Today’s Random Farm Photos

Posted on September 11, 2026 by Robin

This seems to be a recurrent theme now. There are a lot of moving parts. Maybe I should call this A Day on the Farm.

Dan ordered a load of sand. It’s hard to imagine right now, but when we get a lot of rain all at once, the water gets ankle deep here. Dan is thinking ahead.

Water flowing out of orange valve in green pasture.

I am irrigating today. We asked for water for 24 hours so we need to get the whole pasture irrigated in that time. I am still figuring out the best way to manage this with the Goldilocks plan (not too much and not too little). Last time it worked and I hope I have it right this time as well. So my main task today is to continue to check water and open and close valves as necessary. There are 28 valves along the pipeline.

View into a green barrel with frothy liquid inside.

I am working on a variety of other things between checking the pasture. This is the look into a barrel that holds some heads from the latest harvest day about ten days ago. We’ve had some very hot weather and that should hasten the progress on these skulls. It’s very disgusting and, even more disgusting, those white things are maggots.

Two sheep skulls with horns that are not cleaned.

This is how the heads looked after I dumped the barrel. The horn sheaths on the smaller skull have loosened and are easy to get off. The big one went back in after I pulled off a lot of gunk. I can’t get those horn sheaths off yet, and I hope another week in the barrel will do the trick, but I sort of doubt it.

Three sheep skulls with horns and other small bones draining in a red tray.

These skulls just came out of a bucket with peroxide and water.

Bright white sheep skull with five horns.

This one has had further treatment. Now I have to get those horn sheaths back on. I wonder if I overdid the cleaning process because that seam has separated more than I’d like.

Plastic bin and green plastic tub containing white fabric folded into different shapes arranged to fill the tubs. Photo shows dye canisters with labels.

In between irrigating and working on skulls I prepared another batch of bandanas for ice dyeing. Results in 24 hours.

Two dozen skeins of blue or blue-green yarn on a brown wooden background.

I also finally organized the latest skeins dyed in indigo. The earlier ones (on the left) are more blue while the rest have a blue-green cast. I don’t know if it’s due to time in the indigo bath or stage of growth of the plants or some other variable.

I’m preparing yarn for dyeing tomorrow, but realized that to dye with wolf lichen I don’t need to mordant. I weighed the lichen that I gathered off fallen branches on our last visit to the mountains and the wound three ounces of yarn to match the weight of lichen. The yarn and the lichen are in the pot now.

It’s 11:20 p.m. right now. I plan to check the water in about ten minutes, so I just looked at the readings from the soil moisture sensors. The red line shows the water flow onto our property. We were supposed to get it at about 10, but early in the morning I looked at the ditch that carries the water, and it was more full than when we order water. It was the “leftover” water from someone at the upper end of the canal and it runs out of an overflow pipe adjacent to our property. I wish I had known and could have opened our valves sooner. As it was I opened the valve at 6:30 a.m. and that’s when our meter picked it up. The water tender must have made a drastic change at 7 a.m. and we stopped getting that water, but the water we’re paying for followed at 11…so 12 hours ago. The blue, purple, and green lines are the soil moisture levels at 4″ (green), 8″ (purple), and 12″ (blue) at two different stations. The darker lines are from the west sensor and the lighter ones are the east sensor. This shows that it was about 5:30 when water reached the one on the west. It shows the east one is also wet, but it might be from the water accumulating at the south end of the field.

Time to go look at water and see what is really happening. Hopefully I can close some valves and open others and then not go back out until about 5 a.m.

Today’s Random Projects

Posted on September 9, 2026 by Robin

I could say Today’s Random Projects Other Than the Computer because that’s what I did all morning–always trying to catch up and clear the desk.

Handwoven fabric samples in white, green and gold.

This is part of clearing the desk. I am working on a weaving article and this is one set of samples that I need to mail. I needed another photo so that I can see the sample numbers as I review what I write.

