We sheared the Angora goat kids today, for a couple of reasons. They are six-months-old and Angoras are sheared every six months. We could have waited till November and sheared them along with the rest of the goats, but I was concerned that they might be underweight and getting a couple of pounds of fleece off them would let me check out their nutrition level. Further, Angora kids tend to go through a big growth spurt once you get the fleece off them.

The first shearing is always the most dramatic for the kids because it’s a new experience.

Emily is my shearer because she is so gentle with the animals.

After a couple of minutes most of the kids calm down.

And in just a couple minutes, it’s over.

So the good news is that the kids weren’t too thin. In fact, they looked great! It’s one less thing for me to worry, although I’m sure I’ll find a replacement worry by tomorrow.

Get your calendars out! I’ve consulted with Emily- our amazing shearer- and we’ve picked November 6th as the date for our fall shearing. So get your plane tickets(Charlottesville and Richmond are the closest airports), book a room and come hang out with all the Juniper Moon Farm shareholders and friends. The party will include a potluck lunch, plenty of knitting and spinning, and dyeing demos. In addition to the shearing party, we’ll be hosting our very own 5K run for the first time; details to come soonest.

If you can’t make it to shearing and live in the vicinity of Wooster, Ohio, I’ll be giving a speech at the Paca to Product conference on November 13th. Tickets are available for the entire conference or just for the speech at the conference website. I’d love to meet you there.

So, I’ve spent the past two days in bed recovering from a badly damaged cornea. At this point, if you’ve ever scratched a cornea of your own, you are recoiling from the memory of the remembered pain. If you haven’t, you’re probably wondering what the big deal is. Let’s just say that I have a high thresh hold for pain by all accounts and I am in agony. Agony in an eyepatch, that’s me.

And to answer the inevitable question, I have no idea how I did it. None whatsoever. The doctor used a lot of superlatives to describe the three scratches on my eyeball, including “longest” and “deepest” and because I am a total freak, it made me kind of proud. He also insisted that I should remember what caused it, that it would have been something traumatic, but I swear, I don’t.

My eye is super-sensitive to light, so I’m currently sporting a large gauze-and-first-aid-tape patch, topped with a standard-issue black eye patched and worn under a pair of over-sized dark sunglasses. I look hilarious, actually.

But none of that can bring me down today because I finally got my hands on a copy of the Summer issue of Wild Fibers Magazine this afternoon. There is a fantastic article about Juniper Moon Farm and I am just so overwhelmed and humbled by the kind and lovely things that those of you who were interviewed said about the farm and about me.

If you’d like to read the article, you can pick up a copy of Wild Fibers at some bookstore and local yarn shops or you can order a subscription or single issue directly from Wild Fibers.

Shearing Day was successful beyond our wildest expectations. We had about 200 people attend, with knitters coming from California, Dallas, Maine, Boston, Oklahoma, Maryland, New Jersey, New York, Washington D.C., Indiana and all over Virginia. (Apologies if I overlooked anyone.) The shareholders from our Ravelry group met at my favorite local diner for biscuits and housemade strawberry jam this morning, followed by a quick visit to Chicken World.

People started arriving for the party on Thursday. On Friday we had everyone over to the farm to help get set up for shearing day, followed by a wine and cheese party on Friday night.

Saturday was a chaotic whirlwind. I can’t tell you much about what happened during the party except that everyone said they had a great day and all the sheep were sheared. All told, it was a fabulous weekend. Friends were made, lambs were snorgled, rows were knitted and much yarn was spun.

Things are shaping up nicely for our Spring Shearing Celebration on April 24th, 2010. The party will run from Noon until Dark and is potluck. Please bring a covered dish to share. We’ll have some long tables set up for dining but feel free to bring lawn chair or picnic blankets if you like. We’ll start shearing the flock at Noon and will continue through out the day.

Children are welcome; dogs are, unfortunately, not. If you are coming from out of the immediate area and would like to book a hotel, you’ll find the info here. Bring your knitting and spinning; we’ll be doing some dyeing demonstrations in the afternoon.

For directions to the farm click here.

See you at the farm!

We have secured a special hotel rate for those of you who are planning to attend our Spring Shearing Celebration on April 24th, 2010. There is a brand-new Best Western hotel in Gordonsville just up the road from the farm complete with a swimming pool and easy access to the International House of Pancakes next door!

We are eligible for a group rate of $89.99 plus tax ($96.29 total) $84.99 *for a room with 2 queen beds BUT you must call 540-832-1700, ext. 0 (front desk) to make your reservations. You will also need to make reference to the Sheep Shearing Celebration to receive the discounted group rate.

