Centuries Apart - Repost

With huge thanks to John Ushant a photo from his private family collection of his great grand mother. This photo was thought to be taken circa 1900 on the island of Ouessant. A tantalising glimpse into the history of the island. As was the tradition the sheep would be moved onto fresh grazing tied in pairs.

Over a hundred years later and photos taken by the lady in the photos' great grandson on the island where he lives still today.

The size type and colour are interesting, still some black is present even after all this time. Is the black of ouessant sheep truly recessive or is there some dominant black in the population?

Gone is any resemblance to the primitive north european short tailed breeds replaced by a commercial faster maturing heavier sheep more appealing to todays meat market.

Paysage Bretagne

Christmas Knits

Well, Christmas  was quiet enough to get started on my next knitting project. The yarn is single ply from on my bobbin #5. I wanted to spin a woollen yarn and one that was relatively chunky. Ok I don't think I exactly succeeded on either count  but it is satisfying to have something to be able to knit up.

There is a way to go until my spinning skills are refined enough to produce a yarn that looks anything less than rustic but its all practice. The stitch I have chosen is designed to complement the textured yarn. A tutorial on how to knit yourself a scarf in bramble or trinity stitch  was all that was needed to get me started. This video makes it very easy to follow!Although mine doesn't have quite the same accomplished look to it :-)



I am hoping to add a little twist to my scarf to  release it  from the rather mundane but that all depends on whether I can produce something that is aesthetically pleasing and workable. It make take me a while but I'll post something when I get there! 

Have a Woolly Christmas!

This year my project has been to re-interpret what you can do with Ouessant wool. It has been a very busy year, in lots of ways and Christmas is about the busiest time of year for me.  However I still managed to get some wool in there somewhere. If you look closely at the photo you will see the needle felted hearts I made earlier are now decorating the tree. I am more than ready for some rest and recuperation  and if lucky tomorrow will be relatively quiet. I have a little yarn project all ready to start:-) Have a good one!

Wassail!

I was going to do a post on the winter solstice which is tomorrow. Unfortunately my photos of the golden sunset, were rather more tarnished than golden! However as I was wandering around putting everyone to bed I couldn't help but notice that on this apple tree there are JUST two apples left! They are beautiful and ripe and yet incongruously were left still hanging on a bare tree. It was too good a photo opportunity to  miss!

Wassailing LINK celebrates the apple and the drink  and passing of the wassail is traditionally celebrated around Christmas. Providence! I will leave  with a  old chant  recounted when wassailing, of course its sheep related :-)

Next crowne the bowle full
With gentle Lambs wooll,

Adde sugar, nutmeg, and ginger,
With store of all too,

And thus ye must doe
To make the Wassaile a swinger.

LINK 

Heritage Flock - PNRA Parc Régional National d'Armorique

Recently I ventured deep in the heart of Brittany, it is a magical place, where myth and legend come to life. The area is rich with celtic symbolism and the geography and landscape does much to draw you close to its beating heart.  Its dark corners hide goblins and faeries in equal measure.

Nestled into the landscape is Ménez Meur seat of the Parc Régional National d'Armorique.  LINK here is a flock of Ouessant sheep  whose origins can be established back to the earliest days of the breed.  They are without doubt a flock whose heritage is a long one.

I was fortunate to visit the flock earlier this year, I was able to spend a quite a bit of time with the flocks (one white, one black)  and came away with the  lasting impression that the breed is in sound hands.  I may have also come away with a sheep  or two oops:-)

Gaia (PNRA)

The importance of recognising the connection of this breed with its cultural home cannot be underestimated and is never more in evidence than when you visit their native region. My trip into Finistère ( the end of the earth) was all too short and I will make time to return.

Gary

Looking Good Mate x 

Winter Regime

I was asked the other day about feeding the sheep in the winter. Everyone has their own thoughts on this subject and opinions will vary.

The ewes are currently getting a bucket of windfall apples a day between them. I''ll know when they are fed up of them as they'll start to leave them. For now I view it was a welcome addition to the grass and hay provided over the winter. The rams have their own supply of windfalls  and this years bumper crop of apples means that the ground under the tree is still a carpet of apples.

A salt lick is always available and periodically the sheep will take advantage. I prefer to use one specifically manufactured for sheep to ensure that the mineral content is balanced for them.

Hay is self serve and I have racks  dotted around the place, so that even the less forward sheep can find a rack to browse from.

Feeding grains is personally not something that I like. I find that Ouessant  sheep really don't need the high protein content. I will supplement and a base of luzerne granules can be used with the addition of ewe nuts and or afalfa and molasses as a coarse mix when needed. This mix can be varied according to the specific requirements of the group of sheep being fed and is more sensitive to individual needs than a highly concentrated commercial feed supplement.

Feeling Felty For Christmas

Needle Felted Christmas Hearts - Ouessant Sheep Wool 

 Coeurs de Noël Feutré à l'Aiguille - Laine Mouton d'Ouessant

Well, after some heartache ( groan) I finally finished the christmas felty decorations in time for Christmas!! Needle felting is very forgiving of mistakes and if things don't work the first time they are easy to adjust and adapt and still obtain a good result. I liked the use of ribbons and embroidery to embellish the basic idea and this type of added decoration can be taken in many different ways.

