It's Hug A Sheep Day!

We could not have had a more beautiful start to the day.  I was concerned about my timing of 8:30 for the flock walk because I was afraid everyone would be done grazing and ready to head back to the barn and it wouldn't be much of a walk ;-).  With the hard freeze last night everyone was slow getting started and the timing couldn't have been better. 

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Today is Hug a Sheep Day! 😍 Enjoy an early morning flock walk on a beautiful day. More to come throughout the day 😀. #hugasheepday #nationalhugasheepday #equinoxfarm #sheep #wool #kentuckyfarm #goodmorning

A post shared by Sara Dunham (@thecrazysheeplady) on Oct 31, 2020 at 5:49am PDT

It's A Party!

Our Hug a Sheep Day farm party will be a virtual party this year.  As long as I can get the tech stuff figured out, I think it's actually going to be pretty fun :-).  The sheep's schedule is grazing and socializing in the early morning, napping for the rest of the morning, a cookie party at 11:00, more napping, another cookie party at 2:00 and then hiding while Maisie has to gets to dress up in a Halloween costume at 3:00.

For the rest of us, there will also be a fleece "show and sell" at 1:00.  We still have several Punkin's Patch fleeces needing a good home before winter and I picked up the Rocky and Jared bred fleeces from Tring Farm the other day and there are some really pretty ones that would like to be adopted as well.  I thought it might be fun to set them all out on the porch and take a little peek :-).

Against even my own best judgement, we are going to dress Maisie in her costume live at 3:00.  We aren't going to do a test run ahead of time...mostly because I haven't even made it yet.  There is no telling what will happen, but I'm sure it will be hilarious, no matter which Maisie shows up this year.  We are probably tempting fate on this one.  I hope I don't need to add a trip to the ER to the schedule :-o.

Everything will be happening live on Instagram.  I think I'll be able to share a link to Facebook after each "event" is over, but if you want to watch it live, you'll have to use Instagram.  I'm hoping I can post them all over here as well, but I've got to get that all figured out.  

I'm estimating each event will last 10-30 minutes. Feel free to join in at any time and come and go as you please :-).

 

Hug A Sheep Day - 2020 Style

 

The only complaint I've ever received about our Hug A Sheep Day farm parties is that out of town folks can't join in.  This year?  Everyone gets to come to the party! :-D

National Hug a Sheep Day is this Saturday...which is also Halloween...wink, wink.  While we mostly aren't up to hugging Maisie, you know we are probably going to make her dress up ;-).  As far as hugging goes, we are going to try to do several fun live online events throughout the day.  There will not be an on farm party this year :-/.

The tentative schedule involves a couple of flock walks, a cookie party, a spinning demonstration, a fleece show/sale, a surprise in the Wool House...and Maisie's Halloween costume, which might be our most epic yet.  "There may be no survivors."  That book quote is not just a prediction, but also a clue.  Any guesses?

The live events will be hosted on Instagram.  I should be able to record them and post links over to Facebook and hopefully on the blog as well.  I'm not super tech savvy though, so the safest (and most likely funniest) thing would probably be to watch them live. 

I'll post the firmed up schedule on Thursday.  We'll be doing some live audiovisual tests on Friday, so there may some opportunities to give it a try ahead of time if you need/want to.  My best recommendation is find a kid somewhere that can help you get set up.

Stay tuned!  

By the way, 20 wanted me to assure everyone that he had absolutely nothing to do with 2020 and he hopes no one is holding it against him.

2019 Hug A Sheep Day

We ended up having a great farm party to celebrate (Inter)National Hug a Sheep Day this year.  Quite a few people braved the weather and while 20, warm and dry in the Wool House, got the most actual hugs, there were enough cookies flowing out in the barn so no sheep felt left out on their special day.

Amy (Auset Images) battled the dark barn and got so many great pictures that I couldn't narrow it down to just a few to share here, so what follows is picture heavy.  She's posted all of them to a gallery where you can not only view them, but if you'd like to purchase copies for yourself, it's quick and easy to do.  

The Fiber Pusher (aka Kaala's mom ;-) also took a bunch of pictures and some video and has shared those on her site as well.  The first part of her video is some footage of the sheep and sheep silliness and the second half of her video is a time lapse of the barn aisle and it's a hoot!

Woody kept everyone entertained with his obnoxious amazing gate climbing skills.

Look!  It's the lil' darlin' (Maisie ;-) politely begging for cookies.  Will wonders never cease...

Jared was once again the biggest fan of Feed A Sheep A Cookie Day.

