Farming in the shade

Our county fair is next week, and each lamb that is shown must be slick-sheared. Think buzz-cut. To help with efficiency for our busy shearer, we invited others to bring their lambs to our farm. What do other folks do for fun on a hot, humid summer evening? While he was here, we had the shearer do our rams. The Farmer likes to wait 'til about now to give the rams their annual shearing. Can you imagine how good it feels to get all that wool off? To avoid bringing disease from the other sheep into our barns, we shear outdoors. We need to be moderately careful about hoof rot, which we have never had and do not want! The shearer works fast, but takes time to maintain his equipment. His truck is a portable workshop. We're ever so grateful for our shearer.

Far too many days pass without any weaving therapy happening. After a while, it starts to show. Today I decreed that it "shall be a weaving day." I puttered around with the loom out in the studio until it got too hot, and then moved to the small loom in the basement. Late this evening, I had the kids help me rip up sheets. Old, clean flannel sheets make wonderful rugs. Cutting them up is slow work. I learned (from another weaver) an easy way to rip them up that's actually kind of fun, too. Remove hems, seams, and/or elastic from the sheet. Cut slits in one side of the sheet. Find two children and have them grab every other tab. Pull in opposite directions. It's really fun to watch the kids hold on to their tabs and run in opposite directions. The sheet will tear fairly straight, leaving only a few strings to be picked off. Repeat, until the whole sheet has been torn up. Ready to weave!

The month of June was wet, wet, wet! No flooding (here), but enough rain every 3 or 4 days that we couldn't get any fieldwork in. Late in the month, just as we were despairing of getting the crops planted, we found a window of time to plant these: Any guesses? We planted in a former hayfield. You should be able to see hayfield residue if you look closely. Still guessing? Here's a close-up of the seed. Usually the planter puts the seed slightly under the ground. But this seed was at the end of a row, and sometimes with the up and down of the planter at the end of the row, the seed doesn't get placed at the correct depth. After I took its picture, I covered up this seed. Four rows at a time. Back and forth, back and forth.

Give thanks to the Lord, for he is good; his love endures forever. --I Chronicles 16:34