the first year

It was a year ago that we started setting up the yarn shop and planning our first gathering.

 Roc Day last year was January 7 and we celebrated with a pot luck gathering of many spinning and knitting enthusiast.   It was a lot of fun!!

I don't think we have stopped having fun all year.  Each week brings more excitement to the shop.  It is a dream come true for me, that could not have happened if it were not for all of the faithful followers.

As I look back to the farm last year its amazing how far we have come.

We added the new walkway to the entrance of the shop.

We added an intern to the farm program.  Liz has been such an asset to the farm.  I'm sure that she has learned from us, but we have also learned from her.  We are thankful to her and her family for all they do for us.  She is looking forward to her first lambing season on the farm, and to her first lambs born to her flock.

Baas and Bubbles headed out on the road again this year.  This has been a very successful blending of two fiber enthusiast.  Mary-Jane (the soap lady) and I have had a blast setting up this booth in three venues this year.

The Les Fleur de Soleil team hit the road also.  We did two sheep to shawls and are looking forward to another successful season!!

All in all its been a lot of work and a lot of fun.  Our love of the sheep and the wool that they produce is what holds this group of fiber enthusiast together.

I hope that you are able to join us as we gather again this year for Roc Day on January 8th.  It is historically the celebration of the women returning to work as spinners.  At Foster Sheep Farm we will not think of spinning as work but rather as enjoyment.  Bring a dish to pass and join us from 10am to 4pm.

Happy New Year to all!!

We're home!

It was a great weekend in Springfield Mass.  Mary-Jane and I  thank you all for coming and supporting us.  We look forward to the spring when we start our show season again.  Until then come see me at the shop.  I have been replenishing stock and getting in new items for your holiday shopping.  Mary-Jane is working on some new items for the shop also.

From now until Christmas I will be open 2 nights a week.  Tuesdays and Thursdays I will be at the shop working on some of my projects that I need to get done for gifts.  Your welcome to bring your knitting and spinning or just stop in to shop.

See you soon

freezer beef and lamb

My plan was to sell our meat to you from the shop freezers.  I found out today that this plan is not going to work.  Our local USDA processors are full and can't take appointments for beef until March.    They are not taking any appointments for the lambs.  

Plan B:  I called the local  NYS inspected processor.  They do have appointments for the lamb and the beef could go in December.   This would give you some farm raised meat for your freezer.   These animals have been on pasture all summer.   The lambs to get a small amount of grain with their pasture.  The steers have not gotten anything but grass.  None of our animals are given hormones or antibiotics.  This kind of meat cannot be purchased in the grocery store.   Without USDA inspection I can not sell the meat to you.  I can however sell you the animal and deliver them to the processor.  You would then have the meat cut to your specification.  

Lambs can go anytime.  I have 2 market lambs left for the season.  Our price is $1.75 per pound live.  They weigh about 100lbs. right now.   The processors price is $70 (kill,cut,and wrap)

I have scheduled an appointment for December 7 for the beef.   The animals will be sold by the half or whole.$2.50/lb. hanging weight.  Our best guess is that it will be around 400-500lbs. each.  So that would mean around 200-250lbs per half.  The processors price is $50 flat fee, and then $.65 cut and wrap.  

We will not be keeping any market animals this winter.  This is your last chance to fill your freezers.

Don't forget we still have chicken in the freezer for you.  

Rhinebeck Weekend

Because the fleece entries had to be in place for judging on Friday, we entered the fair by Mulberry Street.  I don't think I would have seen this otherwise.  It was an amazing sand sculpture.  I'm not sure if it held up through the rain on Friday evening or not.  On Saturday and Sunday when I was by that entrance there were so many people I didn't happen to see it.  Did any of you notice it?  

After the showers on Friday evening the rest of the weekend was dry.  It was warm and dry...just amazing!!! I had been fretting about the cold and rain that had been predicted.  Just goes to show it doesn't pay to fret!!

The colors were amazing!!!  It was a rhinebeck to remember. 

I was traveling through one of the many building and saw this shawl.  It just happen that Betsy was in the same building...could this be the 2011 Maryland sheep to shawl pattern??

Farm Tour

What a great day we had!!!

 Many thanks to all who helped make this work.  Tom and Liz and Maggie who kept things rolling in the barn, Sue and Hope for skirting fleeces you did a great job, the spinning guild who answered numerous questions about wool and spinning, and Gwen and Debbie our shearer and her mom, I thank you all!!!

I hope that those of you that were visitors also had a great time.

Here is the recipe I promised for the lamb soup.

It is from the Better Homes and Gardens Crockery Cookbook.