This afternoon I decided to catch up with a project that’s been hanging over my head and I want to have done before upcoming sales–Pleasants Valley Open Farm Days just north of Vacaville and Lambtown in Dixon. I have been avoiding dealing with skulls. One of these days I could share photos of the whole process, but that might turn some people away–at least the first couple of stages.

These skulls don’t look too bad, but they still aren’t ready to present for sale. The one on the left is the best, but I had already worked on that one. Now was time for them to all go in a pot to simmer in a solution that will help remove tissue that I couldn’t get off. I had been avoiding this because this solution is caustic and I don’t want to risk leaving them too long. I know that if I go away and do something else, even with a timer set, I’ll miss it. So I decided that I could do two projects at once in the garage where I was going to set up this pot.

While I was waiting for the pot to heat up I prepared bandanas for ice dyeing.

When the pot was ready I put a few skulls in and set the timer for five minutes. That’s not really very long to get much else done, but I worked a little more on the bandanas.

After five minutes I took those skulls out and put others in, setting the timer again. At that point all I could do is work on the skulls–cleaning with a small bristly brush and rinsing them thoroughly. Those skulls will be in the sun tomorrow and then will be ready for the horns to go back on.

Two plastic tubs that hold fabric covered with ice and dye powder.

After the skulls were finished I could apply the dye in the ice-covered bins. No quick turn-around on those. I have to wait 24 hours before peeking!

Several rows of cards that hold buttons made of sheep horns.

This evening I sorted the buttons that I finished yesterday. They are on cards now, but not attached. That will be a project for tomorrow.

Random Farm Photos Again

Posted on September 6, 2026 by Robin

This is my life–trying to work on everything at once, because it all seems important.

I just finished this scarf to have at Lambtown where I’ll be teaching Clasped Warp and Closed Weft

Spinning class Saturday morning. Three new spinners!

I’m trying to organize my life. The basket where I put gloves when I come in from the barn has been NOT organized. I spread all the gloves out to match them up. Then I gathered gloves from the barn. There are pairs on the left. All on the right are single gloves. Most of them are left-hand gloves, so where are all the right-hand gloves? I know that if I get rid of all the singles I’ll start finding others that should have matched. So I’ll probably put these in another box and hang on to them for another 10 years or so. Notice the boots at the top. They have had their last trip to the barn. I’ll salvage the shoe laces to use as ties on the net fence but the boots are going away.

This may not look like much, but it represents several hours of button making. First there is cutting on the band-saw. The cups hold groups of buttons that are all from one horn. I try to keep those together through the process so that they can be sold as sets.

This is the same batch of horns, but now with holes drilled. Now they will go back to the sander and then they will have a finish appleid.

The last three days I have sorted out ewe lambs I’m keeping and put halters on all. I’d like them to be at least semi-halter broke–then if I have to use a halter the sheep won’t panic .

While doing so I led some outside to get a better look at color. There is an obvious difference between the black and white lambs and all the lilacs.

Lilac twins, the last born this spring. I named all the lambs last night. These two are Cosmos and Dahlia.

I spent time today inventorying the hedgerow after replacing some of the plants that didn’t make it. These are rhizomes from Johnson grass a very invasive and obnoxious grass. I can’t dig it out of the whole pasture, but I can dig it out of the fenceline along the hedgerow. It is important to get the clumps and these tubers out. they continue to grow and sprout new plants–I’m sure that I didn’t get everything.

Random Farm Photos

Posted on September 3, 2026 by Robin

Wild turkeys on the top rail of a gate and on he ground in front, with sun setting behind.

This is a resident flock of turkeys–two adults and five babies (not so baby anymore). They come and go farther up the road and across the road. They are most annoying when they are around the peach tree or scratching up the garden.

Two views of the paddock I moved the sheep to yesterday. This is looking south. The grass in the foreground is an undesirable one and we are thinking about how to deal with it.

The same paddock from the other end. The grass here is orchard grass which was part of the seed mix we used in fall 2024. Notice how inconsistent the pasture is. There is lots of chicory in the top half and not much except the grass in the south with lots of bare ground between clumps. More issues to think about.

Yesterday moving rams lambs to the barn to sort for harvest day.

