© 2000 - 2009.  Website design, text and photos are copyright by Ronda Jemtegaard unless otherwise noted.  

Reproduction by any means, electronic or mechanical, is forbidden unless written request

is submitted to and approved by Ronda Jemtegaard of Greener Pastures Farm.

In this age where it's now easy to clone and delete parts of photographs,

and some farmers and webmasters are doing this to published photos of their livestock,

please note that all photos on this website are unaltered in any way!

Colors, conformation, etc are exactly as depicted.

A LIFE IN THE DAY OF A CASCADE FARMSTEAD EWE

Greener Pastures Lavender is one of my favorite Cascade Farmstead ewes. She was born one of a set of twin ewe lambs in April 2008. Lavender stayed on our farm, and her twin sister, Marigold, was sent to another farm keeping Cascade Farmstead sheep.

Both Lavender and Marigold were typical brown mouflon as lambs, but within a few months they had grayed to a shade that could be called lavender.

The photo above shows Greener Pastures Violet and Lavender on May 1, 2009. Violet's fleece is ruffled beautifully on this windy day. Lavender's fleece is ready to "roo" or shed off, and bits and pieces are blowing around. Violet had lambed 5 days before, and Lavender is pregnant in this photo. 

Below: May 2, 2009  What a difference a day makes!  Greener Pastures Lavender had her first lamb! Greener Pastures Jazz is a badgerfaced Cascade Farmstead lamb, just a few hours old in this photo.  The badgerfaced markings are pretty much the reverse of the mouflon markings often seen in Cascade Farmstead sheep, which Lavender herself had at birth.

The photo above shows Greener Pastures Lavender and Marigold as young lambs in April 2008; their lamb fleeces appeared to be typical mouflon. Their adult colors were a pleasant surprise.

Below are three lambs from the Alpha bloodline.  Greener Pastures Lavender and Marigold at left, and Greener Pastures Tarragon at right.  July 2008

Two newborn lambs (just a few hours old) in the background, and 9-day-old twins with their dam in the foreground, taken on rainy May 2, 2009.

May 2, 2009  The photos below, taken the same day, shows Jazz's face.  Both photos, above and below, show WET sheep, which don't look nearly as pretty as dry sheep.

Right: Greener Pastures Jazz nestles down next to the hog panels I set up around my young apple trees for protection from the sheep. Jazz has had a busy day, and as big and active as she is, it's hard to remember that she's only a few hours old. May 2, 2009

May 10, 2009  We plucked the fleece from Lavender on the last dry day before a rainy front.  (Rain? In Washington?)  The front part came out easily as we plucked it, and when I got to the back half, her fleece peeled off like a banana peel. My husband and I both marveled at the blue-ish appearance of the new fleece left on the ewe. I know it's a trick of the light, but it really did appear blue-ish.  I brought her fleece inside, dusted and oiled my spinning wheel, found the dog brush that I use for combing, as well as the leather piece I use to protect my lap, and began processing this lovely fleece.  It's been a while since I've done any spinning, but I had a go at spinning Lavender's fleece "in the grease", which means unwashed.  This fleece is so fine, and my efforts were so out of practice that I decided before long to save it until I'd practiced on something less valuable.

Below:  Lavender 5 days after getting fleeced (sorry, couldn't resist the pun... the technical term is "rooing"), and her gorgeous daughter Jazz at 13 days of age.  At right are Igraine, whose fleece is nearly ready, and her daughter, Jitterbug.  May 15, 2009