Fun with Kigers
On Saturday my friend and I took out our Kigers to the arena. My excuse was just to see how well Cali would do after not being ridden for a while — Meleah’s excuse was to see how her new gelding we brought home from Washington would do.
Smoke did very well. In the trailer he was pretty nervous but we let him ride loose and opened the back section of windows so he could look out. Every now and then I’d see his gray muzzle sniff the wind and then poke back inside. I do know that he was very glad to have landed at our house. He went right to grazing the grass and taking a long drink.
Maleah offered to take Annie for a ride, and notice no saddle? Yep, he’s that calm. This is exactly what Maleah wanted for her girls — she’s got 4 from 8 down to a year and a half. Annie actually cried when I took her off his back and put “Toots” up there. She didn’t want to share Smoke — and he isn’t even hers.
I took Cali out and Cali comes from DianneC up in Washington, same place we picked up Smoke, a mare that now lives in Nevada named Belle, and my new saddle! Looks like we’re attracted to all that Dianne has for sale!
I rode Cali around the arena first for a while in my saddle — which fit her perfectly! She did really well, was a bit stiff at first but then settled in pretty good. I had untacked her in the shade trees when Hubby showed up and I offered for him to take a spin. Bareback, halter and lead and they look like professionals. Cali is about 15 hands, Hubby is 6′.
They all cruised around the ring at a nice little pace — well, Cali lapped Smoke I think. Maleah said she’s going to rename him “Mo,” as in “Mo-lasses.” But that’s perfect for a kid’s horse!
He took Meleah’s two oldest girls ages 8 and 5 around the ring by themselves (pictured above is her 3 year old.) They were able to control him very well, stop, turn and he didn’t pick up an ounce of speed. He knew he was supposed to be careful.
I think I could talk Maleah in to joining us for our Play Days once a month and yes, Cali, I’ll take you too (why does Sunnie get to have all the fun?)
In the Wool — Washing
Since coming home from BSG this month, I’ve been really wanting to get into the wool side of things with my sheep. How neat would it be to grow the sheep yourself, use the meat, the wool and the horns? I just love the thought, though a lot of you already do that.
Yesterday I set out to start from the beginning — wool washing. I went to the barn and picked out a fleece. The bag said “Wether” on it so I knew it was from this guy–
I acquired him from a lady whose flock I bought back in November of ’08. He came with 8 ewes and two rams (and came without a name.) He was the only wether and the lady said she wethered him and kept him because he had the nicest fleece. I believe that’s all relative, depending on whose opinion it is and what they’re using the fleece for! So I decided to give his fleece a whirl.
I’d call it dingy. And this white is supposed to come out white?
I brought out my tubs I bought at Costco on Wednesday and filled it with scalding hot water from my tap (we have an on-demand water heater.) I then proceeded to put in some Wool Wash.
I got the Wool Wash from the Eco Store USA a while back and they were hoping for some giveaways of which we’ve had a few (I hope everyone who won is enjoying their products!) I do have a bottle of this Wool Wash left and will be hosting a giveaway for it soon… The Wool Wash’s directions were for 1-2 tsp. and they are proud that this is super concentrated. It also does not contain any nasty chemicals — no toxic petrochemicals, no phosphates, no optical whiteners, no bleach, no nitrates, no enzymes, no chlorine, no EDTA, no alkalis or fillers, no synthetic dyes or perfumes… That’s what it reads off their bottle. Some of the ingredients are organic eucalyptus oil (smells wonderful!) anionic and non-ionic surfactants (from glucose and coconut oil), plant based alcohol and solvents, citric acid, water.
In the tub fleece! I started poking it down in to the water with a spatula.
It was amazing how quickly the water turned brown. I was still interested to see the white fleece actually turn white!
We then put the lid on the tub and let it soak for an hour in the hot sun on the hot concrete. I would go out every now and then to see if the water was hot still — it was. I have the perfect scalding scenario right here out my french doors. I also have helpers, Annie and her “Baa.” Her Baa doesn’t take hot baths, he gets tossed in the washing machine every now and then — It keeps his whites white.
