Single Black Ewe searching for Gorgeous Teddy Bear of a Ram

Horny guys need not apply...

Our little black Icelandic polled (no horns) ewe Orange needs a boyfriend. She's all alone in the world (other than her two beautiful sons, of course). She's trying to find someone who has really long, beautiful, multicolored fleece, a quiet, considerate temperament, and who wants to have lots of kids (ummm, I mean lambs).

Local boys would work out best...She has a crush on Freyr of Ingleside Icelandics, but we don't know if they are compatible yet.

In order to help Orange realize her dreams of having a big family of wooly lambs, I am offering my services as a yarn dyer. I will dye any quantity of yarn for you in whatever colors you desire, on your choice of fiber, your choice of weight of yarn (or roving). I will be headed off to purchase mass quantities of undyed fiber in a few days, so if you are interested, put your request in now. By the end of the week, I should be rolling in yarn, ready to dye for your projects. My goal is to be able to mail your freshly dyed yarn to you in about a week from the day you order it. I am anticipating selling the yarn for between $12 and $20 a 100 g. skein, depending on the fiber content (of course, I'll quote you a price before I dye the yarn). I'll also post photos of yarn I have already dyed so that you can pick from those skeins if you'd rather.

The possibilities are truly endless! You could get yarn based on the colors of your favorite pet, your wedding colors, or your sweetie's eyes! The yarn can be subtly kettle dyed, crazy and wild, or self patterning. I want someone to ask me to do colorways based on their Amazon Parrot's tail feathers.

So, if you want to help Orange realize her dream of finding the perfect man, (and produce some curly and fluffy Icelandic lambs in the spring), email me and let me know what you are looking for! This is your opportunity to get some truly one of a kind yarn, in a colorway designed just for you.

The Unbearable Cuteness of Being

Although I adore all the animals on my farm, the least appealing HAVE to be the guinea fowl. In deciding what animals I wanted to get for the farm, guineas were on my list because they are great at eating lots of insects. Since Virginia = lots of bugs, any defense would be helpful. (I’m debating getting some rescue turkeys for the same reason - they are supposedly good for Japanese Beetle control.) Realistically, we don't see a reduction in ticks or other insects because of the guineas and chickens. It is rather like taking a teacupful of water out of the ocean. You've removed some water, but there's still an awful lot there.

I purchased 6 guineas from Sand Hill Preservation Center. One of the keets (guinea chicks) had an injured or deformed foot, and he died at about 4 days old. The other five grew up and ruled the farmyard. In the spring, the birds decided that foraging along the road was a great pastime. Unfortunately, two guineas got hit by cars this year. We live on a very rural road, but people like to pretend they are in Nascar, and they will run over anything in their way.The only way we can solve the "guineas on the road" problem is to completely contain them. A fence wouldn’t work. Guineas fly quite well for ground birds, and they would fly right over a fence. We could clip their wings, but then they’d be vulnerable to predators. We could build them a big aviary, but they would be unhappy. Enclosed guineas wouldn’t be able to eat nearly as many bugs.

About 3 weeks ago, we noticed that our guinea total was now down to two. Needless to say, we were saddened by this. However, we hadn’t found a body. We figured that it had been eaten by a predator, and we hadn’t found the remains. Two days ago, I went outside and noticed that we once again had two pearl guineas and one albino guinea. I was amazed. Apparently, one had just taken an extended vacation. I watched them for a bit, and pretty soon the bolt of cuteness hit me. They had a tiny guinea keet scrambling to keep up with them.

Guinea fowl are really homely birds. They have bald, speckled heads with strange wattles. Guinea fowl keets are a vortex of amazing cuteness. It is like they use up all their cute moments in the first three weeks of life. They are teeny tiny. They are about the size of a large marshmallow. They have striped heads and bodies. They cheep almost constantly to keep in contact with mom.

