by OogieFarmBlog | Aug 19, 2009 | Uncategorized
We’ve got lots of socks. Our big order of socks has arrived. We now have crew, knee high and terry socks for sale. These are 70% Black Welsh Wool and 30% nylon. Hand wash and dry flat. They will be too coarse for some people but are very durable and warm.Prices...
by OogieFarmBlog | Aug 18, 2009 | Uncategorized
The porch is nearly finished.Bill got the last of the roof pieces on today. Only thing left is to caulk the various pieces and clean up. Desert Weyr Farm Blog
by OogieFarmBlog | Aug 17, 2009 | Uncategorized
Bill’s back to finish the porch roof. Here he’s bending the metal for the various edges. Getting ready to cut another piece. Later that evening we went up to the neighbors for dinner. One of the local flocks of turkeys came strolling by. A large group of...
by OogieFarmBlog | Aug 16, 2009 | Uncategorized
First buck of the season arrived today.A really nice 2 by 3 still in velvet. Skinny though, hope he fattens up before hunting season. Desert Weyr Farm Blog
by OogieFarmBlog | Aug 13, 2009 | Uncategorized
The Celtic/Rock/Classical music group Feast performed a free concert in Paonia Town park. We stopped by after a couple beers at Revolution Brewing. Monica, Ken, Bart, Jeremy and Celia were there as well as lots of other folks. We had a great time with nice music and a...
by OogieFarmBlog | Aug 12, 2009 | Uncategorized
What the new porch looks like form in back of the house. All that’s missing now is the metal on the roof. Desert Weyr Farm Blog
by OogieFarmBlog | Aug 11, 2009 | Uncategorized
Porch railing is now done.The sawn off piece of concrete from moving the propane tank will now become the bottom step of the porch. Bill using the tractor to move the slab into position. Desert Weyr Farm Blog
by OogieFarmBlog | Aug 10, 2009 | Uncategorized
The entire King family came up for a dinner. The first use of the new porch for an event. The railing is not quite done but we still had a great time. Desert Weyr Farm Blog
by OogieFarmBlog | Aug 8, 2009 | Uncategorized
Porch coming along. The railing is being started now.The pond by the house has some rather large frogs in it, Including this one about the size of my hand. Desert Weyr Farm Blog
by OogieFarmBlog | Aug 7, 2009 | Uncategorized
We went back to the Delta County Fair to see how I did with my cloak and take a look at all the exhibits. My cloak took a first prize. I’ll get a picture when I pick it up on Sunday. It’s a lot smaller this year compared to last year. There were far fewer...
by OogieFarmBlog | Aug 6, 2009 | Uncategorized
Main porch structure done. It’s ready to add the decking material. Desert Weyr Farm Blog
by OogieFarmBlog | Aug 5, 2009 | Uncategorized
The Back Porch is coming along.The roof supports are in and the basic framing is started. The crew deciding what to do next. Desert Weyr Farm Blog
by OogieFarmBlog | Aug 3, 2009 | Uncategorized
Becky & Harri with the rams.Today is chicken bath day. We are showing them on Tuesday at the Delta County Fair so they need to be bathed and cleaned now.Stephanie with one of the Gold Campines.Unhappy wet chickens. Desert Weyr Farm Blog
by OogieFarmBlog | Aug 2, 2009 | Uncategorized
West Elks Wine Trail Tour is this weekend so we put out the farm tour signs. Unfortunately my black thumb is starting to show. The main batch of corn isn’t doing well. Brown and drying leaves and pale green. The corn I transplanted into the main part of the...
by OogieFarmBlog | Jul 31, 2009 | Uncategorized
Becky and Harri the new Akbash puppy are working out well taking care of the rams. Harri looking one way while Becky watches me. Harri looks like he is asleep in the field.But he’s really awake and watching out for anything that might threaten his sheep.Becky...