After the hour was up, I slowly drained out the hot dirty water (on to the lawn!) and pushed the fleece to one side. I then re-filled the tub with hot water from the tap (not put directly on top of the fleece) and added a couple more teaspoons of the Wool Wash. It soaked for yet another hour. I drained it again, put in hot clear water (no soap) let it soak for 30 minutes and drained. Voila! –
My whites are white and my brights are bright. I’ve now got a second batch going while the first (half of the fleece) is sitting out in the sun on my clean truck bench seat cover.
I’m feeling the itch to get my dyes out once this is dry… 
Playing In The Weeds
Mud Ranch’s Keefer
We used to have all these “beautiful” weeds all throughout our pasture, next to the house. Thankfully, and at my request, my Dad brought over the tractor and mowed them all down.
Chicory Lane Emma
I did want to show you what a nice background they made for pictures though. Something that drove me a little crazy because they were taking over this patch of ground, proved to make for some nice pictures. I would have sent Annie out in to them for pictures but the smell of those things isn’t very pleasant and they also irritate my skin.
Mud Ranch’s Elvin
Something about this picture (and a tip to consider,) it is taken with me standing up looking at Elvin through my lens. Normally I like to get down on my knees to make for a more attractive photo. Also, if you’ll notice there’s a distracting blur up in the left hand photo which happens to be Keefer’s head. When you take photos, look from corner to corner to corner to corner making sure that your whole viewing area is clear from distraction. You can get away with noisy backgrounds if you have a shallow depth of field (large aperture number and thus makes for a very blurred background.)
Kenleigh’s Lilly
You will notice in a lot of my photos, the subject is off to the side, such as Lilly here. I could have put her smack-dab in the center but the photo would not be as attractive. I like to have a good sized void to either side.
Mud Ranch’s Champagne “Bubbles”
The shade is also a better place to take photos especially if your background is shaded too. If you take a photo of your subject in the shade, but the background is bright the bright spot will be a distraction (this is mainly for portraits.)
Just some helpful tips (hopefully) — enjoy!
Don’t forget to go on over to Mud Ranch’s Mercantile to become a follower for your chance to win a pack of my Lupine Cards!
BSG — New Acquisitions
I wanted to continue on in showing you my acquisitions from my attendance at the Black Sheep Gathering this past weekend. First, we’ll start with a favorite (okay, they’re all favorites.)
Could she get any more beautiful? She is my ultimate, the one I’ve been wanting to breed for and now I have my start — a feminine lilac with blue eyes. I have had some blue eyed lilacs but this one just takes the cake. I couldn’t be more pleased and am so glad I’ve talked long and hard enough to Shannon and she’s letting me bring her home (I’m going to Shannon’s again here in a couple weeks for a mini felting vacation!)
And this gal, yep, she’s mine too. I had been shopping for a daughter of Wrangler, one of Shannon’s rams, and now Kenleigh’s Serenity will become a new resident of Mud Ranch.
And this one… oh, wait a minute… I believe I have just been caught coveting. Shame on me… No, I won’t be bringing this gal home. But she did catch my eye and my Jacob loving heart. This is bid a wee’s Winsome the Champion yearling ewe. Winsome is a chocolate lilac and I tell you I have not seen such a dark chocolate as she is! She’s just gorgeous!
Of course, a souvenir to remember this trip by. A moss colored sweatshirt (I’m wearing it now,) sure to be a new favorite!
Something I cannot wait to get my hands dirty with — well, I’ll wear gloves. But this is some dye for my fleeces and I plan on getting down and dirty with it here quickly. I cannot wait to see how it dyes and to see how well I like the dying as well as I like the thought of dying — I’ll let you know.
And this beautiful boy walked in to my trailer…
And wound up right there…
…On my bed! Ack! Thankfully he’s in the non-pooing form. Okay, not really but I did receive this beautiful pillow from my friend Shannon as a gift (and that horse did get in to my trailer!) I want to thank Shannon so much for the hand felted pillow. It is just gorgeous! It also looks great in my room, it reminds me of my mare Annie Oakley, and really looks like a Mustang to me!