He mugged worked the crowd the entire day and by the end was so jacked up on cookies and crackers that I wasn't sure he would ever leave the barn again to go out and eat healthy grass.  He was still wound up the next day!

Big Moose couldn't believe we would host a party just for him two weeks in a row.  I'm not sure what he's going to think this Saturday when no one comes to see him.

Oh look, it's Jared, back for more "hugs" ;-D.

Auntie Reg stayed warm and dry in the Wool House

"Hey, mister?  Could you tell all the kids with cookies to come back, please?"

I periodically took cookies out to the shy sheep so no one got left out.  

Follow this link for even more pictures :-).

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Now here's where things get super awesome.  If you follow the hashtag #hugasheepday on IG or #hugasheepday on Twitter you are going to be AMAZED at how many folks around the world were hugging sheep with us!  And these were just the ones who used the hashtag.

Remember when we had our first Hug A Sheep Day here at our little farm nine years ago?  Seriously, go click those two links (you don't need an account).  You are going to be blown away!  

All from one little sheep.

Happy Hug A Sheep Day...everyday :-).

Good Morning!

During the shepherding workshop at the Rhinebeck Blues party two weeks ago I had a someone ask if I could describe my day. Fun question! The first thing I do is grab a cup of coffee and go out and check the barn. 

Sometimes I take a "Good morning!" picture from the porch as I'm heading out. This foggy morning everyone was sleeping in so there wasn't much to see other than fog.  Once I got to the barn though, there were more fun pictures than would be polite to post on IG, so I picked my favorites to share here.

Jared (aka Big J) and Cheeto, the "power couple".

Big J on my right...

...and Cheeto's lamb, Big Moose, on my left.  I'd like to say Jared has taken Big Moose under his wing, like a father figure, but in reality, Jared caught Big Moose making googly eyes at Blossom last week and "set him straight" on who all the wimmens belong to in this flock ;-).  Boys...

"Yeah, um, the last thing you need is some coffee!"

Good morning!

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We ended up having a really fun Hug a Sheep Day Party :-D.  Amy (Auset Images) came down and took a bunch of pictures which she is working to put into a gallery for us and Benita Story (The Fiber Pusher) took some fun video that I'll share as well, hopefully tomorrow.

Now...it's time to go back out to the barn and start morning chores.  From there the day frequently becomes a surprise ;-).

Yesterday Was A Great Day For A Farm Party

Today is looking great as well!  Saturday?  Well...not so much :-/.  Blah, blah, blah.  Let's talk about yesterday!

After a thoroughly enjoying day that included a really good (carriage) driving lesson, some flower shopping, a short (car) driving tour of some of the  horse farms around Lexington and general relaxing in the finally enjoyable sunshine, Karen, Kate and I took a walk back to the pond.

And Hank went with us!  He hasn't done that since back in the spring.  That really made my day.

All the flowers have gone to seed, including the milkweed.  I am planning to harvest some seed pods to spread more plants down along the wet weather creek for next year.  They are slowly making their way down out front, but a little help wouldn't hurt I don't think.

Here's why Saturday's forecast of rain isn't really bringing me down.  Even with the recent rains, the pond level is still as low as I can ever remember.  The low growing brown plants headed up the bank are usually under water.  Yikes.

Our trees just turned brown this fall.  No good colors...except this little seedling I found near the pond bank.  We needed Saturday's predicted rain two months ago. 

Breathe in..............breathe out..............

And then follow Hank back to the barn.

You've probably guessed that the forecast for this Saturday's farm party is not looking good.  We toyed with trying to reschedule for another weekend, but next Saturday is out and after that the weather in November gets dicey enough that even a good day...is probably not a great day...unless you are a sheep or a shepherd.

It's a farm party.  Farms depend on rain.  After the hot dry summer we've had, we are still celebrating the rain.  Come January we might be tired of it, but at the end of October we aren't going to let rain keep us from enjoying what we do every day, rain or shine.

The National Hug A Sheep Day farm party is still on!  Dress accordingly and wear your rain gear...and a smile...because every day is a good day to hug a sheep, even a rainy day :-).  See you Saturday!  

A Special...But Not Really Wanted Guest

We've had a fox visiting our farm for the last couple of weeks.  With no lambs here, I'm not really worried about him or her bothering the sheep.  I do worry about the chickens though and I especially worry about Comby, who likes to hunt out in this same field.  

Yeah, I see you, too.  I think you are beautiful, but you better beat feet before Hank sees you.

