I have to admit I love sneaky cats, and Autumn equally. I just feel like I missed the summer of 2015. I was thrown from my horse the first week of May, and have spent much of the summer recuperating. I know I am lucky to be feeling as good as I am now, as the xray did not look promising. However I am unable to lift more than 20 pounds, which is not nearly enough for a farmer! I also never got a chance to train lambs to halter and show at Black Sheep Gathering or Flock and Fiber Festival. But the good news is, I had help, the lambs grew up, we have hay, wood, wool and fresh lamb. And the end to a very hot and dry summer is in sight. You can see it creeping down the mountains onto the dry pastures.
 | The woodpiles look promising in the weak sunlight. They promise many warm winter nights in our 100 year old farm house. We are blessed with an abundance of dead wood, but that dead wood has presented a big challenge to firefighters this hot dry summer. Many days found the normally sunny Lostine Valley cloaked in thick smoke. I think this fall everyone is happy to see the rains arrive, not just the farmers! |
Our 19 year old Barn Cat Casey snuggles up next to the Hay Stack. The stack needs to grow a little larger to get all of Ruby Peak's critters through the winter ahead. But Casey and the other wilder barn cats will use the stack to snuggle in, and to find lots of fresh mouse meals. All the animals are growing their winter coats. Even the little lambs are now fluffy woollies. Here is Ruby Peak Petunia's babies, Pepper and Peony. They are barely recognizable unless you look at their spots!
 |  Pepper  Peony |
 This year many of the fleeces are being made into wool at Skyline Fiber Mills in Salem. I have already gotten my first batch of Yarn from Eileen and couldn't be happier. The yarn reflects the quality of the fleeces, and of course the quality of the processing by Skyline Fiber. It also expresses what I love about Jacob Yarn...the many colors available, no dye needed | Here is Ruby Peak Strawberry's fleece laid out for skirting. It is really an exercise of love to go through each of these fleeces, as I know the sheep who produced them. I have kept a record of which sheep produce each fleece, so I will know which breeding ewes I want to keep in my flock. Sometimes I pick a ewe to stay that ends up not having a fleece I like, and it is hard to let her go. But as the years go by I am finding more and more perfect fleeces in my flock. I couldn't be happier than with this one! Here is Strawberry with her lamb, and without her fleece!  |
So as I continue to heal my back I look forward to seeing friends and fiber producers at Flock an Fiber in a few weeks, as well as to picking breeding groups for next years lambing, selling off the extra lambs ( always the hardest part) and a winter by the window on my wheel. I hope you all have dreams of warm, white and wonderful winters to come.
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