Purplequeenvt - New Journal

purplequeenvt

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I’m packing for a 2 week trip back to VT later this week. Today is my last full day to get ready so of course I’m procrastinating.

I’m going to be hanging out with my parents and lots of friends at a 10-day long fair. I’ve grown up at that fair and my parents currently run the sheep department there. There is no longer a sheep show, but we put together a nice display with a bunch of different breeds, information about, and shearing demonstrations.

I usually bring a knitting project, my spinning wheel and something to spin. Last year I brought the fleece I spun for the shawl that I posted over on @SA Farm journal. I wasn’t going to bring a fleece to prep this year, but I decided to wash up a fleece I’ve been wanting to play with just in case.

I’m in love. The fleece is off a yearling Border Leicester/Shetland wether. I don’t normally keep wethers (although I do have a 4yo Shetland wether), but I think I’m going to make an exception in Hoy’s case.

He was supposed to go in the freezer last year, but I only had time and room to do 3 and he was a little skinnier than I wanted him to be so he was temporarily spared.

His fleece is absolutely divine. He got the softness and crimp from his Butthead Shetland dad and the staple length and luster from his Border Leicester mother. It’s soft and silky and I can already tell it’s going to spin beautiful. I can’t keep my hands off it. I should probably pack it away so I can’t touch it, but I can’t help myself.

So am I keeping a “useless” wether? Definitely. I can’t even justify it by saying that I’ll sell his fleece to help pay for his feed because let’s be real, I’m not sharing his fleece.

I keep having to remind myself that I am a grown up now and I pay for all the feed so if I want to keep an extra non-productive mouth to feed, no one can tell me no. 🤣







 

farmerjan

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I’m packing for a 2 week trip back to VT later this week. Today is my last full day to get ready so of course I’m procrastinating.

I’m going to be hanging out with my parents and lots of friends at a 10-day long fair. I’ve grown up at that fair and my parents currently run the sheep department there. There is no longer a sheep show, but we put together a nice display with a bunch of different breeds, information about, and shearing demonstrations.

I usually bring a knitting project, my spinning wheel and something to spin. Last year I brought the fleece I spun for the shawl that I posted over on @SA Farm journal. I wasn’t going to bring a fleece to prep this year, but I decided to wash up a fleece I’ve been wanting to play with just in case.

I’m in love. The fleece is off a yearling Border Leicester/Shetland wether. I don’t normally keep wethers (although I do have a 4yo Shetland wether), but I think I’m going to make an exception in Hoy’s case.

He was supposed to go in the freezer last year, but I only had time and room to do 3 and he was a little skinnier than I wanted him to be so he was temporarily spared.

His fleece is absolutely divine. He got the softness and crimp from his Butthead Shetland dad and the staple length and luster from his Border Leicester mother. It’s soft and silky and I can already tell it’s going to spin beautiful. I can’t keep my hands off it. I should probably pack it away so I can’t touch it, but I can’t help myself.

So am I keeping a “useless” wether? Definitely. I can’t even justify it by saying that I’ll sell his fleece to help pay for his feed because let’s be real, I’m not sharing his fleece.

I keep having to remind myself that I am a grown up now and I pay for all the feed so if I want to keep an extra non-productive mouth to feed, no one can tell me no. 🤣







It looks like a beautiful fleece. He is not "non-productive" if he is giving you a fleece that is that nice and you will enjoy working with it. The nicest thing is that even though he cannot have a lamb(s), he also does not require a separate pen like keeping an extra ram... so will be able to just run wherever you have room for an extra or will keep a ram company if you need him. And yes, you are an adult and can keep an extra wether if you feel like it... you are paying the bills. Your place...your rules...
 

farmerjan

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Which fair? Rutland? Tunbridge? My parents used to go to one in Fryeburg, Maine every year that they really enjoyed until my mom's dementia got too bad...I think there is one in Essex Junction also they went to a few times. It is a little sad for me to have lost most of the family contacts I had up there, and with them both gone now, I doubt I will be making any trips back up for the fairs. We have alot of fairs here in Va, but somehow I liken the ones in CT and VT to more "down home" country fairs... maybe because those are the ones I participated in with my animals and my mom & I competing in the many baking contests.
 

purplequeenvt

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Which fair? Rutland? Tunbridge? My parents used to go to one in Fryeburg, Maine every year that they really enjoyed until my mom's dementia got too bad...I think there is one in Essex Junction also they went to a few times. It is a little sad for me to have lost most of the family contacts I had up there, and with them both gone now, I doubt I will be making any trips back up for the fairs. We have alot of fairs here in Va, but somehow I liken the ones in CT and VT to more "down home" country fairs... maybe because those are the ones I participated in with my animals and my mom & I competing in the many baking contests.
It’s the Champlain Valley Fair in Essex Junction.
 

Mini Horses

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You have a right to keep him! He gives you pleasure and fiber. My dairy goats give me milk👍. And while they also must kid occasionally, I'm waiting for milk and your waiting for fleece. Yeah, my feed bill, my choice. Ya got it right!! :old hey, he's also a pretty boy.
 

Larsen Poultry Ranch

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He gives you fiber, and can be a buddy to the other sheep. I forget who on here has him, but someone has a wether that is chill and teaches the newly weaned lambs so they stop being idiots and start trusting the humans. Maybe your wether can also help like that if he has to have another job?
 
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