Some shepherds hire a shearing team, and others do it themselves. Well, I’m definitely a DIY kind of girl. This year I have 14 sheep to shear!

I’ve finished 11 so far, and it’s on to the remaining three ewes tomorrow. I’ve done all the rams, wethers, and six ewes already. I’ve saved what I thought were my best fleeces for last.

However, today’s shearing has revealed that one of my best fleeces may be from a 2017 ewe-lamb whom we all despise! Her name is Ixora, and she is a wily beast. She learned everything she knows from her miserable mother, Hestia.

Don’t get me wrong, Hestia has provided strapping ram lambs, but she is as skittish and elusive as smoke. She was the ewe that had mismatched lambs last year. The runt of the litter is Ixora.

Ixora’s fleece is lucious – lustrous, locky, and LONG. Oh, have I mentioned the crimp? The little lady is always the last to be caught and irritates my husband and I to no end. Every time we talk about culling some sheep, her name comes up.

Well, Ixora just earned herself a lifetime ticket to a good life on the farm. I can’t believe her fleece… I’m not sure I can’t part with it this year. I keep thinking about how shiny the yarn would turn out. And we are talking about a runty lamb fleece here, people. Unbelievable.

I’ve only been shearing about three sheep a day because I’m supposed to have surgery soon. Trying to take it easy. Thank God the Husband takes leave from work every year around shearing time! Tomorrow I’m done!