From the Pastures: Gimme a break

Here in northern Illinois there has been a lot of rain. I am not complaining, especially since my son-in-law in Georgia is very dry. All the rain does make it difficult to cut hay. Looks like there is a break next week. Crossing my fingers for a window of a couple days. We have gone through all the hay in the barn and need at least one good cutting. In northern Georgia, the sweet corn season is delayed a couple weeks due to dry weather all spring.

My lambs are all growing well. I bought some new feed to give the ewes and lambs. I started feeding it to the ewes one month before lambing and then use it as creep feed for the lambs. It appears to be making a difference in the size and health of the lambs. I am going to leave them with the ewes a little longer this year before weaning. Last year one lamb escaped to the pasture with her mom and she seemed to grow better than the other lambs.

The past month has gone by so fast. I have washed a lot of Scottish Blackface wool, but I have not had a chance to dye it yet. That is a project for the next two weekends. I am going to use colors of spring flowers. Some yellows, purples, reds and oranges. Once each color is spun, two or more different colors can be twisted together to make interesting yarn. In the mill, customers’ Icelandic, Shetland and Romney wools have been spinning. Each different breed of wool has different characteristics, but all make nice yarn. We received nice compliments from the customers on their yarn which makes all the work more enjoyable.

Have a great month and enjoy the nice weather.