Coming Down to the Wire

After two months of cleaning out, I'm still cleaning out. How can one farm hold so much? From farm equipment to antiques, I've sold lots of stuff, vowing to never again build collections. It's clean living in the new house! The Shetland flock has been sold as a unit to a wonderful farm family an hour away. I'll have visitation rights and fleeces in the future. It makes a shepherd happy to know that ovine friends will remain together to adjust to new fields. I have one BFL ram lamb, a BFL/Teasewater wether and two BFL/shetland ewe lambs still looking for new homes. All have wonderful fleeces and are super healthy. email me at potosisheep@yahoo.com if you NEED one (or two) of these lambs for your collection. On October 14th Potosi Sheep Farm will no longer exist but it's been a wonderful 25+ years of shepherding.

Funny How Things Happen

Potosi Sheep Farm has been sold. I had taken it off the market hoping I could hang in there with the small Shetland flock but constant problems with equipment AND an offer I couldn't refuse changed my mind. The last two weeks have been crazy but I have found a new home ( handicapped accessible for Bill) in town and sold many pieces of farm equipment that I had no idea we owned. I didn't realize there was a tractor blue book but it's there giving me prices and confidence that I can sell farm equipment. Fifteen registered Shetland ewes remain here for sale. Some are HST and all are easy lambers and good mothers with wonderful fleeces. Please contact me if you are interested. Prices are very good to good homes. Not having my flock will make a big hole in my heart but I have saved enough yarn roving and fleeces to keep me spinning and knitting my own wool for many years to come. Shepherding for the last 25 years has given me joy, friends,travel and a reason to get out in the cold every morning. I've loved every moment and every sheep and lamb that has lived here.

Through the Keyhole

For 10 years the Bluefaced Leicester flock lived in pastures connected to the barn. Life was easy. Now that the Shetlands inhabit those pastures I have had daily escapes into the cornfield which does not belong to me. They discovered a place deep in the woods where there is no fence. Tim and I piled fence posts there thinking the Shetlands would see a pseudo-fence and turn around. Nope. Where there's a will there's a path. Since this place is unreachable with the tractor, I decided to use lightwieght snow fence as fencing. Through the swamp, under the thick vines, over the stream I carried the snow fencing, hammer and staples. Crawling through a hole in the foliage marked by wool,I felt like Alice as I entered a world full of Bluebirds,Cardinals, Honeysuckle and POISON IVY. Delightful sights, smells and sounds but the thought of poison ivy made me work fast. Snow fence stapled to trees blocking egress to the field.... done. Now for my date with my bar of poison ivy soap. No time to dawdle by the bubbling stream. Question..... will all my scratches and ticks be worth it. Only the Shetlands will tell.

Glad Some Things Didn't Work Out

When I sold my BFL flock last fall, I also had a buyer for my Shetlands.Thankfully that sale never happened and I had the joy of Shetland lambs this spring. Best thing that ever happened because now I realize that I cannot sell this farm. I'd miss the smell of sheep, wearing the dirty outfits full of holes that are my favorite attire and just being in the barn, the garden or mowing the pastures all day. My Bobcat and I are bonded. How could I sell it? There will come a day when I'll have to sell but for right now even though it's a lot of work at times it's home. Can't imagine me without a flock.

Shetland ewe lambs

BFL Sweater

When I got this yarn back from Dreamweaver Creations Fiber Mill my friend Christine decided that I needed to have a sweater made from it. She said the silky tweed yarn spun from my last BFL fleeces was so fabulous to knit that the sweater was finished in record time. I can't wait to wear it. Thank you, Christine. Wearing it will always remind me of my BFL flock and you. Raising sheep has given me the best friends and memories.

The Triplets at 2 Months

Kathleen's triplets are almost 2 months old. The ewe and white ram are growing like weeds but Kiernan is still smaller.