Hearty Lamb and Barley Soup

1 1/2 pounds of lamb stew, cut into 1 inch cubes( I used bone in stew meat)
1 T. cooking oil.


2 cups sliced fresh mushrooms
1/2 cup pearl barley
1 cup chopped onion
1 medium carrot, cut into 1/2 inch pieces
1 large parsnip, cut into 1/2 inch pieces(I didn't have one so i used more carrot)
1-14 1/2 ounce can of Italian style stewed tomatoes
2 cloves garlic, minced
1 teaspoon dried marjoram, crushed
1/2 teaspoon salt
1/4 teaspoon pepper
1 bay leaf
5 cups beef broth ( I used vegetable stock)

In a large skillet brown lamb, drain off fat
Place lamb and the rest of the ingredients in crock pot, cover cook on low-heat setting for 8-10 hours or on high-heat setting for 4-5 hours.  Discard bay leaf.  Makes 8 servings.

Now its time to get ready for Rhinebeck!!!  I am fitting sheep and packing the camper.  It looks like a great weekend weather wise (fingers crossed) maybe we'll see you there!!

Don't forget the shop is closed Friday and Saturday.

fall colors

We took a trip to the Vermont Sheep and Wool Festival on Sunday.  It was a girls day out.  The weather was perfect, and the festival was wonderful!!  The colors were better than this picture shows, but I was camera challenged on Sunday.  The event was at the Tunbridge Fairground in Tunbridge, VT.  What a nice place.  If you have a chance its a nice place to visit next year.

The Border Collie herding was very fun to watch.  I may have caught the puppy bug...

Since I've been back I've been working hard on the shop schedule.  There is a calendar on the website www.fostersheepfarm.com.  If you go there you can find out what is happening.  I am also sending a class list newsletter to everyone on the email list.  If you would like a copy and your not on the list, just let me know fostersheepfarm@gmail.com

fall is in the air

It may not be officially fall, but it sure feels like it.  The nights are chilly and I'm knitting and dyeing up a storm.  I have several projects in the works...but what else is new!!

It is just two short weeks until the 2nd annual Southern Adirondack Fiber Festival.  I am very busy dyeing the new 2010 Foster Farm Yarn.  I picked it up from Green Mountain Spinnery on Labor and, as usual, they did a great job.  I plan to have my regular colors and then as always a few surprises!!  Also in the works for the festival are a few new projects to make with this Foster Farm Yarn.  The new 2010 Foster Farm hat is in the works ( it will make its deput at this festival), this new yarn works great for felting and I have a project for you to make with it, and also a couple of new projects with the Wensleydale and Alpaca yarn that we now have.

I am still working on the class list.  If you are on ravelry (and you should be) look up my favorite patterns and see if there is one that you would like to see as a class.  I am just overwhelmed with great ideas and don't know which projects you all would like.

Also coming soon is the Big E (Eastern States Exposition).  Our sheep will be there September 23-September 29.  More sheep trimming to do, but I think they should all remember how to walk!!!

This may be the last post this month, but October will be a little less hectic for the farm and I will get back to normal weekly posts.  In the meantime, I am open at the shop Tuesday - Saturday 10am -4pm.  Stop by, you'll get a sneak preview!!

Carole

Its Fair Week

Fair week is really more than a week.  There are the weeks before fair when we are teaching our sheep to walk on halter, and the week before fair when we work on the fleeces to get them looking there finest.   We exhibited our sheep at the Altamont Fair last week.  Abby and Liz worked hard with our sheep.  We had such a great time!!!  Unfortunately, Abby is back to work and will miss the rest of the show season.  We will miss her!!




The following week is  The Washington County Fair.  I am a 4-H leader in Washington County even though I live in Saratoga County.  Its my home town fair.  I miss exhibiting there, but as a 4-H leader I feel like I am still contributing to the sheep barn.  My 4-H club did a great job of showing their sheep.  I am very proud of all of them.  If you are at the fair be sure to stop by the sheep barn, there are plenty of sheep and goats to see and there is still plenty going on.  Friday is quiz bowl at 1pm. (this is a chance for the 4-Her's to see how much they have learned about sheep and caring for sheep).    Saturday is a sheep shearing demo with Fred DePaul, a spinning bee at 3pm(this is a contest to see who can spin the most yarn in a set amount of time) , and lead line (this is a contest to exhibit the work that has been done this year with wool, while leading your sheep) at 7:30 in the evening.

I hope that I will see you there.



The Yarn Shop will be back to normal hours next week.  I have many things going on and will post them to our new web site calendar.  Be sure to check it out. www. fostersheepfarm.com  It is still a work in progress, but it will get better each week.