This little guy was doing his darndest to keep up with the adults. He would tumble down hills and get knocked over, and he’d still run right along. The adults were trying to look out for him. They would fight off any living thing that was close by. One was staring into the creek bed and shrieking. I went to see if there might be another keet. Instead, I found myself face to face with a black snake. They were trying very hard to do a good job. However, guinea fowl are not very smart at all. They are not very good at parenting, although their hearts are in the right place. Just leading this guy near the creek was endangering his life. Small keets are so delicate that walking through wet grass can kill them. They get wet, and they cannot maintain their body temperature. They will die of hypothermia. It has been in the fifties here at night recently, and I knew this keet’s hours were numbered. If the wet grass and cold weather didn’t get him, the snakes, dogs, other birds or cats would get him. It is quite likely that this guinea hen mom had many babies and this lone keet was the only survivor of the trek from their nesting area to the barnyard. The next day, I found a guinea keet corpse on a rock in the stream, so there were more chicks at one time.

Still, I did not want to take this little guy away from his mom. I even caught him up,
birdnapping him for his own good. I kept changing my mind. He was very frightened by being caught. The adults were very upset, so I let him go. Finally, I talked to my husband, who said “Do you want him to live? Then catch him!” That was the reality of the situation, so I caught him and put him in a makeshift brooder. The problem is that he is all by himself, and he is very lonely.

Today, I will be getting some day old chicks from a local farmer to put in the same brooder with him, which should solve the isolation issue. It has been breaking my heart to hear him calling and calling his mom. I keep telling myself that he’s getting a few weeks of loneliness, but he’s gaining a full life of hanging out with his parents. Once he gets his real feathers rather than his down, he should have no problem hanging out with the adults. Wish this little guy luck!!

If you are considering getting a guinea as a pet, check out Jeanette Ferguson’s Gardening with Guineas book and website. Think hard before you make the leap, however. Guineas are LOUD, and your neighbors may not appreciate it. Often people have to get rid of their guineas when they get constant complaints from the neighbors. Also, guineas tend to roam. We have 18 chickens. The guineas roam about ten times the diameter that the chickens do. Your guineas are likely to explore all of your neighbors’ yards. Guineas are amazingly unafraid of cars, which leads to their death. We cannot even purposely herd our guineas with the car. They just don’t move.

The guineas pick on the chickens terribly. We have had them gang up on chickens that were not feeling well. The guineas chase the chickens relentlessly until the chicken finds somewhere completely isolated to hide. The guineas latch onto the chickens’ tails and hang on. This ruins the chickens’ tails, and the chickens hate the constant harassment. There have been incidents where the guineas would have killed the chicken if I had not intervened. The only good part of this behavior is that the guineas tend to act as referees if the chickens start to fight amongst themselves. The chickens start to fight, the guineas step in and beat both of the arguing chickens up.

We insist that our guineas roost in the chicken house at night. If we didn’t, they certainly would have been coyote food by now. We enclosed all of the young birds in the chicken house for a month when they were just out of the brooder, so the instinct to return there is very strong. Guinea hens will lay small but edible eggs. They will sometimes lay eggs in the chickens’ nest boxes, but we also find guinea eggs all over the place. Our beagle, Tzaddi, will run to us with guinea eggs held delicately in her mouth. We eat the eggs that have been laid in the nest boxes, but we don’t dare try to break open the eggs found outside.

Our birds are from Sand Hill Preservation Center. We got them there because we were also ordering a rare breed of chicken, and it was convenient to get all the chicks at the same age. While the birds from Sand Hill did fine, I would highly recommend getting your birds from a local source. You can eliminate the whole chick shipping process. Hatcheries swear up and down that there is no problem shipping day old chicks, but it is not uncommon for chicks to get delayed in transit and die. If you are patient, you can get guineas from people who have to get rid of them for one reason or another. Keep your eye on Craigslist. Eventually, you'll find just such a situation. Just remember, no matter which age bird you get, you've got to keep them enclosed for at least a month so they can learn where their home is. Otherwise, you'll have guineas trying to make their way back to their old territory.

We weren’t planning on breeding our guinea fowl. We weren’t intending to get any more guineas, because of the hit by car problem. Since the guineas are from the same hatchery, they are probably related to each other. This little chick is an unplanned bonus. Hopefully, he’ll survive and thrive, and stay out of the road.

Addendum: I just got home with a box full of 10 day old silky chicks. I put them in with the little baby guinea. For the first five seconds he was scared, and then he happily joined them in the pile of chick fluff, happy and relaxed at last.

PS: I'm sorry about the grainy quality of these photos - I only have a digital camera on the weekends, otherwise I have to use a Flip video recorder and cut and paste from there.

