Let's play catch up in September 2010

On The Farm

Lots of changes here since May. Had a total of 8 lambs this year. One Registered Icelandic ewe lamb is staying. Her twin brother was sold to another breeder last month. Also have one half icelandic wether staying. My hubby likes his colours and personality. So he will be the companion for the Icelandc ram and supply fleece for the fibre mill in future. That should pay his keep in the long term.

With the chickens, ran the incubator and had 7 easter egger hens, 2 brown egger hens, 8 guinea fowl and an assortment of roosters hatch out. So lots of green eggs and lamb in our future:) The ducks did not hatch. Think the current drake is firing blanks:(

The Turkey poults have grown. Had a raccoon attack that killed 2 of them, but we still have 4 doing fine. One tom may make it to the table for Christmas dinner. That would leave a trio of Narraganasetts. Should be enough to get some eggs to put in the incubator next spring.

Bought a lot of 10 khaki campbell ducks in August. That brings the duck total to 14. We need one of the ducklings to be a good drake. Would like to be able to set some of those eggs for next year too.
In fact hope to be able to offer Narraganasett poults, Khaki Campbell ducklings, Easter Egger Chicks and Guinea Fowl keets for sale next spring and early summer. Plus of course keep some for our own freezer and breeding replacements. Next thing here may be building one of those whizbangchicken pluckers!

Graintime!!!

At The Torch

Not alot happening here. Now that the temperatures are not at 90+ that will change!

With The Pliers

Continue to play with chainmaille patterns and their use as links for the lampwork beads stockpiled from last year. Turning out tried and true earrings, bracelets and necklaces.

In The Mill

Ah, Another area of activity!! Mill was up and running July 1st 2010.
Have been processing our own farm grown fibres, fibres bought from other farmers or the wool co-op in Carleton Place and of course custom processing for others! Next addition here will be a fibre tumbler...looking at several different ones now to pick the best for us. Have truly developed a love for covered fleeces! Enough so I think my sheep are getting coats again this winter.

Meanwhile, as time permits, I am listing the home grown fibres processed  (and also in some cases dyed) on Etsy and eBay.
Been busy learning the shipping ins and outs.

Right now our turn around time is under a month, but that will change as we get more custom work in.

For now we only go from fleece to roving. Eventually I see a spinning frame, steamer,  skeinwinder, ballwinder and felting table. But I am determined to grow only as the mill can support each addition. We supplied it a building, water system and the initial equipment, now it has to supply for itself and for us:)

On The Road

This is a new section that will now and then say where we will be or where we have been.

We had a booth at a local event this year in Verona. The event was the Cattail Festival. Featured Jewelry, loose beads, and fibre in both roving and batt forms. Sales were fair given that we are still fairly unknown and it rained for half of this outdoor event. Was certainly a learning event dealing with a market tent in high winds and heavy rain:)

In October we will be going to The Duchess County Sheep and Wool Festival ( Rhinebeck). This year we are not looking at selling, is mainly a look and see trip. Have not been to Rhinebeck in 8 years. Next year or the year after we may look at the cross border selling issues and see if it is worthwhile for us. For sure next year we will have a booth at the Sheepdog Trials at Kingston. Had some of our fibre there this year, Thank you to Kim at Cornerstone Fibres!

Sorry no pics for this area. Were too busy keeping the booth up to get a pic of it this time!
In future though who knows?

May 2010

Well another month has flashed past!

Lots happening here.

On the farm

Babies! Babies! Everywhere!

The lambs started to arrive Easter weekend and the last set of twins was born May11th.

So grand total is 8 lambs from 5 ewes. Seven little rams and 1 ewe in all.

Have a pair of purebred icelandics, one of these is the little ewe and she is staying to add to the flock. Her little brother, white with horns, is looking for a new home.

Then there is a pair of half icelandics, a black almost badgerface marked ram and a white ram, both now wethered, are looking for new homes as well. Dad is the icelandic, Mom is a mixed breed, I suspect has Jacob in her because she has dark grey spots on her back in the skin. These babies have an interesting texture to their fleeces. Soft, but curly like the baby icelandics.

Then a pair of black, now wethered, ram lambs of mixed breeding, some Down and some Lincoln in the background. Fleece has a Down feel to it, lots of springiness.

And lastly another set of black rams with lots of Down/Loncoln in them as well. They have a stronger fleece then the black pair above.
All of the lambs, except the Icelandic ewe, are for sale.

The Icelandic ram can be registered. He is priced at $300 no papers or $400 with papers.

The other lambs are priced at $200 each, no papers with any of them. All lambs are ready for new homes late in July 2010.

The little turkeys, Narragansetts, are growing like crazy. they are still in the brooder unit, but are feathering up fast. Looking at keeping a trio of these as breeders. Now to finish their future home!