Notice ground squirrel holes. They have underground cities everywhere including under the barn.

After harvest. I have eleven sheepskins salted.

I’ve been sorting JSBA files. Jacob Sheep Breeders began in 1988 with the plan to keep a registry for Jacob sheep in North America. From the website: “JSBA’s mission is to foster the conservation of Jacob sheep through education, advocacy, registration and research.” I was Registrar for many years. When I began I picked up five four-drawer filing cabinets, holding registration applications, from the previous Registrar, also in California. By the time JSBA went digital and I was finished, those filing cabinets were full and overflowed into boxes. Several years ago I started scanning the files so that there would be a record of JSBA’s history. Actually, I didn’t do the scanning initially, but prepared the files so that we could have someone else do it. Each file has two sets of photos stapled to it and wool samples for rams. I removed photos and tried to find two views of the sheep to staple back on but to cover up comments and signatures. Needless to say, this gets time consuming. Farm Club helped for awhile, including scanning now that we can do that with a phone. So…now, many years later, there is the goal to finish the job. I know which boxes have not been prepped, but I’m trying to figure out which prepped files were scanned and then if those scans are now in JSBA’s database.

I would rather be weaving. I SHOULD be weaving. This is another example for the upcoming Lambtown class about Clasped Warp and Clasped Weft.

I don’t know how long I’ve had these boots, but they are very comfortable and got me to the top of Mount Lassen last month. I think they have seen their last days. The sole on the left one has completely separated all the way back to the instep.

Farm Club Summer Retreat 2026…including some digressions that could be their own blog posts…

Posted on September 1, 2026 by Robin

Every year since 2011 (except for a couple of COVID years) Farm Club members have gathered in San Francisco for a getaway. In January 2026 we gathered for Retreat #13 and we enjoyed it so much we talked about planning another retreat for the summer. So I guess this is Retreat #14 or Summer Retreat#1. There were twelve participants this time and prior to gathering we sorted into carpools groups depending on geography. Four of us in the I-80 corridor group (Sacramento to Fairfield) drove west to enter San Francisco across the Golden Gate. We made a couple of stops on the way. An unplanned spur-of-the-moment stop was at Dharma Trading Company in San Rafael, a wonderful resource for all dyeing projects.

Lettering on wall, "The Bay Model, U.S. Army Corps of Engineers"

The next stop was The Bay Model, a place I had read about recently and wanted to see. It is just what the sign says, a model of the San Francisco Bay. I think I may have been here a long time ago but had very little memory of it, and there is much more to it now, at least from a visitor point of view. The original function was as a research tool to examine tidal movement before there was computer simulation. After 2000 the focus shifted to education and the facility has developed into a fascinating educational tool, demonstrating the tidal movements of the Bay and Delta.

The background story is amazing (in a horrifying way) to me. There was a proposal in the 1940’s to build two dams where the Sacramento and San Joaquin Rivers enter San Francisco Bay to create freshwater reservoirs and to cover mudflats for industrial development. The idea was taken seriously enough that this model of the Bay from the ocean to Suisun was constructed in 1956-57. The Sacramento-San Joaquin delta portion was added in the late 1960’s. The model is the size of two football fields and is in a three-acre building that was part of a shipbuilding facility during World Was II. The model reproduces the tides of the Bay (about 24 hours) every 15 minutes.

We had less than an hour to visit before the facility closed. In that short time I gained perspective that I had not learned in all the years I’ve lived in northern California. The first was the idea I described above, and the reason this model was constructed.

The second is part of a well-known episode of California history. There is a mural as you enter the exhibit that portrays the destruction caused by the California Gold Rush of 1848-49. From the sign: “Hydraulic mining was both efficient for finding gold and extraordinarily destructive to the watershed…Sediment laden water flowed downstream, choking the beds of rivers and coating the floor of San Francisco Bay with a thick blanket of mud.” We all learn about the Gold Rush in school, and I have seen the still-remaining evidence of this in the foothill landscape but I hadn’t thought of the impact downstream all the way to San Francisco.

