The Mobile Home Woman | Our journey from urban homesteading to rural homesteading at Windhaven farm…

The 2020 Sheep Shearing…

Posted on November 18, 2020 by MobymomNovember 18, 2020

Juniper just wants a little off the sides and a cute flip on the top.

When you have sheep, you usually have fleece. At least, when you have wool sheep and that is what our gang is. Shetland, Finn and a few Shetland-Finn crosses. And they were well ready for hairdo day! We had a little trouble finding a shearer. The fellow from last year had gotten way too busy and we were once again up against the deadlines. We really like to shear in May or at the very latest, June. And with our serious flood this spring, it had just pushed things back to June…

All the cute little baby gang were confused. What the heck was going on? Why where all the mommas hanging out in this little bit of the screen porch? Why were the food ladies all standing around and waiting? Who was the new fellow with the clippers and such? They pretty quickly learned that something exciting was about to happen!

Little Freya learning from Uncle Angus all about the activities of the day!

Looks like Maggie is taking haircut orders from the ladies!

Jessy loves to hold the baby lambs and she has a hold of big old baby Gary! He was born on my dad’s birthday and just about the same time he was born, so it was an easy name for him… Gary the sheep! He was a surprise baby from his mommy Linden. Apparently, she had snuck out on a date with Lukkus that we had not planned!!! That was a crazy day… We were like, where the heck did this lamb come from? Linden wasn’t talking… she was too frazzled herself as a first time momma!

Pixie with her triplets! She raised the two big boys, Loki and Thor… and we raised her daughter, Freya since Pixie had refused to keep more than two. It was okay, it’s always interesting to raise a bottle baby. A lot of work, but it builds memories for sure. And we made sure that Freya got lots of visitation time with her brothers and mom…

Lukkus was the first one and he let all his flock know that it was just okay to get this done. Five minutes later and he was clean shaven and popped out into the middle yard to itch and rub and frolic without his heavy fleece!!

The rest were sheared in decent time and by 45 minutes to the dot, we were all finished up! I love to have a professional shearer come to the farm. They are worth their weight in gold! Just about an hour with set up and take down and shearing and all is done. It took me like 3 hours to do one sheep with my inability to shear correctly and with confidence! And it’s really pretty reasonable as well… usually a farm fee of $50 to $75 and then $5 an animal! Can’t beat that with a stick! We always tip generously… it’s so worth it.

The babies are always so funny… They don’t recognize their moms after new hairdo day! And for an hour or so they wander about crying and trying to comfort each other as they search for their REAL moms… haha… eventually, they come to realize that that sexy clean shaven ewe is their own sweet momma! But it is kinda silly to watch them bob around and just not understand at ALL!

Goldie, one of our hens, had a good time watching and then went off to hang out in a garden box! Crazy little chicken… All in all a very successful shearing! We will have lots of wool to process and make into some beautiful yarns soon!!!

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Updating the Blog…

Posted on November 18, 2020 by MobymomNovember 18, 2020

As we head into this 2020 winter, I am reminded of all the crazy things that have gone on this year. Of course, there is the Covid-19 pandemic and all the crazy things that has encompassed. But this year has been especially hard and yet endearing to us in so many ways. We had a massive flood that just gave us a huge scare and just a ton of damage… we lost my father, the girl’s grandfather quite suddenly and with much sadness. We worked hard to keep our businesses afloat, to make due when everything was insane and we thank God for our wonderful customers and friends that were a hand to help and a shoulder to cry on when needed. We did some much needed updating and some remodeling to our century old farm and farmhouse and we got my dream cottage up and finally going. I’ve had some hard health issues to deal with and we just have had a lot on our plates.

And through it all, my blogging just kind of went a bit to the wayside. It happens. It’s been over ten years now that I have been maintaining this bit of family history, this journal of our lives as they ebb and flow through the years. Good, bad and ugly! But that is just life, isn’t it?

Well, I hope to try and get things back and going again. The winter is a good time for that. Things are settling down a bit and lots of the heavy lifting of the other three seasons around our little farm are calm and off to rest. It is a great time to catch up on naps and health and get some quiet time and rest in our souls. Get a little more control and simpify life a little more. It’s all good.

I think I will spend a few posts just kind of catching up on some of the things that happened this last 6 months or so. Some farm things, family and of course, the cottage build and finish! As you can see, I’m all moved in and just adore it so much. It’s been the one calming situation in a rather chaotic year! Of course, the big house is just a hundred feet away so it’s a little more like a mom retreat, but that is quite OK with me and the powers that be. After three years of coming out each spring to check on my permits and build progress, it was so wonderful to FINALLY have something ready to go for the fellow from the county! He was so happy for us. He gave me a super hardy handshake and signed off on all the tax updates and permit things… He wished me luck decorating the inside and hoped that I would enjoy it. It was super wonderful to see him so happy to finally see my dream come to reality! I almost wish he would come back again in the spring of 2021 to see how it’s all coming together. That would be delightful.

As so many blogs seem to do, its easy for life to get in the way and time to pass. And then there is the catch up post and the “I’ll do better” post and the pledge to keep at things. I honestly do hope to do so. Hopefully a post or three a week until I am a little more in touch with the current times! Hope you will enjoy the ride along…

Maybe I’ll even figure out how to enable the comments again! Maybe not. We shall see. You can always reach me at my email… sherri at Chekal . com. (Just make sure to use the little @ sign instead of “at”. Crazy that we still have to do that these days. A straight up email will get me a flood of weird emails and such! No fun…

And don’t forget you can find us on Facebook and sometimes that is easier for day to day updates, but the blog is the place for the real nitty gritty!!!

So off to the first catch up post… all about getting the sheep gang sheared this spring!!!!

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Cottage Shopping

Posted on June 7, 2020 by MobymomJune 7, 2020

If you have been following me on Facebook much, you know that I really really really want my own little cottage. Yes, a She-Shed, but really more than just a hangout place. I want to live there for the most part. I want a Mom Cottage, a nice space that I can live in and sleep, keep the way that I want and to give my grown adult girl children time to claim their own space, in the big house.

Of course, I will be on the property, because why not? I will be in a little area that we call the old garden. It’s a beautiful place, about 100 feet from the big house and just a nice dry little place that I can have a small cottage, porch, patio and garden. I hope some day to include a fiber yurt, but that is a while off in the plans.

I originally wanted to build it all from scratch. By myself, and with friends and family help. But I started the foundation almost 2 years ago and that is about as far as I got. My health has been a little wishy washy and it was just not getting done. We have been super busy as well, just was not working out.

Then along came the pandemic. A scary time. Our orders fell off for about a week and then the went nuts. We were just so so busy. But I began to notice that a lot of the local Amish shed builders were giving out super amazing deals on these lovely little sheds. Super financing deals, discounts, zero down, and lots of extra features. It was the perfect time to consider a unfinished shell of a shed! I knew that finishing the inside and all, that would be a lot easier for me and the girls to accomplish in a reasonable amount of time. And that I could easily afford a payment under $200 since I really don’t have any payments at all except my cell phone bill. (We own the big house and property free and clear of a mortgage.) Our utilities are very reasonable as well, only electric and trash. (We have a well on our property and we heat with seasonal propane gas.)

So, on weekend in April, the girls and I went on a 6 hour day trip to go to many of the shed places around us in the 50 mile free delivery zone and just got a feel for them. And I love them! It was a fun day… We ended it with a sack lunch at Hardees in Angola, Indiana. We couldn’t really talk to anyone, but thankfully, they were all open and encouraged folks to come and visit, look around and then drop them a call or email when you had an idea.

Here are some of the photos of the day! Lots to look at!!!

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