A quick search will throw up lots of excellent ideas. One such search provided a tutorial and many different ways to decorate felt ornaments. This uses wet felting as the basic method   but needle felting should also be  possible. 

LINK - Judy Coates Perez Blog

Country Stroll

Santa taking a quiet stroll before things get hectic.

Needle felted Santa - 100% Ouessant Wool  / Père Noël feutré à l'aiguille 100% laine Mouton d'Ouessant

Automne en Bretagne

The rich reds and golden sunshine of autumn  in Brittany. Punctuated by fluorescent orange jackets of the huntsmen....... so hopefully they avoid shooting each other .............they are *mostly*  successful. Two hundred metres from  taking this photo a magnificent pheasant made his way across the road, we looked at each other, nodded and he went on his way. The joys and madness of living in Brittany...

Ramly Headaches

Ti'beau has a set of horns that would give anyone  a headache,  but I was thinking more along the lines of keeping rams and unbred ewes on the same site.  A recent conversation reminded me that I am lucky to be able to house my rams seperately to the ewes when needed, in such a way that the rams cannot stress over not getting to the ewes when they are on heat. This isn't the case for everyone and keeping rams and unbred ewes apart, fences in place and stress levels down when they are in close proximity can be difficult.

Owning a ram comes with a set of responsibilities, no matter how calm and docile out of breeding season the hormonal influence cannnot be under estimated when an on heat ewe is around. They can become dangerous and even a Ouessant ram can cause injury. Think carefully what the reasons are behind a decision to own a ram, if you really want to breed then there is no reason not to look at the options for  the loan of a ram for a breeding season. Problems associated with in-breeding can be avoided and you still have the option for lambs without the difficulties of a testosterone fuelled set of horns for more than a few weeks at most.  The alternative is to own and all male flock, bachelor groups of rams work very well provided there are no ewes in the vicinity to upset the balance.

This years breeding groups will be together for a maximum period of six weeks, long enough for the ewes to cycle a second time if not bred the first time around. After that the rams will all rejoin the bachelor group and peace and tranquility will be restored for everyone.

Il est parfois difficile quand vous avez le ou les béliers au même endroit que les femelles  surtout s'il y en a que vous voudriez pas reproduire pour un raison où l'autre. Malheureusement souvent ceux qui débutent avec un couple ( mâle et femelle ) tombent sur ce problème  assez vite à cause du consanguinité et le fait qu'il est souvent plus difficile  à placer les mâles. Un bélier même si c'est un mouton d'Ouessant peut être agressif s'il est frustré et qu'il sent une brebis en chaleur.  A devenir propriétaire d'un bélier n'est pas sans responsabilité. Un troupeau des moutons constitué des femelles et les mâles castré peut être un solution. Si vous voudriez des naissances,  à trouver quelqu'un à vous prêter un  mâle peut être un option à fin de limiter les difficultés . 
L'option d'avoir un troupeau constitué seulement des mâles  est impressionnant  à voir et moins  turbulent  qu'un mâle séparé des femelles. Il n'est pas obligatoire à prendre un mâle  avec une femelle surtout si vous n'avez pas l'expérience, soyez prudent, mais n'oubliez pas un mouton seul est un mouton malheureux il faut au mois deux.

Plan B

Irritatingly blogger seems to want to automatically lighten this photo no matter what I do!!

Originally this yarn which is from on my bobbin # 4 was destined to be alot more funky than it is. However I wasn't adventurous enough and instead I got a yarn which is chunky and textured. Thats OK, plan B.  I haven't crochet'd since I was in my teens :-o still, it isn't difficult and I picked a knot which is so simple to do how could I go wrong? Well I did a couple of times but lets gloss over that :-).

Thanks to the internet and youtube to be precise I found an eloquent and easy to follow guide to how to do this knot and make a shawl. LINK Now let me tell you I had resolved not to make a shawl,  however plan B and all that . That being said I am pleased it has turned out as well as it has and I have learnt from doing it. 

This is more the actual colour of the yarn

So I can tick off one more project completed, more learnt and I have found inspiration for the next project, but for now back to christmas decorations!!

Un châle au crochet  de laine de mouton d'Ouessant! Enfin , ça me fais plaisir d'avoir réussi à filer la laine de mes moutons. Les moutons que j'ai élevé, tondu et maintenant peux dire qu'ils sont pas uniquement pour tondre l'herbe c'est  vraiment un bête à laine, on retourne au débuts de la race.  Même s'il  y a du travail encore pour l'apprentissage du filage, je suis contente.

Gary and the Giggly Girls

 Gary having a back scratch

This years ewe lambs are not being bred, one reason amongst several is because of  Schmallenberg disease. It falls to Gary  then, the long suffering wether to keep them company. Gary is extremely paternal and takes his duties seriously, however he is long suffering, the giggly girls are so named because they can behave like a group of hysterical teenagers at times. Gary offers them a stable influence always  calm and collected, when the time comes I'm not sure how we'll do without him. Neither are the giggly girls.