There are 2 Blue Eyed White (BEW)  angoras, born in April, that will be looking for new homes soon, too. They are registerable ARBA. There will be 2 more litters of mixed colours to be born yet. Expect a mix of BEW, Vienna-marked (VM) and maybe a few showable solid coloured Angoras in those litters.

Bunny prices are $90 for BEW, $75 for solid colour showables and $50 for VM or unshowable wooler grade bunnies. Any shipping costs are the buyer's responsiblity.

Have the second of 3 planned litters of Meat rabbits growing out now.

Have started saving duck, guinea hen and chicken eggs to get into the incubator in the next week, too.

At the Torch
Worked on only a limited number of beads this past month, mainly Easter themed things. Little chicks, a duck, couple of egg shaped beads decorated for Easter.
Not alot going here, time is going into other things now...

With the Pliers

Still working on lots of chainmaille. Want a new lanyard for the day job, so that is getting picked at. Also making earring links to higlight future lampwork beads.

In the Mill
Now we have hit the hotspot of activity!!!
The card and picker are here. In fact I have run a few lots of my own fibres through them for personal use at the moment. Very pleased so far with the results.

Have the water system almost installed into the shop for washing the fleeces. Holding tank for wastewater is in, water heater is in, water lines are roughed in...we are waiting for the heated water line we need to avoid winter freeze ups for the supply line from the house to the shop to arrive and we have to pick up the wash tubs this weekend. Once those bits are here we can finish hooking up the water system, washers, water heater and then we can get serious about fleece processing. Yes, we will do custom pocessing once all is in place, till then, to get me started we picked up 200 pounds of fleece from the premium fleece division of the Wool Grower's Co-op, that will be processed into diz pulled roving and spinning batts. Some of the fibre will be left the natural white, grey or black colour of the fleece and some will be dyed or overdyed either by immersion or handpainting as the urge strikes me. I may offer custom dyeing eventually, but for now I am looking at just dyeing my own colour ranges for resale.

For more the details on this see the Custom Milling page on the website; http://www.fireandfluff.com/.

Eventually I will have lots of stuff up for sale on the website, through our Etsy store (wwwfireandfluffcom), an Artfire store and an Ebay account. The last 2 have yet to be created...only so many hours in the day!

I think that pretty much gets us up to where we are now...so here are some pictures to enjoy!

One of the black wethers

White half icelandic wether

Icelandic Ram Lamb

Black Half Icelandic Wether Lamb

First roving off the card!

Can't wait to have enough to be worth setting up the dye pots!

April Update

Wow I missed a whole month and never even felt it...Knew things were busy...

On the Farm
Well the barn is busy now!
Had baby bunnies and lambs on the Easter weekend.
Litter of meat rabbits was born April 4th, all 8 are doing well.
On Easter Sunday the Icelandic ewe had her twins, a ram lamb and a ewe lamb, both white...the little ewe though does have a black spot on one of her hind legs just below the hock, will have to look into whether that makes her a spotted sheep genetically: Still learning the Icelandic genetics at this point. Everyone is doing well. Today is their second day going outside with mom, till now they were all in a lambing jug.
So, now there are 4 more ewes to go; 1 more bred to the icelandic ram and 3 of them who went with the coloured half lincoln ram.
Then to keep the flow of babies going, Tuesday April 6th, the first of my Blue Eyed White English Angoras had her babies. Started with 8 but she is down to 2 now...She overturned her nest on the only below zero night we have had in a week:(
There are 2 more Angora litters expected in the next few weeks, another BEW litter and a litter that will be a mix of Vienna-marks and maybe if I am lucky BEW.
Turkey poults (6 of them) arrive in 2 weeks, built them a brooder box last weekend.
Have chickens and ducks ( khaki Campbell's) laying eggs like crazy, now if the guinea hens would just get started...Once everyone is laying I am going to set some in th incubator. Will have to start the duck and guinea eggs about a week ahead of hte chicken eggs as those two take longer to hatch.
Cleaned out the hen houselast night while everyone was roosting...what a job!
Next thing with the poultry will be putting up a new henhouse (shed kit) we have here to house the hens, ducks and guineas, that way the current henhouse can become turkey housing. With the new henhouse we have a better yard including a small pond area for the ducks planned.

At the Torch
The torch right now is suffering...I am working on either barn or mill projects right now. The urge to merge glass will take over again sooner or later though!

With the Pliers
In spare moments here and there, usually while the TV is on, I am working on Chainmaille,  twisty bits of wire and other components for future jewelry projects. When the animal housing and mill are slower these bits and pieces will go into earrings, bracelets, necklaces, anklets and lanyards along with some of the beads from the winter torching gone by.