I was hanging around Shannon’s vendor booth from time to time and kept telling her she needed to stuff him in a corner some where so he wasn’t readily seen by shoppers. There was a similar pillow with a chestnut on it that I kept telling her to put out front — I think she got tired of hearing me say where she should stash him and that night, presented me with him. Thank you Shannon! I love him!
And the gelding? The one getting in to my trailer — he came home with us but he doesn’t belong to me! His name is Smoke, a 12 year old Kiger gelding who now belongs to my friend Maleah and her four daughters. He is the kindest, sweetest boy, and I’m so glad to have him as part of the family (and glad to see I’m brainwashing most of my hometown with the Kiger-itis bug.)
My New Domain
Okay, everyone I’m having a giveaway but it isn’t here — follow me on over to my newest domain, Mud Ranch’s Mercantile.
Back from BSG — A summary
Hubby and I had a long weekend… We left here later than expected on Thursday morning because some mis-communication happened and Hubby let out a ewe lamb that was supposed to be leaving for Kenleigh Acres with us. Once you let the sheep out of the barn, it can be very difficult to get them to come back in — they’re so suspicious. Thankfully, I was able to drive the quad out in to the pasture with my white bucket of grain and clap my hands, calling in my high-pitch “sheep sheep!” voice and they came running. I led them to the barn and they ran in to check the troughs for their treats. It worked — whew!
We arrived at Kenleigh Acres 6 hours later and then had to drive to the Fairgrounds (Eugene, OR) where the Black Sheep Gathering was to be held. We unloaded my ram lamb (“Hudson”) that I had brought to show and our little ewe lamb that was to be a trade to Shannon at Kenleigh Acres in their stall. We hung around there, helping unpack things from other people’s vehicles and let Annie get her kinks out so she’d sleep well that night.
My friend Shannon, helping her son show his ram
The following day, Friday, we had our show. After all the Shetlands (there were tons) we had our Jacob classes and I entered with our boy Hudson. I had also planned on showing our ewe lamb, Queenie, but as I was getting Hudson out of the pen, she panicked and broke both her top horns — definitely not nice to show a bleeding ewe lamb (no worries, they heal fine and grow back — it’s just not too pretty to look at.)
Thankfully Hudson was as cool as a cucumber and took everything in stride. I placed all four of his feet and he didn’t even flinch when the judge came up to check him out. I believe my friend Shannon has me talked in to keeping this one and put him on a few unrelated ewes this fall. We’ll see how that goes but you really can’t beat his temperament and she says she likes his fleece, plus he has great structure.
After the show I had some time with Shannon while Hubby took Annie away for a nap to wander around the vendors booths. We had a great time and there were so many awesome things there, I think I got visual overload.
One booth that was a favorite had some gorgeous dyed roving and yarn for sale. I absolutely loved the colors and was inspired to really try my hand at dying — me being a color oriented person, this is right up my alley.
Just like a pretty catalogue with all the colors of t-shirts stacked on top of each other, these skeins of yarn grabbed my eyes with how gorgeously they coordinated. I was attracted like a moth to a light bulb until I noticed the prices of the skeins then I wasn’t so tempted.
The way the vendor had the yarns (colors) next to each other was an art in and of itself I thought. They had them beautifully organized and I loved the muted tones. Turns out that they were dyed naturally so of course, I really want to look into natural dyes now.
This yarn was in a different booth and was beautiful as well. The colors were more bright but so lovely themselves. They were also a great price, one that I wouldn’t have minded paying for a skein. That orange sunset one sure grabbed me though I don’t know what I would have done with it. The teal is more practical for me, and easier to wear — nevertheless, I didn’t come home with any.
