#SOAIS

[cottonkhaleesi]

If you’re UK based and love knitting/yarn/rare heritage breeds, there’s a London City Farms Kickstarter out there right run by a sustainable textiles creator now that have pooled together something like 16 rare breeds across the city farms and turned it into a machine and hand knitting yarn. Most of these fleeces were going to waste because, as we all know, fleeces are priced so lowly that it’s usually not worth the cost of the cleaning, processing and industrial spinning. You can buy a skein, cone, or an item made solely from the natural colours that the blended sheep breeds produce.

[fagtainsparklez]

just wanna let you know that every time i need to find any mcyt mpreg post i always search your blog first

[rederiswrites]

The other day I was taking Minnie the bottle baby, who is experiencing some pretty serious intestinal distress, for her extra pampering. Having always rather liked being held, she was totally comfortable being toted along like a rolled up rug, and took the passing opportunity to grab some fresh maple shoots.

Nom.

So I started giving her some every time she gets her extra hydration and treatments. And then I brought some for the other bottle babies, because there are of course quite a few shoots growing down into our headspace, and these trees are right next to the deck. They need to be kept in order. Also they do not understand that Minnie is sick, so all they know is she gets treats and they don't, and that is a bunch of bullshit.

Kazoo and Binabik are enthusiastic.

But oh, what's this? Some of the other lambs would like to know what I've got that's so special!

On the right we have the one we very inventively call "the red one". He's decided it's worth chancing proximity to the human.

And next thing I know,

Damn, dudes! Y'all used to be so standoffish! Man, lambing season and some bottle babies really broke down barriers. There are grown ewes coming up in the back there. Half a year ago you couldn't get within fifteen feet of them.

In the center here, facing the camera, is the firstborn of the flock, not only a ram lamb but also one of only two single-born lambs. He is the only named lamb besides the bottle babies, and as the firstborn of Kratos, naturally, his name is Atreus.

In the back is a VERY scruffy ewe we'd love to catch and roo.

And all of them are on lush, fresh early summer grass, but they're here crowding me for a chance at a handful of broadleaf browse. Really reinforces my commitment to growing more trees for fodder. Many sheep like browse (shoots and leaves of trees), and Soay are particularly partial. Browse has other advantages as well, such as being more drought resistant than grass, offering excellent nutrition, and, well, there are trees.

Bonus of Kratos the ram happily noshing on some weeds gathered 'round the compost heap. His favorite midwinter treat is Christmas trees. He'll even chew the bark off.

[funkinmadnesss]

hey watch this *sheeps ur cookies*

[cryptid-quest]

Cryptid of the Day: Soay Island Sea Monster

Description: In September of 1959, off the coast of the Scottish island of Soay, two fishermen saw was they described as “a large, humped back, turtle-like beast”, about 6-10 feet long. Skeptics think that what the men saw was a sea turtle. 

[teamfurtress]

so.....like........ whats ur furaffinity acc hypothetically

hypothetically........ here........

https://www.furaffinity.net/user/teamfurtress

[neolithicsheep]

Patrons have a video of Racing Horns being a prima donna for THE SECOND MORNING IN A ROW

[were-----ralph]

Flower

Picture

[seanabhraigh]

The tiny Soay sheep, on Hirta, enjoying the sun today

[scotianostra]

8th December 1987: The Scottish Land Court ordered the English owner of the Hebridean Island of Soay to sell more than half the island to a crofter who had lived there for more than 41 years.

Born in 1919, Joseph "Tex" Geddes - typically, he claimed he was given his nickname by a Red Indian fellow commando.

By his own account, he was born in Peterhead, Aberdeenshire, and taken to Canada by his father when he was two, following a trivial altercation with the police. Others maintain he was raised by an aunt, the youngest of three fighting brothers, in Easter Ross, and never went to Canada in his life. His neighbours in nearby Skye believed that he hailed from Australia.

In the book Hebridean Sharker Tex Geddes describes his exploits during the 1950s as a hunter of basking sharks in the waters of the Minch, between the Inner and Outer Hebrides. Using an adapted whaling harpoon, he and his crew stalked these huge fish often in perilous conditions, the liver of which is a valuable source of oil.

