’s a spinal injury that will take months to, hopefully, heal. One of the Vets even did some acupuncture treatments for her. We are continuing to give her medicine and she has had some small improvement.  It is definitely a "wait and see" situation.  She is very sweet and despite her injury is in good health and enjoys her daily animal crackers!

Declan has helped me get the Fiber Studio cleaned up and items on the shelves. We have had the fiber studio open weekends this fall and early winter which has gone well.  People have been very good about wearing masks and being safe so that I can keep our studio open.   I have been able to sell quite a few things from my fiber studio and that helps. I am making colored acorns, little bearded acorn men, knitting hats, and headed into making lots of Christmas items.

I also picked up my beautiful Shetland lamb’s wool yarn that was spun at Green Mountain Spinnery, in Putney, VT.   We now have this to add to our Shetland/Merino yarn, Shetland/Angora yarn, Shetland yarn, and Border-Leicester yarn. We also have socks, mittens, roving, dyed wool, etc. for sale in the studio and some listed on our Farm Store on our website.

This fall we were able to sell our older moorit Shetland ram Everett to a farm in Windham.  We can no longer use him for breeding and are happy he could go to a new flock where he can be used.  We also sold Fritz and Franklin, our twin Border-Leicester/Shetland wethers, to go with Everett. Now life is pretty quiet on the farm with just one ram, Zorro, who is getting used to being the boss now!  It will make things much more manageable this winter.

Lastly - we decided, after taking a break this year, that we needed to have some more lambs in the spring.  This past weekend we put four of our Shetland ewes, Kacy, Keri-Jane, Katy-Did, and Enid, in with our Shetland ram Zorro.  All of the ewes were twins, so we stand a good chance of all of them having twins.  We love that Shetlands "come" in eleven different colors with many patterns - and the added surprise of what the lambs will look like!  We should lamb towards the end of April 2021.

We will be having a quiet "socially distant" Thanksgiving this year and will not be getting together.  We all decided it was the best way to take care of all of us and help us get through these uncertain times.  We are grateful for living in the country on our farm where we can "escape" to the barn and the worries of the world.  

Happy Thanksgiving from Maybelle MaMa and the rest of the flock.

Hello from Maybelle Farm.  It has been a stretch of very hot, humid weather and thank goodness, we were able to get the the sheep sheared in June.  We were very grateful that Ian McRae was able to come on June 11th and  sheared 46 sheep of our sheep.  He was here before 8 a.m. and finished at 4:45 p.m.  He packed up and went up to West Wardsboro and sheared 5 sheep for my cousin.  It was a super long day for him and he was exhausted.  We certainly appreciate him coming to shear for us and he did a great job for a young shearer - we were very happy with his work.

There is a lot of green grass and the sheep are all out grazing.  It’s so nice to see so many happy sheep - and a little less work.  We were able to put Zorro, our young black ram, and his buddy Cecil in with our older ram Everett and his buddies, Chet, Karlos, Fritz and Franklin!  We were also able to put sweet little Margie in with Daphne.  They are getting along really well.  We had hoped that Daphne was going to lamb but it didn't look like in once she was shorn.   She is very, VERY round - but it could just be from all the extra food she got this spring when we thought she was pregnant!  Margie's mother is Stacia, who is blind and 14 yrs. old, is now with sweet little old Miranda.  Stacia and Miranda came together to our farm from Maple Ridge a few years ago!  They are such sweet old girls and part of our "geriatric sheep unit" in the barn!

There is always so much that has to be done at the farm this summer, fence posts put in, mowing, rotating groups to different pastures, etc.  Darcy and Todd are hard at work repairing the pastures.   Darcy and Rowan painted Jonathan' s old hen house green with white trim.  It looks really nice and the 15 new little biddies are in their new home next to the older chicken's hen house.

