Chicks are here!

Our 35 chicks are here. I ordered 30 Jumbo Cornish Crosses and two California Whites (for white eggs), two Gold Sex-links (for brown eggs) and one Ameraucana (for green eggs).

I started them off in the basement in a wading pool for a few days. I had them out in the sunshine this afternoon until it started to sprinkle. And now they are out in the barn in a dog crate. Not coming back in the house, it's amazing how fast those little buggers can stink up the place!

The three adult hens we already had are keeping us nicely stocked with fresh eggs. That makes me very happy. But I think they need a rooster. One of the ladies has started to crow in the morning. ;-)

Home Again!

It's so good to be home again! We lost a tree in the backyard and the BFL rams managed to outwit Stan and munch on all my raspberries while I was gone, but other than that, everything is fine.

I started out by attending Chad Alice Hagen's seminar on dyeing felt scarves with dyes painted on paper. What a fun teacher she is! Immediately afterward, Kim and I got on the road out west.

Kim's friend Susan was such a gracious hostess even though she was grieving over the loss of her beloved dog, Bennie. Here is a photo of Kim on the phone with Susan a few hours before we arrived at her place. We were in Wyoming at that point, it seemed like the middle of nowhere. But the sign at the rest stop said we were on the Oregon Trail and just past the Continental divide. Just imagine people in covered wagons making that trip to settle out west!

Susan's partner, David, came home from Alaska in time to give us a back-roads tour of the Grand Tetons National Forest on a beautiful sunny day.
Views of the Grand Tetons from Jenny Lake...

Kim, David, and 100% Border Collie, Sky...reminds of the movie "Heidi".

We saw a bear cub, two moose with their calves, lots of buffalo, antelope, and deer. Mama bear was nowhere in sight so the photo above was taken from INSIDE the vehicle.

Below is a photo of an osprey nest which is located across the river from another house of David's which is located within the National Forest (and is for sale) -- note the little heads sticking up.



Kim's dog, Rabb, was so well behaved. He had a great time mingling with Susan's dogs for four whole days and riding in the truck with us the rest of the time. In the photo above, Rab is on the right and his brother, River, is on the left. It was quite cold and rainy/snowy in Wyoming, so Kim and I had to buy warm clothes -- which we lived in the whole time.

I did manage to sketch the mountainside at Susan's one sunny afternoon, and I got lots of photos to work from.
Susan's pasture at sunset...

The Estes Park, Colorado Wool Market was great! Kim and I got there in time for the BFL breeder's banquet. It was wonderful to meet the BFL breeders from out west and see their sheep. Jared Lloyd did an excellent job of organizing things and cooking up lamb for the banquet. It was absolutely delicious! I was especially thrilled to meet some of the other BFL Breeders Association Board members in person. After all those long e-meetings, it's great to finally put faces with the names. We did a little shopping on Sunday morning and checked out the sheep one last time then headed for home.

Yes, we saw some amazing scenery, but we both agreed there's nothing like getting back to good old Minnesota. Complete with mosquitoes!

I spent a lot of time getting reacquainted with the sheep and seeing how much the lambs have grown. Cocoa and Jasmine will be leaving for their new home next week, so I have a few more days to spend with my favorite ewe - sniff, sniff. (She's going to a good home with greener pastures, and that's all I can ask for with my sheep.) All the girls were happy to see me again and the lambs were too.

Elsa will be going with Cocoa and Jasmine rather than Cora since Cora has a new baby to care for. Her moorit smirslet ram lamb is still pretty little and he was trying to instigate lamb races last night, but couldn't get any takers. They were all too busy munching on hay.

Eight Days on the Road!

I'm so excited - tomorrow morning I am attending the Shibori Symposium at the Textile Center of Minnesota. I signed up for a seminar by Chad Alice Hagen. I love her felt work! Her latest book, "Fabulous Felted Scarves" is full of innovative felting techniques. The seminar will be on transferring dyes on paper to felt. Should be interesting!

Immediately afterward, Kim Nikolai and I are leaving for an 8-day road trip to Wilson, WY (near Jackson). We will be staying with her friend Susan for four days. We're hauling out five Scottish Blackface ewes for Susan from Littledale farm in WI. Kim and Susan want to work with their Border Collies and the sheep. I plan to take photos, sketch, paint the mountain scenery.

We'll be heading down to Estes Park, CO for the Wool Market and BFL Revolution over Father's Day weekend.

I am really looking forward to meeting some of the BFL and Shetland breeders from out west! I can't wait to see all the sheep in the competitions too. The BFL breeders are hosting a banquet on Saturday evening and I hope we get there in time to attend. Sounds like Jared has a great menu of lamb planned that night.

