Clarabelle's 2010 Coated Romney Lamb Wool

Clarabelle, one of our Romney lambs grew this beautiful fleece. The color of her wool started out at a dark charcoal when she was a lamb;  it has gradually lightened, and now ranges between silver-gray and charcoal-gray. The outside tips of Clarabelle's fleece are a moorit-brown color. She inherited this moorit tendency from her mother, Autumn, and her grandmother, Carrie.

The staple length of her fleece was between 6 and 7.5 inches. Her wool has a nice crimp and softness. Her skirted fleece weighed well over 5 pounds.

In addition to having outstanding wool, Clarabelle is also a model ewe! She has a large body frame, a gentle personality, and a cute face with a big white spot on the end of her nose! Clarabelle's wool has continued to lighten this year and we are looking forward with great anticipation to her 2011 fleece!

Hello From Foreman!

"Don't I have a handsome nose?"

Grace Valley Farms First Hay Cutting of 2010

When the hay is ready, it is cut and placed into long rows called windrows.

The field in front of our house is about 10 acres.

The grass, legume, and forb mixture was beautiful and tall.

Our neighbor, Mr. D., cut the hay for us.

One of the legume species we planted several years ago is called sainfoin (pronounced san-foin). It is a non-bloat legume and produces beautiful pink flowers.

The east field is about 20 acres

After the hay dries, it is baled.

The yield was tremendous!

While the hay was drying, we experienced several rain showers. Although the rain has a modest negative impact on nutrition, it really bleaches the nice bright green color out, leaving a more drab olive color.

As the baler works, the bales seem to just pop up.

Soon the fields are covered with bales.

The bales leave beautiful geometric designs in the fields.

Soon after baling, a fellow farmer brings his self-propelled bale wagon over to pick up and stack the bales. He can drive through the fields at speeds approaching 30 mph!

Although it is 40 years old, the machine is still a marvel to watch.

After stacking, it is important to cover the bales to prevent damage from rain storms.

Doug and Sally work to tie down one of the hay tarps.

All done...! The hay is stacked, tarped, and ready for sale! We ended up with 2,707 bales from our first cutting!

Feedback on Bluebell's Coated Romney Fleece

"I've spent the whole weekend spinning up Bluebell's fleece. There's still a lot to do but I couldn't resist the temptation to swatch a bit. I wish you could see how beautiful it is. I'd send a photo, but I doubt that the picture would do it justice. The yarn is a rich, deep black with threads of silver running through it. It has such a lustre--it looks like anthracite. I'm finishing a winter cardigan for the grandbaby but as soon as I'm done, I'll be starting one for me using this awesome wool. "

-P.G. - Maryland

Amber's 2010 Coated Fleece

Amber

Amber, one of our coated Romney-cross ewes, grew this beautiful silver-gray fleece. The wool is soft and has a nice crimp.

The staple length is 6 inches and her skirted fleece weighed 7.5 pounds!

Amber has an interesting heritage ... she is 1/2 Romney, 1/4 Columbia, 1/8 Suffolk, 1/8 Hampshire!

Bernie's 2010 Coated Romney Fleece

This gray fleece came from, Bernie, our oldest Romney ewe. At eight years old she is still producing quality, soft wool!

Even though Bernie's staple length is shorter than average for our flock, her wool still spins into beautiful yarn.

Bernie is one of our vegetable and fruit eaters! We take our vegetable scraps out to the sheep and call, "Bernie, Bernie." She comes running over with big, wide eyes to see what we have for her. Bernie's favorite goodies are carrot peels, pears, and soft apples!

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Here is the feedback we received on Bernie's 2010 fleece:

"Bernie's fleece arrived today. It is every bit as gorgeous as last year's fleece. Thanks so much for taking the care and time to provide us spinners with a quality product. I'll be in touch with my requests for next year's clip!" - M.J.M - Montana

Feedback on Belle's 2010 Black Romney Fleece

Belle produced this beautiful fleece for our February 2010 shearing. It is a striking black color with silver strands; the silver intensifies the natural luster. One of our customers from Arizona purchased Belle's fleece and here are a couple photos and her comments about the project so far.

"I can't tell you how great it is to be working with such a beautiful fleece! I knew I wanted to do something special with this fleece, so I will be spinning this into yarn during the "Tour de Fleece" (on Ravelry) this summer. My end goal is to have 1400 yards of worsted weight yarn to knit into a cardigan for winter wear this year. "

"As you can see from my pictures, I've only spun one 2 oz skein so far (100 yards), but I am thrilled with how well it's turning out! I still have about 1/3 of the fleece yet to scour, and then I have to pick and card into batts, but it's going so well, I am tempted to start the spinning before the tour starts!!"

Dixie Has an Embarrassing Moment!

While preparing to weigh some of the lambs, Dixie discovered the scale and partially weighed herself.

She stared at the display as if in disbelief.

"I gotta' go on a diet!"

Curlianne's 2010 Coated Romney Fleece

Curlianne, one of Bernie's twin daughters from 2009, grew this charcoal Romney fleece. Her fleece has a very defined crimp and soft locks.

Curlianne was the last lamb born in 2009. Her staple length is slightly shorter than the other lambs becuase she had fewer days to grow her wool in 2009. Her wool was just shy of 6 inches.

Saturday, On The Farm!

Daniel (aka. Fuzz) poses for his picture after being weaned. He weighs over 60 pounds now! In addition to being really cute, his wool is spectacular!

Ben and his friend Dora the lamb.

Dora loves the massages that Ben gives her!

On Saturday we ear-tagged a few of our lambs. Some of the baby's ears are now big enough to support an adult-sized ear tag. In this photo Daffodil is getting her name tag.

Daffodil is set and ready to go!

Ben and Dixon just before Dixon got his name tag.

Dixon shows off his new Grace Valley Farms name tag!

Donard, winner of the Cutest Lamb Contest, weighed in at 68 pounds!

After working hard all day, Doug and Ben relaxed with a game of horseshoes.

Doug thought he had the game won...

... but Ben came from behind with two ringers to win the game!

Good night from Grace Valley Farms!