The group rate cannot be obtained by calling Best Westerns 800 number,  through a travel agent or by booking online. If you have already booked your room without the special rate, please call the hotel and ask them to move you into our group.

See you soon!

EDITED TO ADD: We have booked so many hotel rooms for the shearing that the hotel just dropped our room rate. It should go even lower as more people book in for the shearing, but be sure and reserve soon- the hotel isn’t huge and will fill up quickly.

Things were so nutso-bananas last week that I feel like some things may have slipped through the cracks. Just to be sure no one misses out I’m going to recap a bit.

Apropos of nothing. I just love this picture.

-Last week, I asked y’all what you thought about diverting some of the money we had been raising for the Heifer International to a Haitian Earthquake fund like the Red Cross. Although most of you agreed, Susan in Katonah pointed out that Heifer has it’s own Haiti relief fund. I think it’s a fantastic suggestion! We get to support Haiti and Heifer at the same time. I hope y’all agree.

-I am extending the deadline on our Finished Objects Photography Contest after hearing from some of you that have a special project very nearly finished.

Send us your pics of the coolest/prettiest/most lovely sweater/scarf/socks/whatever that you knitted up with Juniper Moon Farm yarn. We’ll chose a pool of finalist for all the blog readers to vote on and the winner will receive a $50 Juniper Moon Farm Gift Certificate.

The fine print: At least 75% of your project must be Juniper Moon Farm to qualify for entry. By sending us your photo you’re giving Juniper Moon Farm permission to publish your photo on our website. Send your photos to susie AT fiberfarm DOT com. PLEASE put “photo contest” in the subject line of your email. If you used a published pattern you MUST include the name of the pattern in the email so that we can credit the designer; if it’s an original pattern, indicate so. If you remember the name of the color and which yarn you used please include that info in your email as well. Also include the name you would like to be used with your photo on the site. You may enter as many FOs as you like but please include all the info above for each photo. All photos must be received by February 15th, 2010. Spinners, you will not be left out! Send us pics of your finest JMF handspun. We’ll have a separate category just for you.

-Big Shepherding Camp/Farm Stay news! After much conversation and planning, Paige and I have decided to convert Erin’s former room into another guest room for Shepherding Camp and Farm Stays. We are really excited because a second room will allow us to host families with children and larger groups. We will be taking more reservations this year than in the past, and offering weekends that focus on yoga, cooking, cheese making, photography and more. We’re lining up the instructors now and will publish a schedule ASAP.

If you prefer a more private weekend, we can arrange for private spinning, dyeing and knitting classes, as well as private yoga instruction and massage for an additional fee.

Reservations for Kidding and Lambing Season- March through May- are filling up fast. For more info, email paige AT fiberfarm DOT com.

-The 2010 Shearing Day Celebration will be April 24th. Mark your calendars and make your reservations.

- We still need YOUR suggestion for names for our 2010 kids and lambs. Please leave your entry in the comments on that thread so we can keep them all organized.

-I was a little bummed that this blog post about eating meat got lost in the shuffle last week. I was really enjoying hearing your thoughts and I’d love to hear from more of you.

-Finally, Juniper Moon Farm will be taking on one, possibly two spring/summer apprentices this year. These are unpaid positions but room and board will be provided. To apply, email me at susie AT fiberfarm DOT com with a resume and cover letter explaining why you’d like to live and work at Juniper Moon for a few months. We are especially looking for individuals with production garden experience but will carefully consider all applicants.

First, the Lucy report. Paige and I took Lucy to see Dr. Johnson this morning for a post-accident check-up. Dr. J was thrilled with Lucy’s progress! She said that Lucy’s heart and lung “sound gorgeous” and she seems to be healing really well. She’s keeping Lulu on NSAIDs and pain killers for another week and wants us to keep her in the small barnyard paddock for at least another week. Lucy, of course, wants to get back to work in the big pastures, but better safe than sorry. We’ll have another follow-up visit next week.

As far as damage to her reproductive system, it’s just too soon to tell. They would like to do an ultrasound in a few months once the swelling goes down and she grows a bit. Fingers crossed.

Lucy and Dr. Dawn Johnson

Everyone at the Fork Union Animal Clinic loved Lucy even before the accident- we had been in a week before for puppy shots and her four feet never touched the ground- so when Paige brought her in after she was hit, the whole staff dropped what they were doing and came running. I can’t tell you how grateful I am to these amazing people.

