Wednesday, January 4, 2012

Blessings and Gratitude For The New Year

Happy New Year! For the first time in years the better half was home off the road for New Years. We spent a quiet New Years eve at the farm with our son. We stayed up til the ball dropped though called it a day soon afterward. New Years day was spent with my parents and enjoying the blessings of our family and farm.   




Have to say we consider everyday of the year to be a blessing on the farm and we are grateful to be able to do what we love and love what we do.

I want to express my grateful thanks to all who have purchased our products over the years and continue to bless us with support for our farm and flock. For those who don't already know, I'm refocusing the fiber side of the farm, it is slowly becoming Bless Ewe Fiber and Yarn.  The better half seems to think since that the majority of the hours in my day are spent with the sheep and their wool I should figure out how to make money doing it.   

However juggling real life on the farm with creative needs and the time to get things up and running has been a bit of a struggle. There never is enough hours in the day to do all that is needed done around the farm let alone learn new skills. 

Since I have not yet learned to spin I went in search of another set of hands to help. Through an online group of fiber artists and yarn spinners, I found a creative and talented fiber artist who agreed to use her charmed hands to spin our wool into fine yarn. Though I have never met her in person, she has became a part of our family. We call her our spinning goddess. She has not only educated me, inspired me, encouraged me, she has enriched my life with her friendship and support. She is the giver of the greatest gift for the sheep and I. She has brought our fiber full circle to yarn.  

She understands my desire to keep our fiber and products as natural as possible. She works fiber by hand, uses natural dyes, spins on a variety of wheels creating a variety of yarns and realizes that our wool is a unique multipurpose material. She also is an animal lover, knows the breeds of our sheep and remembers their names. She was raised on a farm in her younger years so she knows the work involved to produce wool. If you are looking for hand spun yarn, someone to spin your fiber into yarn, beautiful knitted items or spindles for your spinning please contact Adele. 

She has an Etsy store http://www.looliemom.etsy.com  

You can find her on Facebook

Tell her Jama sent you :-)

This past year my dear friend and sheep mentor unexpectedly passed away at an early age of 58.  Twelve years ago, when I first moved to the farm, he brought me 2 ewe lambs and told me they were mine to keep though I had to learn to raise them on my own. He offered no help and told me I would learn valuable farm and life lessons in doing this myself without his help. So I raised them, I mean I really raised them. I researched and read all I could on necessary nutritional, breeding, genetics and husbandry issues. I spent hours each day and night with them, fed them, cleaned their stalls, sheared them, worried about, cared for and called the vet when things didn't seem right. I gained confidence in my shepherding skills and became passionate about sheep. I am so blessed to have known him and for the gift of sheep in my life. Rest in peace Rick, we miss you.

Gratitude is the memory of the heart. ~Jean Baptiste Massieu



No comments:

Post a Comment