I'm not sure I will have access to my email account out there. So if anyone needs to get a hold of me via email, you can use riveroaksshetlands@yahoogroups.com if I don't respond to the regular address.

I've been busy getting ready to leave my home and flock for a whole week. I got the older lambs started on their CDT shots and filled all the mineral buckets. Put out two water buckets just in case someone forgets to refill them. I got the garden planted yesterday and put hog panels around it to keep the cats and dog out. By the time I get back I should see corn, lettuce, zucchini, cucumbers, squash, pumpkins and watermelon sprouted. The forecast looks warm and rainy for the coming week, so my onions, peppers, and brandywine tomatoes should do fine.

Check out how hefty River Oaks Lana is getting! The lambs are all growing so fast! Well, except for Jemma's little black Shetland Mule ram lamb. Gosh, he's so cute and little! Cora's little ram lamb is super friendly and has the quietest voice. I think he'll have a long and wavy fleece and a great little tail.

Here's a shot of River Oaks McIntire evading the wrath of Derra the other day. He was hoping to get a drink and she let him know it wasn't gonna happen. I'm still hoping he may turn out to be dark brown. He's out of River Oaks Hattie, a black F2 Holly (BB/Bb) and Windswept Boggart, a mioget. Sabrina has a black she's hoping is modified and I think they both look brown in the face already.

One last shot of my azalea blooms and bleeding hearts. They'll be history when I get back. I love the azalea blossoms. I wish they would last longer. The bleeding heart has been in bloom for a couple weeks and it's getting bigger every year.

Okay, back to packing and cleaning. We have a party to attend this afternoon at Mark's place. Here is a shot of his figure after I added the glasses and before I added wisps of BFL locks for hair in back. It stands about 7.5" tall. Yes he did like it but would have liked to have seen some abs on the tummy.

Needle Felting Project

First, Socks says "Hi". It's always so hard to get a photo of him, because he's so friendly. He's Mabeline's Shetland Mule lamb that has been wethered.

I've been working on this needle felted bust of my friend Mark for his 60th birthday, which was yesterday. I thought I was done, but since his wife didn't pick it up, I'm re-doing the left hand (it was too big and the arm too long) and I'm making some glasses for him. I might even throw together a shirt for him to wear. I stuffed the belly with rocks to add stability and weight. I sewed the head onto the body too. But I left the hat removable so we could enjoy the bald head. Lots of fun to do, but very time consuming!

This is a shot of Jemma's Shetland Mule ram lamb. He's not growing very fast. He's just as cute as a bug's ear and so friendly. I haven't wethered him yet because he's so small, but I think he would make a nice fiber pet.


And here's a shot of Matt and Rhyn's BFL ewe lamb, Onyx. She's really friendly too. Just like her mom who loves attention. The both of them are shown below. Me and Mini-Me. ;-)

Finally Finished Lambing!

I am happy to say we have finally finished the 2008 lambing season as of this morning. Cora gave birth to a moorit smirslet ram lamb during the night. He's such a cutie! I was hoping for twins from her -- maybe a ewe lamb or two-- but I'm very happy with a healthy single. Now I can relax and put the barn cam away. Yes!

I knew Cora was getting close to lambing because she was definitely dropped yesterday and her bag was full. I did a barn check about 10:30 p.m. No sign of labor, but I was suspicious anyway. So I watched on the barn cam around 11:oo p.m. and noticed a couple ram lambs were bugging her. That was enough to get me back out there to put her in a jug. I awoke to the sound of a strange howling dog around 4:30 a.m. and checked the barn cam. Cora was still walking around, back and forth in the jug. I thought I had jumped the gun and shouldn't have jugged her overnight. Then I saw her stick her head through the panel to a dark lump on the ground outside the jug. I thought, "OMG, what is that?" I ran out and sure enough, it was a cute little ram lamb curled up sleeping! He was all licked off and well fed, but he must have crawled out of the jug and not figured out how to get back in.

Thankfully all is well and we have ram lamb #14 on the ground. So this brings our total lamb count up to 22 born this year, 21 live. Eight are purebred Shetlands, six of which are ram lambs. But very nice looking ram lambs!

And Finally, our Current Sales List

Sorry to say that my website updates aren't uploading as planned, so I'm posting my sales list here on the blog for now. Email me for more information, prices, etc.

River Oaks Shetlands in Mora, Minnesota has three NASSA registered ewes for sale this spring. All are gentle and tame ewes with good lambing histories. We have no "wild child" sheep here!

