A Shrug of Many Colors

Our special customer, Julie, sent us this picture of a beautiful shrug she wove.

Julie hand-spun the yarn from wool our sheep grew. From top to bottom: Emily (2013), Carmen (2012), Blossom (2013), Daffodil (2013).   

Julie wrote: "The colors were so lovely I wanted to make a piece in all their natural glory and it makes me happy to think of your girls playing together." 

Thank you for sharing about your beautiful work of art! 

If you have purchased fleece from us and would like to share your creative projects, please email your pictures and a description of your project. 

Edison Departs Grace Valley Farms

Many of you know, Edison, our long-time flock ram. We purchased him from Pepper Hollow Farm back in 2006. 

He was a tremendous addition to our flock and fathered many lambs for us.

 His descendants have won many fleece awards, including 4 Reserve Grand Champion ribbons. Edison has added staple length, poundage, good handle, and luster to our fleeces.

Since most of our flock is related to Edison, it was time to bring in new genetics and say goodbye to our old friend. 

While Dee was here visiting us, she was able to locate a new owner for Edison in Iowa. The next day we got the paperwork ready and Edison headed to Iowa.

We will miss our friend, Edison, but are glad to know he is at a good home and will be fathering many more lambs. Edison now resides in Iowa. He is currently preparing for breeding time at his new home.

Goodbye Edison!

A Visit From the Folks at Peeper Hollow Farm

It was great to visit with Rick and Dee from Peeper Hollow Farm in Iowa. We were privileged to host them at our farm for several days. We discussed sheep for many hours, swapping stories and learning from each other.

Dee was very helpful in teaching us about different color patterns in recessively-colored Romney sheep. We are looking forward to studying the patterns in our flock and mapping family genetics.

We took an enjoyable day-trip to Yellowstone. It was great to get away for the day and enjoy God’s beautiful creation.

Thank you, Rick and Dee, for all your insight into raising quality, healthy Romney sheep!

A Visit From the Folks at Tawanda Farm

We recently enjoyed a visit from our friends, Carol and Maggie, of Tawanda Farms in California. They brought four new sheep to our farm. The three white ewe lambs and the one ram lamb will bring excellent genetics to our farm. These lambs all come from solid lines of working Romney sheep.

 Geneva, Gladys, Graham, and Goldilocks.

We are excited to add Graham to our breeding program. His fleece is beautiful and fine, measuring approximately 30 microns.

All three of our ewe lambs carry solid white genetics.

It was great to spend time with Carol and Maggie, learning from their vast experience and expertise. At Grace Valley Farms, we are looking forward to expanding our business and offering more high-quality products to our customers. Keep your eyes open for new changes in the coming months!

Iowa State Fair Wool Show - 2013

Over the last few years, our customers have commented on the beauty and quality of the fleeces produced by the Grace Valley Farms flock.  Their comments spurred us to begin entering fleeces in various wool shows. For the first time, last year, we entered two fleeces in the Iowa State Fair. We were encouraged by the results, Overall Reserve Champion and 2nd in class. 

This year we once again entered fleeces in the Iowa State Fair. This time, increasing our entries from two to four fleeces. When the results were in, our fleeces had taken 3 - 1st in class, 1 - 2nd in class, and Overall Reserve Grand Champion!  

An excerpt from the Iowa State Fair Website: Reserve Champion Overall was awarded to Grace Valley Farms of Mont. This is the second year in a row they earned the title.

Falcon's fleece won 1st in class as well as Overall Reserve Grand Champion!

50's-58's 3/8 and 1/4 Blood Combing, White

Frappe's fleece (center, left) took first in her class

50's-58's 3/8 and 1/4 Blood Combing, Colored

Edgar's fleece (center, right) also won 1st in his class

36's-48's Low 1/4, Common and Braid, Colored 

 Elizabeth's fleece won second in her class

36's-48's Low 1/4, Common and Braid, White

We are grateful for another wonderful year of wool shows! We would especially like to thank Rick & Dee, Aunt Martha, and Pat & Lisa for all their help and encouragement!

Psalms 35:18 - I will give Thee thanks in the great congregation: I will praise Thee among much people.

Darcy's Beautiful Yarn

What beautiful yarn our customer, Kim, has created from Darcy's award-winning fleece!

I am loving all of the fleeces I have from you so far. - Kim from KY

Montana Fair 2013

Yesterday we headed to the fairgrounds to enjoy this summer's fair. It was a fun afternoon spent with family and friends.

Enjoy a tour of the fair as we explore the many buildings and exhibits.

 We enjoyed walking through the barns and inspecting the animals.