Challenge

                                                                       We have a winner!!!!

Betsy has finished her vest.

       Isn't it beautiful!!!!















I am a little bit behind.  I am about to seperate the back and front.  How about you?  Are you in the challenge?  All it takes is 4 skeins of yarn and a $3-$4 item for the gift basket.  Betsy didn't draw yet, but she will be the first to pick a prize.  There are two prizes from the shop.  One for the vest with the least errors, and one for the vest that fits the best.

WE ARE DONE!!!

Yes, I know I'm shouting.  I am surprised you didn't hear us last night.  We are done haying.  With many thanks to all who helped us.  We couldn't have done it without the help of family and friends.

At one point this weekend we had three broken balers in the barnyard.  It was the talk of the neighborhood.  Ours broke, and with it being a holiday weekend we were unable to get the parts to fix it.  In a jam, we went looking to borrow an unused baler.   Graciously our neighbor let us borrow his.  Tom made a couple of bales with that and then a bearing in that went.  Number 2 baler down.  Just then I got a call from Greg.  He was raking in another field and the front wheel fell off of the tractor!!  No one was hurt.  That is the good news.  But again, this tractor will need a part to fix it and it is a holiday.  Another neighbor lent us his tractor.  Then I called my father...his baling was done for the day.  So Greg and I borrowed his baler on Monday morning.  This turned out to be the winning combination!  Well, not the first day, baler #3 developed a leak in a  hose, but we fixed that on Tuesday morning and finished baling on Wednesday.  It was the hottest day on record and my father came to bale hay for us.  A three generation project.  Let hope for better luck with second cutting!!!!

Now on to the fun part of the summer.  The spinning guild is meeting here on Saturday.  We are hoping for a relief from the heat, and no rain.  But, regardless we are having a pot luck picnic.  Come join us, all are welcome.  Weather permitting we will spend the day spinning on the lawn and visiting with old friends.

Then on Monday, Tom and I will be heading out.  We will be spending a couple of days camping in NH with Abby.  A couple of quite days with a couple of books and the spinning wheels.  Ahhhh...  

The shop will be closed on Tuesday, but re-opening on Wednesday.

pics of the last two weeks

A lot has been happening the last two weeks.  For those of you that haven't made it to the shop lately here are some pictures.  I'm not sure but I thing these guys were looking for a ride!

Fresh cut hay

And last but a far cry from least is the newest addition...

Isn't she beautiful!!

You have been Challenged !!

 I know that it has been awhile.  May was a very busy month at the farm and in the shop.  The latest news is that there is a challange knitting project at the shop.

 

Vaill Island Vest

I posted this pattern to my favorites list in Ravelry in January 09.   Kathy brought the pattern to the shop on Wednesday, and suddenly we had a challenge.  Five of  

                         us are knitting this pattern using the new Berroco Yarn in the shop.  It is a fun and                                     inexpensive knit. Betsy thought a grab bag gift from each contestant would be fun.  I'm all for that.  How about a  $3 to$4 value?  The first one done get to choose first and so on.

I was thinking about a Yarn Shop gift.  I would like to give a prize to the best fitting vest and another prize to the vest with the least mistake   The pattern is free on ravelry.  If you are not a member and would like the pattern I have it at the shop.  But, if you are not a member, I do recommend it.  It is a wonderful source for spinners, knitters, and more.  There is still lots of time, and lots of Berroco Cotton Yarn.  

ps.  my hint is that you should slip the stitches as if to purl  

I hope to see you in the shop soon!!

Carole

As I sit here at the computer (in my new office :-)), I am watching the alpaca.  We turned him out yesterday in a small lot with the steers and the horse.  This morning I opened up the gate.  He took a long walk around the pasture, and has decided he would rather be back in the barn.  I haven't seen him even nibble on a piece of grass.  Alpacas are so different from the sheep!!

That brings me back to the new office.  Thanks to Tom, Greg, Emma, and Maggie, we emptied out another room in the house to turn into my office.  It was time to make more room in the shop for more products!!!  Berroco yarns along with pattern books for these yarns should be here late this week or early next week. Kromski spinning wheels are on their way.   Our Wensleydale yarn is being shipped and also our Alpaca/romney wool is being spun and will ship soon!!  WOW!!  I'm also making room for the buttons and wool wash that are ordered.  I don't know about you, but I love to see that UPS truck!!

Maryland Sheep and Wool

WOW!!  It was better than imagined!  Our team rocked!!  Here we are waiting for our sheep.  Standing in the back is Emily our shearer.  Then sitting from left to right are the spinners...Mary-Jane, Me, and Susan.  Standing in the front is Betsy our weaver.    We were ready and waiting for the sheep.  It was 5 minutes to starting time and still no sheep.  I began to panic.