This was a felted vest that was extraordinary I thought. It is made by Jacob fleece and was done by a young girl who’s family raises Jacobs in Washington state. The attention to detail in those fish is outstanding and of course I had fun pointing out that there was a humuhumunukunukuapua’a at the top, toward the collar (it’s also known as a trigger fish, you can tell I once owned a salt water tank.) The girl who made this vest donned it for the Spinner’s Lead and won a neat little prize as well. What a beautiful job!
My friend Shannon and her son also were part of the Spinner’s Lead too. Shannon felted a very elegant jacket and her son felted a very handsome scarf. Shannon’s ewe she lead through the ring was the twin sister to the ewe who’s fleece she was wearing.
This happy little couple kept loving on each other during the show. The sweater that the lady is wearing is made of her Shetland’s wool and was spun and dyed by her. I thought it was spectacular and I believe her little friend did too. They were so cute together, hugging, and the little ewe would sniff the lady’s ear then the lady would whisper something to her and the ewe would wag her tail! It was quite something, they were obviously very bonded.
More later, I have a bunch of photos to show you and more stories of our weekend.
Hudson — A developing lilac ram lamb
My friend Dixie came over today to help me with halter breaking some lambs for the Black Sheep Gathering this weekend. We worked with a couple of girls first then went and caught up the boys. After about an hour, maybe less, this is what Dixie wound up with.
Yep, he held perfectly still for his feet being placed.
He acted like he’d been shown his whole life.
I told him that she knew what she was doing — she raised a few Grand Champions for 4H (suffolks) a few times.
Annie even had her try at holding the lead. I like the look Hudson is giving her and Dixie is just right out of the shot, incase he gets a wild hair… err… wool.
A Happy Shepherd — Sheep Skins
Another aspect of raising sheep, a very satisfying aspect, is what arrived via UPS today (though the C.O.D. was a little intimidating.)
No, Nash did not arrive in a cardboard box, well, at least not in the totally physical sense. Nash was a lamb I had born here last year by our ram Debonair and out of our ewe, Stella. He was a beautiful dark chocolate color, had a really consistent fleece but his horns were too tight to his skull. Being that they would be too tight, it is something that should be culled and thus he ended up in our freezer.
Nash arrived here once again, but in the most beautiful form — washable. His dark chocolate spots are loud and clean and look great on Grandpa’s old chair. I am telling you this story of Nash’s arrival with his photo because I do not intend on selling him — I had salted his hide with every intent to keep it, and still do.
The following sheepskins (below) you will not recognize or be able to put a face with. They are simply “sheep skins” to those of you who get a little attached to the faces that grow with them. I know that I post their photos from when they are born to when they magically disappear from our pastures and some of you tend to grow a little fond of their fun little antics but this is life here on the ranch, and we can’t (and won’t) keep them all.
Our number 1 contender was a lovely four horned ram, culled for various reasons but his lucious long fleece is really very gorgeous. It is about five inches in length on average though his britch is about nine inches. He is black and white, nicely marked and soft. He has a good amount of crimp and is also completely washable which means you put in him the washing machine; rinse with cool water, wash with woolite in warm water on gentle cycle for about 3 minutes, rince in warm water twice allowing to go through the spin cycle, air dry, then brush.
You can then put him in your dryer at 120 degrees or you can air dry, then put in the dryer to fluff without heat. Not a bad thing eh? Your very own spotted sheep that you don’t have to feed or clean up after! Contender number one is about 46″ in length by 26″ in width at his mid-section.
Contender number 2 is a cute little guy, a very fluffy lilac and white with not so many spots but the spots he does have are the pretty chocolate color. His fleece length is about five inches and he is 40″ in length by 24″ at his mid-section.
I think his little white pantaloons are great!
Here’s his over-all shot.
I am going to contact a couple of people who had already expressed interest in these guys and let them purchase them if they still wish to. If anyone else is interested in this type of thing, I will be expecting more in the fall, hopefully a bigger batch.
This is one side of sheep raising that I am really excited about and I’m double happy about being able to use most of the animal instead of throwing parts out.
My Etsy Shop
Okay, I’m opening. Not only have I placed all my leftover bags for sale (4 of them), but I’ve also included some greeting card packs. I also figured that if anyone wanted to create their own packs of cards, I could put up “special order for ______.”