I have been having fun needle felting characters to put on the tree by my fiber studio.  I did several then decided to do some funny ones.  Woolly Nelson, Cleo Pasture, etc...  I will be dyeing some wool in the next week and try to put up some packages of dyed wool to sell.  I will also be taking fleeces to fiber mills to get yarn made. It is such a busy time of year right now but I’m very lucky to have Darcy, Todd, Rowan and Declan helping with everything.

That’s about it for now from Maybelle Farm.

Good Morning from Maybelle Farm!  It is a beautiful, nippy morning with wonderful sunshine - it is so nice to finally have some warm weather.!  In April it was my granddaughter's 16th birthday!  How does time fly by so quickly?  I made her a birthday cake using my mother Mabel's small star pan.   It is a very sweet size for a birthday cake and I used my special cooked maple frosting.

My oldest Shetland sheep, Spartacus, turned 16 years old on April 25th.  He is such a sweet old man and still tries to run and bounce with his girls!  My daughter talked to one of our shearers and they are staying in place in the Northeast Kingdom and not shearing this spring.  So we do not have a shearing date at this time and are working on finding someone else to shear soon.  Our sheep will appreciate it as it's supposed to be almost 80 degrees today!

My son and grandson have been loading and delivering manure to people for their gardens.  It’s time to clean out the barn and the pasture by the barn!  Next we have to walk the pastures to check all the fence posts and wire.  The portable fences are going up in the fields and the screens need to bet put in the barn windows.  There is always so much to do on the farm everyday

My grandson Austin graduates from Leland and Gray high school this year.  Due to Covid 19 - all of the regular end of year celebrations and activities cannot take place.  Earlier this week a "parade" arrived at my sons house from the high school to deliver a special sign to Austin.  I am very proud of him and know he will do well with his "Meeks Maintenance" business that he is setting up. 

Two batches of baby chicks have arrived at the farm to make up for the ones the fox killed!  My daughter got some Barred Rocks, Rhode Island Blues, Amerlinks, and Brown Leghorns.  My daffodils and tulips have  blossomed and the lilac bushes will be bursting out soon.  It really is a wonderful time of year.  I love being outside working with all the trees and flowers blossoming, birds chirping and my sheep calling to me every time the spot me outside.....life is good at Maybelle Farm.

Hello again from Maybelle Farm.  I have decided to write a blog every week for a while because it gives me something to do to write about the farm, AND it makes me happy.  We are into April and would normally be getting ready for shearing!  That will not be happening this April - but will hopefully be able to schedule our shearers for later in May or early June.  Everything has been put on hold!  Thank goodness we have just one ewe Daphne, who might lamb this month or maybe next month....it will be a surprise!

Everyone on our hill is trying to stay busy and stay safe and well.  I do chores in the morning and my daughter does chores in the evening.  Her beautiful Golden Retrievers Seamus and Kassie go to the barn with her.  Declan, Rowan or Todd go out when they can to help with the barn chores.  Declan turned 13 years old on Sunday, April 5th.  No party but he had a good day!  Then on April 8th Declan crashed his mountain bike going off a jump and broke his ankle.  He now is in a knee-high walking cast and crutches, so he can not be his Mom's helper in the barn for a while!

On Saturday I did chores and then around mid-morning we noticed that most of Darcy's chickens out of the backyard running around.  There was one little red biddy down by the road, others running towards my brother's house, and then Darcy spots a fox in the back yard!  Rowan goes chasing after biddies headed towards my brothers and I'm chasing one by the pear tree.   Todd gets his gun and Darcy is trying to save some of the other biddies still trapped in the backyard with the fox.  Todd takes a shot but just misses and the fox gets away.  The fox killed two in the backyard, injured two, one with a broken leg and the other with some minor bite marks on it's back.  Darcy put the injured chickens in small animals crates on her back porch for some extra TLC - hopefully they will both make it.  There are now only 13 hens in the chicken's house, with one still missing. After lunch Todd spots the one last missing little red biddy in the front yard.  Darcy and Rowan catch her and get everyone is shut in the hen house. It’s so sad to lose little friends!  They were not planning on getting more chicks this year - but have since called River Bend Farm Supply and have ordered a variety of chicks that will be arriving at the beginning of May.

