Sahra is a Winter Sky Sandstone daughter with a wonderfully fine (21.9 AFD 4.5 SD lamb)fleece that is staying a rich dark brown as it matures. Sahra is bred to Tennyson for April lambs. This is a repeat of her first breeding which produced Buster Brown. He is an amusing polled moorit/white ram lamb with a wonderful fleece. Buster is currently at Cynthia Caillagh-Allen's farm:www.finer-fleeces.com.
Bono Creek Dana is linebred on Kismet's full sister and another Winter Sky Jamie F1 ewe named Winter Sky Delaine. Her mature fleece tested 27.2 AFD with a 6.3 SD and is extremely fun to spin up being all shades of brown and black. She has the prestige of raising the largest set of twins this past year on pasture and hay alone--50 & 55 pounds respectively in August. It appears she is bred A.I. to Todhill Jericho for late March lambs. I am hoping for a splendid pair of grey katmogets with slightly less leg than Dana exhibits.
Ready is one of my favorite ewes to look at out in the field. She just stands out in a crowd. She combines two of my nicest ewe lines in addition to carrying spots. Her intermediate fleece has a mature side micron of 26.3 AFD with an SD of 7.1. To improve upon her fleece I decided to use artificial insemination this year and cross her with Heights Orion. I am looking forward to seeing what she and some of my other ewes produce around the 30th of March. 
"Mackers-smackers" as my daughter affectionately calls him is a polled NASSA registered ram lamb born this year. Meghan has used him heavily in her flock as he has almost perfect type, size and conformation along with a lovely modified brown tone to his fleece. He is also RR at codon 171 for scrapie resistance, so his lambs will all show improved genetic scrapie resistance.
Wintertime Black Forrest is my daughter's NASSA registered gulmoget ram lamb out of Glenmore Crisp. Forrest has one of those rare laid-back personalities where nothing phases him. He is also extremely wide throughout with a very fine, ultra-black crimpy fleece. He was used heavily down at Cynthia Caillagh-Allen's farm in SW Wisconsin, and we are all looking forward to seeing if he passes down his fine fiber and wonderful temperament. For more information about Cynthia's farm, sheep, geese and bio-dynamic farm methods go to: www.finer-fleeces.com.
We've owned Australian Spotted Bantam ducks for a number of years and find they are a perfect fit for our homestead gardens. Unlike chickens who inevitably removed all mulch from my beds and made huge dusting pits, the ducks wander the gardens probing with their bills and eliminating many pests like slugs, snails and grasshoppers. They are also one of the most cheerful animals whenever it rains and is cold. Our ducklings are all naturally reared and learn early on to come into the barn around suppertime for protection from predators. Our ducks are extremely good mothers, and our drakes have shown the tendency to form bonds with specific females they will watch over with great care. 
Winter Sky Kismet is a six year old ewe sired by Willowcroft Jamie and out of Rarebriar Kiss Me Kate(one of my favorite ewes of all time). Although Kismet did not inherit the extreme softness of her dam, she does exhibit almost perfect Shetland type and size. Her mature fleece tested out at 27.1 AFD with a 7.5 SD. Kismet is an exemplary mother. She is standing behind one of her twin lambs from this past spring--Winter Sky Halla. Halla is a shaela ewe lamb with an extremely interesting locky, crimpy fleece. Both Kismet and her daughter are bred to Tennyson for late March lambs.
This is Winter Sky Anya. She was born dark brown with no white markings, but this fall I started seeing some "dustiness" behind her left ear and as the season progressed so did the white areas. She now has white down onto her cheek, around her ear, over her eye and down the lefthand side of her nose. I am not quite sure what is happening, but I do know her sire produced some animals that developed white spots or other markings over time. Some people call them "moonspots". Anya is bred to Tennyson for an early May lamb.
This winter I am using some sheep coats for the first time to see if I can't keep my fiber even cleaner than I usually do. Breeding for finer fleeces all my animals tend to be chaff magnets and the smallest, finest, darkest lambs always tend to ruin their fiber. Since selling this fiber is the only way I have to pay for their feed, I am hoping the coats will do the job. So far I am very pleased with how they are holding up and how nice the fleeces are developing underneath. I purchased these coats from www.rockysheep.com.
The newest and rarest residents of Bright Angels' Farm are this lovely pair of black Silky Bantam ducks. We are hoping in this age of avian flu worries to preserve several color strains of this breed along with three color types of Australian Spotted Bantam ducks. Both breeds work very well in a homestead setting. Ours live in a small barn near the gardens and go out daily (when not setting their own eggs each spring and mid-summer)to patrol for slugs and other pests. They are small but vigorous in their activities. The Aussies can fly but tend to do so only in circular routes that bring them right back home. If all goes as planned we will have sexed ducklings and possibly some mature proven pairs of ducks available for sale this upcoming summer.
