Appalachian Hills Farm

Appalachian Hills Farm A local farm in the Laurel Highlands; Specialize in raising llamas, sheep and alpacas; Creating hand-spun yarns & rovings

03/18/2026

For years Ted napped with the spinning wheel between us. A few times during my work he would get up to come beside me for a hug.
The first time Paddington curled up with me as I spun it felt like Ted had reached out to make sure this continued.
When he was still a tiny puppy Paddington was able to sleep between my chair and the wheel. He recently realized he had grown too big. He now curls up beside the wheel. Sometimes he stretches out flat on his side other times he is on his stomach. I have to be vigilant that he doesn't place his feet under the treadle. Today I had a new caution. Fortunately I keep my foot more to the center of the treadle.
He slept like this for an hour. He was either in a deep sleep and didn't notice the action on his ear or he was enjoying it.
Harper sleeps nearby. Even as a puppy he kept some distance from the moving wheel. I think he felt that was Ted's job and now it is Paddington's.

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This was unexpected. The only animal who came out was Turbo. He believes he must stand at the door to watch us. I am ver...
03/17/2026

This was unexpected. The only animal who came out was Turbo. He believes he must stand at the door to watch us. I am very glad I put a blanket back on him a couple of days ago so he was well protected.
Lee and I looked like walking snowmen as we went from barn to barn. Within a few hours the snow was six inches deep with drifts of a foot deep. The wind drove the snow through the open barn doors and every space between the barn siding causing snow to accumulate inside. Animals standing in the middle of the barn had snow on their backs.
It was stilled a near whiteout when we left the barn.

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These look like simple birds on the barn roof. They are not your everyday type of birds. These are tenacious birds. Toda...
03/16/2026

These look like simple birds on the barn roof. They are not your everyday type of birds. These are tenacious birds.
Today was another high wind day. The trees were deeply waving back and forth. The animals were of split minds with some napping outside and others taking shelter inside. On past windy days we rarely saw or heard any birds. I was surprised to see a cluster trying to maintain a resting place in the tall brush. Every so often they would toss all cares to the wind ( no pun intended) and attempt to fly. The turbulence forced them back to the shelter of the dense cover. I actually told them they were smart birds.
Then I noticed these few perched on the roof. The wind was causing them to sway but they held on. I can't imagine how strong their little feet were to be able to keep from blowing off. As I worked I kept checking on them. They braved the wind for almost an hour. Normally birds walk around on the roof but these ones stayed anchored to their spots. That level of tenacity was quite inspiring.

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Today dawned bright and sunny with hardly any breeze. Every animal was outside. I am still affected by how scared so man...
03/15/2026

Today dawned bright and sunny with hardly any breeze. Every animal was outside. I am still affected by how scared so many were last night. When the tornado went through the back part of the farm last year no one reacted. We were terrified but they acted normal which made their reaction last night unusual. The sustained winds were clocked between forty five and fifty miles per hour. The gusts were between fifty five and sixty five miles per hour. Those wind speeds did make it challenging to walk outside.
Many areas around us lost electricity and there were roads closed due to downed trees and power lines. We had one old maple tree in an unoccupied pasture come down. It will make some nice firewood for next year.
Paddington's toe has healed very well. His veterinarian said she could barely see where it had been broken. He is still on restricted activity for two more weeks so the supporting ligaments and muscles recover.
We are under another wind advisory for tomorrow. They are not predicting as fierce of winds as yesterday. Our plans for spreading lime in the pastures will have to wait.

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It started as a breeze that ruffled the thin branches on the trees. It slowly escalated into a roar that caused the tree...
03/14/2026

It started as a breeze that ruffled the thin branches on the trees. It slowly escalated into a roar that caused the trees to sway and bend. Anything not secured flew away. The fierce wind drove everyone inside but they could not escape the wind as it blew through the barn. Every bit of hay dust was driven across the floors causing an inside dust storm. The hay in the outside racks was blown onto the ground and to points unknown.
We continuously checked for down trees and loose barn siding. The township road was covered in small tree limbs but no downed trees. It was nerve racking for us but it seemed to really upset the sheep. They were huddled together in groups throughout the barn. When I checked on them many ran to me as if they needed reassurance that all was okay. Their reaction was a bit confusing since we have had high winds before that didn't bother them. When I went amongst them many pressed against my legs. No one was searching or begging for the treats in my pocket. I gave out hugs and scratches. It was just a small gesture but it seemed to help calm them.

Hope you have a wonderful weekend.

