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My Etsy Shop

Posted in Uncategorized on June 11, 2009 by mudranch

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 ______.”

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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.

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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.

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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.

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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.

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I was impressed with the salon highlights in this girl’s hair!

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And this one includes a beautiful princess style double braid.  Too pretty!

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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.

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It’s Sophia’s Day

Posted in Uncategorized with tags , on February 23, 2009 by mudranch

Just a quick update today… Hopefully I’ll be able to login and give you progress throughout the day but Sophia told me this morning that she’ll be lambing today! I just got back from my morning errands and she was wanting back in the barn from the pasture. Bea decided to go in and keep her company too so they’re both in a stall with a little hay and grain to keep them busy, though Sophia is standing in the corner on a thick section of straw. I think we’re getting pretty close!

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New Arrival – Meet Clarise

Posted in Jacob Sheep, New Arrival, Uncategorized on February 20, 2009 by mudranch

Yesterday, while feeding in the morning I noticed one of our ewes, Bea, talking whole lot and not really eating; though she’d nibble a little here and there.  That sort of behavior can usually be a sure sign that babies are coming soon.  The ewes tend to “call” to the babies that are about to make their arrival, as if to coax them out.  I also noticed while driving in and out the driveway various times during the day (normal occurance for me) that Bea would be lying down next to one of her yearling daughters.  If the daughter moved, she’d yell at them and move to follow, sniffing them as if to scold and then lay down again.

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So since I prefer to have lambs out in the pasture, that’s where I found little Clarise, dried and happy.  The sun was shining and it was warm.  I was surprised to only find one ewe lamb as her mama has consistently given us twins, usually two boys or two girls never one of each.  But I suspect that Bea is getting up in years as she’s one of the original sheep we got in our package deal of Jacob sheep.

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The interesting thing about Clarise’s mama is that she doesn’t have any horns.  When we first got them from the man that used to raise them I suspected that he burned her horns off as a lamb; I really wouldn’t doubt it actually.  He would be the type to poll the sheep because they’d get stuck in the fence or some such reason.  But since then, I have heard that there are flocks of Jacob sheep throughout the U.S. that do have a polled Jacob here and there.  So I’m not sure what Bea’s reason is but I do know she is a consistent producer of beautiful babies.  She’s usually given us ram lambs so they’ve been in the freezer but they have been consistently gorgeous rams, normally four horned.

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Clarise and I know that Bea will never be registerable but that’s fine with us because we’re sure that Clarise will be able to stand on her own merits.

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Just like her sister Ella shown above who shows the beautiful horns that Bea has given us on all her babies.

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So there’s one of my “skeletons” that have been in the Mud Ranch pasture closet; unless you come visit us of course.  Then you’d see.

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Cool Jacob Sheep News

Posted in Jacob Sheep, Me, News, Uncategorized on February 14, 2009 by mudranch

I just received my Hobby Farms magazine in the mail yesterday, March/April 2009.  There was a little article on page 12 titled, “Not All Lamb Is Created Equal.”  I wanted to write it out here so as to show how neat it is, and to show how good the Jacob lamb meat is!

As you prepare your leg of lamb this season, keep in mind the results of Legacy of Lamb, the first heritage-breed lamb tasting, which was held last fall at Ayrshire Farm in Upperville, VA.  Approximately 90 food fans participated in the blind taste test, which compared nine endangered-breed meats — Gulf Coast, Hog Island, Jacob, Katahdin, Leicester Longwool, Navajo-Churro, Santa Cruz, St. Croix, Tunis — and commercially available Australian lamb, making this the largest-ever comparison of lamb breeds in North America.

“When we eat them, we are giving farmers an economic reason to conserve rare breeds and the important genetic diversity they represent,” says Sandy Lerner, the event’s host.

The meat was scored on flavor, texture, tenderness, smell and appearance.  The winner was the Santa Cruz; second place was Tunis; and third place was Jacob  The top two breeds each received nearly twice as many  votes for first choice compared to the other breeds, although organizers said each breed collected a number of second and third placements on individual tally cards, making it difficult to say there was one obvious winner.

Legacy of Lamb was produced through a partnership of the American Livestock Breeds Conservancy, Humane Farm Animal Care, Slow Food USA and Ayrshire Farm.

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On that note, no wonder we have so many return customers and more people calling us up wondering when we’re going to have more locker lamb available!  I used to never like lamb meat, I raised them for 4H but always hated the taste, then when I tried our Jacob a few years ago my mind changed.  I now prefer it over most beef (I’m still a sucker for a really good filet mignon ;) ).

Jacob sheep are such a neat breed; cool color, excellent fleece for spinning, tasty meat, neat horns!  You never know what you’re going to get each lambing season and I really like that diversity… Signing off now to go clean some pens.  Lambs are coming soon!

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Don’t Panic…

Posted in Uncategorized on December 20, 2008 by mudranch

My regular theme will be back up before you know it. I like that one way too much to keep anything else… But this one was fun for right now. :D

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