Earendel Foote and Grainney

Earendel GrainneyEarendel Foote

Since Cinwulf is still being camera shy I'll go ahead a introduce our last two babies, a ewe and ram. They are Cherrington Brandy's pride and sired by Woolly Pedro. Both are beautiful black lambs with only white marking on their heads (Thank heavens or we would have trouble telling one from the other!) We were hoping to have black lambs and were not disappointed. From a mediaeval point of view black was a hard colour to achieve with natural dyes and an equally tough colour to maintain without fading ( still is actually) Although a natural black wool will still end up really looking very dark brown after processing the wool was more likely to maintain its dark rich colour over a dyed product. In addition to this over dyeing the black wool with other dyes could produce some very exotic colours. We are looking forward to seeing how this all works out.

Initially the twins were very nervous and took some time and effort to come around, but lately they are both the most lovable babies we have. Each evening they curl up beside me and nap.

Foote and Grainney are named after two good friends of ours who are also members of the Regia group building the Anglo-Saxon long hall here at the farm. I know I did promise to tell you more about this project and it will be forthcoming..... later.

Next up the lambs mothers, Aunt Gwinnie and our two wethers Coco and Jolly, oh and camera shy Cinwulf.

Earendel Cindread

Here is our lovely spotty boy out of Kalwa Taure Esme and Cherrington Merlin. His twin brother Cinwulf is a lovely gray maybe gulmoget. Here they are with mom at only a few days old.

The boys have a great pedigree and are line bred through Cherrington. We have been really pleased with the overall quality of the fleeces from sheep with this background and plan to try maintain this line as much as possible accepting that many of these sheep are getting on in years and may need special care and love. Wait till you meet our Brandy and her babies!!!

Cindread was a surprise. We hadn't really thought that we would get a spotted lamb and now we are not quite sure what to do with him. We have bantered back and forth about breeding him but for our purposes spots are more a novelty so really we can't justify using him. He will likely be castrated in the fall.

Cindread is a sweetie who loves to play with his ball and have tummy rubs. I have to get a good picture of Cinwulf but lately he has been a wee bit shy, so stay tuned

Earendel Rose

First there was Rose daughter of Cherrrington Merlin and the totally unique

Kalwa Taure Minnie ( who is a story all to herself)

Earendel Rose was born the morning of June 5. She was our first lamb and if the phrase call a friend ever meant anything it was the phone call to Tammy with our wee bit of excitement.

Our Rose is now a month old and a growing concern. She is into everything, just like her mom!

Rose is a beautiful solid white lamb with silky soft wavy fleece.

Welcome to our farm

Welcome to our farm.

We have a small flock of Shetland sheep of mostly

Cherrington/ Skerryore/Kalwa Taure background.

Our sheep are our pets and are kept entirely for their beautiful fleece which is sold mainly to folks who spin with drop spindles and weave on reproduction mediaeval looms.

We also have a very rare breed of chicken known rather unfortunately as a Dorking and some lovely well pampered horses all watched over by Milton our livestock guardian.

The farm is also home to the Wynmerestow Long Hall project.

This is the building of a Anglo-Saxon Long hall as it might have looked circa 1000 A.D. This is being constructed by members of the Ontario Branch of the U.K. based Regia Anglorum, an Anglo-Saxon Living History organization. Once completed the hall, forge, bake oven, gardens and animal enclosures will provide a place for the group to experiment with the archeaology of the period. More on this later for sure!

Next post we will introduce our first lambs!