Name That Lamb Contest: Grand Prize and Finalists

As I promised back in March, everyone who submitted a winning name to my Name That Lamb contest gets one entry (per name) into my grand prize drawing at the end of lambing season.

Well, guess what?  It's the end of lambing season now, so it's time to announce the finalists.  Just to add a little bit of suspense, I'm going to wait until Monday to announce the grand prize winner.  But I don't have to wait that long to announce what they will win!

One lucky participant will win the following assortment of fun sheep-and-lamb related goodies from our farm:

1 bar of Sheep's Milk Soap

1 bar of Felted Sheep's Milk Soap

1 pack of "Sound Asleep" lamb notecards

1 "Peekaboo" lamb magnet

1 pair of Ear Tag earrings

1 pair of needle felted Fortune Cookies

Total value of the whole collection:  $45.50


Now for our list of finalists (including the number of entries each one earned:

Beth at www.cotondogs.net   (5 entries)

Carol at http://plumpfairy.etsy.com (1  entry)

Carol Volker of http://loafkeeper.com (6  entries)

Catherine Sanchez (no web link given)  (1  entry)

Channa at http://www.ohsewnice.co.uk (2  entries)

Chris Conrad of http://www.facebook.com/chris.conrad (3  entries)

Cindy of http://www.etsy.com/shop/mommysdream (1  entry)

Debra Chase (no web link given) (1  entry)

Donna Chase of http://siberia-farm.com (1  entry)

Elizabeth Brockman (no web link given) (4  entries)

Jeanne (no web link given) (3  entries)

Laurel McGilvery (no web link given) (29  entries.  If that seems like a lot, it's because Laurel earned it.  She submitted more than 300 name suggestions!)

Molly Bailey of http://www.baileygirl5.blogspot.com (2  entries)

Monica of http://crazyhousequilts.wordpress.com (1  entry)

Pat at http://www.patelliottpaintings.co.uk/ (2  entries)

Robin at www.mommymommyland.com (3  entries)

Rowena at http://cherrypik.blogspot.com (1  entry)

Skye (no web link given) (2  entries)

Stephen Pappas  (no web link given) (7  entries)

Tika at http://theyellowjournalist.blogspot.com (7  entries)


Stay tuned on Monday to find out who is the winner!

Five Years With Sheep

How time flies!  It was five years ago today that I got my very first sheep, three bred Icelandic ewe lambs that I named Pandora, Portia, and Phoebe.

Three more bred ewe lambs from a different farm arrived a week later, and my flock was on its way.  Today I maintain a flock of about 35-50 adult sheep at any given time, and we're only a couple of weeks away from our 5th lambing season.

I can't believe it's been five years already.  I've learned so much along the way, but there's always more to learn.  Of course, things haven't always gone exactly as planned, but even so all I can say is, I am so happy that I got these sheep.  They are a blessing and a delight, every day.

In honor of my original three girls, today I've released a selection of cards, magnets, mugs, journals, shirts, and other cool gifts in my CafePress shop, featuring the photo above.

I have a lot of other designs on there too, featuring all my favorite photos of the sheep, the horses, the farm, and our glorious sunsets.  So check it out!

Did You Notice Our Redesign?

If you look at this blog regularly, it's probably pretty obvious: I gave the blog a bit of a redesign today.

Since we finally sold our last horse, I exchanged the horse photo at the top of the page for a sheep photo, and removed a couple of references to "raising horses" from the site.

I also updated our list of websites (on the right side of the page) to include our Etsy store, our CafePress store, and our brand-new Facebook page, which will be featuring some promos and giveaways in the coming weeks.

I've introduced several new products to the farm in the past year. Now it's time to figure out how to market them!

Ingleside Farm Calendars, Cards, and Gifts

Here's another of my new products from the farm!

I have gotten so many compliments on my farm photos, I finally decided to offer some of my favorites for sale as calendars, cards, mugs, and other photo gifts at CafePress.

Since this is a timely season of the year to be thinking of buying a new calendar, I've posted photos of my calendars below, but check out the my CafePress shop to see what else is available. They have a HUGE array of products, including cards and ornaments. They'd make great Christmas gifts.

I have many designs already available--sheep photos, horse photos, glorious sunsets, and other farm scenes. Plus I'm adding new items to my shop all the time.

For starters, here are the calendars: