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Gladsheim Farm

The Lambs Have Arrived!

May 15, 2020

I anticipate the annual Coming of the Lambs with such intensity that this year I was making the hourly pilgrimmage to the barn seeking new life with ridiculous prematurity.  We nicknamed the first lamb “17” because it was on Day 17 of these never-ending checks (at all hours of the day) that the first set […]

Lessons in Patience

April 18, 2020

It’s not easy waiting around for the best part of a shepherd’s life….lambs!  For the last 16 days, every morning, we have declared that today lambs would arrive!  Any moment, surely.  And……nothing.  It is hard to believe that our poor ewes might be able to contain growing lambs any longer.  The mama’s bellies are taut, […]

Spring Shearing

April 5, 2020

One thing grounding me during these turbulent times is our own familiar rhythm of life on our little farm.  Despite pandemics and car accidents and caring for loved ones facing illness, wool continues to grow and fleeces need to be sheared.  Each of us has an (un)conscious daily rhythm and in times of stress and […]

October on the Farm ~ 2019

October 31, 2019

                        October is a busy month here on the farm.  Ushered in with beautifully warm days, cool nights and dazzled by the glorious  scarlet and golden mountainside, it is hard to fathom that in just a few weeks the shadowy banks along the creek […]

Meet the Sheep ~ Winter 2019

February 5, 2019

Open the gate, and step inside the pasture and you can meet our flock of fibre sheep… Posey is my sidekick, if a girl can have a sheep for a sidekick.  When I open the gate, she is the first to greet me.  When I walk by the fence, she trots over to baaa a hello. […]

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Jules

Hello, welcome to Gladsheim Farm! My name is Jules and I am delighted to share my family's homegrown, homesteading adventures here.

I grow, spin and dye yarn on our small hobby farm with the help of my beloved flock of sheep. Here at Wool Maiden, I am hopeful you will find a little something from a selection of woolly goodies my family creates. Thank you for joining me.

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Our wee little pond sunk twelve feet because the w Our wee little pond sunk twelve feet because the water table dropped...as it does every winter.  If we had lined it with plastic this wouldn’t happen...but plastic isn’t an option for our family and so we deal with seasonal fluctuations in pond depth.  I say it is part of the charm and aren’t we lucky!  Meanwhile, the kids had one glorious day of ice skating on our wee little rink.  Oh, so very Canadian.  Now we will fill it up again to support the ice layer and hope for more perfectly bluebird rink days. (The kids put the branches across where the ice crackled fiercely...their own protective buffer).
For a sweet friend who loves all the purples. In For a sweet friend who loves all the purples. 

In the winter, my own homegrown fibre stash dwindles while I await more yarn from the mill.  So I often purchase some luxury yarn and play with colour.  Sunshine called this colour Bubbalicious and I think it is quite accurate.
Bottle drives in small communities are like having Bottle drives in small communities are like having a great big fan club show up to encourage you. ❤️ We spent the better part of 2 full days collecting empties for Sunshine’s Pony Club.  These two did an especially good job but our little corner of the Valley was exceptional in supporting our girl.  Thanks, friends.
Two days ago I couldn’t bear to post this. But Two days ago I couldn’t bear to post this.  But it is important to me as it has been a milestone that was marked for us, by all the educated professionals who meant well as they cheered us on at the beginning telling us a cure was a mere few years away.

We just passed our ten year diaversary ...ten years since Sunshine was diagnosed.  Ten years.  Of challenges and tears and worry and fears.  It has been ten years since life was easy.  Since she could eat anything without care.  Since needles and mathematical equations didn’t rule our lives.  Since I slept more than three hours at a time.

Let me tell you, I am grateful for these ten years.  I held her as she was dying, little did we know, sobbing for water as her body was slack in my arms as it began to shut down...as we rode an hour to the nearest hospital, her little two years old body strapped to my chest.

Life changed that day...I was humbled.  I was lucky.  The T1D beast didn’t steal my child away that day, but we are ever vigilant.  I was told to be grateful.  For hourly blood draws and sleepless nights and worry worry worry.  Constant dread.  For people to tell us it shouldn’t be such a big deal because their friend’s kid is just fine.

To all you mamas out there with children whose invisible illness is so very real...I offer hugs and compassion.  For all you do to shrug off the insensitivities while you keep your child alive, I see you.  This is hard...the alternative is worse.  Thank goodness for Fred Banting and insulin and Children’s Hospital and friends who make the food that works for your child...that is the best gift and I will remember your efforts my whole life.

Here’s to T1D during the teenage years...it is about to get Real around here.  Oh, and ten years of surviving and thriving.  Sunshine is my hero.
I am joining the worldwide sigh of relief as the d I am joining the worldwide sigh of relief as the door closes on 2020.  It has been an awful, horrible, no-good year even beyond global pandemics and our own financial insecurity.  2020 was a year I tried to mend a broken ankle when my physiotherapist was shut down, a year I was in a car crash that totaled my vehicle, and a year I lost both my parents ~ my dad to cancer and my mom to dementia...while she is still here in the physical sense, she is a mere shadow of herself.

So honestly, I am struggling to make sense of the world and my life in it with no parents...and truthfully, despair is on my doorstep, some days it barges in, most unwelcome.  I am searching for my North Star so I can re-orient myself and it comes with a lot of fumbling emotions.  Ahhh, Life is unpredictable and messy sometimes.

And by reflecting on the year behind me I am able to look forward.  For there were moments of light that shone through the darkness of 2020.  My children ~ always.  They stand by me and show me patience and pure love and forgiveness through all that fumbling.  They are my greatest guides and cheer leaders.  In 2020, we managed a family camping trip on our skoolie, my husband was home lots working on our homestead and doing fun things with the kids, I took a long wished for photography workshop, and we had heaps of cuddly lambs.

There is always something to appreciate during hard times, and I reminded myself of this often over the past 12 months.  A big, heartfelt thank you to all of you for sharing a bit of yourselves here, in whatever form.  Thank you for reaching out with kindness and support and validation...it has meant so much to me.

Xoxo Jules

PS.  These are My Favourite Nine of 2020...because pretty bathroom shots might attract a lot of likes (thank you!) but these are shots of what I wish to remember.
Tucking little treasures for future holiday celebr Tucking little treasures for future holiday celebrations beneath the boughs.  I tried to keep up my tree ornament collection this year, after missing making one in 2019.  I make 4 of them, one for each of my kids and one for my mom.  Handmade crafts are the best keepsakes.

(In the background are ornaments made by Sunshine at age 8 (heart) and age 4(snowman)).
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