So if you have any interest at all in getting some greeting cards for youself or for a gift, head on over to My Shop at Etsy.
And also, if you have kid’s birthdays coming up, especially little girls who like pretty little dolls, consider my Sis-in-Law’s shop: Megan’s Flowering Boutique.
Each on of her Flower Dolls is completely an individual made with love by Megan. The dolls are about 4″ high and actually fit those little plastic horses made by various companies that are around 4-6″ high. We have a lot of little girlfriends around here who are enamoured with Megan’s dolls and are usually riding them around on their plastic horses — they make a great fit.
This is one of the very few that Megan has made without the artificial flower skirt but I love the attitude this girl has — like she is a ballerina with spunk.
All their arms, bodies and legs are bendable and safe to play with.
Megan has even ventured out and started to make these Mermaids. All the little girlfriends around here are really excited about these. Megan always asks for their input and they love the wildly colored hair with plenty of sparkle and so that’s what Megan does. I’m more of a traditionalist myself and prefer the full flowered skirts, but branching out to please the younger crowd is a better idea.
I was impressed with the salon highlights in this girl’s hair!
And this one includes a beautiful princess style double braid. Too pretty!
Megan has also started felting their clothes from time to time, and as you can see, puts little flowery cuffs on the end of the sleeves.
Lots of time and detail go in to each little doll and all are unique little works of art.
A Name Has Been Chosen
Well, I’ve finally decided on a name! Hurray, my little heifer calf no longer has to be “Heifer Calf” — how boring is that?
With a little face like this, she desperately needs a good name and I was fresh out when she was born. Thankfully I had the thought to call on all of you and got some excellent suggestions:
- June
- Mae
- Mitzi
- Olivia
- Mooreen (Maureen)
- Llewella or Llewellen (<3 those!)
- Rosalie
- Essie
- Ethel
- Mildred
- Cassey, Bessy, Flossy (<3 this!), Petunia
- Esmerelda or Euphemia (never heard of the latter — great!)
- Matilida (my favorite cow is Mattilda!)
- Layanni
- Milicent
I seriously loved all of these — you all really had some great ones! I almost went with the hilarious Mooreen as it is so fitting to the cow but finally chose Dianne’s Layanni because as she said, it is a nod to her excellent mother Layla, and because a big girl has to have a frilly name. I couldn’t agree more!
Congratulations Dianne – you win a pack of 5 of my Equus cards! I know you’ll put them to good use.
I was going to announce our Etsy shops today but decided to wait until tomorrow… I feel the need to add a few more items to our shops before we go ahead and make them “public.” Thank you for your patience, and see you tomorrow!
Here’s a sneak peek –
Peddler’s Faire — Success
I had a great time. I’d do it again. I sold a few things (not a lot) but was glad to have gone.
Our booth as we were setting up in the morning
I shared the booth with a few more ladies though only my sister-in-law was the other one who was there to man it. She made tutus which were a really big success and little dolls she calls “Flower Dolls.”
Megan (SIL) kept telling me that I could pick out a tutu for Annie after the show was done and each time I picked one I liked, it would sell. The ones hanging up on the back board had the tutus attached to the onsie which was a 12 month size and she often gave a head band to the person who bought the onsie/tutu.
These particular dolls and the horses below (with a bunch of play sets) were made by a neighbor girl of my parent’s-in-law. She has more imagination than all of us put together and it shows when you go to their house. She is around 15 and makes things like you’d never believe (she’s home-schooled too.)
The neighbor girl’s dolls are much more “down to earth” looking and Megan makes them much more fantasy/fairy style which is what she says “little girls like.” And it’s true, she has around eight little girls who all test and approve her dolls — they’re pretty, bright and sparkly.
She’s really proud of her mermaids and says that all the little girls love the mermaids, I actually like the flower dolls better but she obviously knows best!
