Hello from Maybelle Farm! I have not written a farm blog for a long time. I looked back and it was in February when I last wrote news from the farm. We had a lamb born on April 14 to my new registered Shetland ewe, Pippin who came from Kindred Spirit Farm in Center Sandwich, N.H. Pippin had a beautiful dark moorit ram lamb that we named Everett (after one of my brothers). He is a very handsome little boy and Pippin has enough milk for several lambs. We sheared 45 sheep on April 22 and I managed with help from Dolores, Margie, Linda, Darcy and Rowan to skirt all the fleeces. That was a huge job and glad to have that done.
I went to the New Hampshire Sheep & Wool Festival in May with Dolores. I took 40 lbs. of raw wool to Zeilinger's to have it made into beautiful wool socks. That was a fun trip and we got a lot of fiber fumes and bought just a few things! HA HA - always so tempting! We also went to the Massachusetts Sheep & Wool Festival over Memorial Day Weekend and enjoyed looking at animals, fleeces, and lots of vendor items. It's such a busy time at the farm with lots of work repairing fences, posts, insulators, mowing grass and setting up portable.
A very sad note for us here at the farm. A local handyman that has helped me at the farm for the last few years passed away suddenly. Donald was someone I could call and say "The ram broke several posts, could you come help me?" and he would come right over and repair the damage. He cleaned the barn, repaired the fences, trimmed brush along the fenceline, - pretty much anything I needed done. It is really difficult to find someone willing to help with such hard work. Thank you so much Donald for all your hard work and may you Rest in Peace - we will miss you here at the farm!
I use a lot of portable fence with our sheep. Earlier in June Linda and I went to do chores and she noticed I was missing a sheep. I ran and looked into a pasture with portable fencing and saw my sweet little Kacy tangled in the portable fence, not moving! I cried "OH NO" and raced to her, she was still breathing and I had to cut her out of the fencing. I brought her into the barn and kept her in a stall by herself because she was limping. On Monday morning I decided to let her walk in the middle of the barn and she was still limping so I put her back in the stall. It rained super hard that day and I went out early evening to check on everyone. I walked half-way down the stairs and looked into the stall at Kacy! My first thought was WHAT IS THAT? At first I thought it was a little plastic bag, but then it moved! I raced to the stall and there was a teeny, tiny ewe lamb! I let out a shriek and ran back to the farm house! Wheeeeee.... Rowan, Declan and Darcy all came running to see what Linda and I had just discovered. Little Maybelle Farm Eva weighed only 4 lbs and is a katmoget....just beyond cute and such a great surprise as I had NO IDEA that she had been bred!! Little Kacy was a sheep I bought from a farm in Brookfield, MA and is such a good little mother. Little Eva is a sweetheart and loves Darcy's golden retriever Kassie.
There are currently 52 sheep at Maybelle Farm. I have Cocoa that is 15 yrs. old and doing O.K. for such an old girl. Sheila is not doing well, I think she is blind and is getting very thin, along with Daisy who is having a very hard time getting around.. They are two of my old girls. I'm happy they both made it through the winter and can see green grass, but know that they are just about worn out!
We are planning a float for the 4th of July parade here in Wardsboro, but have to see how much help I can round up. We are hoping to get a delivery of hay and sell some fleeces in July. Life is good at the farm. SO-long from Maybelle MaMa.
I went to the New Hampshire Sheep & Wool Festival in May with Dolores. I took 40 lbs. of raw wool to Zeilinger's to have it made into beautiful wool socks. That was a fun trip and we got a lot of fiber fumes and bought just a few things! HA HA - always so tempting! We also went to the Massachusetts Sheep & Wool Festival over Memorial Day Weekend and enjoyed looking at animals, fleeces, and lots of vendor items. It's such a busy time at the farm with lots of work repairing fences, posts, insulators, mowing grass and setting up portable.
A very sad note for us here at the farm. A local handyman that has helped me at the farm for the last few years passed away suddenly. Donald was someone I could call and say "The ram broke several posts, could you come help me?" and he would come right over and repair the damage. He cleaned the barn, repaired the fences, trimmed brush along the fenceline, - pretty much anything I needed done. It is really difficult to find someone willing to help with such hard work. Thank you so much Donald for all your hard work and may you Rest in Peace - we will miss you here at the farm!
I use a lot of portable fence with our sheep. Earlier in June Linda and I went to do chores and she noticed I was missing a sheep. I ran and looked into a pasture with portable fencing and saw my sweet little Kacy tangled in the portable fence, not moving! I cried "OH NO" and raced to her, she was still breathing and I had to cut her out of the fencing. I brought her into the barn and kept her in a stall by herself because she was limping. On Monday morning I decided to let her walk in the middle of the barn and she was still limping so I put her back in the stall. It rained super hard that day and I went out early evening to check on everyone. I walked half-way down the stairs and looked into the stall at Kacy! My first thought was WHAT IS THAT? At first I thought it was a little plastic bag, but then it moved! I raced to the stall and there was a teeny, tiny ewe lamb! I let out a shriek and ran back to the farm house! Wheeeeee.... Rowan, Declan and Darcy all came running to see what Linda and I had just discovered. Little Maybelle Farm Eva weighed only 4 lbs and is a katmoget....just beyond cute and such a great surprise as I had NO IDEA that she had been bred!! Little Kacy was a sheep I bought from a farm in Brookfield, MA and is such a good little mother. Little Eva is a sweetheart and loves Darcy's golden retriever Kassie.
There are currently 52 sheep at Maybelle Farm. I have Cocoa that is 15 yrs. old and doing O.K. for such an old girl. Sheila is not doing well, I think she is blind and is getting very thin, along with Daisy who is having a very hard time getting around.. They are two of my old girls. I'm happy they both made it through the winter and can see green grass, but know that they are just about worn out!
We are planning a float for the 4th of July parade here in Wardsboro, but have to see how much help I can round up. We are hoping to get a delivery of hay and sell some fleeces in July. Life is good at the farm. SO-long from Maybelle MaMa.
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