Shepherd's Hey Farm

05/04/2022

OK! All these (and more) Shepherd's Hey Farm fleeces will be available this coming weekend at the Maryland Sheep & Wool Festival Fleece Show & Sale! Come see us - come rain or shine!

04/24/2022

The lambs are getting big and adventurous! We have quite a few nice moorit lambs this year, if anyone is interested in moorit genetics for their flock(s). They have our usual mix of Romney, Corriedale , Romeldale, Border Leicester and more. Just saying. We won't be bringing animals to the MD Sheep & Wool Festival this year (will be there, just not with sheep).

04/23/2022

Looking forward to this - It's free but they accept donations for Ukraine.

Join WARP to support Ukraine!

Continuing Textile Traditions: Ukraine is a special program to raise relief funds for Ukraine. We will host Ukrainian textile artists Halyna Shepko (New York), Daryna Alieksieienko (Kyiv), Andriy Pyshkar (Ternopil), and Yaroslava Tkachuk (Lviv) for a discussion about their work within the Ukrainian weaving traditions. This Zoom presentation is open to all - please join us to support Ukraine on Saturday, April 30, at 1:00 pm US Eastern time.

Please register at: https://weavearealpeace.wildapricot.org/event-4773140

04/15/2022

Today on the farm.... spring is in the air. And guess what? We have extras.....

04/14/2022

This beautiful charcoal grey long wool fleece from our boy "Poe" has the most wonderful hand! Definitely a candidate for @mdsheepwoolfest Fleece Show & Sale.

04/12/2022

This fleece from "Barnard" is a real treat.

04/12/2022

Aaaah... courtesy of yearling ewe "Rhubarb".

04/12/2022

And now......time to get serious about skirting fleeces for @mdsheepwoolfest

04/01/2022

Here's a sneak preview of our natural colored wool with a touch of sari silk blended into it. DK 225yds.

04/01/2022

Hey all! Come see us tomorrow (April 2) from 11-3 at the Frederick Shepherd's Market! We have new yarns just back from the mill in a full range of our natural colors, some of it enhanced with flecks of colorful repurposed sari silk as well as a few dyed options. Even a few sheepskin pelts.

03/17/2022

Here's our veteran ewe, Raven. She's a steady-as-you-go, get-the-job-done kind of ewe. She had a nice looking single solid gray ewe lamb this year. Good girl.

03/05/2022

A familiar view depicted in this new cover art for the upcoming and in-person 2022 Maryland Sheep & Wool Festival. I'm a longtime fan of Susan Pearcy's pastels!

Here is this year's artwork by Susan Pearcy of Barnesville, Maryland. Susan has lived in the Agricultural Reserve in Montgomery County for 27 years and enjoys having sheep grazing next door and fiber artist friends nearby. She is continually inspired in her art and life by the natural beauty of her surroundings and works plein air in oil and pastel and creates her printmaking in @sugarloafstudio behind her home.

Find out more about Susan at https://sheepandwool.org/2022-catalog-cover-artist/.

T-shirts, tote bags, and posters with this artwork will be available online after the beginning of April (supply chains permitting). A wider selection of merchandise will be for sale at the Festival in May.

#mdsw2022

02/28/2022

Here she is - the last lamb of the season for us. So, that's a happy thing. BUT I REALLY HATE THESE SAUSAGE TEATS on her mom! Not sure she'll ever be able to latch on, they are just too huge for her mouth. Plenty of milk and a super attentive mom....but....this is not great. Tubed her twice. Will keep trying to get her to figure it out before giving in to bottles (with milk from her mom with those easy-to-hand-milk teats).

02/21/2022

You know.....lambing time can be tough. But when its 60degrees in February and you can sit on the porch with your family at sunset with a glass of wine and your bottle baby on your lap....well, this shepherd is not complaining.

02/21/2022

It seems that I'm Teaspoon's mom.

02/20/2022

Most of the lambs are free to venture out of the barn and get some sun now. Gives me an excuse to take a time out and sit out there with them! Love this time of year.

02/20/2022

The two newest kids on the block - born last night in the cold and wind. They're doing great thanks to great sheep mom "Moth". Brown one is a ram, grey one with white face is a ewe.

02/13/2022

And here is Goji Berry - just who we were hoping for from mom, Thimbleberry. Love this set of twins.

02/13/2022

Here's a closer look at Yogi Berry - born last night.he's been hopping around this morning with his sister Goji Berry.

02/13/2022

The lovely Thimbleberry came through tonight with these two beautiful chocolate lambs: Goji Berry & Yogi Berry

02/12/2022

Talenti ice cream containers are great for collecting colostrum! A handful of ewes with generous udders and single lambs provide colostrum for the freezer. I just love being able to put it up for next year or even lambs to come this year who might need it. Liquid gold.

02/11/2022

Lovely Raven had her beautiful 17 lb ewe lamb this afternoon - she's gorgeous! Took some effort on both our parts to get this one out, but this ewe is an experience champ.

02/10/2022

So "Teaspoon" went on an excursion today to visit my mother (Percy Lee Langstaff), who can't get to the barn these days. Her first ambassadorial assignment. Bottle babies are the best candidates for ambassadors.

02/10/2022

This little ewe lamb is one of Sitka's new twins. She'll be needing a name - as will her brother!

02/10/2022

We are Sitka's new babies! Born in the warm afternoon sun.... so nice!

02/08/2022

Twin ewe lambs this morning - getting dried off by mama "Elgin".

02/08/2022

Singles night! The wee hours of last (Sunday) night resulted in a color trifecta (brown, white and black) single lambs. Not yet named but doing great!

02/07/2022

Out for some Sun. These old barns make for some nice visuals - especially when Sugarloaf Mtn. is in the view beyond.

02/07/2022

Creating the sense memory 2 generations on. This is one of Willow's triplets (the lamb, not the child) named Sassafras.

02/02/2022

Hello - my name is "Grits" and I'm 4 days old! My mom is Muesli and my sister is Porridge. My color is one of many patterns of black/white/grey referred to as "blue". I think my wool will be beautiful.

02/01/2022

Lambing in winter.....

02/01/2022

Here's more of Teaspoon - she got chilled so we brought her in for awhile to warm her up and tube feed her colostrum a few times. She's back with her mom and two siblings in the barn now and keeping her body temp up well with a sweater on. Such a sweet little creature.

02/01/2022

This is "Teaspoon"! After delivering two nice sized lambs (10 and 9.5 lbs) and getting them settled in their own pen, out popped this little girl! At just 6 lbs she is very small for us and off to a slow start, but we're working hard to build her up! Mother is Demitasse - the other two are Tumbler(ram) and Teacup (ewe). First triplets of 2022.

10/18/2021

Music to the ears of this great-aunt! Welcome back, chore-buddy!

10/17/2021

There will be lambs in 2022! Did ultrasound exams on a handful of ewes today. Looks like a go for these 3. Some of you may know that I spent 10 years in diagnostic ultrasound imaging in a previous career (in a human hospital). Nice to have the transducer back in my hand, though the patients are different now.