It's the little things...
Mood:  a-ok
Now Playing: Carla Sciaky "Spin the Weaver's Song"
that mean so much.

Today my husband called me from work to tell me that if I need to contact him, to call his cell phone, as the regular phones were not working. Just that little bit of courtesy is just one of the many ways that he shows his love. He isn't a showy type of guy to bring home a dozen roses (although, this is my fault, as he brought them home for me one Valentines Day, and I made the comment that I'd rather he spent the money on something that wouldn't die), but rather he's been building my display units for this weekend on his own time, besides doing the regular outside chores that are needed around the house. Those are the things that really count.

Two weekends ago, Marcy and I were driving up to NH Sheep and Wool and she put on a CD about knitting, weaving and spinning songs. I had never heard it, but the vocals of Wren Ross were amazing. Not only does she sing on the CD, but she wrote most of the songs! Some of the songs show the humerous side of fiber arts, while one is about a woman's sister weaving north of San Francisco (this might be the only song that Wren didn't write, as Marcy mentioned that one song was by a famous folk singer). I enjoyed the CD so much, that I contacted Wren Ross, and she sent me 10 CD's to sell at MA Sheep and Wool. The cd's arrived in yesterday's mail, and while I was out driving around yesterday, I enjoyed listening to the songs over and over again. I will be playing the CD while up at MAS&W for people to enjoy.

Now back to getting everything ready for the weekend. Marcy and Deanna are bringing down a load of spindles, knitting needles and crochet hooks from Linda at Grafton Fibers for me to sell too.

A sad morning
My morning routine goes something like this; up between 5 or 6 a.m., a bit of computer time to send through messages on some lists, and then it is out to the bunnies before 7 a.m.

This morning, I made a sad discovery. Stu, who came to me from Harvest Moon, was dead in his cage. Stu was born in March of 1999, and fathered quite a few litters. Even over the past few months, while I have watched him slowing down, he always had that eager look in his eye if I went to him after handling an adult doe. He was a mostly French chocolate golden steel buck, and passed that color on to several of his kids. Stu's true love Julia, had passed on a year ago in February, the same day the space shuttle broke up over Texas (she was older than he by almost 12 months). He hadn't been bred here in over a year, but had been given the status of "pet" which he had earned. Stu was always one to come over for head pats and neck scratches when ever I passed the cage. Even though his fur in the past year hadn't been great in density, he still provided a lovely shade of golden brown wool for spinning.

Stu will be missed.

Posted by baycolonyfarm at 8:44 AM EDT

Updated: Tuesday, 25 May 2004 8:46 AM EDT

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Rant
Mood:  cheeky
Now Playing: Mellow jazz on WEIB fm
Lately, there has been a lot of conversation on the one of the lists about the health of the new Germans. Most of this has come from people that have not had the animals for any length of time, or haven't talked to people who have had them for long periods of time. I find this to be incredibly frustrating, as it is causing a panic for the new people involved in the German angora.

What I have noticed, having had these animals here at my place for almost a year:

They are incredibly hardy animals. My rabbits are housed outside, in a barn. But it still gets cold in there, and this winter, we even had a day where it was 25 degrees below zero, and that isn't including the wind chill. They even closed school on that day, yet my rabbits were fine. Not a runny nose, watery eye, ANYWHERE.

They are excellent mothers. Annie and Mia have put my other rabbits to shame in the mothering department. Their kits are growing strong and healthy.

They have amazing coats on them. Filled with crimp, long, and the ability to grow 1 pound of wool every three months. Not only that, but they don't freak out at shearing time, either using the scissors or the electric shears.

They are personable and friendly animals. I'm not seeing the skittishness that I saw with my English or French. Just laid back, mellow animals. Holding them is a pleasure.

These are my observations. I'm probably biased, but I'm allowed to be. Everyone else is being biased with their observations, and sometimes, I just get tired of not saying anything in my animals defense. :)

One more thing to take into consideration when you read about someone discussing the health of their angoras; you don't know what their rabbitry is like, or what the sanitation conditions are like. These are things to consider, as a dirty cage, not removing the wool every three months, or other factors that involve sanitation will affect the longevity of the animals. Please remember that!

On to other things:

Yesterday I finished plying the Border Leicester yarn that I'm spinning to sell up at MA Sheep and Wool. I also need to finish the swatches for the IAGARB posters (and get those made up too; thank goodness I hardly have any work to do this week!), and to do up the posters to promote the workshops here at Bay Colony Farm. So those of you reading this; if you haven't gotten in your application yet, do it now! I can't hold spaces, and they might all be gone by next weekend. :)

Up early again
Mood:  bright
Now Playing: WEIB 106.3 fm
It has been a busy week here.

