By Tara, on October 22nd, 2010% Have you ever seen a sheep being sheared? No matter how many times I watch it, I’m amazed every time. Earlier this month I helped my mom plan a Shearing Day for her farm. We sold some tickets, had coffee, cinnamon rolls and yarn. But the main event was the shearing, which my little brother captured in these videos.
(If you’re reading this in a reader or via email, you may need to click through to the blog to see the videos)
Everyone wants to know: what will we do with the wool? Well, I’d love to tell you that you can find it in the shop, but you can’t! This year we’re keeping both fleeces to wash, card, spin and knit into sweaters for us. But don’t worry, there’s plenty of woolly things in the Boutique.
If you have any questions, please ask in the comments! And don’t . . . → Read More: Sheep Shearing – Fall 2010
By Tara, on March 22nd, 2010% The first goats born on our farm! . . . → Read More: New Goats!
By Tara, on September 28th, 2009% Friday afternoon, I went with my mom to pick up our first sheep from Hobby Knob Farm.
Since we don’t have a trailer, we used my mom’s minivan to bring them home. This is no easy task, as sheep don’t understand the whole “hop in” concept.
(if these pictures are shaky, it’s because I am laughing SO hard)
Once in the van, they calmed right down and gave one look back to their former farm.
I was intimately involved in getting them OUT of the van, so there aren’t any pictures of that. (Imagine me holding onto the leash, trying to talk the sheep into jumping down).
Once they were out and into the yard, the youngest one (we haven’t decided on a name yet – I call her Shera (Princess of Power) and the brothers call her Baby) started munching:
The older one, formerly named . . . → Read More: Sheep! My Sheep!
By Tara, on March 2nd, 2009% A fun visit to a local farm. . . . → Read More: Local Fiber – Rammings Farm
By Tara, on June 13th, 2008% On a muggy Friday evening last month, Jay and I had the pleasure of visiting Hobby Knob Farm in Weaversville, NC. Shepherdess Elizabeth met us on her big back porch, where she was working on a fleece, cleaning out the grass as it sat on a big screen door.
Elizabeth gave us a grand tour, past the guard llamas that were being groomed for her daughter’s upcoming 4-H show and up to the sheep on a leash. Yes, a sheep on a leash (a very long leash) in the yard! I knew then that I was gonna love this place!
The flock of sheep all live in several huge fields and are rotated throughout the day. When we arrived, Elizabeth put out some feed in the chicken yard and the sheep (and their constant companions, the llamas) came running. As cute as the sheep are, that chick in . . . → Read More: Fiber Friday – Hobby Knob Farm
By Tara, on May 23rd, 2008% At Maryland Sheep & Wool, strolling through the sheep barns, I came upon a table with some business cards, a skein of yarn and a bag of wool. As I plunged my hand into the wool (ecstasy!), the farmer approached and he and I my mom began chatting about his sheep. It took me about two seconds of admiring the sheep
and fondling the wool before I pounced on it! I was thrilled to learn that Wit’s End farm is just a few hours from my house, in rural Virginia. When I returned home, Jay had purchased the first of the season’s strawberries. Inspired, I pulled out the local wool, and dyed it in “local” colors.
Strawberry
I set aside 4 oz of fiber to sell and quickly spun up another 4 oz:
Strawberries, already sold!
A few days later, the leaves outside my office door inspired me to . . . → Read More: Fiber Friday: Wit’s End Fiber
By Tara, on May 9th, 2008% My mom and I left Friday morning for Maryland, stopped at every coffeeshop, ice cream booth and bathroom between here and there, and arrived 6 hours later in Frederick.We failed to take a single picture in which we didn’t look like death, so you’ll just have to trust me – we had a great time! Frederick is such an adorable town, with a great range of shops. Our perennial favorite is Muse, where each got a little handmade book from YeeHaw Industries to use a trip journal. We enjoyed fantastic sandwiches at Cafe Nola, where the waitress was knitting and was also going to the Festival!
At the festival, we got down to goat picking: Mom & a sweet Pygoraand farmer meeting,
These lovely Rambouillets belonged to Wit’s End farm and produced this:
And shopping!
from the American Cormo Sheep Association, which had the nicest, most helpful . . . → Read More: Fiber Friday – At Maryland Sheep & Wool
By Tara, on May 8th, 2008%
By Tara, on May 1st, 2008% I’ll be here all weekend. And on Saturday, at 11:30, I’ll be at the Ravelry meet-up, hoping to (finally) meet Lolly! Will YOU be there? If so, drop me a line so we can meet up!
PS. The shop will continue as usual, anything purchased Friday – Sunday will be shipped on Monday (which is the usual way it goes)
By Tara, on January 25th, 2008%
When I first started looking for sustainable and responsible fibers to spin, dye and knit with, I mostly focused on organic cotton and recycled materials (mill-ends, recycled sari silk, etc). As the world has become more ‘green’-minded, I find it’s easier and easier to find organic wool and natural-grown cotton. What it’s not so easy to find, is proof that this is sustainable or assurances that these products really are the best I can do. The more I’ve learned, I’ve begun to redefine what I consider ‘sustainable and responsible’. Reading Kingsolver’s Animal, Vegetable, Mineral impacted my thinking on supporting the local agricultural economy (and I’m blessed to live in an agrarian area). So, too, did learning that very few people in this area grow sheep for wool, due to its low market value and local alpaca farmers can get more for their crop if they send . . . → Read More: Fiber Friday #4 – Silver Thunder Alpacas
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