This was one of my favorite dolls on my favorite horse — he’s a dun with a dorsal stripe! Surprisingly the fancy colors didn’t sell. The chestnut went first, then the bay — gray, palomino, and dun were left.
My favorite mermaid because I like the color combinations — she was sold, by the way.
And a little picture showing you how much fun this little doll was having on her swing set.
All in all we had a great time and had a lot of compliments. It was interesting to see that most the other vendors had said it was the worst Peddler’s Faire money-wise that they’d remember coming to. They told Megan to look around and see if anyone was carrying anything and no, they usually weren’t. I think that people are beginning to be a lot less frivolous in their money spending — something most of us need to be careful of. So, though people weren’t spending a lot, I think we did pretty well considering!
We do have stuff left over and are both planning on opening Etsy shops. I told Megan hers should be “Megan’s Flowering Boutique” because everything she makes involves flowers of some sort.
My decision for our little calf’s name will be decided by tomorrow and announced! Thank you all for the great suggestions!
Peddler’s Faire Readiness
This coming Saturday, while most of you are still in bed, I will be up chugging coffee setting up my booth for the Peddler’s Faire. It runs from 8-5 but set up is from 5-7 a.m. … Too early for my blood. But I wanted to show you some things that I’ve got going.
I have created this collage to promote our sheep. I will have some raw fleece there in a handmade Hubby box along with information on the Jacob sheep. We get a lot of locals who shop there so am hoping for some more local sales!
I’ve done a couple of prints in frames. I liked how this one turned out, especially since I picked the frames and matting without having the photos in hand! Never have done that before and things turned out alright.
The frame on the above photo is distressed pine looking with a really grainy texture. I love old distressed looking wood and I believe this really works with the photo of my Kiger mare “Sister” (Annie Oakley.)
By the way, it is Sister’s birthday today! Happy Birthday to one of my most beautiful and favorite equine girls.
I also got my donation to the JSBA’s (Jacob Sheep Breeder’s Association) 2009 AGM ready for shipping. Here it is in a nice black frame with black matting. I thought that these would do well in most anyone’s home. If you want to donate to the JSBA by way of raffle ticket buying, please visit their site by clicking on the highlighted link above (in orange!)
Now my last piece is a favorite among many. I tried two different frames and I’ll show you both:
This is a real ash wood frame that I got for a great price. It is very heavy but it makes the picture look small. That photo is 8×10 and I think maybe the frame is overpowering.
So thankfully I had this one lying around and like it much better. Less red, which sets off the red in the photo. What do you think? Which do you like better?
I’ll keep you updated on the Faire. I’m looking forward to it.
Thank you also, for all the great name suggestions! Please keep them coming — I’m really enjoying each and every one of them.
Got a Good Name?
Our second (technically our third) calf was born at the end of last week. We came home late one night from being out at a friend’s house and Hubby took a ride on the quad to check the cow-girls out. Sure enough, there was a new white faced calf up and nursing. He said it was dry and looked nice and strong so we went to bed. It was so big, especially compared to our twin bull calf that we just assumed it was a bull. We happily went about our business and kept saying to ourselves, “We need to go out there and band (castrate) that boy before he gets too fast.”
Newbie on the left, Pigpen on the right
So finally, this morning we got our act together and went out while the calves were still sleeping in the early sun. Hubby caught our newest and was holding him until I got the banding tools together. I came running back out of the barn only to see that he was peeing out his… her hind end! Okay, so much for the castration… He’s a she! As I write this, I wonder how many other people come across things like this — am I a crazy farmer or what?
Anyway, our newest little girl is out of our one non-registered hereford cow, Layla. She’s small and not the prettiest cow we have but she sure is an excellent mother! She has taken over the feeding of her own calf plus Pigpen (he and his mama had a rough start and she willingly let Layla take care of him.)
So my question to you is, what shall we name her? Keep in mind I love feminine old-fashioned type names. Layla is a good one, we also have a Mattilda and a Little Debbie (not so old fashioned but it went well with Twinky.) The person who suggested the name I pick will win a little prize.
Thanks for your help!
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