Farm Visit’s

May 20, 2009 by Breeze Hill Farm

Wow! This has been a very exciting week and it’s only Wednesday. On Monday I spent the afternoon with my friend that raises Alpaca’s, selecting the animals that will be coming to live with us. We’ve chosen 6; 2 adults, 2 yearlings and 2 cria’s. The 2 cria’s are offspring from one of the adults we are getting. We are very excited about these new additions to our farm and hope that everything will work out well with them. Once I have a good day to photograph them, I’ll bore you to tears with pictures. Can’t wait for everyone to see one of the cria’s. He is just beautiful and his fleece is the most stunning shade of golden fawn. But the Alpaca’s are not the only exciting addition we are making.

Yesterday, I spent the day at Magi’s Wood Farm. They raise Icelandic sheep and we are adding this breed to our farm. As you will see in the photo’s below, the sheep are a really cool looking breed and I enjoyed the time spent with them, but Magi is an incredible Felt Fiber Artist. I wish I had photographed some of her work to include in this post but didn’t even think about it until I had left..that’s OK, I’ll be back there next week giving a spinning lesson so I’ll be sure to get some great photos of her work. What she has done with this fiber art medium is too beautiful to put into words. I am so impressed and so fortunate to call this amazingly talented lady my new friend.

In the photo’s below you’ll see one sheep named Holly, she is one that we will soon have at our farm. I’m trying to make up my mind which ones will be the other’s. These girls all have such cool personalities, it’s hard to choose. Being a dyer, I’m always looking at white sheep but I’ve learned through the years that over dying colored sheep fiber gives some excellent results too. I just can’t wait to have all of our new babies here at the farm. Once everyone has moved in an are settled, we are having a Field Party, to introduce everyone to the neighborhood..any excuse to have a party!

"Holly" and Friend

"Holly"

Is this too cute?

Happy Lambs

Take Me Home!

Heard you were looking for more sheep!

With all of these new additions, Breeze Hill Farm‘s Fiber CSA will be absolutely awesome in the Fall.

Look At Our Big Suprise!

May 9, 2009 by Breeze Hill Farm

Yesterday went very smooth with Co-op deliveries and I am sorry to say, I didn’t get a single picture of anything all day. I did set up at Gather for a couple of hours and enjoyed meeting and greeting all of the new Co-op members as they picked up their orders and a reporter from the newspaper did interview me, so next week I should be able to share that with everyone. I also had the chance to sell several Fiber CSA shares. There are a lot of knitters in this area and they are all very excited about the idea of knowing exactly where their fiber comes from. It was just a good fun Thursday.

Look what we found at the barn this morning!

Now I ask you, are these two little girls cute enough. Their mother, “Blackie” is our stray goat (long story, we’ll share it some day). We knew Antonio had bred her and were hoping for a little black mohair. Antonio’s father was a black Angora but the white prevailed. She obviously is a very good Mom. She had these little girls all cleaned up and ready for a photo shoot by 8:00 a.m. I’ve been at the barn most of the day just watching them with Blackie and watching Carley. I think she’s next, so tonight I won’t leave it up to her. It’s her first so I want to make sure she does OK. It’s starting to look like a long sleepless Mother’s Day weekend. That’s fine..who could ask for a better Mother’s Day gift than beautiful healthy babies? Not me.

Rainy Days Are Getting Old

May 6, 2009 by Breeze Hill Farm

I, for one, love cloudy, cool, rainy days. It’s seems to make me thrive but our recent weather pattern is even getting old for me. For days now it has either rained or has threatened rain. Yesterday, the sun came out for 5 minutes and what happened next? Tornado Watch! This rainy spell has caused pastures to “green up” and gardens are starting to grow but we could use a little bit more sun to keep things going. Another thing that is affected by the rain is sheep shearing, something we’ve needed to do for a month. I love to see the girls out in the field all big and fluffy..they make the perfect picture but before we know it we will have 90 degree days again and they won’t be happy. Not to mention, the sooner I get those fleeces off the sooner I can get all the fiber shipped off to the mill. Until then, I must look at the fact that we are blessed with a wet Spring!

Overheard some chatter at the barn last night. Looks like, for the first time in years, we did really miscalculate our delivery dates. The does are getting ready now, so there will be baby photos coming soon!

There was additional chatter out there when Breeze our picture perfect Border Collie rousted up a skunk. She is such a cool dog. When she goes out for her barn work, she has to stop off and kiss the other dogs, kiss the cats, kiss the pig, she’s just a sweet kisser. Well, she seems to think that skunks are cats, so she tries to kiss them too. Aparently her doggie genius only goes as far as what to do with the sheep, she just never learns. She got a bath in what we have found to be the best skunk odor remover, disposable douche (found this in a natural pet care book), and the otherwise nightly sofa hound spent the night in an outside run. This morning she smells fresh and clean and dishing out kisses again!

"Breeze"

Well, I have to make soap today. Just got the orders from the co-op (www.farm2udirect.com) and soap is the big seller this week. People were probably thinking about Mother’s Day when they ordered this time. Also, the Market at Gather (www.shopgather.com) is Thursday so inventory needs to be ready for that. I’m so glad I have this life!

Take Time To Be Happy!

May 1, 2009 by Breeze Hill Farm

I’m sure alot of people have received this email (there are about 10 more photo’s than what I am sharing) from friends but I loved it so much it just had to share a couple of parts of it.

For all of us who are starting to see too many wrinkles.

My new mantra!

and finally!

Sometime we need to stop and remember to not take ourselves too seriously!

To my friend Cat, thank you for being my friend for 49 years and for sharing this with me.

Too often the day to day grind causes us to forget laughter or even who we really are. With so many serious happenings in our lives, we have to take time out to appreciate the light heartedness that keeps us sane.

If anyone is interested, you can email me and I will forward the entire “forward” to you. I’m off to print out a couple of other’s to put on the fridge.

Pictures From Our First Market This Season

April 29, 2009 by Breeze Hill Farm

Set Up

It was a beautiful and very hot day but all of the anticipation made it worth it. The first market of the season is always so exciting! Familiar faces, new faces, people looking for old time favorites positive comments and great suggestions. This was our first “in person” offering of our new Spring 2009 Fiber CSA. People seemed interested but I’m afraid the heat may have played a big role in the lack of ” lovin’ the wool”. Here are some photos from the beginning of the day.