Category Archives: fiber

Spring Is In The Air..

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Aaaah! Spring! It’s that time of the year when flowers are starting to bloom, trees are budding, the grasses are greening up and the garden is calling.

Now is the time to start moving manure from the barn up to the garden plots and to start tilling that “black gold” into the earth but this year things will be a little different in one of the plots. We have decided to grow potatoes for markets. Soil preparation for these beauties does not include manure as an amendment..so there will be less hauling than in years past. Can’t wait to see the lush green plants starting to pop up!

Each market season we have noticed that Spinach and Carrots are limited, so to do our part in answering the call for more of these foods, we have increased our garden area to add several raised beds for carrots and a second garden spot for spinach. Then of course there will be the usual cast of characters..tomatoes, okra, cukes, squashes, eggplant and lettuces.

On a different note, all of chickens seemed to be loving the warmer weather and longer days already. We have eggs everywhere! Our chickens are totally free range so as a result egg collection closely resembles an Easter Egg hunt each day. That’s OK though it is worth it when we are able to put together a carton of eggs that look like this…

Thank you girls…

Next on the list for our Spring “to do’s” will be sheep shearing. That’s always exciting too..when we get the chance to see what this years growth looks like. By the winter being mild, it doesn’t look like we will have the usual bumper of wool. We will be adding Cashmere this year to our fibers available. Friends of ours are getting out of the cashmere business but they still have 10 goats that need to be combed..so yes, I volunteered to do the combing. Payment for this job..we get the fiber! There will be some pretty cool rovings and yarns available in the fall!

Neeing Hair Cuts...Now!!

Maybe I’m wrong..look at all that wool!

Well that’s all for today. I’m afraid if I keep writing, I’ll wear myself out.

Container Gardening Fans Read This…

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We have come up with a wonderful product for all of those Container Gardening folks out there. It is our new Natural Growers Pack.

What is it and what does it do you may ask? It is a water retention and fertilizer system that is made from 100% all natural and organic materials. When you container garden or grow house plants, you are always faced with watering your plants..even if you are on vacation. Using our pack limits the need to constantly be watering your plants as the natural sheep wool acts as a sponge absorbing water and holding it for longer than just soil. The added bonus..you get a pack of sheep manure compost to add to your soil as a natural fertilizer.

These are all of the supplies you need to use this pack:

The contents of the pack, a container, your plant or seeds, plus soil.

Start with an empty large to extra large container. Line the bottom of the container with the enclosed sheep wool. Now take the wonderfully rich in nutrients package of sheep manure compost and blend it with your soil..place in your container on top of the sheep wool. Add your plant. Water. That’s it..easy peasy!

It is a wonderful system for container vegetable gardening. By using this all natural system you eliminate the need to continuously fertilize your plants too. Your container tomato plants will be the envy of the neighborhood!

The Natural Growers pack is available in our ETSY store, through Fall Line Farms Co-op, Local Roots Co-op, The Great Big Greenhouse in Richmond, VA and more locations are coming soon as we fill orders. You, of course, can buy them direct through me and we will have them at local Farmer’s Markets this Spring and summer.

Do something good for your plants and make Mother Nature smile at the same time..oh yes, and each time you purchase/use one of these Natural Growers Packs you are supporting a small family owned sustainable farm business!

Winter Yesterday..Spring Today

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Isn’t it amazing how unpredictable the weather really can be? Yesterday we had a beautiful snowfall in the morning, followed by a sunny afternoon and ending with another brief snowfall before evening. In a single days time, the pastures are turning green and those Spring flowers that were not already blooming are today showing signs of bloom. We’ve had thunderstorms in February and a steady flow of rainfall this Winter..all will serve the ground well for the growing season. While we need to get the earth tilled to start the gardens, the ground is actually too wet. This will postpone that early harvest we always shoot for but a late harvest is just as beneficial.

We have taken some time off from selling through our local Co-op’s and Winter Farmer’s Markets while we’ve reworked our farm. There will be a lot of changes to some of the products we have sold for years and we are adding a lot of new. We started selling our farm products in our ETSY store. It is slow going but we have had some sales. I’ve started working on the plans for offering workshops throughout Spring and Summer. There are so many things that a person can do to live a more sustainable lifestyle and hopefully these workshops will generate interest from those who are anxious to learn.

That’s all for now. I always promise that I will be better about keep up with Blog posts, let’s see if this time I can really do it!!

 

Giveaway

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Hear we go! This is Gryffon (aka Scrap). He is the little goat buckling born a week ago this past Sunday. Being a musical family here, we have decided that Scrap needs a song all his own. Once he has a song, we will add that song to a video of Scrap doing what little goaties do and create his own music video! His song can be any type of music..even Christmas music. It should be fitting of a little critter that at this point weighs about 8 pounds and has enough energy for 5 of him.

So we need for you all to come up with a song. If we choose the song you come up with..you will win 2 of our new Natural Nesting Balls. See one for you and one to give as a gift! You must live in the US to enter this giveaway as we are covering the shipping as well.

So go to the comments for this post and start listing the song you think will best work for Scrap. At days end tomorrow we will go through your suggestions and pick the song that we feel best fits Scrap. Please make sure I have some way to contact you to let you know that you are the winner. We will take care of the shipping details later.

Scrap’s music video will air before Christmas!

Feeling The Need For A Giveaway..and other stuff!

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This is just the perfect time of year to offer a giveaway, so I’m working on it as I write. It needs to be something exciting that lots of folks will participate in and the giveaway should be something that everyone would love to have times 2 so the other can be given as a gift! I will iron out the details today..so look for something tomorrow.