River Oaks Eliza, beautiful white 3 yr old with fabulous fleece, 18% UK, single

Bramble Jemma, F2 Minder, 6 yr old black ewe, twin, has some iset

Bramble Cordelia, F1 Minder, 9 yr old Ag fawn katmoget ewe, quad

I love all these girls, and I hadn't planned on selling them, but I need to whittle my numbers down, so they will be available to good homes.


We will also sell Elsa, another beautiful white Shetland ewe, 3 yrs old to a good home. She's not registerable, but she's very sweet and a small ewe. I used her in my crossbreeding program this year.

We will have three Shetland Mule ewe lambs available after weaning this summer/fall. When mature, these girls will be about 1/3 larger than purebred Shetland ewes and have BFL influenced fleece with lots of crimp and luster. They will be as hardy as their Shetland mothers and just as good at mothering, even in their first year. They can be bred to larger breed rams when mature to produce market lambs. Calm and gentle personalities, they all carry color. I love this cross!

We will have four NASSA registerable Shetland ram lambs available after weaning and horn evaluation. All sired by Windswept Boggart, a rose mioget Shetland. They carry modified and spotting genetics. Prices will vary on these boys as evaluation takes place.

River Oaks McIntire, Black (or dark brown?) twin, F3 Holly, out of River Oaks Hattie, longish tail, but sturdy build, good looking horns and nice face.

River Oaks Julius, Fawn Katmoget single, F2 Minder, out of Bramble Cordelia, good looking horns and conformation, nicely curled locks.

River Oaks Rueben, very nice single fawn out of River Oaks Eliza, with a beautiful intermediate fleece.

River Oaks Marshall, Fawn (or rose mioget?) F3 Holly with moon spots, will be longer fleeced. Very silky fleece now.

We will offer Beechtree Dougal, 2 yr old registered white Bluefaced Leicester ram for sale also. Will consider trade for yearling polled black Shetland ram...with modified or spotting genetics or other markings if possible.

We also have two polled 3/4 Bluefaced Leicester, 1/4 Shetland ram lambs for sale, both are singles out of yearlings. They have fabulous BFL fleece. One a gorgeous grey and one white. Big boys, already close to the size of Shetland ewes at only 7 weeks old.

We have a white 3/4 Shetland, 1/4 Bluefaced Leicester ram lamb for sale also. He's single out of a yearling and is chunky with the BFL fleece and long torso. Sired by a black gulmoget shetland and he's polled.

And last but not least, we have two BFL/Shetland cross wethers available. Both are totally affectionate with nice fleece. One is gray spotted and the other is frosty black.

If interested in any of these, please let me know and I can send more photos, fleece samples, etc.

Memorial Day Weekend

I hope everyone is enjoying the Memorial Day weekend. The trilliums and wild strawberries are in bloom in the woods. The photo at left is taken from the pond's edge, you can see our little red barn on the horizon.


Things are kind of dull here with the poor weather yesterday and the high gas prices. Also, Stan and Matt had to work all weekend. Our oldest son, Alex, came up for the weekend, but I'm afraid he's been rather bored with just me to keep him company. It's nice out today so maybe we can head over to the land and check things out.

The boys took Alex's inflatable kayak out on the pond on Saturday, it was a good thing they did it then because on Sunday the mosquitoes hatched and they are ravenous! My poor sheep! I have to get refills for my automatic barn sprayer ASAP. The poor BFL's have open faces, necks and bellies so they get hit hard. Add to that the woodticks they pick up on pasture and I hope they aren't anemic!



The Stone Cherry tree in the front yard is blossoming, it's always so beautiful when it does. We got this tree as a seedling from Early Childhood Family Education class when Matt was about four years old. It has grown into a beautiful tree. The fragrance of the blossoms is so nice too.






A close up of the blossoms...







The apple tree is blossoming too, we should have a good crop of apples this year.



Here's a shot of River Oaks Lana, our black gulmoget ewe lamb out of Kimberwood Harrison and River Oaks Lucy. She's got a lot of UK genetics in her pedigree, mostly Roban Dillon, but Holly too.


Here's a shot of River Oaks Julius, he's an F2 Minder out of Bramble Cordelia and Windswept Boggart. His fleece is gorgeous right now. I hope his horns turn out okay. If they do, he would be a great flock sire for someone.

Okay, back to packing wool for Zeilinger's in Michigan. As I type this I am surrounded by bags of washed wool. I have lots of Shetland moorit, musket and white to be made into combed top this year. I'm having the Baby Doll fleeces and a short UK type Shetland fleece made into quilt batts. The BFL fleeces are being made into roving. Oh, they are so luscious! And there will Shetland Black, Black iset, long silky moorit and fawn roving made too. I want to get all stocked up for the booths I'll be doing this fall. It's already too late for the summer booths I'm doing.