At The Farm

Fiber Festivals, some big, some small happen all around the country throughout the year. The first festival I ever attended was the Maryland Sheep and Wool Festival, which is a massive gathering of all things Sheep and Wool. Since moving to Kentucky and the farm I’ve made it a priority to attend the Kentucky Sheep […]

. . Last year I took a trip to Iceland in hopes of seeing the Northern Lights. The weather clouded over, snowed and we didn’t see them. Still Iceland was gorgeous! Last night the Lights appeared above my barnyard. God delivered all that beauty right here, #atthefarm I am SO blessed.

The hay field is looking beautiful. . It is so close to being ready to cut. Now we watch the extended weather forecast for enough dry days to harvest next winter’s crop. Every year I am held up with equipment problems. . We’ve fought the last two years trying to get my tedder up and

One of the reasons I’ve been dragging on the blog posting lately is that I’ve been so busy with new opportunities arising in the Wool and Fiber Arts area. . . SEKSPA, Southeastern Kentucky Sheep Producers Association, which I have been a member of for years has started a new chapter for Wool and Fiber

My word for 2024 is Create. I’ve been a bit stuck for the past few years and it’s time to move forward. One of the areas that I’d love to learn more about is foraging. Foraging for food, for medicinal plants, and for dyestuffs. The more I learn the more excited I am about the

All the other sheep had headed into the barn for the night except Digory, who sat off by himself. I walked over and sat next to him. I was reminded that it has just been a year since he came to the farm as a little bottle lamb. Underweight. Not suckling on the bottle. Repeated

. Skirting a fleece means to lay the wool out on a table and pick through it removing bits of hay, poop, and any other rubbish the sheep has collected on themselves. I had all these grand intentions of getting all the fleeces skirted the same day they were sheared. I guess it’s good to

. Shearing Day is a big day for us. And I only have 13 sheep! But I also have an amazing Shearer. Micah has sheared for me since the beginning. He takes great care with the animals, even when they don’t cooperate with him. And I have amazing family and friends who come out to

When we left off last I believe we were talking about shearing. But first… cleaning. . Before we start growing fresh fleeces we needed to get rid of the winter muck in the barn. The first year I did this it was with a pitchfork and wheelbarrel and took days. I’m loving this John Deere…

Spring has been so crazy! I’m going to have to find a way to keep this blog going when life starts moving fast. . My busyness hasn’t stopped spring from popping up all around me. The flowers have been stunning this year! . I have to say, I’m a little partial to Kentucky’s spring. .

The gang in the barn has been working very hard for months growing beautiful fleeces. Also… It’s going to be getting warm soon and they’ll be very happy to get these wool coats off. This is the first time I didn’t have the Teeswater/BFLs sheared in the autumn before they got into the winter hay

It was SO cold. I have these insulated Carhartt overalls for winter. I’ve found that they are so warm that I can only wear them if the temperatures drop into the teens, Fahrenheit. In the past five winters on the farm I’ve never worn them more than two days in a row. This time I

Yes. I know, strange.  But also fun. Earlier in the year a family member asked me if I’d like to use some old rugs to decorate the barn. They were dealing with the estate of a passed family member and were trying to figure out what to do with some unusable old rugs.  Why not?

#atthefarm January 9, 2024 When we purchased this farm back in 2017 we were living in Maryland. The plan was to retire here, someday. But meanwhile, I began posting on my Instagram account with the hashtag #atthefarm.  Now here I am, almost seven years later, beginning a new website with a new blog from the