The rest of the weekend was quiet.  Rowan and Declan made a nice Easter dinner for their parents. I fixed Chicken Cordon Bleu, baked potato, and fresh asparagus.  Most of the week has been stormy, with rain and wind!  And now we are even supposed to get more snow tonight.  We are very lucky when we see what has happened down South with the storms and tornadoes that have had this past week.  I'll take snow over a tornado any day!

That is it for this week from Maybelle Mama - check back next time to see what else has happened on the farm.

Hello again from Maybelle Farm.  I cannot believe it has been so many months since I wrote a farm blog.  Late winter and spring were a busy time at the farm.  And now we are already half way through the summer!  We currently have 70 sheep and rotating everyone around in pastures is a daily activity that keeps all of us busy.

Back on April 13th, which also  happened to be my 50th wedding anniversary, I went downstairs into the barn to find an unexpected surprise... a  little white ewe lamb and a little black & white ram lamb.  They were born to Floret one of the Shetland/Dorset ewes I got from Maple Ridge Farm in the fall.  We rescued a group of 11 ewes and had NO idea that any of them were pregnant. So this was certainly was a big surprise!  When I got home from work that same evening, I went to the barn to take pictures of the new lambs and found our 12 yr. old blind ewe Stacia had just lambed with little white twin lambs.    The next morning Darcy went to do chores and found Frodie (another Shetland/Dorset) had white twins.   To say we were surprised is an understatement.  We were also worried that the 6 remaining Shetland/Dorset ewes would also lamb.  We had bred 7 of of Shetland ewes, so were expecting lambs from them, but NOT lambs from an additional 11 ewes.

The third week of April Craig and Philo Marcotte came to shear our sheep.  At this point we were holding our breaths to see if any of the remaining 9 ewes from the rescued Shetland/Dorset group were pregnant.  We were very relieved to discover that no one else was pregnant.  Later in April the rest of our Shetland ewes lambed - mostly with single lambs. The lamb letter name for this year was "W" and we had fun coming with names for the babies.  We ended up with 9 lambs - 4 ewes and 5 rams.  Nadia had a beautiful little ewe we named Wisteria and she is a sweet, lovable little girl and a direct bloodline back to our original Maybelle starter flock.  Kacy had a beautiful little gulmoget ram we named Willem Lamb!  Frigg had a little moorit ewe we named Willa. Kerri-Jane had a little dark chocolate ewe lamb we named Winona.  Faleen had little moorit twins we named Wallace and Wyatt.  Brigetta had beautiful little gulmoget twins we named Wilbur and Wendi.  Katy-did had a little moorit ram we named Windsor.

It is a lot of work right now at the farm with trying to keep up with all the pastures, setting up portable fences, tracking down hay and then stacking it in the barn and  moving sheep.  We are also trying to sell a lot of sheep before the fall.  We cannot go through another winter with so many sheep.  Thank goodness for Darcy, Todd, Rowan, Declan, David, Austin, Ella and Jonathan to help me get through this.   Also my sweet Olivia, Emma and Agathe for coming to help when I call and bringing animal crackers to keep the sheep happy!  It is a lot of work but I love my animals.

My sweet little Starling continues to make me smile and laugh every day.  After working off the farm, it is always nice to go to the barn and forget about everything except watching little lambs bouncing around the pasture, chasing each other and loving life.

Our other big news is our order of mittens, hats and socks arrived from Northland Woolens in Minnesota.  It took over a year between having our wool made into yarn at Zeilinger's Woolen Mill in Michigan and then shipping it to Minnesota for this to happen.  We are thrilled with the end results - check out some of these items on our farm store.

