Oh, my Fantasy Fiber Flock!

So. FINALLY got slowed down, cripes and a high half, September was busy! I went to Oregon Flock and Fiber Festival (and it's the first time I could actually use my OFFICIAL TYPE name, "Fur 'n Feathers Farm". Not selling or anything, just thought it was cool.)

Anyway, so, I now am in love with several critters, so have now decided some folks have a fantasy league of various sports? I have a fantasy FLOCK!

To wit:

This fine critter has incredibly soft fiber. He came up, and after a wee bit of sniffing (camelids seem to have this thing about checking out your face by sniffing it. A vast improvement over doggy methods, in my opinion, even if camelids do occasionally need a breath mint.) And the nice gent who let me pet said camel told me that two would fit nicely on the amount of property I have! And since I have llamas already, gee, I would only need ONE... (I do actually want to get a camel, but there is rather pointed objections from someone in the house. And it ain't the dog, folks!)



No, they didn't put an exploded cotton ball in a cage. This little cutie is a bunny. I think an angora, but I am not completely sure. There was a large contingent of children around the cage, and I wasn't able to get the info on it. But it is cute, it is massively fuzzy, and hey, this one is small enough to put in the chicken house, or garage, without too much problem. Maybe two or three? Hmmm.



This is a Jacob sheep, I believe. (It might be Navajo-Churro, but I am pretty sure the multiple horns lead to Jacob.) This would be some lovely fiber for spinning, and these guys pretty well can care for themselves. Yearly checkup and maintenance, food, make sure that they have water and shelter, ya pretty much have it covered. Or at least that's what the sales lady/owner told me. I keep wondering if they leak out of holes in fences as much as standard sheep. I can see my neighbors calling to see if this "horny sheep" is mine.



These guys were neat, too, but a little past their prime for shearing, I think.



This is a maybe. I was rather pleased with the quality of the under hair of this yak. BUT... I was raised around cows. Cows can be obnoxious, and with those horns... Hmmm. I also note, I was checking the undercoat, and can assure you all, that a yak's tail, when connecting with a person's face, will feel very like getting swatted with a whisk broom, and can knock glasses off. NOT good, for she who has 20/roadkill vision. But they are (or at least the ones at the fest) were heavily laid back, and were more interested in snoozing than much of anything else.

There was also LOTS of llamas, a few alpaca, some goats, (didn't get a picture of one other in my line up, a Cashmere goat), and a... Chinchilla? A grey colored thing that looked like a cross between a rabbit, a kangaroo, with a side order of rat and squirrel thrown in for visual interest. I was not exactly sure the little guy was even REAL until the owner sat it on the table and it started wandering around. OK, I have my limits. That was just a little TOO exotic for me.

This year, anyway.

The naming of Cats. And pretty much everything else.

One of the groups I belong to was asking "Have you named your (spinning) wheel?" Heck, yeah. I have an Ashford Elizabeth (1), and she's named "Glorianna". Then I started thinking. I named my first Subaru, "The Mighty Ru". The next was "Ru 2". The truck I have now, "Long Legged". (Not because of it's size, but let's just say I don't have to worry about passing people anymore...) I can hardly believe that I have run the wheels off two vehicles!

I then started thinking about the various other things I've named, or know the name of. Mom and Dad's car is "Vicky" (it's a Crown Vic). I have lots of items of minor statuary that have names, and of course, my loyal readers will know about "Buc", my male model. (Butt Ugly Cat for those not in the know.)

I have named almost all my animals, either individually, (ie Sherbert the fish), or even collectively (The Magnificent Seven, chicken group I purchased this year.) Some are named for attributes, (Houdini, the rooster can get out of any box or cage I put him in), to familial relationships, (Purdy the late lamented rooster, and then his sons, PJ, and Purdy Junior, called Junior).

Husband and I haven't named this place we are at, but we had names for each of the other places we have had or potentially were going to buy. The Bird House, for a 60 acre parcel that had seven zillion bird nests in the garage. (And looked it.) The Homestead, which had been exactly that, it was a former homestead that had been divided. So that is where I am today...

I have been trying to name our farm. This would be for my "business cards". (I guess I would have to figure out a business. But, maybe "name it and they will come", right? heh...) I had a couple ideas in mind.

In the rather boorish and snotty end of the spectrum, "Unfriendly Northerner Farm". I have been told I am anti social, and unfriendly (mostly by Southerners. Go figure). Hey, let 'em know before they get here.

"Dog Leg Farm", because, if you look on an aerial photo of the place, it looks like >. Just not quite that severe.

I thought of something exotic-y, "Raven's View Farm", but that struck me as a bit too bed and breakfast-y for my life.

"Walking Acres" was another thought. We have teeny width, but way long depth, something on the order of a 1/2 mile.

And the one time I thought of ranch, rather than farm. "The Rescue's Ranch", because all my animals, except for the fish, and this year's chickens, came from people not wanting the animals, and they needed gone.

But the one that sticks with me the most is "Fur 'n Feathers Farm". Husband doesn't seem to give a rip one way or the other, I have thought about naming it something terrible, oh, "The Mustang Ranch" or "The Chicken Ranch" (heh, heh), so he'd listen and try at naming the place, too, but time will tell.

The funny thing I found out was that farms were named in the earlier years of the state, to make sure that if someone bought something, that they knew it was from a certain farm, if there was a problem. Now, farm names, while you don't have to register them, if you don't want to, can be registered as a business name. I don't know that I would go that far, I mean, I might sell some llama yarn, but the "farm" part is mostly for our food supply, not to sell.

Well, I will keep looking, and I guess that I will have to figure out what to name my chair for spinning. And the table I put the yarn on. Oh, and...