by OogieFarmBlog | Jul 30, 2009 | Uncategorized
Getting ready for the rafters on the east side of the porch.After everything is up and putting the final one in place. Desert Weyr Farm Blog
by OogieFarmBlog | Jul 29, 2009 | Uncategorized
Rafters up!The roof is starting to take shape. Desert Weyr Farm Blog
by OogieFarmBlog | Jul 28, 2009 | Uncategorized
Getting the cover started.Next step is to put up the header board on the side of the house to hold the rafters. Desert Weyr Farm Blog
by OogieFarmBlog | Jul 27, 2009 | Uncategorized
To save time and make it easier all the lumber was primed and painted before the roof assemby started. The back is almost ready for the roof to go up. Desert Weyr Farm Blog
by OogieFarmBlog | Jul 26, 2009 | Uncategorized
Desert Weyr Farm Blog
by OogieFarmBlog | Jul 23, 2009 | Uncategorized
We went to Montrose to attend the Colorado Woolgrowers Convention on 22 and 23 July. I was thrilled to be chosen as the 2009 Colorado Woolgrower of the Year “In recognition of your dedication to improve and promote the Colorado sheep industry.”I managed to...
by OogieFarmBlog | Jul 22, 2009 | Uncategorized
Originally Bill was going to build the roof first but some lumber didn’t arrive so the concrete got poured instead. Desert Weyr Farm Blog
by OogieFarmBlog | Jul 20, 2009 | Uncategorized
We got samples of the socks we are having made from our Black Welsh Mountain wool. We will be offereing both a hiking crew and a terry sock in mens and womens sizes. These are the first 2 samples. I also put a label on my fabric. Bill used the tractor to do final...
by OogieFarmBlog | Jul 19, 2009 | Uncategorized
Nearly ready to pour the concrete footers. Desert Weyr Farm Blog
by OogieFarmBlog | Jul 17, 2009 | Uncategorized
The posts holding the roof need to be set in concrete piers. They will have a large footer so the next thing was to get them positioned properly and dig the holes. Desert Weyr Farm Blog
by OogieFarmBlog | Jul 16, 2009 | Uncategorized
We moved Winnie in with the rams so we could let them out to graze the front pear orchard. She’s really being good about staying with them. Construction Work Started.First task was to remove the old porch cover. Desert Weyr Farm Blog
by OogieFarmBlog | Jul 15, 2009 | Uncategorized
Second harvest of peas is much larger. Corn is growing well but neither type of melon is doing much. Desert Weyr Farm Blog
by OogieFarmBlog | Jul 14, 2009 | Uncategorized
It is done, or nearly done.I ended up not putting on the shoulder cape at all. I also hand stitched black twill tape around the front edge to prevent it from unraveling. I may also add it around the bottom if it looks like it needs it. The clasp is inaccurate for the...
by OogieFarmBlog | Jul 14, 2009 | Uncategorized
Bill’s back to add a covered deck out back of the house. First task is take down the existing small covered porch. The construction trailer.Taking down the old small porch. We’ll add a concrete patio to the right between the door and the garage and deck on...
by OogieFarmBlog | Jul 12, 2009 | Uncategorized
Now that the hay is in we can put the rams out on the front pear orchard pasture to clean up the parts we cannot cut. This is the first time that all the sheep are out on pasture at the same time. We have one ewe who is sick in a small pen and a ewe and lamb training...
by OogieFarmBlog | Jul 11, 2009 | Uncategorized
Judd came back and finished stacking the hay in the barn. Here he is getting bales out of our front pear orchard field. The last load of hay coming out of the field.Putting the last stack inside.All in. Desert Weyr Farm Blog
by OogieFarmBlog | Jul 11, 2009 | Uncategorized
With the comments, help on Ravelry and from various e-mail lists and via phone I finally decided how to sew the cloak fabric together. I used a figure 8 stitch while holding the fabric right sides together. Then I flattened the seams and pressed them. These 2 pictures...
by OogieFarmBlog | Jul 10, 2009 | Uncategorized
My black thumb has not hit yet and I harvested the first of the peas today. OK so it is a meager harvest but there are a lot more growing and these sure tasted good. Desert Weyr Farm Blog
by OogieFarmBlog | Jul 9, 2009 | Uncategorized
Today I started laying out the cloak pattern. Because my fabric is so much narrower than normal I cut a long piece of muslin to 24 inches to match my fabric and then pieced together the cloak pattern out of that. I cut the muslin and laid it out on my Black Welsh...
