January, February, and March 2018 News Letter

The 2018 Wool Crop

We are sorry we have been absent...

The New Livestock are here....and they are big!

Okay, they are not big yet but they will be! The Highland descends from the native cattle of Scotland and is named for the Highland region.  The breed was shaped primarily by natural selection and as a result it is best known for its survival qualities, hardiness, maternal abilities, reproductive efficiency and longevity.  Their long hair gives the breed its ability to overwinter.   The meat tends to be leaner than most beef because Highlands are largely insulated by their thick shaggy hair rather than by subcutaneous fat. We are excited to introduce Scottish Highland Cattle with our sheep to better utilize our native rangeland.  Highlands consume a wide variety of pest plants as well as grass and brush.  They are considered a "light grazer" in Europe, used to manage and diversify marginal lands without the negative impact seen with heavier breeds. The two pictured here are Elsie and Louisa, who we call LouLou. Elsie was born in April and LouLou was born in June.

A light Dusting of Snow has Come!

The sheep and goats are always more than happy to get some alfalfa even when there is snow on the ground.  The snow came in late December and was light but enough to cover the ground. It was just perfect for us because we were still able to drive around with out having to plow.

Art and Ag trails was a Success!

Fall is in full swing on the Ranch!

Bethany, Belle, Annie and Oakley are enjoying the "Indian Summer".  We are excepting little crias late spring early summer.

The Bees are headed towards warmer weather.

The bee keepers informed us that they had a record clean out with the hives on the property.  The bees were very health, the colony grew no mites or dieses.  They were very happy bees.  We are looking forward the having them back in the spring.  We got a smack'role  of honey but are waiting so patiently for those beautiful golden jars of Westside Honey.

First Snow Fall of 2017

Farmers Markets are at their End!

Wool Show Schedule 2017

2017 Art & Agriculture Tour

New Additions to the Ranch...

We have some exciting news! ​ We have Puppies! One of our beautiful guard dogs gave birth to a large liter of puppies at the end of August. They are a Maremma sheep dog mixed with Anatolian Shepard and Great Pyrenees. It is safe to say that these are going to be some large dogs when they grow up! Our guardian decided to keep on guarding and have her puppies under our large barn where they would be safe. We tried to get some great pictures for everyone to enjoy and we plan on having more once they start to come out

Monterey County Fair Results

New Event Venue!

Hay Delivery in August

It has been busy here on Harvey Farms. We received our hay delivery to make it through the winter. The sheep were more than excited along with the alpacas to see some yummy food being delivered.

A visit from some Locals...

 2017 Farmers Market Schedule 2017 Almond Crop Is Here

Tahoe City Farmers Market: May 18th - October 12th. When: Thursdays from 8 a.m. to 1 p.m. Where: Commons Beach, Tahoe City. ​Check out their Facebook page or website! Romano's Farmers Market: June 2nd - September 15th. When: Fridays from 10 a.m. to 2 p.m. Where: Sierra Valley Farms, 1329 A23, Beckworth, California. Truckee Community Farmers Market: June 4th - September 25th. When: Sundays from 10 a.m. to 2 p.m. Where:  the Factory Outlet Stores 12047 Donner Pass Rd, Truckee, California. Check out their Facebook page or website! To the left is a favorite customer of ours :) He enjoys the dryer balls, pelts and blankets very much.

2017 Fiber Show Schedule

Happy Independence Day

Gold Discovery Days - Mo & Jo will be there, Will You?

Mo and Jo during their baths.

Shannon took a nap while holding the goats as they dried off in the sun.

Summer Heat

Keeping the Sheep in Coats

This coat has become more of a scarf.

The boys replacing a coat.

2017 Farmers Market Schedule

​Farmers Markets are going strong.  We have lots of grass-fed lamb to BBQ this summer.  You will find yarn, blankets, pelts and felted soap at our booth.  You can place your order for a whole lamb cut and wrapped to your liking. ​ Tahoe City Farmers Market: May 18th - October 12th. It will be on Thursdays from 8 a.m. to 1 p.m. at Commons Beach, Tahoe City. Romano's Farmers Market: June 2nd - September 15th. It will be on Fridays from 10 a.m. to 2 p.m. at Sierra Valley Farms, 1329 A23, Beckworth, California. Truckee Community Farmers Market: June 4th - September 25th. It will be on Sundays from 10 a.m. to 2 p.m. at the Factory Outlet Stores 12047 Donner Pass Rd, Truckee, California.

2017 Fiber Show Schedule

2017 Art & Ag Tours

The Alpacas got a Shave!

BEES! Harvey Farms Newest Addition!

2017 Farmers Market Schedule

Farmers Markets are now in Full Swing!  ​ Tahoe City Farmers Market: May 18th - October 12th. It will be on Thursdays from 8 a.m. to 1 p.m. at Commons Beach, Tahoe City. ​Check out their Facebook page or website! Romano's Farmers Market: June 2nd - September 15th. It will be on Fridays from 10 a.m. to 2 p.m. at Sierra Valley Farms, 1329 A23, Beckworth, California. Truckee Community Farmers Market: June 4th - September 25th. It will be on Sundays from 10 a.m. to 2 p.m. at the Factory Outlet Stores 12047 Donner Pass Rd, Truckee, California. Check out their Facebook page or website!

