Monday, January 28, 2013

Pre-Shearing Sneak Peek!

 Shearing day at Grace Valley Farms is fast approaching. The ewes, rams, and wethers at our farm are busily growing wool. Shearing is scheduled for February 1st and 2nd. We plan to have 82 coated Romney and Romney-cross fleeces available! Here are some of the colors of wool we will have available: white;  cream;  silver;  light, medium and dark gray;  variegated grays;  charcoal;   charcoal-brown;  dark charcoal;  and nearly black.
Below are pictures of a few fleeces that are still growing.

 Elsie

 Elizabeth

 Frappuccino

 Felicity

Daisy
(Daisy's 2012 fleece won Overall Reserve Grand Champion at the Iowa State Fair)

A Beautiful Sunset

Over the past couple weeks, we have been blessed with beautiful sunsets. This is a view from our farm.


O beautiful for spacious skies,
For amber waves of grain,
For purple mountain majesties
Above the fruited plain!
America! America!
God shed his grace on thee
And crown thy good with brotherhood
From sea to shining sea! 

-Katharine Lee Bates

Saturday, January 12, 2013

One Snowy Morning ...

This weekend, a major winter storm hit our area. We received almost 6-inches of snow and the temperatures dropped below zero. When we came out to feed the sheep in the morning, we found many of them covered in fresh snow! Although we have provided shelter for the sheep to sleep in, most of them chose to sleep outside in the snow. Their thick wool coats shielded them from the cold, wind, and snow.  They presented comical appearances for us!

Dora

 Blossom

 Bluebell smiles for the photographer

 Clover

 Hannah, Dove, Filly, and Evelyn spent some of the night under shelter

 DonnaLisa's bangs are iced up

 Dinah

 Caramel

 Farah

Doris seems to be asking a question.