 In the Mill
Now here is another area of action at the moment.
Have ordered the card and picker, in fact they should be here anyday now.
Had the plumber out to get an estimate on the water system and how best to connect to the current plumbing. Same with a holding tank for waste wash water...
Thankfully only minor changes are needed to the hydro service and set up...
Now collecting the other small bits and peices: Washing machines, laundry tubs, dyeing tubs,  fiber bins, drying screens, GST/PST numbers, biz registration, stationary and more.
The shop area is clearing out nicely, still a ways to go, but when we are done the building will have my fiber and torch areas seperated from my hubby's woodshop. Then we won't have to stagger our working in the different  shop areas like we do now...( think sawdust and fiber or open flame...yeah not pretty)
In a few weeks I expect to be processing the first of my own fleeces and then I will go from there if others are interested in my prcessing their fibers as well.

One thing about everything we have on the go...no time to get in trouble!

Hope all had a great Valentine's Day...As a chocoholic this is my time of the year! First Valentine's Day and then Easter...sigh. Perfect start to the spring!

Not much new really...still in that quiet time before the weather lifts, we ditch the heavy coats and get to the work of the year.


On the Farm
We are really in a holding pattern. Sheep are due but not for another couple of months...earliest I expect is April 10th. Cassie may surprise me, but I doubt it seriously.

The chickens have started to lay, so we regularly have fresh eggs of brown, blue and green...we have a mixed flock of Rock, Cochin and Americauna hens. Couple of month's will see the incubator busy again.

The ducks and guinea fowl are not laying yet, but could start anytime.

Think I have found a poultry processor to deal with the small numbers of ducks, hens, guineas, and turkeys I need done each year. My usual processor does not do poultry anymore.

The meat bunnies are big enough to go to the freezer...so need to call the local processor to set a date up for them.
The Angoras are getting blown off and fluffed to get ready for the start of the show season. To that end I have to get my passport in March. Will need it to go across the border to shows in the Fulton, NY area. No panic yet lots of time.

Ordered the turkey pullets from PP over by Picton. So look forward to getting them in late April...there will be 6 straight run Naragannsett turkeys. Hope to get at least one male and then keep a pair or trio for future eggs to hatch; the rest will go in the freezer.

Once it is warm enough to work outside we have a shed kit to put up to give some of the poultry a new home. The ducks will like this most as we have a pond area planned for them:) Their current home will eventually be used for the Turkeys.


At the Torch
I am in an animal mood lately. Have been building bird, fish and sheep beads. Once some are cleaned up, I will have them on the Etsy site.


With the Pliers
I am making mainly things for my pleasure right now...earrings, bracelets mostly, but a necklace or two is looking at getting out as well. Working with a lot of chainmaille now.

In the Mill
Have done my research, pretty set on what will work. Have the building zoned, know what will occur with the hydro service, have the phone figured out, next thing is a need to get the plumbing contractor out. That will likely be March's thing. Too cold to trench right now anyhow to get water to the building for fleece washing.
Meanwhile we continue to clear the building out. When enough space is cleared we can put in the wall for the office area and the picker catching room.

Well that is the highlights from here for the moment.
May the joys of the late winter be yours, while the headaches go to your enemies...

cheryl

January 19, 2010

Well here we go into the blogasphere....

I plan to now and then update this spot with happening from our farm, fibre mill, and my lampwork torch.

Things are quiet right now with all areas.

On The Farm:

Mid-winter there are no new babies...too bad! Is great fun to watch little lambs, bunnies, chicks, ducklings or turkeys play and bounce about...Ah well, few months and things will liven up there.

Have 5 ewes of assorted breeds that I think are all pregnant...then in a few weeks as spring gets closer I will start on Blued White English Angora litters and get the incubator "cooking" with ameracauna and duck eggs...order our turkey pullets for the spring...Life will start to spring ahead for another year.



At the Torch:

Working sporadically on beads. Playing with poked floral designs alot right now.
Bit of wierd critter work for fun and some colour blending experimenting too....
Blast of fall activity seems to have burned me out for now. But the urge to merge glasses will come again...it always does:)



With the Pliers:

Not doing very much jewelry design right now. Had a blast of activity in the fall and now just fiddling with some chainmailles combined with lampwork beads. The urge to create will hit again through I know and I will bend wire manically again till it passes.



In the Mill:

The planning continues. We are looking at a mid 2010 opening for the fibre processing mill. Reseaching equipment, getting zoning and licencing in place and renovating our soon to be workspace. Before long we will be turning dirty fleeces into beautiful spinners rovings and quilters batts. Looking forward to playing with some fibre blending too; I love my angora mixed with wool and natural fibre colours blended with Angelina...



I think if I can post here once a month it should keep all os us straight on what is going on at

fireandfluff.com...

Have a warm and safe month all!!