I can’t help but relate these events to the current proposals we face in Solano County and on the federal level that are led by greedy, money/power-driven people that will destroy the environment…but now I really digress. This is supposed to be about the Farm club weekend.

One last photo of just one part of the Bay Model. It was close to closing time and the water flow had been turned off. I want to go back and take more time to fully appreciate this incredible exhibit.

Crossing the Golden Gate to enter San Francisco. Learn more about our destination, the NDGW Home, in the link at the beginning of this post.

Bedroom with wood floor and poppy themed decor.

This is the room I was assigned. It has a California Poppy theme. As usual we spent the evening in the parlor spinning or knitting or working on other fiber crafts.

Four pies, an apple crisp, bowl of whipped cream, and tomatoes.

Our traditional breakfast is pie and there was no shortage this time. Pies include peach, berry, and key lime, and an apple crisp. I included freshly picked tomatoes along with a peach pie.

After breakfast six of us made our way to Alcatraz. The significance of this photo is that there is no one in the driver’s seat. This is Waymo! That’s a new experience.

We took the ferry to the island.

Inside Alcatraz cell block, view of cells on two levels.

We first took the self-paced audio tour of the Cellhouse and then explored the rest of the island and other exhibits for a few hours. Alcatraz has a history prior to the relatively short era of being a federal maximum security prison. It was probably visited by Native Americans long ago, but in the 1850’s it became a fort and a military prison. It was transferred to the Department of Justice in 1934 and operated as a federal prison until 1963. I could digress again about Things I Should Have Known. There are thought provoking exhibits about the U.S. Rate of Incarceration (the highest in the world, by far), the Termination Policy and the Relocation Act of the 1950’s that removed Native American people from the remaining tribal lands, the Native American 19-month occupation of Alcatraz beginning in 1969-72, and more. We wondered how long these exhibits will be allowed to be in place if anyone in D.C. learns about them. This is California, so are we safe? I have digressed again.

Large container ship, labeled Evergreen, in the bay with sailboats in the foreground and San Francisco hills in background.

We spent time exploring other accessible parts of the island and caught this view of a container ship heading to Oakland, where we saw it docked on our way home the next day.

People seated on couches and chairs arranged in a circle in large room with wooden floor and arched windows.

After our Alcatraz tour we Waymo’d (is that a verb?) to Haight Street for a shopping experience and then walked back to the Home where we spent the rest of the day. We had moved furniture to expand our circle. Everyone is on their phones in this photo because we were ordering dinner, after figuring out how to make a group order with DoorDash.

Sunday morning some of us walked about a mile to Golden Gate Park to see the dahlia garden. There are enough photos to have another blog post that could be used as color inspiration for weaving projects!

Group photo of twelve women outside gated entrance.

The weekend was over too soon, but the group discussion helped me to pinpoint a potential breeding date, which sets us up for lambing and shearing dates, and for the next retreat in January or February.

Lassen National Park – Day 3

Posted on August 27, 2026 by Robin

It’s been almost a month since this trip, and I can’t move on in the blog until I finish this…and find more time. So this is a quick finale to the trip.

This tree was right next to our tent. The significance is that both mornings we woke up hearing large things falling on the tent.

It turns out that this squirrel was trying to kill us. He (?) was at the end of branches dropping fresh hard pinecones on the tent. We know this because later, as we were eating breakfast we heard more pinecones drop and finally saw him.

Hiker on trail with trees to right and rocks to left.

We chose the trail to Bumpass Hell for the morning’s hike.

Sign showing ancient volcano that would tower over remaining landscape in the background.

Along the way there was a sign that shows the present landscape (in green) in relation to the original volcano (white) that was active over 400,000 years ago. It was 11 miles across and 1000 feet higher than Mt. Lassen.

View of Bumpass Hell landscape in Lassen National Park. Trees in foreground and background with barren ground in middle.

The geothermal features that exist now would have been under the dome of that ancient volcano.

Bumpass Hell landscape showing boardwalk for visitor travel.

Now we can wander through these fascinating formations safely on boardwalks…

…and learn more about them.

