Monday, October 25, 2010

Don't Forget to Enter our THREE Free Giveaways!

Time is running out to enter our three big giveaways!  To enter, all you have to do is go to the appropriate blog post for the prize you want to win and comment on that post.  Only one entry per giveaway, but you can enter all three giveaways if you want:

Free Sheep's Milk Soap Giveaway  <---Click on this link, then post a comment.
I said I'd give away free bars of sheep's milk soap to five people if my soap making project on Kickstarter met its funding goal.  The project met its goal in just over a week, so this giveaway is definitely happening.  I'll give everybody one more week to enter, then I'll announce the winners on November 1.


Free Icelandic Fleece Giveaway <---Click on this link, then post a comment.
I said I'd give away this lovely Icelandic sheep's fleece when my farm's Facebook page reached 1,000 fans.  We're at 990 fans now, so we only need 10 more to go before this giveaway happens.


Free Handspun Wool Scarf Giveaway  <---Click on this link, then post a comment.
I said I'd give away this hand spun, hand knitted scarf when my farm's Facebook page reached 1,000 fans.  We're at 990 fans now, so we only need 10 more to go before this giveaway happens.


Don't miss your chance to win.  Enter today!

Soap Making Equipment

I'm very pleased to announce that my Kickstarter project reached its funding goal in just over a week, so my soap making project WILL be going forward.  Hurray!  Many thanks to our generous backers!

I won't receive the actual funds for about another month (who knew we'd reach the funding goal so quickly?), but I want to get started on the project as soon as possible because I'm going to try to have all the backers' soap finished and cured in time to mail before the holidays.

Knowing that the project money will be coming in, I was able to advance myself some money from my hay-buying fund and spend the weekend shopping.  Saturday we went in to town and got most of the soap making equipment.  Sunday I went online and ordered the supplies.  I only have a few more minor items to pick up while I wait for the supplies to arrive.  Then I'll be ready to make my first soap!

Here's what I have so far:

  • A large stainless steel pot to contain the soap ingredients while I blend them

  • A stick blender for mixing the ingredients


  • A digital food scale to precisely measure the ingredients

  • Two digital thermometers to check the temperatures of the oil and the lye-water


  • A heavy duty plastic pitcher to contain the lye-water and allow for safe, easy pouring


  • A large Pyrex measuring cup to hold the dry lye



  • Heavy duty silicone spoons and ladle for stirring and transferring the soap before it hardens


  • Safety gear:  Apron, rubber gloves, goggles, and mask.  The goggles and mask are ones I already had for crafting, but I'll get new ones to be designated specifically for soap making.


  • Wax paper, masking tape, and scissors for lining the soap mold.  The scissors and wax paper we already had.


  • Wooden soap mold with cover and soap cutter.  I had already purchased this one online here.  Once I try it and determine that it works well for my needs, I'll probably buy a couple more.  This is the 6-lb. version, that makes 20 bars of soap at a time.


  • Soap making books.  These books are ones I had already collected over the years, but I did order three more online:  one a good general soap making book, and two devoted specifically to making milk soaps, which are slightly trickier than non-milk soaps.


Also ordered online:  several gallons of olive oil, 10 lbs. of lye, and a quantity of the essential oils needed to make our exclusive essential oil blend.

I already have a good supply of sheep's milk waiting in the freezer, but I'll still have to buy some distilled water to complete the recipe.

Wednesday, October 20, 2010

The Piglets Are Weaned

The Guinea Hog piglets have been weaned for several days now.  It was easier than I expected.  They hardly made any fuss at all.  Their mom Cerridwen was restless for a few days, but now she seems pretty happy to be relieved of the burden of feeding all those babies.  She's already gaining back the weight she lost, and will be ready to go back in with her boyfriend Magick pretty soon.

Meanwhile, the piglets are so fat and happy!  I've been taking a few extra minutes each day to start petting and socializing them.  It doesn't take long for them to become tame, that's for sure.

This is how pigs should get to live:  surrounded by their friends, outside in the sunshine and green grass.  Not locked up in a crate in a horrid factory farm! 













Tansy's Golden Fleece

I've been trying and trying to take some photos of Tansy in full fleece before I shear her, because she looks absolutely spectacular this fall.  But so far, none of the pictures I've taken do justice to how she looks in reality.  Every time she walks by me, I just stop and catch my breath and say, "Ooohhh, Tansy!" because she has such a stunning fleece. 

Of course, she has always had a great fleece, but this year it's really something special.  It hangs down to her ankles in these pale, shining, golden waves, and I already know from previous years how soft and rich it's going to be.