If the sheep are out grazing, Hank calls them in to safety.  Doing that usually frightens the fox away, but if not, he races out to escort him under the fence. 

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“Danger!” Hank, calling in his sheep. Such a good dog ❤️❤️❤️. #livestockguardiandog #sheep #redfox

A post shared by Sara Dunham (@thecrazysheeplady) on Oct 20, 2019 at 6:21am PDT

Hank has been much happier since it's cooled down.  I think the fox is probably less happy ;-).

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The Rhinebeck Blues Party was really fun.  We had a great group of sheep and fiber enthusiasts, the weather was perfect and Auntie Reg nailed the Artichoke French!  The sheep all behaved (because we didn't use Maisie for any of the demonstrations ;-) and the only "workshop" we skipped was washing wool.  Karen taught wheel spinning and wool combing.  I taught shepherding, fleece judging and skirting.  Let's do it again next year!

The forecast for our Hug a Sheep Day farm party this Saturday isn't looking quite as good, but that's several days away.  Hopefully they are just wrong.  It will be fun, regardless :-).  Hope you can join us!

Got The Rhinebeck Blues?

Next weekend is one of the country's best loved festivals, the New York State Sheep and Wool Festival, more commonly known as "Rhinebeck".  I've been several times and it's always an amazingly good time.  Here's a fun link with a good short video.  Go watch!

This year a bunch of my long distance friends are going.  Robin and Julie will be there with the Nistock Farms booth (Building 22D) and a group from the Meridian Jacobs Farm Club are flying in from California.  

I really toyed with making the trip to meet up with everyone.  What fun that would be!  Leaving the farm though is very hard for me.  Even though we have great farm sitters, I worry about everyone, especially with so many oldies now.  Add in the 14 hour drive and how homesick I get...and I've decided to stay home.

That's not to say I'm not really sad about it though.  Rhinebeck is one giant party for sheep and wool people.  Everyone wears their best hand knits, there are sheep galore throughout the barns, the shopping can't be beat, you can learn so much in the workshops, the book signings, competitions and demonstrations are top notch...and there are cider donuts and artichoke french ;-).

If Auntie Reg didn't have such a loser friend who doesn't like to leave home, she'd be on her way to New York next week.  Everyone should go to Rhinebeck at least once.  Instead, we decided it could be fun to have a stay at home Rhinebeck party here on the farm.

• We have sheep! Sheep for breed representatives, sheep that are cute, Livestock Conservancy/Shave Em to Save Em sheep, sheep for selfies, sheep for hugs...

• We have shopping in the Wool House.  There is some roving left from last weekend, plenty of gift items, hopefully the 2020 calendars will be finished!  

• I can teach some informal workshops - maybe a beginning spinning class? Shepherding? Fleece washing?  Sheep to Shawl/Sweater discussion?  I'm open to suggestions!

• I've got lots of fiber related books I could set out for the "author area".

• Everyone can wear (or cast on ;-) their Rhinebeck Sweaters and I will take portrait pictures.  

• Instead of a competition area, we could just show off our favorite yarns, shawls, sweaters, hats...

• Reg will bring in cider donuts from that terrible (in a good way ;-) donut shop in Winchester.

• And if we get really ambitious we Reg might even try to make the famous Artichoke French dish.

• The best part?  No pan flute music ;-D.  If you've been to Rhinebeck, you know why that's funny.  I actually kind of like it...but maybe not all day ;-).

So if you've got the Rhinebeck Blues, come out to the farm next Saturday the 19th from 10:00 - 4:00.  If possible, please RSVP via email so we make sure we have enough donuts, goodie bags...  Also, let me know what sort of workshop you'd like.  Or just bring a current project and sit on the porch and [sheep] watch.

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NOT to confuse things, the 9th Annual National Hug A Sheep Day Farm Party is still on the schedule for the following weekend, the 26th.  Yes, that will be two farm parties in two weeks :-o.

Hey, any excuse for donuts ;-).

2018 Hug A Sheep Day Party

We could have had better weather, but we sure couldn't have had better sheep and sheep friends and a good time was had by all :-D.  

We'd like to thank everyone who braved the rain to come and hang out in the barn with us and the sheep would like to thank everyone for all the cookies and crackers.  Even the dogs and cats made out like bandits!

A huge thanks to Amy who once again came down to take beautiful pictures for us.  She's posted a gallery with more great pictures and even has it set up for prints if anyone would like a souvenir picture.  I've already picked out my favorite :-).

Enjoy!