Author: Mandy

Fiber, Fiber, Everywhere!

Mandy Fiber, Lambs

It has been a busy few weeks here on the farm. We sheared all the sheep so they now have their cool summer haircuts! And we now have freshly shorn raw fleece for sale.

Here is Red, getting ready to go under the, er, clippers.

Shearing a sheep

And here she is afterwards, looking like a whole new sheep!

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Okay, okay, so it really is a different sheep. It’s Virginia, one of our Romney ewes. She is Red’s mother and is refusing to smile for the camera. I guess she didn’t get the exact style she was hoping for.

Virginia might not have been thrilled, but we certainly were. Seeing those bags of freshly shorn fleeces all lined up made us pretty happy.

freshly shorn fleeces

While we may be saving a fleece or two to enter into the Wisconsin Sheep & Wool Festival this fall, we have several others available for sale. The prices vary depending on breed (Romney, Leicester Longwool, CVM/Romeldale and a few crossbred fleeces), as well as quality so contact us if you are interested.

freshly shorn fleeces

We also have a few fiber lambs available to new homes later this summer. I’ll write more about them later but just couldn’t resist sharing this photo of Heath looking very thoughtful and handsome.

CVM Romeldale & Leicester Longwool ram lamb

Chicken, Lamb, Fiber Animals, Piglets Available

Mandy Chickens, Fiber, Lambs, Pigs

Spring is almost here in Wisconsin! That means that we are now taking pre-orders for our pastured Freedom Ranger chickens and grass-fed lamb. We also have fiber sheep available: lambs, yearlings and ewes. We are taking deposits for our spring litter of American Guinea Hog piglets (almost all sold though!) and can take pre-orders for our fall litter.

  • Chickens are available around July 4th and have an average weight of 4.5 lbs. They are free-range (with a predator-safe home at night), supplemented with certified organic feed produced by a small, local mill.
  • Lambs are ready in the fall (generally October or November depending on the pastures.) Lambs are 100% grass-fed.
  • We are also expecting some great fiber lambs this year from our Leicester Longwool and Shropshire rams crossed to our CVM/Romeldale, Romney and CVM/Romeldale x Blue Face Leicester ewes. We can’t wait to see what beautiful fiber they produce! We also have two yearlings, three ewes and our Shropshire ram available now. Lambs would be available around July or August.
  • There may be a few piglets left from our American Guinea Hog litter. They will be ready for pickup around mid-May. Piglets are given grain only as a treat but instead consume pasture, hay, sprouted barley fodder, fresh goat’s milk, kitchen scraps and veggies from a local vegetable farmer. Piglets are not given vaccinations or antibiotics and are not castrated/altered in any way.

If you are interested in any of these products, please let us know as soon as possible as we have sold out of items in the past.

Smoky Grilled Pork Chops

Mandy Recipes

This recipe is a true family favorite! Josh has been known to break out the grill during the middle of our cold, snowy Wisconsin winter (with some encouragement from the kids). To make it a quick go-to dinner, we triple or quadruple the seasonings and store them in a glass jar in the spice cabinet so we have it ready for the next 3 or 4 times we need it. Then, on a busy night, you just throw the spices together with liquids, rub it onto the chops and slap them on the grill. Quick, easy, and delicious – enjoy!

Smoky Grilled Pork Chops

Adapted from Allrecipes.com

  • 1 tablespoon salt
  • 1 teaspoon ground black pepper
  • 1 tablespoon garlic powder
  • 1 tablespoon onion powder
  • 1 tablespoon ground paprika
  • 2 teaspoons Worcestershire sauce (we use coconut aminos instead of Worcestershire sauce)
  • 1 teaspoon liquid smoke flavoring
  • 4 pork chops

Preheat the grill to medium heat and lightly oil if needed. In a bowl, mix together all ingredients except the chops. Rinse the chops and then rub the spice mixture into the damp meat.

Grill the chops over indirect heat until there is no pink inside, about 12 minutes per side. Let chops rest for 10 minutes before serving.

Piglets Are Here!

Mandy Pigs , , , , ,
Piglets Are Here!

Yesterday Olivia, our American Guinea Hog, gave birth to her first litter of piglets! We had just checked her a hour earlier and there were no babies. So when the kids came running in, yelling about piglets, we thought it was an April Fools Day joke. Nope. We were able to see the last two being born!

While she birthed nine babies, we have lost two over the past 24 hours. It is a hard truth to farming and one that never gets easier for us. But with any luck, seven babies and Olivia will be out squealing and running around the green pastures within a month or so!

PS: Sorry the picture isn’t the greatest. For some reason, they just didn’t want to cooperate…