A boiling muddpot.

Rocky landscape with purple lupine blooming in the foreground.

A lupine landscape.

Lassen National Park – Day 2

Posted on August 20, 2026 by Robin

We had a leisurely Monday morning. I slept well and in luxury–a cot, a sheepskin, a sleeping bag, and a wool blanket–although I was awake at 1 a.m. and read for an hour. That happens when you go to bed at 8:30.

I’m usually the one taking photos but Dan took this one of me so I could prove I was there.

We planned a short hike to Kings Creek Falls.

View to the west from the trail. The Dixie Fire burned 73,240 acres in the Park in 2021. The total area burned in that fire was 963,309 acres, making it California’s largest fire at that time.

Does this tree remind you of something. I have my opinion and it’s kind of amusing. But I wish I could just see it as a dead tree and not something else. I’d be curious to know what you think it looks like. Make a comment.

Overlook at the waterfall.

California Tortoiseshell Butterfly.

Mt. Lassen with trees in the foreground.

Here is a view of where we hiked the previous day. You can make out the switchbacks on the left side of the mountain.

After the hike we drove along the main road to the northwestern part of the park, stopping to read signs along the way. There is a small visitor’s center and museum there. There is a lot of interesting material, including photos and first-hand accounts of the 1915 eruption. There was a good display of volcanic rocks you might see. This caught my eye because of the label. Unshorn wool? I guess so.

Lake rimmed with trees where reflection is obvious.

This is Summit Lake, where we were camped.

Lassen National Park – First Day

Posted on August 17, 2026 by Robin

Wooden sign that says Lassen Volcanic National Park with burned landscape behind.

How would you spend your 40th wedding anniversary? We wanted to DO something. A few weeks prior we reserved a campsite at Lassen National Park for two nights. The main road through the park passes the trailhead for Lassen Peak.

We got to the trail head just before 11 a.m. The route is only 2-1/2 miles to the top. It’s the elevation that makes it tough. Consider that we live at about 90′ elevation. The trail starts around 8500′ and finishes around 10,500′.

Dan hiking up a rocky trail with butterflies flitting around .

This photo is not the result of a dirty lens. Those are butterflies. I remember one of the few other times we were here and we experienced the same thing. These are California Tortoiseshell Butterflies. According to the NPS website, they are “common in foothill canyons in late winter where they emerge from hibernation to lay eggs on the young, tender growth of various species of wild lilac (Ceanothus)…Adults of the first brood emerge in late May or early June and begin moving to higher elevation in search of food…Summer breeding takes place in early migration…The adults of the second brood, laid during migration, emerge in July.” There is much more detail at the NPS website.

Dan hiking a trail off rocky stairs, heading toward the ridge.

You won’t be able to tell, but there is a zigzag trail full of switchbacks above the snow in this photo, and then it goes across the higher slope below the ridge.

Another photo of the trail.

Robin and Dan in a selfie with Lassen Peak and blue sky in the background.

This two and a half mile hike to the summit took us almost two and a half hours. So our pace was about one mile per hour. As our family likes to say, “forward is a pace”.

View of Mt. Shasta in the distance with Lassen Peak in foreground.

View of Mt. Shasta to the north.

California Tortoiseshell Butterfly on a rock, mostly orange with black spots.

We sat at this level, ate lunch, and watched butterflies before deciding to hike the last little bit to the real peak of Mt. Lassen.

Trail across snow patch and up a rocky slope to the peak with blue sky in background.

The trail from this point on is not a real trail. We went about half way up and decided that the lack of trail and the loose rocks where it got steep made it too sketchy (that’s the word that kept coming to mind) for us to continue. We had to be content with making it almost all the way up.

Hiker on trail with rocky slope and blue sky behind.

Hiking down, of course, was faster.

Hiker on rocky trail with view of landscape and blue lake in background.

Looking down on the switchbacks.

Purple and yellow flowers on a rocky trail.

It’s amazing to see flowers growing in this stark rocky terrain, but they were there!

Hiker on rocky trail with blue lake and hills in distance.

