Truffle is a purebred coloured Ryeland ewe and is the boldest and most friendly ewe in our flock (although all the Ryelands are very docile). She's the first to say hello when I visit them and loves having her ears tickled. When we move the flock to another field, it's Truffle who's first in line, and at lambing time when they're housed overnight, she's the one who scampers off first to the barn, usually well ahead of me! In Spring 09, Truffle had twin lambs, a ram and a ewe, who have both inherited Truffle's lovely temperament. Luke will be joining our pedigree flock as a breeding male when he's old enough, while Leah, who had a rough start due to a heart problem, is now looking healthy and well and will also be remaining with our flock.

Truffle grows a short-stapled downland type fleece with plenty of crimp. Her wool is a light colour, pale brown at the tips and brown/grey marled underneath, which when processed has evened out to a lovely light heathered brown/grey shade. Her fleece is fine and crimpy, with plenty of bounce and character (like Truffle herself) It should make cosy mittens, socks, hats or other outerwear garments.

Truffle was shorn in early May and her fleece sent to a small commercial mill for preparation into roving for handspinning. Our flock's fleeces were all prepared individually, so unlike many commercial tops available to handspinners, this roving maintains the character of the single sheep who grew the wool. The preparation is in true roving form, so is presented as a thin continuous strip of carded fibre. It contains a little spinning oil and some lanolin remains, making it very easy to draft and perfect for longdraw style spinning. It has been scoured gently without carbonizing agents, so you may find the occasional piece of hay or seed, this is however easy to pick out during spinning. Truffle's roving is available in very limited quantity as she tends to produce a small fleece (and a sheep can only grow one fleece a year!).