Its breeding time again

We purchased a really good looking ram from Tongue River Icelandics, in Missouri last spring. Sadly the owner, Susan Briggs, was dieing, and needed to sell her much sought after lifestock. First to go were the ewes. Priced at $300 a piece when you bought 3 or more, they went very quickly. We didn't need any more ewes here at Hedgeapple Farm, so I waited, hoping the rams would go next. My patience paid off. When the rams were listed for sale, I looked over what was available, and picked two rams. Thunder is who we got. He is gorgous, lovely carmel coloring, and what a build. He had the best meat confirmation out of her ram lambs that year. His mother was also one of her milkest mothers. He has been one of easiest rams to work around next to Rocky. This should be fun to see what colors the lambs will be come spring. Rocky threw mostly black lambs, only 2 were white out of 24 lambs. Looking forward to April 24th! That's when the first Icelandics are due.

Giving Thanks

Its that time of year where we all look around us to see what we are thankful for. Here I am reminded daily of God's goodness. I was reminded of the fact that I am living my dream of having a family, owning a farm and raising animals. I didn't have anything specific in mind when I was a young girl, as to how many acres, or even what kind of animals I would own or even the number of children I would have. The journey to get to this place in life has been fun, though I doubt my husband would agree with me. Seems I get these *ideas* and he winds up either helping or taking over the job himself.

I give thanks daily to our Precious Lord for giving me life, and for Jesus giving up his life for me, all because he loved me.

I thank all my customers for helping us have one of the best years ever. They have bought eggs, chicken, lambs, breeding stock, and wool products. I pray for each and every one of them daily. Thank you.

I also want to thank the people who help make our little farm successful. Thank you Abi,High Prairie Fibers, for processing all our wool for us. Also for teaching me how to spin, and sparking that love of sheep again. Thank you.

Thank you Maggie for helping me sell my wool and yarn through your shop at Prairie Land Herbs. Thank you for the classes you hold at your shop. Without the classes I most likely will not be spinning, owning sheep, making my own soap, laundry powder or tooth paste. Thank you

Happy Thanksgiving everyone, and may God bless you and your family during these holiday's.

All Finished!

The coop is now done! All the plastic is up, the outside walls are insulated with old wool. Plus I got my first green egg from out Auracana pullet! We are getting around 21 eggs a day, and that number should conintue to go up!

I also found my Angora bunny fur to blend with my Icelandic fleeces. That should make a wonderfully warm, soft yarn when its all blended. My friend Abi at High Prairie Fiber in Letts, Iowa does all our processing. Her website is . I try very hard to keep my buisness local, so all my fiber that I sell, is grown and processed right here in Iowa. How cool is that?

Chicken coop/ surgery/lambs

What a year this has been. I haven't posted in sooo long! The winter was long, cold and very icy this year. The result was a good amount of pain for me. It got so bad, I finally got up enough nerve to get a second opinion on my arthritis of the hips. Yep! The Dr. agreed I have arthtitis, and surgery or pain med's were my only option. The cane wasn't helping much, and I tried to use as little as possible. So I agreed to surgery, with the hopes I would get my life back. Here we are 5 months later, and yes, my life is back, but with quite a mess on my hands. I have been working with my children to get things back to a respectable level of chaos. First things was the chicken coop. We hung up the nesting box, created lots of room for the girls to roost, hung up their feeders, and are just about finished with insulated the coop with yucky wool and plastic. The poor coop is an old smith shop made out of tin. The tin has lots of holes punched out ( for nailing?) which doesn't stop the wind. After we are done with that, we will line the inside with wood to keep the chickens from pecking through the plastic.

As for our lambs! We were blessed with 13 ewe lambs and 5 ram lambs. Four of the ram lambs went to customers, and I kept one of the lambs for breeding stock. His mom is one of my best mothers, very milky, great mother, and a wonderful fleece plus to top it off, she also seems to be parisite resistant and has thrown that off to her offspring as well. Most the lambs were black as well. I have such a rainbow of colors outside! Such beauty. Hopefully I can get some pictures when I figure out where they are on this darn computer...