Ram Out

Rams ready for a boat ride.

One of the things I love most about living in Downeast Maine and working with island sheep is how day-to-day activities are dictated by seasonal cycles and the weather.  The New island Year begins with taking the rams out to the island in December.   A calm seas, no wind, not too frigid day in December can be a rarity. 

This year on a slightly drizzly rainy but mostly calm day Tank (the big boy up front), Rodney (the tall dark & handsome one), and Tank's boys Tunk, Trigg, & Tide headed out to spend the winter on the island entertaining the ladies.

While the boys are out to the island, I'll occupy the long winter months with processing last year's clip and eagerly awaiting my favorite island season of all ~ lambing.

All ashore going ashore!

* 2012 *

Starcroft Fiber Mill's new home - under construction in 2012

a moving and somewhat unsettling year

Here's what I learned in 2012:

*     if you put your old house up for sale in a poor market, 

      it really could sell before you have a new house to live in

*     with a generous amount of tears and perseverance you can sort, pack, and move

      35 years accumulation of life in 6 weeks

*     house-less is not the same as home-less 

      thanks to the generosity and kindness of friends 

*     you can move into and live in 5 different places in 9 months time

      while simultaneously building a mill, a barn, and a house

  

*     you can move 3 complete households (yours, a daughter, a son) and 1 business

      in the dog days of June, July, and August

*     when everything you own is stored in boxes

      it's amazing how little 'stuff' you really need to live

*     that amidst the chaos, life continues on with celebrations of 

      a birth, an engagement, a pregnancy announcement, a graduation, and a funeral

*     that a 9 month un-anticipated hiatus from your work 

      can leave you renewed and eager to get back to it

It was a year of the un-anticipated, of patience and flexibility, of letting go 
and new beginnings.              

ON THE MOVE

Spring has arrived early in Maine!  The critters are out & about & on the move after a long winter's hibernation.  While they slumbered away winter's intrepid weather, our hibernation was a busy den bound winter of sorting through 35 years accumulation of flotsam and jetsam and packing it up into boxes.  This spring we are on the move as well.  Headed due east, closer to dear friends, an island, and some sheep.

I'm hoping you will forgive my lack of attention and lend some patience as we pack up lock, stock, and mill and move to our new home.  We'll take a bit of a breather to settle in and enjoy some island lambing time.   And then we'll have those machines up and humming again just in time for this year's new wool clip!

P.S.  our new address is:   9 Farnsworth Road    Columbia, ME  04623