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Well hello cyber-sisters! This is my first blog ever...first of my own and first I've ever written on. Let me introduce myself. I am a homeschooling mother of nine year old triplets. We are on summer break from school, but there is so much to do on our small farm. We have Icelandic sheep...14 total, chickens: Brahmas, Buff Orpingtons, Marans, an Americauna, and one lone Rouen drake. Then there are the rabbits: four English Angoras and two Dutch; a miniature donkey, an Australian Shepherd, and a chinchilla. I wonder if it is as much a farm as a zoo sometimes. The children are each responsible for a set of animals. Aleena cares for the chickens, Madeline the rabbits and Jared the sheep. They are also in 4H and plan to show a ewe lamb at our county fair next month. Some has suggested that I offer information about the sheep and spinning. I have been spinning for about 8 years and enjoy it although I am certainly not an expert. We have only had the sheep for 1 1/2 years, but I grew up with dairy goats. We have a small garden which was truely pitiful this year---too many rabbits. The peas, beans, edamame, which all did very well last year, were eaten to the ground three times, even after replanting. I finally gave up. The zucchini, tomatoes, and popcorn, as well as the basil did well. We have had a hard time with predators this year, losing all total: 4 guineas, a duckling, 3 runner ducks, a Rouen duck, and a chicken. Some of them are free range, some not. We also had something attack one of our ewes with new lambs. It took a chuck out of her ear. We know there are foxes, owls, and skunks, raccoons, and bobcats have been seen. I have just purchased an electronic device that scares them away with a cougar scream (every six minutes all night long) I am hopeful that it will help... will keep you informed. We picked blueberries, blackberries, tomatoes, elderberries, okra and sweet corn today. My parents are gone for a few days, so they asked me to pick from their garden. I also roasted chili peppers from our garden and dried Italian tomatoes. If you haven't roasted chilies before, here is the absolute best way: Put them on foil on a cookie sheet under a broiler, about 3 minutes, until they are blackened. Then turn them over and repeat. After they come out of the oven, put them in a ziplock bag and let them steam a few minutes. When cool, the skin will slip right off. Then you can seed them and chop them. I freeze them and use like canned ones. As far as spinning, I try to spin a little in the evening at least every other day. I spin mostly roving from our sheep, sometimes wool that I have washed and machine carded, sometimes angora. I haven't started blending the fibers, but I plan to try that soon. I would also like to do some dyeing. I took a simple class of natural dyeing and would like to try it soon. I have spun white singles, about one ounce each to try some color. I'm also planning to use these for my Kumihimo braids. The wool is spun from the "tog" part of the Icelandic fleece. It is the long fiber which is smooth and strong (the Icelandic sheep is dual coated) The Kumihimo is a Japanese braiding craft that I have recently discovered. I built my own "maru dai" from a cardboard box. It work very well. If others have interest in this, I will describe it in greater detail. I have made two different 8 strand braids so far (two colors each) I guess that's all for now...looking forward to "meeting" you! Amanda
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