A Former Trip to Williamsburg 2015

 I would like to report some of the uses of the sheep raised in the 18th century at Colonial Williamsburg.  The Brick Yard showed us how they used oyster shells and animal hair with the bricks.  The Garden used manure.  I know I do.  The Silversmith used wool for polishing.  The Weavers used wool to make cloth on large wooden looms.  We were told at the Milliner and Tailor Shop that most cloth was imported from England.  The colonists were forbidden to make their clothes.  So, most of the raw materials the colonists produced were sent to England by ships.  It was the men on the boats that knitted, and they made stockings.  These stockings were sold in port when they landed.  The Wigmaker used animal hair for the wigs.  Doesn’t a lovely wool wig sound great?  Animals were very much part of the colonists’ daily life, and the sheep we raised were part of the early colonists’ life.

December 14, 2015

At this moment, there are a lot of holiday activities on the farm.  Decorating wreaths, twining garlands on the porch posts,  positioning holiday artifacts on the first floor, hanging all of the different colors of lights,  and cutting down the tree.  It all gets magically done in time for the first holiday guests.

We have finished breeding the goats, and the sheep should begin tomorrow. The process usually lasts at least twenty days and no more than thirty. It is easy initially, but the routine becomes tiresome after three weeks. However, the anticipation of spring lambs brings a smile to our faces.

Here is the last blog I wrote on the old website:

It is the end of April, and nothing has been added to the blog. There are 16 new babies in the pasture, and what a spring it has been. The animals are healthy, and the rains have made the pastures lush and lovely. We have one black ewe lamb with three large white spots on her back, which is called reverse coloration.

November 29, 2020