Woolie Wonders

Animals have always been my favorite things. Some would say that my life has revolved around my pets against all reason. That’s just the way I like it. When I was a kid, I’d pick out my clothes based on what animal was on them. My grandmother, smartly started sewing animal patches on everything I owned. When we decided to move to the farm, the primary reason was to give the animals we already cared for a better life and to enable us to get more critters.

When we bought the farm, I started to daydream about what animals I would like to have. I’ve always been a fiber junkie, so I knew I had to have sheep. Now, I didn’t spin or knit at the time, but I liked the idea of having all the wool I could craft. There would be time to figure out what to do with it later. In looking around at sheep books and the internet, I found ISBONA which is the Icelandic Sheep Breeders of North America. One look at the gorgeous creatures on their website sold me on the breed. When I found out their other characteristics, I knew I had made the right choice.

Icelandic sheep are a hardy, primitive breed of sheep found naturally in - Iceland!! They are best known for their contribution to the world of knitting in the form of lopi yarn. This yarn is a barely spun single ply bulky weight yarn. In Iceland, these sheep are allowed to run wild for part of the year, so they have developed into a smart and tough breed. They are only brought in to be sheared and lamb. They live with a minimum of human intervention which allowed only the strongest to survive. They have had this sort of life since ancient times, when they were imported onto the island. A herd of Icelandic Sheep were imported into Canada in the eighties, and they have become increasingly popular in North America as a milk/meat/fleece sheep since then.

Icelandic sheep come in many different colors, like moorit (brown), grey, black, white, and spotted. They can be bred with or without horns. Both rams and ewes can have horns. Their fleeces are very long and they need to be sheared twice a year. They are smart and unafraid of other animals. They do not “herd” in the same way as other sheep. If confronted with a Border Collie, they would most likely stamp their feet at the dog instead of being intimidated. Since Iceland has no natural predators, these sheep have not learned to be afraid of our wolves in dogs clothing. They also do not bunch up the way other sheep do. Instead, they spread out across the pasture. Some sheep are explorers. Our ram, Sebastian, and one of our ewes, Shakti, enjoy escaping and looking for greener pastures. They will crawl under fences, and through holes that the farmer didn’t even know was there. They are utterly nonplussed at being alone. This independent streak can make it difficult to move and protect the herd. Guardian dogs rely on the flocking instinct of sheep to move them away from danger. The guardian dogs also prefer the sheep to stay in the same general area so they can keep track of the entire group. This is often impossible with the Icelandics. They like to stick together as family groups, but rarely do they feel the need to stay in a larger herd.

We have not needed to get any sort of driving dog (one that barks to move the sheep) for our farm. The sheep are very food motivated, and they come running as soon as they hear the food bucket clank. We can also call “Sheepie sheepie sheepie” and generally they will come flying down the hill, baa-ing all the way. My husband calls this the "Stampede of Cuteness". We feed the sheep hay, corn, minerals, sunflower seeds and processed sheep pellets. Some people only feed Icelandics hay, but we have had problems with our animals becoming too skinny when they are nursing on a hay only diet. Maybe in the future, when our pastures are better, we can achieve that goal. The sheep graze in a large pasture every day. We move them to different fenced off areas every 2 weeks to keep the pasture fresh and the worm load down.

These sheep can be very affectionate, and each of them has a very distinct personality. Ours vary from Leuci who is the shy sweet pretty girl to Ananda who is the big cuddly lump to Bambi who WANTS FOOD NOW and can’t be bothered by formalities like the other sheep or her own babies. Our ram, Sebastian, is a big peaceful guy who loves to be scratched in between his horns. He’s sweet until you show him a grain tub, and then he’ll use his sheer mass to throw everyone else out of the way.

The biggest problem the sheep have had have been predation by neighborhood dogs and barberpole worm. The dog attack was fatal to four animals, and someday, maybe I’ll write about it. The barberpole worm is a parasite that attaches to the inside of their intestinal tract and sucks their blood. They can become so anemic that they die. Any sheep that is old enough to eat grass will pick up this parasite. It is a huge scourge on anyone who has sheep, but it is especially bad in the South. We have been fighting it all summer long, and many of the ISBONA sheep farmers have had a horrible experience with it this year. Hopefully, next year, we’ll have more experience and be able to confront the problem even more head on.

