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After a couple of years of having sheep I found that I really had a backlog of wool and nothing to do with it. I did not spin or knit. So I started spinning. A lovely, relaxing, past time for me. There is nothing like sitting on the front deck watching the animals out at pasture, the sun sliding down behind the hills and trees and spinning. The soothing whir of the wheel and the rhythmic movement of feet and hands. All those lovely fleeces becoming lovely yarns. OK. I then had an incredible stash of yarns. Both natural and dyed. What to do? I signed up for a weekend Introduction to Weaving class and the rest is history! Whether I am using hand-spun or commercial yarns, I use only the highest quality to insure that you have many years of enjoyment from each item I weave.  People often ask how we started and why we choose the Shetland breed. We started with a Dorset/Targhee bummer lamb and then added a Shetland/Border Leceister cross. At one point we also had a few Tunis. We fell in love with the Shetland side of things and have evolved from there to one of the biggest flocks in the State of New Hampshire. All of our original breeding stock came from Maple Ridge Farm in Vermont; but we have since taken two trips to the Midwest to buy other bloodlines. We think we have varied and strong bloodlines in our flock.
Scrapie is a fatal, degenerative disease affecting the nervous systems of sheep and goats. We have been participants in the federal Volunteer Scrapie Eradication Program (VSCP) since 2000 and are fully Certified; which means that annually a federal veterinarian assigned to the North East comes and inspects our flock for this dangerous communicable disease, all associated record keeping, and to be sure that each animal is permanently marked with an approved identifying eartag. This helps assure you of the health of our flock.
We have never had a positive or suspicious animal. We have also done OPP testing and annually have our local vet check our flock for things like hoof rot and updated rabies vaccinations. I am very happy to report that every year our sheep get a clean bill of health! We stood two rams for 2021 spring (April) lambs - PaintedKnoll Condor and Chantilly Camelot. We are expecting stunning lambs, some solid, some spotted and some Katmoget marked.
During the current Covid-19 pandemic we are carefully scheduling folks to come see lambs individually so there is no overlap of families here at the same time. To all of our customers past and future, please stay safe. We will not be having a general open barn weekend this year.  Each year I try to take several colors and have commercial Roving made. I use small specialty mills who do a fantastic job with my beautiful Shetland fleeces. Remember that these are one time runs on individual fleeces – so buy enough to do your entire project as that exact color may never be duplicated.
Roving is sold by the ounce, but a price break occurs if you buy one pound or more. Shipping is extra.  One of the amazing things about the Shetland breed is the variety of colors possible in the fleece. We specialize in healthy, friendly sheep of many colors, including moorit, mioget, fawn, emsket, shaela, gray, black and white! We also have both moorit and black katmogets, spots, and most stikingly, gulmoget.
If you would like to learn more about the varied colors and markings of the Shetland breed please check out the North American Shetland Sheep Association website. |
AboutThe articles here will hopefully educate you about sheep/fleece/wool and amuse you with stories around our farm. Please sign up for our mailing list to find out more. |
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