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Our lovely naturalized daffodils are really putting on a show. They are also silly daffodils who should have waited at l...
03/13/2026

Our lovely naturalized daffodils are really putting on a show. They are also silly daffodils who should have waited at least a week before going full out. Today the temperature stayed very chilly with a cold breeze. With the predicted continuing middle winter like temperatures they won't last long.
We were silly also. Those nice spring-like temperatures had us ready to put our winter gear away. We were celebrating not having to wear many layers. Well, today much of that outerwear gear came back out. The temperature was in the middle thirties with a wind chill.
Turbo was happy to have a blanket to wear. All of the animals except the female alpacas stayed inside. When we did our nighttime check they were sleeping outside. There were snowflakes falling as I was walking around.
We haven't been putting cat food out for a while because we have not seen Peep and Ollie. Last night we took the bag of food out of the barrel and forgot to put it back. Today the bag was shredded and all of the cat food was gone. It is good to know one of them found the bag and had a nice meal.

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A day ago I removed Turbo's heavy winter blanket. The temperatures had been very spring-like and he was quite warm. He w...
03/12/2026

A day ago I removed Turbo's heavy winter blanket. The temperatures had been very spring-like and he was quite warm. He was so clean under that blanket. I thought about putting the lighter weight fall/spring blanket on him just so he would stay clean but I didn't.
Today we had thunder storms and lots of rain. During the day the temperature was very comfortable. The overnight prediction was for it to drop into the thirties. Unfortunately Turbo was dripping wet and I couldn't put a blanket back on him. I hope he is dry tomorrow so I can groom him and put a blanket on him. For the next seven days the temperature is going to fluctuate between the twenties and thirties at night. I am hoping the prediction of an overnight temperature in the teens for later next week is wrong.
These temperatures are also wrecking havoc on my shearing schedule.
Tonight when I was checking the perimeters a small herd of deer were munching away on the growing grass in the ram's pasture. We haven't turned the rams out into a pasture so the deer took advantage. The deer do not like being in there with the rams. Cube and Legs were watching them. They were probably trying to figure out why the deer were allowed to wander around while they weren't.

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Fleece texture can vary from sheep to sheep and also from the location on the body. With the ewes shearing schedule soon...
03/10/2026

Fleece texture can vary from sheep to sheep and also from the location on the body.
With the ewes shearing schedule soon approaching I was checking some of the fleeces for cleanliness. Fleeces after the winter months tend to have more bits of hay intermingled throughout the fleece. Summer fleeces are cleaner because the sheep are out in pasture. During those months, they are sleeping in the field instead of inside the barn where the floor has hay droppings.
I am also checking for the condition of the fleece. After stressful days such as a harsh winter there can be weak spots in the fleece that cause the wool to break. Fleeces with weak spots do not hold up during processing for the spinning preparation.
Both of these fleeces were in good condition. The one has a wavy texture and the other has more crimp. The tiny ridges on each strand is the crimp. The wavy fleece will spin into a smooth worsted yarn while the crimpy one will do well as a woolen yarn. Woolen yarns are fluffy with more air trapped within the yarn. Woolen yarns have a tendency to create a fuzzier garment. Worsted yarn's smoothness works well in projects where definition is desired.
The light color of the two fleeces allows them to take on any color of dye. Dyeing can happen three different ways. After washing, the fleece can be dyed before carding or combing. This allows for many colors to get blended together before spinning. The yarn spun from a blended roving will create a yarn with a tweed appearance. The carded roving can be dyed in a solid color or it can have sections dyed different colors. Section dyed yarns will have areas of repeated colors. Lastly the undyed roving can be spun into yarn that is either left in its natural color or it can be dyed as a solid or multi colored yarn.
The whole process of shearing to the finished yarn takes many days. The longest time needed is for drying the wet wool after washing. The wet wool cannot get tossed into a clothes dryer because the action of the revolving drum will cause the wool to felt. The high heat will over dry the wool which will cause each strand to break apart. Wet fleeces are dried by placing them on racks made with screening or openings that allow air flow. The time needed to have a well dried fleece depends on the air humidity. It also depends on how thick the fleece has been placed on the rack. The process of carding or combing is also time consuming. A professional mill can prepare a clean fleece in a day's time. An individual using a drum carder is looking at many days to process a normal sized fleece. Most drum carders can process four ounces at a time. Normal fleeces can weigh anywhere from three pounds to ten pounds. That is a lot of ounces to process on a drum carder. Someone using combs will take weeks to process a fleece because most combs can only handle one ounce at a time.
As I am checking the fleeces I am thinking if I will dye the wool, how I will prepare it, and what I want to make with it. I am also checking to see which ones can be sold. Fleeces with lots of hay embedded within the locks are not saleable. Those fleeces end up as mulch.

