Spring 2007 Newsletter

Here we are in late February with the 1^st shipment of plants in the greenhouse, pregnant ewes in the pasture and lots of lovely fleeces waiting for attention in the barn. Just when old man winter gets his arms wrapped around us and we long to enjoy a nice warm fire, signs of spring demand our attention! So it’s time to get busy, the holidays are over and a new year is well on its way.

We bred 22 ewes to our new Ram, “Pegasus” for our 2007 lambing season. This awesome specimen won his class at the New York Sheep and Wool Festival at Rhinebeck, NY in 2005. We are pleased to have him in our breeding program. We should have a limited quantity of lambs for sale this season. We hope to add a few more ewes to our flock this year and two new rams.

We’ve begun our advertising campaign in earnest this year. We’ll have an ad in the Rural Arkansas Magazine for the March and April Issues. We’ve also put a listing in the breeders section of The Shepherd magazine. Oklahoma and Kansas cooperative magazines ads are also planned for later in the year. Additional marketing efforts will also be made at the Farmers Market for meat and fiber products.

Yarn is a new offering for us this year. I will start with a bit of hand spun yard that I’ve done on a drop spindle. While I don’t have much to sell, it did get lots of interest at the market last year and it’s important that we begin to offer as quickly as possible. Guess I’d better get busy on those fleeces waiting in the barn!

Fencing for the new pasture is almost complete and we’re hoping the seeding will make improvements this spring. We’ll be very cautious moving the flock to this new area. (We’ve recently had a Bob Cat attack and lost 4 rams, so we’re nervous at the moment.) Once lambs begin arriving, we’ll move them all closer to the house and keep them close until September. This new pasture will allow us much longer between paddock rotations and give us the extra room we need to increase the flock. We must always be conscious of the impact our decisions on the farm. If we over graze, we’ll have very poor animals within a few years or have to support them with grains. Rotational grazing has worked very well for us and our pastures are much better than when we started 7 years ago.

As mentioned, the first shipment of root plant stock came in this week. This morning Daddy and I officially kicked off the 2007 plant season potting Hydrangeas, Trumpet Vines and Bittersweet. The small greenhouse roof is slated for replacement this week and we’re ready to go. Next week we have about 600 ferns on the way so the roof is critical. We’ll total around 6000 plants this season.

We hope to increase our plant sales at the Farmers Market during our second season. We’ll add pelts and a bit of yarn to our offering this year. If room permits, we’ll take fresh eggs as well. I think the grapevine wreaths Kim and I made will be well received and of course, we’ll have to take more gourds. The Market start the 1^st week of April, so we’ll be there before you know it!

Somebody asked recently what my favorite season was…it’s impossible to say as each one brings something wonderful and yet the promise of another to follow. Happy Spring!!

Spring 2007 Summer 2006 Spring 2006 Fall 2005 Summer 2004