Tonton Gary ( mâle castré) reste avec les agnelles de l'année qui seront pas mise à la reproduction, à cause de la risque du virus schmallenberg. Elles lui adorent, il est doux, calme et toujours là au moments d'angoisse. Bon continuation Gary et bon courage!

A Christmas Affair

These are not yet finished but are shaping up nicely for christmas decorations

Ils sont pas encore fini mais ils me semblent d'être pas mal  comme décorations de noël

On My Bobbin #5

There is an advantage to growing your own fleeces and that is that you will have a  selection available to choose from when it comes to selecting for specific projects. Here I specifically wanted a woolly fleece and wanted to spin a fat yarn. In truth I would have liked the yarn to be fatter but my spinning skills are still being honed. This will form part of a black and white project if all goes well..

J'ai choisi une de mes toisons plus laineux pour un projet en noir et blanc, l'avantage d'avoir un troupeau de mini-moutons est qu'il y a plus de choix par rapport à la laine.  Je cherchais  à filer un fil assez épais on verra plus tard si c'est suffisant.....

Rich Russets

Autumns bounty is plentiful this year with an early start to the chainsawing, this is mostly cherry.

Nous profitons des cerisiers d'automne!

 Apples in abundance...... Its'ok we have enough, no, really more than enough!

 Pommes en abondance,  vraiment, on a suffisent.....

Titian!

Getting Fresh

The rams are in full rut and even though they are still no ewes in sight they jostle between them for position. No harm done, the bachelor group is a tight knit community of rams of a range of ages. Each has learnt their place in the hierarchy and even if there is always a youngster willing to chance his luck with one of the mature rams, for the most part the group is peaceable.  Soon I will put the breeding groups together, the final decisions are not yet made and probably won't be until the day the rams go in. Tonight the wind is also freshening, I suspect there will be more damage than the ramly scuffles of last night.

C'est la saison de lutte, on  le voit bien. Les béliers bousculent entre eux. Il n'y a pas de danger, la hiérarchie est bien établi, même si  ça n'empêche pas les jeunes à taquiner les adultes. Il  y a encore du temps avant que  je  mets les béliers avec les  brebis, les décisions sont pas encore finalisé, entre temps soit gentil.....

Something's Needling Me

Needle Felting Punch - White Ouessant Wool ( Flick Carded Locks)
Manche pour les aiguilles de feutrage - Laine blanche à mouton  d'Ouessant

This year my mission has been to explore some of the ways of using Ouessant fleece. To that end I have been experimenting with the various  methods  to prepare the fleece and also how it can be worked. One way is needle felting and it is one which in the right hands can be beautifully creative despite a simple ( if murderous ) looking tool. 

The  needle/s stab the wool,  leading to the wool felting. No messy wet blobs  of wool that  look more like an item the cat would sick up, drying around the place. Take a look at the video below to get an idea of how it works. The needles detach and fit comfortably in the handle of this nifty little tool making this a hobby that you can take almost anywhere. My first attempt at needle felting used a modified needle for injecting the sheep!! Now I am fully tooled up and ready to go. Whilst making cute little felty animals may be some peoples idea of fun I thought I would start with something that can decorate the cristmas tree so watch this space. I only hope I can find the time to finish it before the tree goes up!!

Le feutrage à l'aiguille coût presque rien et  une fois que vous avez acheté les aiguilles vous êtes prêt à commencer. Ceux qui connaissent la race  bien savent que la laine du mouton d'Ouessant a une tendance  à  feutrer très facilement. Donc, quoi de mieux qu'un feutrage créatif! Pour savoir plus comment faire,  un petit recherche sur l'internet vous donnerez des idées mais pour commencer 



 c'est à vous.

IGOU meeting 2013 Pölzig

Erik - IGOU  Bester Bock aller Farben Pölzig 2013
 Overall winner all rams with his Breeder / Owner E Hübner

Thanks to some great photos once again it has been possible to share in this years IGOU show. Sheep at this years show would  not look out of place  at the national show here in France but as these photos demonstrate the breed has clearly made  a comfortable transition to Germany and German breeding. Great stuff.

Some of the rams entered in the two year old black rams category.
The traditional colour black predominates and the overall standard is clearly high. 

Black yearling  ewes and hat competition;-)

A selection of brown ewes getting the judgely laying on of hands. There is something to be said for individual presentation of the sheep. It does make it easier to compare the sheep especially across a group.

Emile and Lavall

These two rams are close to being celebrities. Originally purchased by IGOU on behalf of the breed club members from France. They have been made available to club members, indeed  the ram Erik  Overall winner all rams  this year was sired by Emile.

Remus 7 vom Tannenhof  Breeder  A Jansen  Owner J Schneider
Winner Adult Black Rams

(L)  Enigma Breeder H Roller Owner F Starzman  (R) Marile ( runner up ) Owned and bred by J and A Bergmann
Enigma was judged Winner Adult Black Ewes and Overall Winner All Ewes


Photos courtesy of J Schneider