We did the Colonial Spinning Bee on Sunday. Here is a picture of me spinning at the Bee.



Wednesday I spent the afternoon up at Linda's playing with her Duncan drum carder. What fun! I have decided that any money I make at MA Sheep and Wool goes to one of those babies.

This weekend is barn cleaning, and preparing for MA Sheep and Wool. My wonderful husband has been making some display units for me to have in the booth. Different from what other people have. It is really nice having a husband who's profession is in the point-of-purchase display unit business. :)

Up early again
Mood:  bright
Now Playing: WEIB 106.3 fm
I seem to be adopting Carolyn's early rising hours. But that is o.k. Being up at 4:30 in the morning isn't necessarily a bad thing. I get to see the sun rise, and have the house to myself for atleast an hour and a half. I kind of like that. :)

So this is what I have been working on for the past couple of nights.



Spinning up small skeins of each different wool that I will have for sale this weekend at the Colonial Spinning Bee and Webs, and again at MA Sheep and Wool. The above skeins are a cormo/silk/angora blend (80-10-10). Very soft, infact I'm having a hard time not keeping this all to myself. But there are only so many fleeces and rovings that a girl can keep, so I'll keep a little, and sell the rest.

All this this wool that I'm talking about came back from Wooly Knob Fiber Mill this week. Two very large boxes full. These guys are great. For $4.50 per pound, they will not only process your wool, but they wash it too. O.k. I admit it. I'm lazy. For the past couple of years, since I started actively selling roving here at Bay Colony Farm, I've spent many hours at the washing machine, washing fleeces. It is NOT my favorite job. But it needed to be done, because I wasn't about to pay an additional $4 per pound to a processor to wash what I had to send out (trust me, I'm already spending hundreds of dollars each year on processing, but hopefully, that will end soon because I want to buy a carder). So when I found out that these guys do it all, well, they get the majority of my business (again, because I'm lazy ). What I don't send to them, I send up to my favorite local processor, Pogo at Friends' Folly Farm . In fact, I just delivered 3 large fleeces, plus an assortment of dyed angora and silk to her at NH Sheep and Wool last weekend. I know Pogo will do a spectacular job. She has promised it all back in time for MA Sheep and Wool, and I know she will get it back on time.

Today is our town fair. We'll take the kids up there later today, and let them ride the rides, and then it is dinner at my parent's house, since my brother Luke is home from CA. Should be a nice day today. :)

Posted by baycolonyfarm at 6:44 AM EDT

Updated: Saturday, 15 May 2004 7:39 AM EDT

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I'm here :)
Mood:  happy
Now Playing: WEIB 106.3 fm
I'm still here. I suffered from serious burn out last weekend. I finally finished up the paperwork for my job related project on Friday night at 11:30 p.m. It had to be in Saturday's mail for overnight delivery, and it made it! So while I was exhausted on the drive out to Hudson NY to go to the auction on Saturday morning, I was feeling pretty good.
We had a great time at the auction. I spent the most money between the two of us; a whole $15. What did I get for $15? Twelve thousand plastic bags. Yep, I wrote 12,000. I plan to use these in the fiber business, and I was rather proud of myself, on scoring these so cheaply. Dale spent a whole $5 on two old wooden barrels, and some stuff that was in the barrels.
Sunday was spent at NH Sheep and Wool. This was my first time at the Hopkinton show, having attended the New Boston show a couple of times before it moved locations. Very nice festival, and I got to see Linda's Fiber Ship, and hang out with Marcy, Linda, Dave from the Merlin Tree and Rosemary. I also visited with Alice, Charlene from Honeybuns, Judy from the Colonial Spinning Bee, and saw the magical Laura J, who looks wonderful. I dropped off several fleeces with dyed angora and dyed silk to Pogo at Friends Folly Farm, so that will be back in time for MA Sheep and Wool.
Of course, on Monday, I discovered the other half of one fleece that I had given to Pogo. I had thought that it seemed like there wasn't enough there when I packed it up on Sunday morning, and I was right. My husband, who was doing laundry, moved my fleece to a spot where it wasn't visable unless you looked around. So the rest of this week, I've been working on this



I plan to send this out to Pogo (with the rest of the fleece) tomorrow. I can't wait to see what she does with it!

This is also what I've been doing this week; buying plants!


And in case you need a bunny fix; here are pictures of two of the litters. The first picture is of Annie's kids.


This second picture is of Ripley and her kids.


Aren't they cute?! :)

Mamma told me there would be days like this
Mood:  rushed
Now Playing: WEIB 106.3 fm www.weibfm.com
Actually, things aren't too bad; I'm just feeling the pinch for time for my job. My fault, and I should have known better. This weekend will be more relaxed.

