I farm full time, hand spinner's flock of colored sheep - rare Shetlands, Romneys and Merinos. My 19 sheep are quickly turning into more...up to 22 and more to come. A lot of my day is spent tending to animals and doing farm work - fencing, repair on barns/sheds/buildings. The last wind storm tore off a shed roof and that needs to be replaced. I've got 10 American Curly horses that I train and in good weather that's 10 horses times 15 minutes each twice a day. In sunny weather I'll take one of my spinning wheels or my knitting to the pasture and sit with the sheep while the dogs and cats run about sniffing at I don't want to know what! Sometimes I'll get a natural dye pot going and dye wool for spinning or yarn for knitting/weaving. I weave shawls & throws on a tri-loom.
3 dogs, 8 cats (including barn cats), a husband and a ninety year old mother in law complete the household. I just finished two years of heavy volunteer work - sometimes 40 hours a week and my volunteer work has slowed down considerably. I'm still on the community volunteer fire department. A girlfriend, who is owns an ostrich farm, and I partner together to offer farm tours at our respective farms to school groups, families, seniors, etc. That helps with the farm income. I work with WV Bluefield State College when they have foreign dignitaries visit the USA. I talk to them about rural tourism, how their economies may be helped by supporting cottage industry, etc. So far we've had heads of state from Russia, Tasjekistan, Albania and other countries visit our farm. That's fun and I might have the opportunity to visit Albania and Russia this year to work with them first hand.
I write children's stories about my animals and magazine articles about fiber, sheep, horses, farmlife, etc. None of my children's stories have been published but I sell magazine articles every month. I'm a published photographer and working on getting my darkroom set up again. I've got 400 pounds of fleece to send to the processor's to be made into yarn and blankets. I started the Lost Arts Guild and am getting us ready for a statewide exhibition - Mar - May.
Dave and I want to take a vacation this year and I'm researching a small boat cruise to Alaska or BC, Canada. The boats will hold 8 to 12 and that's about as many people as we take. Living on a farm severely reduces one's ability to handle large groups of people .
We're gearing up for Sheep Shearing Day in April and that's open to the public. I'm expecting around 100 visitors this year...at least I hope that's all that show up!
I'm blessed because what I do is what I love doing. And, this time of year, I'm lambing and that takes up a LOT of my time. This list making has been fun .