2017 Fiber Show Schedule

Sierra Valley Art & Ag Tour 2017

The Shop in Blairsden

2017 Farmers Markets Are Starting!

We are very excited to mention that the 2017 farmers markets are beginning this month and we are excited to see every one out and about! The Tahoe City Farmers market is the one beginning this month! Tahoe City Farmers Market: May 18th - October 12th. It will be on Thursdays from 8 a.m. to 1 p.m. at Commons Beach, Tahoe City. ​Check out their Facebook page or website! Romano's Farmers Market: June 2nd - September 15th. It will be on Fridays from 10 a.m. to 2 p.m. at Sierra Valley Farms, 1329 A23, Beckworth, California. Truckee Community Farmers Market: June 4th - September 25th. It will be on Sundays from 10 a.m. to 2 p.m. at the Factory Outlet Stores 12047 Donner Pass Rd, Truckee, California. Check out their Facebook page or website!

The Sheep are Out and about!

Gold Discovery Days

We will be attending the Gold Discovery Days this year at the State Park in Johnsville. We look forward to seeing you there. Dates: July 15 & 16 2017 Times: 10 a.m. to 3 p.m. Location: Plumas Eureka State Park, Johnsville, California Rotary Pancake Breakfast on Sunday the 16th from 8 a.m. to 11 a.m. Come join for fun activities such as gold panning, food, music, candle making, childrens games, wagon rides, black smith demos, assay office tours, period costumes, longboard skiers, wood working, Moriarty house tours, and weavers.

2017 Fiber Show Schedule

Sierra Valley Art & Ag Tour 2017

Local 4-H Member and our Yarn

Jade is in her 4th year with the Treasure Mountain 4-H group. She is working on her project for the Plumas-Sierra fair and this year the theme for the fair is Art to Ag. She is doing her project on natural dying.  Jade came out to the ranch and we loaded her up with with Romney fiber: raw wool, roving and yarn to experiment with dying. When asked , why did you decide on this project. She said because I thought it would be interesting to see what colors I could make and finding different things to make the different colors.  She has experimented with sage, beets, black beans, lettuce, manzanita flowers, cottonwood buds, and turmeric.  She was most surprised with the color that was made by using sage.  She was expecting more of a silver color because that is the color of the plant but instead it produced a beautiful yellow.  She was disappointed with the color from the manzanita flowers she was hoping for a pinkish color but instead a yellowish, greenish, brown was produced. She will be doing a presentation on her project at the Plumas~Sierra fair this year from August 9-13th.  We will follow up on the progress and wish her the best of luck at the fair.

The Pangora Goats Got a Shave!

Mini Oreo (Mo) standing pretty after his hair cut.

4th Annual Farm and Garden Fest

Saturday May 6th, from 10am till 4pm at the Sierra Valley Grange in Vinton, California If you are looking for ideas or local products this is a great event. Come see us we will be demonstrating how to make felted dryer balls.  You can buy some dryer balls or a kit and make your own.

Lambs, Lambs & More Lambs.

As we near the middle of April we are starting to wind down with our lambs being born. The lambs from January and February are more than happy when the hay is put in the feeder, they all rush it and even try to push their moms out of the way. They can be seen in the couple of pictures below We have a couple more ewes to give birth until we are totally finished. The picture to the right is a new lamb that was born at the end of march, being weighed. This particular lamb was about 10.5 pounds.

2017 Fiber Show Schedule

2017 Farmers Market Schedule

Sierra Valley Art & Ag Trail

Warm Weather

Wool is for more than just Spinning...

Miranda laying in some of the fiber.

A tree was used to help with the drying process for the fiber.

Not able to attend Interweave Yarn Festival

Sierra Valley Art and Ag Trail 2017

2017 Fiber Show Schedule

2017 Farmers Market Schedule

Shearing is Done!

We managed to accomplish shearing this year for over 70 Ewes.  The weather was not as cooperative as we would have liked but we made it work. We had one good day with beautiful sunshine but the other 2 were a bit gloomy and cold. It took 3 days to get every one's hair cut done.  We will have a nice selection of fine wool fleeces and some stunning luster long wool fleeces both white and natural colored and a few variegated ones too. We did not open our ranch up to the public for shearing this year.  With all the rain and snow it has made our road into the ranch impassable at times.  So we felt that it would be best to have only the family and a couple of the local spinning gals helping this year.  It has been 20 years since we have had a winter like this and I can’t ever remember so much flooding here in the Sierra Valley.

These ewes were happy to get all of that wool off and are ready to have their babies! The driveway into the ranch became flooded over.

The ewes and Anna enjoying the warm sunshine outside of the barn. The ewes were waiting for some food as well.

Lambs, Lambs, and more Lambs!

How Do We Know Our Wool's Not Scratchy?​

Here are some of my Rambouillet replacement ewe lambs.  I sent in 24 wool samples for micron testing at YoCom McColl in Colorado.  All of the samples but two were less than 22 microns.  They were 22.3 and 22.6 so they were close.  For our ranch I was pleased.  The Rambouillet’s range in fiber diameter is 18.5 to 24.5  In general a micron count below 22 is fine enough to wear next to the skin and not be scratchy.  So what is a micron?   A micron (micrometer) is the measurement used to express the diameter of wool fibers.  Fiber diameter is the most important characteristic of wool in determining its greasy value.  It is also one of the tools producers use in helping them to select their replacements to keep improving the genetics of their herd.   ​We will have a nice selection of fine wool fleeces this coming year.

Interweave Yarn Fest: March 30th - April 2nd

​We will be attending the Interweave Yarn Fest in Loveland Colorado this year from March 30th to April 2nd, 2017. The location is at the Embassy Suites Hotel this year and hotel rooms are available to book with a discount! There will be plenty of workshops to enjoy and many vendors. We hope to see you visiting us and the others so go ahead and get your passes and come have a good time.

2017 Fiber Show Schedule

2017 Farmer Market Schedule