"Gara Yylan", black snake. Moderatly customized Thompson akhal teke stallion finished in my studio in late 2008.

Farm Photos Fall 2009

It's greening up in the pastures again with the little bit of rain that we've had in the past couple of days, so I turned the sheep out to let them run around and graze a bit. They're hilarious to watch as they leap up into the air and tear around like little lambs. =:)

I'm really happy about this little black beauty. This is the first "throw-back" genetically solid black penedesenca pullet that has hatched out in two years worth of work. I've been trying for awhile to get anything remotely close to a completely solid black out of my recessive rooster. I usually get the darker crele pattern, which is what her little brothers are beside of her. This pullets grandfather was my old solid black penedesenca rooster "Guapo" who sadly passed away at the very ripe old age of 8 1/2. The mother of these chicks is a bright blonde colored crele hen, and their father is a younger recessive-gened dark crele rooster - (by Guapo out of an older crele hen who is now deceased as well). I will take these younger cockerels back to bright colored crele hens when they get older, and the little pullet will get paired with an unrelated solid black roo in the future.

Crele penedesenca pullets. There is an older silver birchen serama pullet in the brooder box with them too. The serama pullet hatched out kind of weak, and I was afraid that the big surrogate broody hen would accidentally squash her, so she went into the box as well.

-Shannon.

Tri-Cities Fall Classic Live 2009

This weekend (the 10th), I attended the Tri-Cities Fall Classic Live in Richland, Wa. It's a fun little model horse show that brings hobbyists together to showcase their collections of models and compete against one another in a friendly manner. I took several of my various artist resins to show, and was very proud of the placings of my Teke models. Out of all the myriad of different breeds that I have in my collection, nothing gives me more pleasure and pride than to see the Tekes do a great job. "Idoleyz" above won 1st place in his spooky themed Halloween arena trail class.

"Gara Yylan" winning 1st in his native costume class. I didn't get a chance to get a picture of him on the show table, but I got one on the display table before I untacked him.

"Sabellah" winning second place in her light breed halter class.

"Gara" on the Championship judge off table. This was something that I was very proud of. A lot of collectors don't necessarily paint the models that they own themselves - (they can just buy them from someone else who has the talent to give them good paint jobs.) I did the resculpting and paintwork on Gara, and he earned a place on the judge off table next to Minkiewicz, Fraley, and Hutton models - the "creme de' la creme" of the hobby world. He won a second place in his workmanship class.

A full view of the championship table with all of the lovely painted models. What a fun show! =:)

-Shannon.

Mezo-Tek

Greek style vase with crystaline shades made at Whimsey Pottery in early 2009. I had a mesopotamian theme in mind - hence the name "Mezo-Tek".

Time To Start

The past week has been a good time to start another youngster - this time the teke/arab filly Suzette. These are some photos of our third ride. I began fiddling with our other colt Octopelle earlier in the year - but it has been off and on type of working. Just when I get ready to do some riding, there is inevitably something else that gets in the way and needs more serious attention. But, now this fall is a good time to spend some long hours in the saddle. I'm not as busy with projects, and the weather has been lovely - in the low 90's during the day. Perfect for getting outside and doing some stuff. Here is Suzette moving out in a nice relaxed trot. She has a nice "teke-like" way of going and her arab half makes her cute as a little bugs ear!

Learning to go left and right at the trot.

I really like this photo. Craig took it from a lower level, and boy does she ever look "teke-ish"! I've noticed that the purebreds and a lot of the half-breds tend to step up underneath themselves when they travel.
-Shannon.

The Soays and Barbados Sheep

Grande Ronde Arne #OR3530-0006. Sound Soays Uma x Greener Pastures Finale. Arne is our young herdsire mouflon Soay ram that I purchased in late July 09' from Jeanine Rachau of LaGrande. He shows a lot of great promise, and is out of two very impressive Soay parents. He will develop full curls to his horns and a thick neck mane as he matures.

I've wanted sheep for the past 6 years, but hadn't found a breed that was low in maintenance that I actually liked. My cattle are getting very old and won't be around for too much longer, so I convinced my husband that we needed a different source of meat for the freezer that wouldn't eat very much. There's nothing like fresh lamb kabobs on the BBQ in the summertime and some nice chops in the winter....yum!

So far, these guys have really been a joy to have around. They are cute and small, don't eat much, they don't require shearing - as they are a wild "hair" sheep that sheds out, and there is no tail docking. Overall, they are a really great little sheep for a small farm.

The Soay ewes. Antares #SOA10716 the white faced one with greyish looking coat looking at the camera. Luna #SOA10540 the horned regular reddish mouflon to the left. Glitter #SOA10719 the dark mahogany horned mouflon hiding in the back. The other two polled ewes who are meshed together to the right are Brook #SOA10541 and Opal #SOA10537. (Arne is the little bitty spud in the other pen looking at the ewes towards the back of the group.)

Many thanks to Jon and Barbara Flug of Peony Creek Soays in Tonasket, Wa. for letting me add these five lovely ewes to our little flock.

There are also two bigger blackbelly Barbados hair ewes that are part of our flock as well - (the tan looking ones to the left). We purchased them locally for Arne before we knew we were getting any registered Soays for him. (I figured that I'd never find anybody who would sell me Soays immediately to go with the ram, so we settled for some Barbados ewes until we could find some Soays available in the future.) The lambs from these ewes will be bigger bodied and great for the freezer. The african Barbados are less rare in america and more gentler than the wild Soays are, as you can tell from the picture of this sweetheart heading straight for the camera.

-Shannon.

"Mamishi Gul", Orange Flower. Sculpted by Andrea Kessler and painted by me in early 2009.