BTW,when I told Dr. Johnson about all the contributions we received from readers and shareholders, she totally teared up.

In other news, I have just listed some new colorways in the shop, as well as some spinning fibers. As always, supplies are limited.

Finally, I am thrilled to announce that the Juniper Moon Farm Spring 2010 Shearing Day Celebration will take place on April 24th, 11 a.m. to Dark, at the farm in Palmyra, Virginia.

Like last year, the event will be potluck. We’ll provide the dinnerware, silverware, etc., drinks and the marshmallows (and peeps!) for roasting. Like last year we hope to have plenty of demos going on. Several shareholders and readers will be bringing their musical instruments to play around the fire and you are encouraged to do the same.

More details here as the day comes together.

As regular readers know, I have spent the last couple of months trying to find a new home for our farm. A big change in my personal life necessitated leaving the New York farm, and staying on Martha’s Vineyard year-round- however much I love it- just isn’t a financially sustainable option at this point.

I spent a lot of time looking at property in Texas. My mother and  sister live there, which made it an attractive option, but ultimately I decided that the Lone Star State is just too far away from most of our shareholders, customers and friends. So, after a lot of soul-searching and back-and-forthing, I finally settled on Virginia.

Why Virginia? A lot of reasons, actually. I have a lot of family there (aunts, uncles and cousins), it’s way more affordable than anything I could find in New York, Connecticut or Massachusetts, and it’s a lot warmer in the winter than the Northeast. (This was important if I wanted to keep Erin as my farm manager.)

It’s also close enough to Washington D.C. to be easily accessible by train from NYC and Boston, which is important to me because I still want to have lots of visitors to the farm.

Once I’d settled on Virginia, I had very little time to find a place that would work. I needed at least 10 acres and a barn, and a house that was large enough for Erin and I with a couple of guest rooms. And I needed something that was available November 1st. I knew it was going to be hard to find a place that met all the requirements, so I gave myself four whole days to look.

Let me tell you, I looked at some pretty horrific places. One of them was so bad that I have since referred to it as as “the murder house.” I could find farms with lovely little houses and falling down barns and no fencing, or adequate barns and condemnable house, or a great house and great barn on 2 acres. It was so frustrating that I actual melted into tears in the car of a friend who was driving me around to look and told him I didn’t want to see any more.

Lucky for me, he talked me into to looking at the last place on my list because it was…well…perfect. Great barn, great house, 11 fenced acres, near Charlottesville. And it was available nearly immediately.

Next week, Erin and I will be moving to our new home in Virginia. Actually, Erin will be moving next week; I’ll be sticking around New York until Rhinebeck.

The other big change is that we will be leaving most of the goats with Patrick in New York. This was a really hard decision for both of us, but in the end, Patrick and I decided to split up the flock. I will be taking the Cormos and the other sheep to Virginia, along with a handful of goats that I just can’t bear to part with. (Yes, Miss Linda is one of them!)

Because we will not be taking very many goats with us to our new farm, we will no longer be selling shares in our Fall Shearing for knitters. We may offer a few Handspinners Shares, but we have a few months to make that decision.

Starting with Spring 2010, our CSA shares will feature all Cormo yarn and roving. We will be cutting the number of shares we sell nearly in half to be sure that everyone receives a bountiful supply of yarn and spinning material.

As for the Vineyard, it’s our hope to have some kind of presence on the Island every summer. What form that will take will be figured out in the next couple of months.

I know that this is a whole lot of change to throw at you all at once, and I apologize for the last-minuteness of this announcement. Unfortunately, there were some legal issues that had to be settled before we could say anything. I hope you’ll understand.

It is your support that has kept us going for the past year. Every time I thought it was just too hard to keep going, to move, to start all over again, I got a card in the mail or an email from one of you. Believe me when I tell you that those notes made all the difference.

The remaining goats will be sheared in NY in the next week or so, so that we can get the Fall 2009 shares to the mill as quickly as possible. Instead of a shearing party this year we will be having an open farm day in November, and Erin and I hope that most of you will be able to attend; we’re anxious to show you our new place. I’ll let you know which weekend in the next few days so you can make travel plans. As always, the party will be open to all of our readers, not just shareholders.

To celebrate our new farm, new home, new everything, Erin and I thought we needed a new name. Something symbolic of our new beginning. Martha’s Vineyard Fiber Farm will know as Juniper Moon Farm. We’ve even changed the logo up a bit to go with the new name.

We hope you love the new name and logo as much as we do.

Thanks Cat and Eric!