My little office mate is doing well. His eyes are open now, and he's curious about his little world. This little one will probably be the most tame rabbit I have; I'm holding him a lot. He will be going to a pet home in another 5 weeks or so. My friend Carolyn wants him, and I know he'll have a very good life with her. :)

About the only thing keeping me sane right now while I get through my work stuff, is that I've been dyeing angora for the past couple of days. On Monday, I dyed some a color called garnet. It really looks more like a very deep dark pink rather than a red. Yesterday, I dyed some a color called rose pink. These two colors of angora will be blended with some lovely brown alpaca that I got from my friend Caroline who raises alpacas at her place up in Central MA. Caroline will be helping me with the Angora workshop at MA Sheep and Wool on Saturday morning. She's a pro at shearing a rabbit using electric clippers to get maximum wool off of the rabbit, while keeping the rabbit completely calm and stressfree (for those that don't know; you shear an angora rabbit every 3-4 months to prevent wool block). Anyway, this angora/alpaca blend will be used for part of the spinning workshop I'm giving at MA Sheep and Wool on Sunday morning. The rest of the fiber we will be using in the class should back here from the processors by tomorrow and will also be for sale at my booth. :)

Shameless plug:
For those interested, Ripley's litter is now 3 1/2 weeks old. They are 96.5% German, and their sire is 100% new import blood from Leslie Samson's rabbits. I am taking deposits on these babies, and they will be available for delivery to MA Sheep and Wool at the end of this month.

A learning lesson
Mood:  happy
Now Playing: WEIB 106.3 fm
Sometimes it just pays to look.

I've been accused by Marcy of being the Evil Buck Maven (and I do *love* that title! ). She blames me for Loretta turning into a buck.

But sometimes, you just have to look.

Rocky is a red buck that I got from another breeder. He came here with the idea that I would be trying to breed for red rabbits. That never happened, and I decided that it was time for Rocky to move on to a home where he would be used in a breeding program. Suzanne, who has Moshi Moshi from here, said that she would like to have him. So yesterday, in anticipation of Rocky going to Suzanne's house, I started to clip Rocky down. Now, Deanna has always done the clipping on Rocky, which is why I hadn't notice this before; Rocky only has one testicle! That certainly isn't suitable for breeding, since it is genetic, and can be passed on to future litters.

So now Star, who is my sable colored shearing demo buck, will be going to live at Suzanne's house, and will be having a rendezvous with Moshi. All of Star's equipment is there, and he'll be a nice addition to their household, as he is very gentle, and sweet.

I will miss Star, but know he's going to a good home where he will recieve lots of love and attention.

Posted by baycolonyfarm at 9:49 AM EDT

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My new office mate
Mood:  caffeinated
Now Playing: WEIB 106.3 fm
This is a picture of the little one who is living in a bowl next to my desk in my office.

This little guy (or girl) was born 9 days ago. We've lost his siblings due to the cold temps, which I'm very sad about. So now he is living in my office, in hopes that he does o.k. I'm taking him out to his mother once a day for nursing, and she's doing quite well nursing only one kit. Before he goes out to mom, I put him in the nestbox for easy nursing for her. But once we come back inside, he goes back into the bowl, where he is more contained than being in a large nestbox by himself. I think I'm able to keep him warmer in the bowl. But having the heat turned up to 75 degrees in here doesn't hurt either.

He will go live outside with Mom in another week or two, when he's stronger, and his eyes are open. Until then, I have an office mate. :)

This is what arrived in today's mail....
Mood:  lyrical
Now Playing: WEIB 106.3 fm

A box of 6 skeins of yarn from Leslie Samson of IAGARB. This yarn is a test run of the new fiber co-op that the group is establishing. Anyone that is a member of IAGARB, and owns German Angoras can submit their white German angora wool to be included in the runs, and will get back an appropriate percentage of yarn. I believe this is a 60% angora, 35% merino and 5% silk blend (this will be confirmed by Leslie once I talk to her). My job is to knit it up into something appropriate and show it at MA Sheep and Wool in May. I'm thinking lacy shawl, which would be really soft, and show off a nice pattern. What ever I do, I'm looking forward to starting on it. In fact, I'm very tempted to stop everything that I'm doing, search out a nice shawl pattern, and start knitting.

And to let you all know....................

I PASSED MY EXAM FROM SATURDAY!!!! I'm so happy! Now I send in my application to the state, along with some of my work for review. I have 2 weeks to get this together, and mail it off to Boston. Any dpn waves my way that this goes smoothly would be gratefully accepted. :)

Off to gather up the products to sell at CT Sheep and Wool tomorrow. If you are in the area, please stop by and say Hi! I will be vending along with David Paul from the Merlin Tree.