We got to the parking lot, near the level of that lake, about 4 p.m.

Here is a description of the trail. The part I called sketchy is referred to as “a steep, rocky scramble”. Maybe we would have done that five years ago.

We found our reserved campsite and set up the tent that we had borrowed from a friend. Luxury because it was big enough that we could have cots!

I created a video of this hike. See it here on the Meridian Jacobs YouTube channel.

Random Farm Photos – I’ll never catch up!

Posted on July 25, 2026 by Robin

When I wait for a story to be complete before writing a blog post it never happens. So this post is a batch of beginnings, middles, and ends, but no complete story.

Sample in purple and green using handwoven fabric.

This is the beginning of my exploration on the best way to use up all the handwoven scraps I have. I like how this looks, but when you look at the edging you will know that it’s not ready for public consumption. In other words, I have to get a whole lot better at the finishing part than I am now.

Jacob ewe with a sheep coat that has come off the back and is wrapped around the front legs.

This could be another story about sheep coats–and why I don’t like to use them and why a coated fleece costs more. No sheep were harmed in this story, but the potential is there.

Jacob ram with the lower horn hanging straight down because it is broken at the top.

This one will probably be a story, but I’m not sure how graphic the photos should be. This is Peregrin, a yearling ram. You can see where his lower horn was rubbing on his shoulder (the patch about 6″ to the right of the horn tip) which is not a desirable thing, but I planned to trim it. He must have been hit by one of the other rams and the core of the horn broke. I have video of how much that horn can wobble. This was a few days before I planned an overnight trip to Oregon to deliver sheep and sheepskins. More to this story later.

Two large barrels on their sides for soaking sheepskins.

This could also be a story. I had an inside look at Traditional Tannery, where I am sending all my sheepskins now. If I remember correctly they can fit 60 sheepskins in one of those barrels for the initial washing.

Sunflowers against a blue and white sky.

Back home. I love my sunflowers this year. The one in front with the brown cast is a new variety. The others all grew from seeds produced last year.

Red and white border collie on dirt road through an alfalfa field with Mt. Diablo in the distance.

I’m trying to get out and walk, partly for me, and partly to give Ginny something to do.That’s Mount Diablo in the distance.

Naturally dyed yarn in orange, yellow and red.

I’ve been dyeing yarn. I dyed five skeins with Cosmos flowers. The two in the middle were then dipped in an acidic bath (dilute lemon juice) and the two on the right were dipped in a basic solution using washing soda.

Stack of handwoven wool blankets with a variety of colors and patterns.

I finally finished a blanket warp that I put on the loom in May. This is the Timm Ranch yarn for warp and most of the blankets are local. The two gray ones have Jacob weft. The bottom one is Ashford yarn, the next two are my new favorite U.S Wool (outside Solano County) from Brown Sheep Company, and all the rest are naturally dyed Timm Ranch yarn.

Moving on to overshot. I have a deadline of mid-September to finish a magazine article. That is a topic for later.

Jacob ram that broke his horn. It was removed and his head is bandaged.

This is still not the end of the story for the ram at the beginning. On Wednesday the vets removed the broken horn. The goal now is to keep the flies off and hope it heals well. I took this photo after he tore off the initial bandage that was full of gauze to put pressure on the wound. My job of rewrapping isn’t pretty but it was still in place yesterday and today.

I forgot that I do enjoy writing blog posts, but have to not be too worried about having everything in order and whether or not there is a beginning and an end.

Sunflowers

Posted on July 12, 2026 by Robin

I admire sunflowers and this year’s sunflowers are stunning. There are only about ten plants in the garden but there are dozens of blooms on them. The tallest is 9-1/2 feet!

The bees are enjoying them too.

They are covered with pollen.

Most of the sunflowers grew from last year’s seeds already in the ground. The flower in this photo is the exception. I found a seed packet from long ago and started a few seedlings. One grew and I transplanted it when it was only a couple of inches tall.

You can see the difference in color when compared to the yellow flowers.

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Life on the farm and at the loom.