We also had a week of Kids Fiber Fun in the middle of July - it's always fun to teach children about fiber arts and for them to meet our animals.  We have other fiber classes that are taking place later this the summer and then our fall vending season will start with various craft fairs, sheep shows and festivals. Check out the list of classes and events on our website - which will updated as things are added to our calendar.

That's it for now from Maybelle Farm - thanks for reading!

Hello again from Maybelle Farm.  It has been several months since I have written a farm blog.  So many things have happened at the farm and so I will try to remember most of them.

I was able to sell three sheep back in the fall to Sheltie Meadow farm in Ghent, N.Y.  Norman a beautiful black/white spotted wether and twins Hazel and Gracie went to be with Miana and Tim Ryan.  I have 4 wethers that I really wanted to sell before we headed into winter but that didn't happen.

200 bales of beautiful 2nd cut hay arrived and made me very happy.  Next Jonathan, David, Austin and Declan went to Halifax and got 125 bales of 2nd cut.  It certainly feels good to have hay in the barn but I will need to get quite a bit more hay.

We had an incredibly sad accident happen at the farm and we lost Eva our beautiful little Shetland ewe, tangled in portable fencing.  It just about did me in.  I will always blame myself and feel so sad for her mother Kacy.

I was a vendor at the Vermont Sheep festival in Tunbridge, VT with my friend Patty Blomgren.  I had such a great time staying in her Gypsy Wagon.  Next I went to Rhinebeck, NY for the NY State Fiber Festival for 3 days.  I had only been on the fairground for an hour when I saw a lady walking an adorable little spotted ewe lamb on a halter.  SO of course I ask,"is she for sale"?  "Oh yes, she is a bottle baby who likes to watch T.V."  So I bought her!  WHEEEEE!

That is the bad side of farming but life goes on and I have been able to buy some lambs.  They don't take the place of the one I lost but they needed to be rescued.  I also ended up getting Enid and Esme, two beautiful moorit Shetland ewe lambs, from Maple Ridge Farm as well as two older ewes Charlotte and Miranda.  Linda and Tut Doane were selling off their flock and I have been lucky enough to buy some of their sheep.  Miranda and Charlotte were the last two Shetland ewes to leave their farm.

Sunday Nov. 5th my friend Dolores went with me to the New England Fiber festival in West Springfield, MA. and I picked up two more little ewe lambs.  Little Starling is a black/brown/white spotted registered Shetland ewe and her little friend Daphne is a white Shetland/Cheviot cross.  They are such a cute little pair.

December also turned out to be a very busy month at the farm.  I had a great time being a vendor at the Flood Brook School Holiday Bazaar.  Darcy, Rowan and Declan were able to take the tables and all the stuff to sell and set it all up for me.

On Sunday Dec. 3rd I was a vendor at the Wardsboro Town Hall for the Wardsboro Public Library.  It was a Christmas cookie sale and Santa arrived on the firetruck.  I had such fun with other local vendors and it was a good sales day.

Tuesday Dec. 5th was my 70th birthday and I went out to lunch and then had a little birthday celebration in the barn with my sheep.  "Princess Starling" wore her tiara and I had a sparkling hot pink birthday tiara that Darcy got for me to wear.  It was a very nice birthday.

I have 59 sheep and that is a lot of wooly friends but how I love my time in the barn/pastures with my sweet critters.  My niece Patty found more hay for my sheep so that is a huge relief for now.

The bitter cold at the end of the year and beginning of January was brutal.  We ended up bringing almost all of our sheep into the barn.  We have seven Shetland ewes that we have bred to our yearling ram Everett.  It is a bit of a traffic jam in the barn at the moment, but we are getting through the winter one day at a time.  The warmer weather this weekend has been a welcome change and we have been able to get almost all of the sheep out of the barn.  David and Austin went to get a small load of hay for us - with almost 60 sheep this year - we are going through a lot of hay.

Happy 2018 and we will post more news soon of life on the farm.