Things are going very well at the farm. We are fielding orders for Nesting Balls and Dryer Balls hourly now and hope that everyone who receives them as Christmas gifts will love them as much as we do. Though they are very simple items a lot of work does go into their creation..starting with raising the animals. I have the best producers in the world out there in the field growing fiber so that I have the materials I need to create. Three cheers to the SHEEP and GOATS this morning!! Speaking of, I should get down to the barn and feed them.

OK, that’s it for today. Be looking for the giveaway announcement tomorrow!

Just In Time For The Holidays

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We’ve been very busy around here since my last post. One entire season has come and gone and we’re well into Fall. It’s been exciting coming up with new ideas for the Holiday’s this year and I think we’ve come up with two definite winners.

Here is one of our new items -

This is an All Natural Wool Nesting Ball. It’s a grapevine ball filled with sheep wool. You hang it in a tree or on your deck and birds come a pull small pieces out to aid in nest building. It’s a great gift to give to the bird lovers on your gift list or to give to yourself.

Our other new item from the farm are our Eco Friendly Dryer Balls. These are made from 100% all natural wool from our sheep. These are just great..they do the same job as a dryer sheet without all those nasty chemicals and with wool being able to absorb over 60% of their weight in water..using these dryer balls reduce your dry time which equates to less electricity use.

So as you see, we really have been busy putting together items that will make nice gifts for others or for you. Who knows, before Christmas we might just come up with some other all natural farm gifts!

More Babies…

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Friday evening was so peaceful and relaxing. We spent time visiting with each other..discussing the week and our plans for the weekend. I started taking care of the Quail and hubby made his way to the barn for evening chores. He had been at the barn only a few minutes and he called me on the phone. This usually means one of two things..something is wrong or there are new babies.

Happily, it was the latter. We have 2 new doelings! Oh, my they are soooo cute and their fiber is amazing. These little ones are 3/4 Angora and 1/4 Alpine Dairy goats. It’s the same crosses we done since we started raising goats back in 2002. It’s such a wonderful cross because we end up with adults that give us pounds of fiber and they are excellent milk producers too. The fact that they are does is just a plus.

These photos were taken yesterday morning.

Just Relaxing!

One Happy Mom!

 No matter how many births we have here..I always enjoy each one as if it were the first. Wish the farm was bigger so I could keep them all!

It’s Been A Long Time Again!

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It’s coming down to the end of Spring around here. Let me update you on what has been going on at the farm.

Early Spring brought us the joys of lamb and kid births. So many little ones making it exciting and a little confusing too. We almost lost one of our ewes at lambing. Seems her little (gigantic) lamb didn’t want to come out easily and then we discovered she had been physically exhausted to the point that she gave up. We are very happy to say, she is doing fantastic now and so is “Wil” her lamb.

Then there was “Bella”! She was not really a surprise but I had miscalculated her due date of arrival. She and her Mom “Barga” are doing very well. The breeding that produced her was very accidental, which has now led to a 3/4 Angora x 1/4 Alpine Dairy kid. Her fiber is glorious!

We had a broody hen hatch 13 eggs and have 12, 3 month old chicks now.

We have since hatched another 11 chicks which are growing strong..and to our surprise, some of them are actually HENS!

The most exciting addition we’ve made to the farm this Spring are our Coturnix Quail. With the chickens, ducks and now quail we are rapidly becoming an “Egg Farm”.

These quail are actually mature and laying eggs within 8 weeks from their hatching and the health benefits from eating their eggs is amazing. There are now 36 of these little ones here and growing. This is the first week we’ve listed their eggs on our local co-op.

Aside from all of this we’ve just been working on the farm. Cleaning, growing, painting, sheep shearing and more.

Since the loss of Mom, I feel like I’ve been spending a lot of my time recreating pretty much my whole life (not just the farm). I am devoting much more of my time to the sheep and working again with fiber. We are working on a Virginia Grown/USA Grown organic yarn line as well as a line of naturally dyed yarns. Both of these projects are slow moving as it is quite expensive to have all of the fiber processed and natural dying can also be very expensive. Another thing I am doing is participating in special events to share (and sell) our fibers grown here on the farm.

Wow, I’m tired just writing! Until next time…

Happy New Year!!! (maybe a day or so late)

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Well here I am starting our New Year! Not bad..only 11 or so days into the year. Guess the way 2010 ended for us makes this acceptable.

You know I read a lot of different Blogs every week. Some of those that I really like are listed in my sidebar (need to update). Many of those Blogs are about the day to day on the farm. Some are farm stories. I have a passion for anything vintage, so I do follow many of these Blogs too. I wish I had more time to read but fortunately, I am too busy!

I did, however, notice on one Blog that I follow that the writer shares with her readers “things you don’t know about her” and I find that I like that idea a lot. So, I thought I’d give it a try myself and share 5 things that you don’t know about me.

1. I am a very kind and giving person. Sometimes to the point that I give and have it taken.

2. I love to read..no matter the subject. Classics, reference, trash romance, picture books, magazines, everything.

3. I like Farmer’s and farm business owners who are real, not frauds. People who really do their own work and get their hands dirty, who honestly do spend the night in a freezing cold barn with a sick animal – not those who use the one time isolated event as a photo/story op.

4. I love, love, love a newborn lamb! Not having children, I tend to throw around terms like hope and promise when I hold one of our newborns for the first time.

 


5. Cooking is my heart and soul. From the time I was old enough to stand on a stool and reach my hands into fruitcake batter that my Grandmother was making, I’ve loved to cook. It is the most relaxing thing that I do. After 32 years of marriage, I still cook dinner almost every night for my hubby and me. Apparently he still likes it because he still comes in at night and asks “what’s for dinner” and he doesn’t run away when I tell him!!

Of course there are so many more other things you don’t know about me but I have an idea…why don’t you share something that people don’t know about you? It would be fun getting to know each other better. Don’t you agree?