Queen Bee and Queen Polly

Hello everyone!  Things have calmed down here a little after the whole Shadow Cat ordeal and I'm proud to say that she is doing very well.  So, my mom, Ashley, and I all planned on going on a road trip to visit friends in West Virginia.  This was exciting for me because a few months ago, Kelly (our friend) offered me a lamb.  Kelly, from Hopping Acres, has been involved extensively in the success of the wonderful Leicester Longwool breed as she has been working tirelessly for over 20+ years now.  When we saw her about a month ago, she actually said that she was giving me TWO lambs instead of one!  I was so excited for this because she puts a lot of work in raising her Leicester Longwool sheep.  

The Leicester Longwool breed is actually on the conservancy list, meaning that there are very few of them in the United States.   This May, the annual Maryland Sheep and Wool festival will be held.  Kelly and her friend Joan are a big part of this event and they have their own booth there.  They are going to be very busy from the time they arrive to the time they leave because this is the 25th anniversary of when the Leicester Longwool was reintroduced to the United States.  There will be a card grading event which will evaluate each sheep to the breed standard which is a very important part of making sure that the breed conforms to what the breed says they should be.  You want to preserve this wonderful breed, but we also need to make sure that we are doing it the right way.  In addition, there will be a country store and educational exhibits featuring the Leicester Longwools.  With all this extra work involved, Joan and Kelly won't have much time for their booth.  They asked us if we would be interested in watching their booth and we could even have some of our own items in the booth.  We, of course, said yes!  

Tuesday, we woke up at 5:00 am and headed down to West Virginia!  I was so excited and yet, a little tired.  I couldn't wait to met the lambs!  So, after a drive that felt like forever, we finally arrived.  We were greeted by a few dogs, Kelly, and even Joan was there!  After a long conversation about Maryland for the Sheep and Wool festival, we talked and laughed and talked some more.  We had a great time.  Kelly even made chili with Beefalo (Buffalo bred with Angus cattle)!  My mom made a batch of cornbread to go with it.  After a wonderful lunch, we talked a little longer about Maryland.  Can you believe how nice they were to let us use part of their booth to sell our own products?   

Around 1:00 pm, we went outside and I finally met the lambs!  They are such a nice representation to this breed and I can't even begin to tell you how happy and thankful I am for Kelly trusting them to me!  I am happy to say that I have three Leicester Longwool sheep now, Boo, my ram, Queen Bee, and Queen Polly!  All such nice sheep.  I can't wait to continue with this breed.  Thank you Kelly!   Hope to see you all at the Maryland Sheep and Wool.  If you are there, stop in and see us at the Leicester Longwool booth. 

Kelly and I with Queen Bee and Queen Polly hiding in the truck.

Queen Bee!