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The extreme cold winter and heavy coverage of snow has impacted many of the late winter happenings. Our crocuses are lat...
03/09/2026

The extreme cold winter and heavy coverage of snow has impacted many of the late winter happenings. Our crocuses are late in blooming and the daffodils are slowly deciding if they want to participate. The original bulbs for these two flowering species came from my grandmother. She shared bulbs with my mother. My grandmother cherished the purple crocuses. So far only one of the light purple ones has bloomed. My grandmother had two areas for her daffodils and crocuses. The stone path leading to her door was lined on the right side with a beautiful herbaceous border. Her early blooms were the crocuses followed by the yellow daffodils. Her last spring bulbs to bloom were her tulips. She was partial to red ones. Her back garden had an English cottage vibe. The daffodils in this area were mainly ones with white blooms. My favorite was a creamy white one with a pale yellow center cup.
By the middle to late February the maple trees have buds but this year they are still holding off. This is good for all of the maple syrup farms. Once the trees start to open their flower buds the sap run slows down.
Two lesser known trees for tapping happen after the maple run is finished. Surprisingly black walnut trees have a sap that makes a nice syrup for use in baking, flavoring beans, pancakes, and waffles. The other is sweet birch. This sap is good for a healthy sipping drink served with sparkling water. It has a very delicate flavor so it is used in foods where it can add a hint of flavor.
We don't make any syrups due to the around the clock time needed to create a tasty syrup. Taking care of the animals consumes our day leaving little space for staying up to maintain making syrup. We have talked about doing some but wisdom prevails.

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Earlier this week my sweet treat loving Goldie unexpectedly passed away. Even though she was almost sixteen years old sh...
03/08/2026

Earlier this week my sweet treat loving Goldie unexpectedly passed away. Even though she was almost sixteen years old she showed no signs of slowing down.
My most vivid memory of Goldie was during shearing day when she was two years old. All of the sheep were penned into a small area inside the barn so we could easily catch them. We had a professional shearer with a young assistant helping us on that day. As we were catching one of the sheep Goldie ran like a maniac toward the bar gate. She never slowed down as she zoomed through the bars on the gate to escape into a five acre pasture. Her little legs were a whirl of movement as she rapidly ran to the far side of that pasture. The young assistant bounded over the gate determined to catch her. In an impressive display of speed, that young fellow herded Goldie toward a corner. Before she could zig out of his reach the assistant did a flying tackle that was worthy of a professional football star. After tackling her he flipped her over his shoulder and carried her back to the barn. Goldie did get sheared that day. From that day onward I put Goldie in a small pen the night before her scheduled shearing day by bribing her with grain.
My most endearing memory of Goldie was the day she accepted a treat. This became a daily ritual. She stood with her face pressed through the spaces in the fence or gate with her tongue flicking out as she patiently waited for me to fish a treat from my pocket.
Goldie was the daughter of Jewel and Morris. She had a twin sister Emerald.
As I said my final goodbye to Goldie I placed a small handful of treats beside her.

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Paddington had his splint changed today. The original splint was becoming tight around his leg. While we were in the wai...
03/07/2026

Paddington had his splint changed today. The original splint was becoming tight around his leg. While we were in the waiting room two very tiny Chihuahuas joined him. He was very intrigued and a bit confused. Their owners were holding them on the other side of the room which added to Paddington's confusion since he couldn't decide what they actually were.
Paddington weighed in at thirty seven pounds. These weeks of limited activity while his toe heals is the culprit. Hopefully his scheduled x-ray for next week will show a perfectly healed toe and we can go back to normal activities and training.
Today Lee reinstalled all of the water hoses. During the cold months we only use one short hose. Draining one short hose in freezing weather is less stressful. We have three areas that are filled with fifty to seventy five foot long hoses. Getting every drop of water drained a couple of times a day was frustrating. We were willing to do that until we had deep snow which made it too difficult to drag them straight to drain. Without the use of them we have been carrying water in buckets to fill troughs. I don't know if Lee was doing a happy dance as he filled everything using the hoses today but I did hear him humming.

Hope you have a great weekend.

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Angel, Oreo, and Truvidor decided they had enough of the damp weather. After days of sleeping outside in the rain they c...
03/06/2026

Angel, Oreo, and Truvidor decided they had enough of the damp weather. After days of sleeping outside in the rain they came inside. They were all slightly damp. Angel's knees were a bit muddy. Oreo appeared to have rolled in some mud. Truvidor as usual was the cleanest of the three. All of the other alpacas stayed outside. It will be a toss up as to whether these three go back out or the rest comes inside for the night.
Some of the barn sparrows were restless today. They were flying around inside. I think they are hoping for nice days so they can fly unrestricted outside. They were zooming from one side to the other in the upstairs of the barn which is sizable but it does have a limit on how much exercise a bird can get.

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Latrobe, PA
15650

Telephone

(724) 423-8107

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