Always a maverick, before World War Two Geddes had been a boxer and a rumrunner to Newfoundland. During the war he established a reputation as an expert knife-thrower and bayonet fencer and served in the Special Forces with fellow hebridean Gavin Maxwell (author of Ring of Bright Water), and was a central character in Maxwell's Harpoon at a Venture

He combined the hazardous pursuit of sharks with crewing the local lifeboat, ring-net fishing, lobstering, deer-stalking and salmon poaching.

Thesubject of previous posts, historian of Gaelic culture Margaret Fay Shaw said of him: "Tex was a great storyteller and important as such. He was also immensely kind, and had that hunger for life and fun that is essential if you are to make a go of living in these islands. The Hebrides needs more people like Tex Geddes. So does the world

He went on to purchase the tiny island of Soay, where he lived with his wife Jeanne, Geddes continued fishing basking sharks, selling unprocessed livers rather than processed oil to Glasgow.While much of the remaining population of the island evacuated to Mull in 1953, Geddes and his family remained. Geddes protested at the lack of emergency telephone services and with the threat of loss of postal service to the remaining inhabitants of the island, he asked people to send him registered letters and packages. As a result the service was kept with post arriving once a month.

Today the island has a population of three, and the post arrives once a month. The population peaked at 158 in 1851, following eviction of crofters from Skye in the Clearances.

Tex Geddes, died on 11th April 1998 while returning from a bagpiping competition in the Outer Hebrides

[liamarthouse]

loose sheep lady sketch she's actually from a dream i had last month, still unsure of what breed of sheep she'll be but im leaning to towards valais blacknose or soay/boreray sheep

[naveralin]

MY LOVER

SOAI

[rederiswrites]

Peace and birdsong with the sheep.

[wanderosed]

Soay

I swear to ram I was not going to go here - yet.

"Do all the normal, easy to find, consistent wool breeds," says I (in my Midwestern whine) - but no.

NO!

We are going to Scotland!

(Because this Tik Tok creator said the magic words, essentially forcing me to info dump to my fibery soc-med accts)

There is an archipelago off Scotland's western shores collectively called St Kilda with which I became obsessed after purchasing an antique spinning wheel from a local family with a story about a someone coming over from Glasgow. This ⬇️ antique wheel to be precise. Note the # of spokes.

Fourteen - 14 spokes - so then, some bludger on Ravelry said "Oh! Cool! Fourteen spokes means it's a St Kilda wheel (blah, blah, blah) lucky number 14 (blah, blah) photo of woman and spinning wheel."

And just like that, I spent two years researching a collection of Outer Hebrides islands and the ecology there of, including:

Soay sheep. (See, we got there)

A decade ago, all this was a mystery outside of Scotland - but in the years since my obsession peaked, there have been many well researched articles written about the time and place that made Soay an ancient breed to include on your breed study journey.

One of the two breeds particular to the isles of St Kilda - the Soay is a naturally shedding, short tailed, dual purpose breed. Specialty herds have been seeded off the islands that produced their rough, hearty genetics, and for this reason you can purchase Soay fiber for spinning.

That fiber is as diverse as the sheep from which it is pucked or rooed as it is called. Could be fine enough for a camisole or hard enough for cordage ties. Really. Who knows?

The staple is between 2 & 4 inches (5-10cm) and -when a raw fleece is carded- the mixed lengths make a stable yarn where the longer fibers capture the shorter. The gathered fleece needs to be evaluated tuft by tuft (if you are lucky enough to get your hands on feral Soay) or you can go to Etsy where the North American Soay hang out.

The fiber of Soay can be ultra fine or medium micro or kemp - it's all luck of the wildish genetics draw. And, although the wool dyes well, you will usually see it left natural because the range of browns are phenomenal.

If a breed study is on your bucket list, this is a fiber worth taking out for a spin. It's ancient, it's feral, it's historical.

[cryptid-quest]

Cryptid of the Day: Soay Island Sea Monster

Description: In September of 1959, off the coast of the Scottish island of Soay, two fishermen saw was they described as “a large, humped back, turtle-like beast”, about 6-10 feet long. Skeptics think that what the men saw was a sea turtle. 

[stoneclaw]

grown ass dude carrying an angry little man plush around the house all the time