 This big guy was one of the grand champion steers. He is a Maine-Anjou cross.

 Our neighbors did very well with their sheep, winning three big awards! 

After we finished looking over the animals, we headed to the Heritage Arts building. We had entered items in the horticulture and culinary departments. 

 Our prize-winning yellow wax beans.

 Yellow squash

 Ben holding our winning zucchini  - heaviest division 

It weighed over 6 pounds. 

 Sally with our pickling cucumbers. They won the Heritage Award!

Here is a listing of our Horticulture entries and the results:

Pickling cucumbers – 2^nd + Heritage Award

Cherry tomatoes – 3^rd  

Zucchini – 4^th 

Heaviest Zucchini -  1^st 

Beets – 2^nd

Green Beans – 2^nd

Yellow Wax Beans – 1^st

Dill Cucumbers – 1^st

Fresh herbs – 4^th

The results from the Culinary department: 

Emily with her winning pie crust.

Dried thyme – 1^st

Dried basil – 1^st

Dried marjoram – 1^st

Dried sage – 1^st

Dried parsley – 1^st

Whole wheat pie crust – 1^st + Heritage Award

Gingersnaps– 1^st + Heritage Award

Chocolate cake (unfrosted) – 1^st

Chocolate cupcakes – 1^st

Cranberry bread – 1^st

Chocolate chip cookies – honorable mention

Peanut butter chocolate chip cookies – 2^nd

Pumpkin bread – 1^st

Ginger cookies – 1^st

Chocolate bread – 1^st + Heritage Award 

With the Heritage Arts building behind us, we went on to find our other entries.

On the way to the Ag Building, we were tempted by these delicious goodies!

 Beautiful caramel apples!

 There was fabulous-looking fudge as well!

 Shiny, candy-coated apples

We all resisted the temptation and passed by the delicious-looking treats!

Outside, we saw many tractors, farm implements, trucks, and cars on display.

On to the Ag Building, we quickly found our entries.

 Our Indian Corn entries took 1st and 2nd in Flint Ear Corn competition.

Below are the results from the Crops department:

Ear corn (dent) – 1^st and 4^th

Ear corn (flint) – 1^st and 2^nd

Oats – 2^nd and 4^th

Shelled corn – 1^st and 5^th

Cereal grain hay – 1^st

Grass hay – 1^st

Grass/legume hay – 1^st and 2^nd

3^rd cutting alfalfa – 1^st

Our freshly-baled second cutting hay won a blue ribbon! 

We hurried over to the wool area to check on our fleeces. 

Darcy's fleece won first in her division plus Overall Reserve Grand Champion! Darcy's fleece also took Reserve Grand Champion last year! She's a winning ewe!

Ellie Mae's blue ribbon.

 Dorcas was first in her class.

Here is a detailed description of the awards from the 
Hand-Spinning Wool division.

White 58's to 62's - (Doris – 1^st, Caramel – 3^rd)

White 56's and Less (Daisy – 1^st, Evelyn – 2^nd, Delores – 3^rd)

Black 56's and Less (Ellie Mae – 1^st, Dee – 2^nd, Fern – 3^rd)

Colored 56's and Less (Darcy – 1^st, Charity – 2^nd, Sheila – 3^rd)

Colored 58's to 62's (Dorcas – 1^st)

Overall Reserve Grand Champion  - Darcy

 Evelyn's 2nd place fleece

 Sheila took third in her division

 Fern's fleece on the left and Daisy's fleece on the right

 After we were done in the Ag Building, we enjoyed watching the carnival rides.

 We are grateful to the folks who host the fair on and provide a place for us to compete and showcase our products. Thank you to all our friends and customers who support us year after year and help us improve our products! 

 I will praise the name of God with a song, and will magnify Him with thanksgiving. - Psalm 69:30

Sheep Lawnmowers

 We recently employed our sheep in lawn-mowing the grass around our garden.

 Fluffy

Foggy

  

Flower

 The grass and clover was quite lush, so the sheep had a delicious day of grazing.

Hannah

Daffodil

Elizabeth

Felicia

Cathy had some words for her people.

Frappe

Dora

DonnaLisa

Our garden has been very healthy this year. We've had a mild summer, so the plants are thriving!

The melon and squash plants in the garden.

 Yummy green beans and garden goodies. 

 The watermelons are growing!

 Our gourd plants and Indian corn are doing well. The corn is 10 -12 feet tall!

These are our parsnips, Swiss chard, beets, green beans, herbs, and sweet corn.

The electric fence kept the ewes out of the garden. They did a great job of mowing the grass for us!