Thursday, June 21, 2012

Sheep Eat My Grass Part 2

The "girls" before shearing.  The Katahdin's are in front.
Four weeks after purchasing two Icelandic and three Shetland sheep to eat the flourishing grasses on my property, I discovered that these "easy keeper" sheep weren't eating enough!  At the rate that the grass was being consumed in the 150 x 150 pasture, the 10 plus acres of pasture on the property were not going to be eaten by my sheep and I would be back on the tractor mowing.  Enter two Katahdin ewes a couple of weeks ago, soon to be followed by another half dozen.  Katahdin sheep are hair sheep, meaning they do not have to be sheared.  That means no wool but then the primary purpose was to have the sheep eat my grass rather than spending countless hours mowing.  The plan was good.  The number of animals needed was grossly underestimated.
 With more animals on the way, I turned my attention to the task of shearing the Icelandic and Shetlands.  Having no clue on how to accomplish the task, I did the sensible thing and looked around for a professional.  As it turns out, there aren't that many people out there that hire themselves out as sheep shearers.  I did find one on Craig's list, made the
They aren't nearly as big as they looked!
call and set the appointment for June 20th.   The sheep I ended up with are, in the vernacular, considered very "light".  Read that wild and crazy!  There is no way to walk up to these sheep with a grain bucket and lead them into a pen for shearing.  The only chance I had of getting these sheep sheared was to construct a pen out of 16' horse panels, using one side as a gate.  But the problem of getting the sheep in the pen was still the issue.  Using our novice herding Border collie wasn’t an option in that confined space so my wife and I did the herding.  Using additional panels, we were able to funnel the sheep into the pen without too much difficulty.  But five skittish sheep in a 16' x 16' pen still have a lot of room to get away from one person trying to catch them.  So, turning the gate panel toward the inside of the pen allowed us to reduce the size of the pen making it easier to capture them.  My wife and Jason, the sheep shearer guarded the gate thus preventing a mass escape, I was able to capture the sheep one at a time and escort them out to be sheared.  That sounds simple but it probably would have won a "Funniest Home Videos" prize!  I ended up on my back once, got pulled around a bit and had my feet stomped on numerous times.  It wasn't pretty, but we got it done!  The end result was sheep with their summer haircuts and 25 pounds of fleece. I have no hesitation in recommending Jason Dockter for shearing.  He was very pleasant, helpful and his rates are quite reasonable.  His primary profession is a farrier so for shearing or shoeing call Jason at 509 435 7275.    Sheep Eat My Grass Part 3 will be dedicated to cleaning and carding the fleece and constructing simple shade shelters.
Jason shears one of the Shetlands
Shetland Sheep wool
The Icelandic wool is thick, soft and very warm!
Icelandic Sheep wool fiber

Monday, June 11, 2012

Dig It! The Secrets of Soil Revealed!

I never knew…
I had so much fun…
I can’t wait to come back…

These are just a few of the comments on the notes school kids have written and left at the  Dig It! The Secrets of Soil exhibit at the Northwest Museum of Arts and Culture (MAC),  during  classroom visits from schools across the region. 
The experience of visiting Dig It! has the same effect on older folks too, with "Wow" and "This is great" being just a couple of the more frequent exclamations heard in the exhibit.

It’s not every day that one gets to visit an exhibit from the renowned Smithsonian National Museum of Natural History, and since opening in early February, the museum has been visited by thousands of schoolchildren who after touring the exhibit, which at 5,000 square feet can take up to an hour, head to an adjacent classroom where they participate in a variety of educational activities under the guidance of MAC employees and volunteers, including Spokane Conservation District staff.

Science lessons have never seemed this much fun as the students learn about soil, (arguably the most important natural resource), while digging through the worm bin, testing soil ph, discovering soil texture and creating masterpieces using the art of soil painting.

The museum was originally open to accommodate school tours on Wednesdays-Fridays, but due to the high demand, they quickly had to open time-slots on Tuesdays as well. The exhibit will be on display until September 22, and the museum is already booking visits for the summer and the first weeks of September.

To ensure that any school who wanted to visit the exhibit could, the Spokane Conservation District worked with other agencies to procure enough donations to cover all transportation costs for schools to get to and from the museum. Those schools included local schools, such as Franklin and Windsor Elementary, schools from Medical Lake and Fairchild Air Force Base, and schools from as far away as Moses Lake, Idaho, and Okanogan County.  The students in the photos  are from the St. John/Endicott School District in Whitman County,  the leading wheat producing county in the entire nation.  Soils are the life-blood of Whitman County and Dig It! brings that importance into focus in a fun and informational format.
 
It's easy to imagine that among all the students- nearly 5,000 visited the exhibit during the 2011-12 school year; there are more than a few future budding soil scientists in the crowd, and even more who will leave a better educated and more responsible steward of soil.  We encourage everyone to visit at least once.  Can you Dig It?  We can!