Spinning From the Stash

Here is what is on the bobbin right now, Llama fleece that I bought before I had sheep and Llamas! I'm trying to use up my stash so I can plunge into all the Icelandic fleeces and rovings that I have. I am spinning this Llama fleece in the "grease", actually, Llamas have very little lanolin, however, they relish rolling in the dirt at every opportunity. I card it with my hand cards, then spin from the rolags. There are some guard hair in this fleece, I could have pulled it out, but am spinning it as is. The coarsest parts I just tossed out. I will ply this (then wash and set the twist) and send a huge skein to my Dad who is knitting up a storm and wanted some yarn this color! I use a double treadle Lendrum wheel, love the flexibility and portability of the wheel. I've got the plying head, haven't gotten the fast flyer yet (for lace yarn).

Cherry Jam

We've just picked a bunch of Bing Cherries, the trees were loaded, the kids helped so much. Together we all picked 10 pounds, ate fresh, juicy Bings to our hearts content - I put up 8 - 1/2 pints of Cherry Jam (it feels like such a luxury). We all took turns using the little German cherry pitter. Also made some Bourbon Bings, from the "Home" cookbook ( a little comfort food restaurant in NYC). I love this cookbook - great canning recipes, home cooked meals and all!

The Black berries on the back 40 are getting ripe, the Himalayan wild ones that I read are native to Armenia. Our black berry patch is around 1/2 acre, home to California Quail and the native little bunnies that live around here. The crop should be tremendous, due to the perfectly times rains courtesy mother nature. We make Blackberry Gelato which I will dig up the recipe and share here soon.

Icelandic Lambs are ready for new homes!

The lambs are just about ready to be weaned - many are finding new homes, but we still have several beautiful lambs available!

Icelandic Sheep are a triple purpose breed. We choose only the best to keep and sell for breeding stock. They have fleece that handspinners love, in many natural colors (white, black, gray, chocolate brown, brown, reddish brown, buff and combinations of these colors), they have mild, lean meat and can be milked for homestead use. Our sheep all have unique personalities, are a medium sized breed of sheep - ewes are around 150 pounds, rams 200 pounds. We have available all of the badgerface patterns in our lambs for sale, which are black, moorit, gray moorit and black gray. Also solid colors, moorit and white, as well as a couple of spotted lambs. We sell only lambs with the best conformation and horn set. Come visit our website at http://www.dolcefarm.com/ to learn more about Icelandic sheep and view our lambs!