 I sent a friend off to find it, and look what we saw...

I guess the sheep had other ideas and didn't want to be shorn.  In the end I think she must have been happy to get that fleece off.  It was in the 90's in Maryland last weekend.

Emily did a fantastic job of shearing.  I'm sure she must of scored well.

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Originally uploaded by fostersheepfarm

This busy week

Its here...its the last week of April!!  This is what keeps me inspired all winter.  I look forward to the Maryland Sheep and Wool Festival all winter long. It is the beginning of the summer season for me.  In a normal year it is our first glimpse of spring flowering trees and shrubs.  The dogwood the rhododendron and the crabapple.  This has been such an early spring we have them here before we even head south.  I wonder what will be in bloom when we get there?

Some years I have shown fleece, some years I have shown sheep, but this year at the festival is new and exciting for me.  We have entered the sheep to shawl.  It will be on Sunday morning at 8 am.  We have been working on this project for quite a while now.  If you have been at the shop you could write this blog.  You have seen it all already, but for those who have not been here...here is the story.

The first step was to find a sheep.  Betsy did that, a nice covered corriedale from Jeff Ruppert.  Next find a shearer (because none of us shear, maybe we need to work on that).  I was given the name of Emily Chamelin to see if she had a list of names of shearers that would be at the festival.  When she called back she asked if she could do it.  Yes!!

Next, we needed a loom.  Again, Betsy made it happen.  We have a portable loom.

Next, what will the shawl be?  We decided to go with a sunflower theme.  I dyed the warp.  It is Foster Farm worsted weight yarn.

Next Betsy warped the loom, with assistance from Mary-Jane.                          
                                                              

Then we had a practice day.  I will not show the pictures of the first practice day.  It wasn't pretty.  We made a mess and wondered if we had lost our minds.  How would this every come together?  But we learned a lot. Two days later we tried again.  It was a full dress rehearsal.  Sue brought the aprons that she made for us.  Aren't they great.   

Yes!!! it is possible (we think).  We will let you know.

Look out Maryland Sheep and Wool here we come!!!

The shop will be closed Friday April 30 and Saturday May1.  I will reopen on Tuesday May 4.

new tech tool

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Originally uploaded by fostersheepfarm

This is a picture of spring from my new phone. Lets see if it works.

School Vacation

The kids in this neighborhood are on vacation.  Our 4-H group "Sheep and Kids"  took advantage of this and did a felting workshop.  They met here at the shop.  We are lucky to have a local shepherd who was generous with her time and showed these kids how it works.

                                        

                                                    Felting is a great project for kids.  

                                        Its soap and water and making a mess.

It was a very successful day.

The last lambs were born on Saturday morning.  Twin ram lambs.  The total count is 82 lambs born to 51 ewes. They are happily running and jumping in the barn now.  It seems impossible to get a good picture of the lambs on the move.

Outside is seems that summer is here!!  I know its just a teaser, but we took full advantage of the great weather and got a lot done outside.

The sidewalk is done...

The trees are trimmed...

The garden is tilled...

Then on Sunday we enjoyed a day of rest with family.  Happy Easter to all.

Spring

It has again been a busy week here at the Foster Sheep Farm.  With the frost out of the ground Tom, took advantage of the nice weather on Friday to start on the sidewalk to the shop.

 It didn't take to long to tear the old sidewalk out, and we are hoping that by the end of this weekend we will have a new sidewalk installed. 

On Saturday I was lucky enough to catch a ride to Manchester, NH.  It was a beautiful day, but there was still snow on the ground in places and the ski slopes were busy.  I had a mission, well really two missions.  I was able to see my daughter and to drop off and pick up wool at Sallie Fenn Fiber Mill. 

 Its a great mill, we are very happy with her work.  I dropped off some alpaca and wool to be blended and to be spun into yarn.  I was also able to pick up some samples of the Wensleydale yarn.  OHHHH wait until you see that!!!  She had to rewash my wool, so it wasn't ready for pick up, but she will be shipping it out soon.  I will let you know when its in the shop.

On the drive I was working on some little chicks to hang in the shop window.  Here is a peek...

            UPCOMING CLASSES


Learn to knit, Learn to spin, Turkish Rose Mittens, Amanda's Squatty Sidekick Bag, Magic Loop Sock Technique, The Rhapsody Hat and Learn to Dye Your Own Wool.     For a copy of this class list contact me at fostersheepfarm@gmail,com or by phone at 518-695-3058