Desert Weyr Blog
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Guard Dog
Winnie is now guarding the adult rams who have not only their winter pen, but the entire west side of the orchard to run in. We’re hoping they’ll clean the ground of fallen apples. Continue reading
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Planning Breedings
I have the opportunity to run 14 primary breeding rams this year, plus two backup pens. Each primary ram will only have four ewes, and the backups will each have 28 ewes. This is a chance to use 16 different rams for breeding, an opportunity that is very rare and potentially very valuable. Trying to… Continue reading
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Meat Cutting
We had the great opportunity to watch some of our sheep being processed at the slaughterhouse recently. This is the typical carcass of a US-line sheep. The first step is breaking the carcass in half. This is the cross-section. It’s not a very meaty loin compared to some of our sheep. We had one lamb… Continue reading
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History Lecture to Small Vision School Class
I was asked to give a short lecture to a very small, five-person class of Vision students about clothing from between 1625 and 1750. I dressed in my mantua and full Golden Age of Piracy outfit made from Reconstructing History patterns. I’m not very good at spinning on a hand spindle. My spinning wheel is… Continue reading
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Making Cider!
Our orchard was primarily used to grow apples for cider. My mother had Kate’s Sweet Cider as a business when I was in high school. We still own the crusher and press, and I’d hoped to get it all running. This year, we had a huge crop of apples. We couldn’t get pickers, so most… Continue reading
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Shop Heater
Just in time for Halloween and a coming storm next week, the new shop heater is installed. The trench has also been filled in where the propane line runs. In a quick test, it heated up the shop after being on for just a few minutes. We’ll see how well it works once we get… Continue reading
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Sorting Sheep
We’ve been sorting sheep for fall. We evaluate all of the ewes, rams, and lambs every year to decide who will be dinner, who will stay, and who will be for sale. We’re trying something new this year. After the evaluations were done, those identified for butcher got red ear tags. That way, if people… Continue reading
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Sheep on Pasture
We sorted out the next batch of butcher sheep, and for the first time ever, they had the entire front pear orchard to graze in. There are cockleburrs, so we didn’t want to let the main flock out there, but these sheep are going to be slaughtered in a couple of weeks. The wool doesn’t… Continue reading
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Farm Blather
Today (why always on a weekend?), Becky came in with a huge gash on her side. We have no idea what she did, but after a trip to the emergency vet in Delta 30 miles away, she’s been stitched up. We were given some stuff to keep her from chewing the drain and stitches, but… Continue reading
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Fall Rainbow
A lovely morning rainbow appeared over the sheep pens and hay barn today. Continue reading