So Long, Farewell, Auf Wiedersehen, Adieu!

Yesterday I think I was able to help create another enthusiast to join the Jacob Sheep ranks, (although she did admire Bella, the Shetland, too) :)

Debbie Payton is the proud new owner of Showphar Lana, Green Water Ingrid, Green Water Agnes, and Shadow Mountain "?" (out of 4 Horn Farm Dream and Green Water Ingrid). She has some acreage and was looking into different sheep to occupy it. She was also going to look at Katahdins and go to the Enumclaw auction but she came by my place first. :) I actually got choked up looking at my girls, and thinking of them leaving, but I know they are going to a home where they will be loved and well cared for.

This brings my Jacob headcount down to 6 ewes (including Mud Ranch's Constance who will be arriving from CA in Aug), 1 ram lamb and a wether. And temporarily I have one Shetland, soon to be 6 ewes and a ram.

Here I feel I should thank everyone that has help me acquire some lovely Jacobs, and started me well on my way to my sheep addiction. :)

Mary Tonkin, who first got me "hooked". I got Showphar Lana, Green Water Ingrid, 4 Horn Farms Dream, and the wether Carl from her in the beginning and recently Painted Rock Janelle and Shadow Mountain Sasha (one of her 2008 ewe lambs). She answered all my questions, spent time showing me her sheep and encouraged me to contact Shannon Phifer of Kenleigh Acres when I was looking for other lambs within driving distance.

Shannon has also been a great source of information for me, and I purchased two ewe lambs from her 2008 lamb crop, Kenleigh's Symphony and Kenleigh's Pacifica, both two horn black and whites. When she found out I was looking for a lilac ewe lamb she put me in touch with Joan Gross who had just what I was looking for....and I sent a deposit for Mud Ranch's Constance, a 4 horn lilac.

From there I started lusting for more lilacs and decided to look for a lilac ram. I offered 4 Horn Farms Dream to Mark and Cathie Williams of Swallow Lane Farm, and off to his new home he went. Mary Tonkin sent me a link for Oregon Wool dot com and said there was a nice lilac ram lamb on there. A few e-mails later and I had an agreement with Sandy Van Liew of Windy Acres to purchase her ram lamb, Windy Acres Lawrence, A 4 horn lilac.

From here it goes to my beginning blog entry for the Black Sheep Gathering where I picked up Lawrence, Pacifica and Symphony, and fell in love with Meridian Gypsy and met her owner, Robin Lynde from CA. not to mention my "start" in Shetland sheep, Bella. That's it for now....

The Birth of a Blog

Well, here goes.....

Under the encouragement of one Michelle McMillen, of Boulderneigh, a very effective representative for the Shetland breed of sheep, I am venturing off on my first attempt at blogging.

It all started really, with a trip to the Black Sheep Gathering in Eugene, OR. I originally went there with only the intention of picking up three Jacob sheep, two ewe lambs and a ram lamb, to my Jacob flock. OK....and maybe 3 Snowy Call Ducks as well.

The Black Sheep Gathering, if you have never been, and have any attraction to sheep, cashmere goats, lovely rugs, sweaters, felted vests, spinning, yarns of every color imaginable, is something you should see. It is a yearly event and worth the drive for me even without picking up livestock!

I keep saying I don't need another hobby but the longer I have wool breeds the more I feel drawn to learning how to spin, knit and weave.....I'm sure it's only a matter of time.

Anyway, back to picking up my three sheep....while waiting for one of the breeders to return from a off-site sheep buying venture I meandered amongst the stalls of various kinds of sheep. I was standing by some Jacobs when this lady (soon to be identified as Michelle) :) came thru the aisles with a lovely little ewe on a lead. I admired the ewe and was told she was for sale. Oh, OK, says I, thinking I have Jacobs I don't NEED a Shetland, and we continued our separate ways.

Later, standing by some Shetlands where I was ogling a gorgeous little ewe lamb, some lady (Michelle) says that the lamb was a Gulmoget. I breathed a sigh of relief to see she wasn't for sale and moved on down to a conversation that the farm owner of that lamb was involved in. I mentioned that I had always admired the Shetlands, but I had Jacobs. A fellow there said, "Oh, Jacobs and Shetlands can get along great together", and there is where the slippery slope began.

I think, and at this point everything gets a little blurry (or is it foggy?) I mentioned I had even seen someone walking around with a sweet little ewe on a lead. Michelle, who was also standing with the group said "That was me!" Does everyone see a pattern here? Next thing I know I'm going over to see Michelles sheep and she made me an offer I couldn't refuse on sweet little Bella.
Little did I know it was just a teaser into getting me to take the Shetland breed, hook, line and sinker.

I still, it appears, wasn't done sheep shopping because when Shannon, from Kenleigh acres that I had bought the two Jacob ewe lambs from returned she asked me if I had seen the Meridian lambs. No, says I, hesitantly as I follow her over to the pen as if I have no control. We admired three beautiful little ewes and next thing I know I'm the proud owner of Meridian Gypsy.

Now, almost in a panic, I gather up my purchased sheep, and my three little Call ducks (also from Shannon), load them in the truck and trailer, and careen out of the parking lot (well, maybe just drive slowly in one direction, but I didn't stop or go back!).

My animal gathering wasn't complete until I made a quick stop in Dallas, OR on my way north. I had met this very knowledgeable turkey lady on a turkey list I was a member of (no, I didn't have turkeys at the time, but had been considering them). Camille took me around back of her house to her many pens of turkeys all of colors, types and ages. She was giving away young toms as she had too many and I chose two young boys of Wild/Narragansett descent. With a promise to come back to buy some turkey hens we loaded them into some empty dog kennels in the back of my truck and down the road we went.

Did I mention I also had 2 of my 4 dogs with me in the cab of my truck? My 10 year old Border Collie, Finn, and Kylie, my 1 year old Belgian Tervuren. For some reason I couldn't stop humming the Beverly Hillbillies song as we continued home, with the sheep baaing, the ducks quacking and the turkeys gobbling in harmony.

My next blog post will be on my continuing downward spiral of Shetland addiction.......