Our sheep were purchased from Heartsease Farm, Ingleside Icelandics, and Green Fence Farm. These animals are fascinating and charming, and I would recommend the breed highly to anyone who would like to raise sheep.

A Farm for All Reasons

Two years ago, my husband, Mark, and I decided that we wanted a change from our urban surroundings. We were living in Denver, Colorado. I was employed as the Director of Education of The Gabriel Foundation (a parrot welfare organization) and attending the University of Colorado. We were relatively happy with our lifestyle in Denver, but I was a nature girl at heart. I started to half heartedly peruse the "For Sale" ads on websites such as Land and Farm. Much to my surprise, there were quite a few affordable options available to us if we wished to move to a more rural setting.

Both my husband and I had tossed around the idea of living in an intentional community/eco-village in the past. All of the co-housing projects we had looked at were either extremely pricey or in a location that he could not move to and keep the same job. We were concerned about the looming Peak Oil crisis, and we wanted to start to work on a degree of self-sufficiency. Even though it would be years before we had to be self reliant, we knew it would take time before we could even hope to achieve this goal. I also wanted to live somewhere that I could not help but feel intimately connected to nature. Denver is a nice city with lots of parks and open space, but nothing beats being able to watch twenty plus species of birds from your living room window.

Mark and I made a magical list of all our desires for our perfect piece of property. I wanted to be able to keep chickens, sheep and other farm animals. Mark wanted to be located in the mountains. We both loved the idea of a house near water. We wanted an older home that didn't require an immense amount of "fixer-upper" work. Ideally, the house would have a unique character that was suited to our personalities. We wanted a wood heated home with the potential for more alternative energy projects. We knew the climate would be one of the critical factors in our ability to support ourselves, so we asked for a place with a temperate climate and a long growing season. Mature fruit trees would be a nice bonus. I would LOVE to have a studio. Of course, this all had to be within our price range.

In only a few weeks after starting to look at property, we found a farm advertised online in Ferrum, Virginia. It had a house built in 1905 which was thoughtfully restored in the nineties. There were plum, pear and walnut trees. There was a little creek that ran down the mountain valley right next to the house. There were barns, both ancient and modern. There was a lovely little guest house which would be ideal to either rent out or use as a studio. The property was fenced for horses in a way that was perfect for sheep! Ferrum is a microscopically small community, but it is close enough to Rocky Mount, Virginia for any necessities. There is even a very nice small college in town.

In August, 2 years ago, I flew out to Baltimore to do a driving tour of Virginia. The last stop was Ferrum. I looked at real estate along the way, but my heart was set on this farm. I was trying to be realistic and honestly compare prices and options, but the Ferrum Farm always showed itself to be the most suitable and desirable place. Little omens kept popping up indicating it was the right place for us. It was located on Stanley Branch Road, and the original builders of the farm were the Stanley family. Both my grandfather and my parrot's name was Stanley.

I play the harp. When I mentioned that to the house's former owner, she almost flipped. Apparently, when the original Stanley family lived there, they had a music room that included a large harp. The seller strongly felt that the ancestors of the house would dearly love to have another harp staying there. We bought the house, and we made our moving plans.

The preparation and trip to move 11 pets (5 parrots, 1 dove, 3 cats, 2 dogs), two people, and our junk from Colorado to Virginia was brutal and endless. We pulled up to the farm at 2 am the day before Christmas. The first thing we noticed was the overwhelming sound of rushing water and complete silence. No cars, no people, no animals, just the creek next to our front porch. Seeing anything but the stars was impossible. There were no lights anywhere. It was heavenly.

It seemed crazy to give up our lives in Denver for a completely unknown future in small town Virginia. However, I felt completely drawn to this farm and this gorgeous, sacred land. We had to make the leap. Luckily, Mark and I love it here. We are currently raising Icelandic sheep, chickens, a peacock, our parrots, guinea hens, cats, and dogs. There is never a dull moment with all of the critters around. We have a large garden and are going to continually expand it. Mark has begun to retrofit this home with solar technology. I am starting a business making hand dyed fibers, art and crafts. We have met lots of new Virginia friends. Things are looking up for this little farm.