by OogieFarmBlog | Jul 9, 2009 | Uncategorized
First load of hay got delivered late today. Unfortunately the face was uneven and the stack fell down. Ken re-stacked it so the next ones would be ok. Desert Weyr Farm Blog
by OogieFarmBlog | Jul 5, 2009 | Uncategorized
The whole reason I have Black Welsh Mountain Sheep is because I wanted a traditional medieval Black Welsh cloak. While most folks would go buy a cloak or at best buy fabric and make one I did things a bit differently. I bought the sheep, bought a spinning wheel,...
by OogieFarmBlog | Jul 4, 2009 | Uncategorized
As we celebrate our independence day (2 days late from history but this is traditional 🙂 ) our town is having the annual Cherry Days event. This year there are actually cherries. Some years they have frozen, some they are later and some years like this one they are...
by OogieFarmBlog | Jul 3, 2009 | Uncategorized
We don’t have enough regular vendors to hold a regular market but for the open business day we held a small one in downtown Paonia.Monica from Small Potatoes FarmOur Desert Weyr boothFlying Fork Fresh Baked GoodsFire Mountain with some VegetablesLovely tomatoes...
by OogieFarmBlog | Jun 30, 2009 | Uncategorized
Greg Koch from Stone Brewing, Susan Duniphin & Keiffer Koch arrived for a short visit today. We started with some picture taking opportunities at the edge of the mesa. We had a lovely lunch at Flying Fork in Paonia and then got a great tour of both Revolution...
by OogieFarmBlog | Jun 29, 2009 | Uncategorized
The second batch of rams went to slaughter today. We try to sell and use as much of the sheep as we can. So one thing we save from the rams are the horns. They get made into Shepherds’ Crooks and knife handles. Here Ken is using a sawsall to cut the horns off...
by OogieFarmBlog | Jun 26, 2009 | Uncategorized
2009 Lamb Scoreboard showing all the rams, and the lambs they sired. Desert Weyr Farm Blog
by OogieFarmBlog | Jun 24, 2009 | Uncategorized
We have officially finished lambing for 2009. We are now at 152 days from when we took the rams out. While technically we could have lambs up until 155 days none of the remaining ewes look pregnant nor do they have any udders at al so I have declared us finished.For...
by OogieFarmBlog | Jun 21, 2009 | Uncategorized
It’s the solstice. Summer now officially begins. I still haven’t killed the garden so I’m thrilled.Here is the corn, won’t be knee high by the fourth of July but at least it’s still growing.The peas are doing well, I see a few flowers...
by OogieFarmBlog | Jun 16, 2009 | Uncategorized
Well we’re near the end of lambing now. We are at 144 days from rams out and have about 15 looking ready to go at any time. Checking Cerridwyn for proper positioning of her first lamb. Here I am checking and ready to receive the new lamb. She had a ewe lamb....
by OogieFarmBlog | Jun 12, 2009 | Uncategorized
Some lambs start early learning how to jump on mom. A few continue this into adulthood and stand on top of others to get the top layer of hay. Desert Weyr Farm Blog
by OogieFarmBlog | Jun 11, 2009 | Uncategorized
Lambing is in full swing and I thought I’d share a trick we use now on all lambs. I milk out a bit of colostrum into a syringe case. Ken then uses his little finger to entice the lamb to nurse and squirts the milk into the side of the lambs’ mouth. This...
by OogieFarmBlog | Jun 9, 2009 | Uncategorized
The garden is still coming up and doing well. Desert Weyr Farm Blog
by OogieFarmBlog | Jun 7, 2009 | Uncategorized
Here are the future laying hens.Front row from left to right Welsummer (pink feet), Ancona (black and yellow), Gold Campine (blue feet), Russian Orloff (yellow feet) and a Silver Grey Dorking (pink feet with an extra toe).We’ll see if I am right when they...
by OogieFarmBlog | Jun 6, 2009 | Uncategorized
Moved the pregnant ewes and mowed their old pen to reset the grass growth. We needed to chop off the seed heads and get it back to growing more leaves. It should be ready to graze again in 2-3 weeks. Desert Weyr Farm Blog
by OogieFarmBlog | Jun 1, 2009 | Uncategorized
New puppy, still unnamed and his buddy.So is this a sheep in a dog house? or a dog in a sheep house? Desert Weyr Farm Blog