Part of me can't wait to shear her, to harvest that magnificent crop of wool she's produced.  And part of me hates to shear her because she looks so perfect right now.







Tuesday, October 19, 2010

Not Starved Anymore

Some of you may remember my horrible experience last year with the trainer who starved my horses, and the follow-up post when I discovered how many other people had had similar horrible experiences with the same trainer.

This is a somewhat happier follow up.  As you may remember, Glory was a beautiful Warmblood filly (Art Deco daughter) who was born on my farm.  Here's what she looked like when I had her:


After she went to the trainer's farm she was severely starved.  Fortunately, my sister Donna of Siberia Farm was able to take Glory fairly quickly once I discovered what was going on at the trainer's farm.  This is what Glory looked like upon arriving at Donna's farm after being rescued from the trainer:

Now for the happier part of the story:  My sister recently sent me photos of how Glory looks now, after all these months of PROPER feed and care.  I still haven't forgiven the trainer for what she did, but at least this filly has a great life now!


Wednesday, October 13, 2010

Free Sheep's Milk Soap Giveaway

Here's giveaway #3:

As I mentioned in my earlier post, I've launched a project with Kickstarter.com to raise funds to get the equipment and supplies necessary to start making all of my luscious sheep's milk soap right here on the farm instead of hiring an outside crafter to make it for me. 

 
The Kickstarter projects work on an all-or-nothing funding scale.  Which means I have to meet my $500 funding goal by November 15th, or none of the funding goes through.

If you help fund this project, there are lots of great rewards, including selections of our soaps and even a 2-day sheep farm adventure where you and a friend can join us here on the farm for two days during lambing season in April.


To encourage people to help me spread the word about this project, I'm also offering a giveaway:

If the Kickstarter project meets its funding goal by the November 15th deadline, I will give away a free bar of our luscious handmade sheep's milk soap to FIVE different people. 

To enter, all you have to do is comment on this blog post.

But remember, the giveaway only happens if If the Kickstarter project meets its funding goal.  Help us reach our goal by forwarding this page to your friends and family, Tweeting about this giveaway, posting a link to this page on your own blog or Facebook wall, etc.


One entry per person for each giveaway, but you can enter all three of our current giveaways if you like:


Free Icelandic Fleece Giveaway
Free Handspun Wool Scarf Giveaway
Free Sheep's Milk Soap Giveaway (this page)

Free Handspun Wool Scarf Giveaway

Here's giveaway #2:

When the farm's Facebook page reaches 1,000 fans, I'm also going to give away this handspun, hand knitted scarf.


The scarf is made of pure, undyed Icelandic sheep's wool from this beautiful ewe named Urbana:



The scarf is about 5" wide and 5' long, not counting the fringe.  It is 100% factory-free.  Every step of its creation, from the birth of the sheep to the shearing, washing, carding, and spinning of the wool into yarn, to the knitting of the finished scarf was all done by hand, by me, right here on the farm.

To enter, all you have to do is comment on this blog post! 


But remember, the giveaway happens once our farm's Facebook page reaches 1,000 fans (as of this writing we have just 74 more to go to get there).  Help us reach our goal by forwarding this page to your friends and family, Tweeting about this giveaway, posting a link to this page on your own blog or Facebook wall, etc., and then the giveaway will happen sooner.

If you're the "crafty" sort and would love to make your own scarf (or sweater, or...)  make sure to check out our Free Icelandic Fleece Giveaway too.

One entry per person for each giveaway, but you can enter all three giveaways if you like:


Free Icelandic Fleece Giveaway
Free Handspun Wool Scarf Giveaway (this page)
Free Sheep's Milk Soap Giveaway

Free Icelandic Fleece Giveaway

Okay, so here's giveaway #1.

When the farm's Facebook page reaches 1,000 fans, I'm going to give away this beautiful Icelandic fleece: 

 
It's an entire raw fleece, weighing 3 lbs. 5 oz.  Retail value, $40.  It came from this lovely spotted ewe named Mona, and is a mix of creamy white and chocolate brown wool.


The fleece is suitable for either felting or spinning.  You can separate the two colors for a brown and white project, or blend them together for a more "heathered" shade.  There's enough here to make an entire sweater, or other good-sized project.

To enter, all you have to do is comment on this blog post! 

But remember, the giveaway happens once our farm's Facebook page reaches 1,000 fans (as of this writing we have just 74 more to go to get there).  Help us reach our goal by forwarding this page to your friends and family, Tweeting about this giveaway, posting a link to this page on your own blog or Facebook wall, etc., and then the giveaway will happen sooner.

If you're not the "crafty" sort, don't worry, there's a giveaway for you too.  I'm also giving away a handspun, hand knitted scarf in my next blog post.

One entry per person for each giveaway, but you can enter all three giveaways if you like:

Free Icelandic Fleece Giveaway (this page)
Free Handspun Wool Scarf Giveaway
Free Sheep's Milk Soap Giveaway

So Many New Projects!

Have you seen?  I've been a very, very busy girl lately, with several big projects to help promote the farm.

First, I finally finished doing a total redesign of the farm's web site.  Not only does it have a whole new look, it also has more than twice as much information about (and pretty pictures of) the farm.  The address is still the same:  http://inglesideicelandics.com/.


The redesign took me forever, and I'm very pleased with the results.  I think it gives a much fuller picture of who we are, what we're doing, and where we hope to go from here.

Second, I've launched a project with Kickstarter.com to raise funds to get the equipment and supplies necessary to start making all of my luscious sheep's milk soap right here on the farm instead of hiring an outside crafter to make it for me.  I'm pretty excited about this, especially since the soaps have become our most popular product.  I just shipped my first order of soaps to Japan, where the charming buyer pronounced them "very splendid."  Isn't that sweet?



I've also been working on increasing our fan base on the farm's Facebook page.  I'm so honored that more than 900 people count themselves among our fans already!  I have so much fun interacting with the people there and sharing bits of daily life from the farm .

To celebrate all these projects, and express my appreciation for all the fans and customers who help make it all possible, I've decided to do not one, not two, but THREE big giveaways.

To keep the entries for the giveaways separate, I'm going to give details of them in three separate blog posts, coming right up:

Free Icelandic Fleece Giveaway
Free Handspun Wool Scarf Giveaway
Free Sheep's Milk Soap Giveaway

Wednesday, October 6, 2010

Full Fleece Photos

This is the prime picture-taking time of year for Icelandic sheep, because they are all dressed up in their full fall fleeces, looking their best.  And they ARE looking their best this fall.  After the past couple of years being a bit "off" because I sheared them too late in the spring (resulting in short-stapled fall fleeces) or because they decided to play in the burdock patch (and thoroughly contaminate their prime fleeces) in the fall, I think this year we're going to have a terrific wool crop.

They're all looking so good, I couldn't resist doing a photo shoot yesterday.

Here's Nicholai, our beloved King of the Flock.  His age is really starting to catch up with him this year, but he's still just as handsome and sweet as he can be.


This is Rhonwen, who produces fleece so soft and silky, she actually gets fan mail!


This is Sapphire, one of my favorite ewes.  Her fleece is a very pure, inky black this year, but she still has her distinctive patch of silvering right over her shoulders.


Tawny's moorit (brown) fleece is silvered to the point that it is almost pink.  It should make for a really pretty--and unique--color of yarn.


 Titania is big and beautiful, with loads of fleece.


Tsarina is usually shy, but yesterday she seemed to enjoy posing for the camera.  And with a face this pretty, why shouldn't she?

Tsarina again.  I like how this shot shows off the three main Icelandic fleece colors right next to each other.

Ukraine looks kind of stern and burly in this picture, but actually he's a big sweetheart.


 We lost our lovely ewe Paisley this summer, but she left us with a legacy of six gorgeous daughters in our flock, all of whom have wonderfully lush, rich fleeces.  The next three girls pictured are her daughters. 

First is Tansy, whose fleece is so thick and rich it usually weighs a full pound more than that of other ewes her size.  Her wool is so long it reaches her ankles, and it shines pale gold in the sunlight


Next is Urbana, a very tame and friendly girl.  I've been working with her lamb fleece in my handspun quilt project, and it is just gorgeous.


Judging from how Whippoorwill's fleece looks this year, I'd say she's trying to rival Tansy in the "abundant gorgeous fleece" category, only hers shines like polished copper instead of gold.


 Utopia has grown so much!  She looks exactly like her mother did at this age.  (Yes, to others they may all just look like "Big Fluffy White Sheep" but I really do look at these animals enough that I can see details like family resemblances!)


Willow definitely inherited much of her fleece color and texture from her dad, Nicholai. 


Here is our always-beautiful Wish.  She's the daughter of Sapphire, the black ewe pictured above.


Love those rich red tones in Wren's fleece!


Shearing time is coming up soon for me.  I do it myself, so I spread it out over most of October, doing just a few sheep per day to avoid killing my back.  It's a big job, both time consuming and tiring.  But the fleeces are all looking so nice this year, I'm actually looking forward to it!