I've written about Hand/Eye Magazine before here. Their mission is to "bridge the worlds of art, design, craft, philanthropy, retailing, and socio-environmental sustainability." Besides a lovely print magazine, they have a wonderful weekly newsletter. Today I was surprised to see them feature some local artists in a special feature on finding art and craft at many Farmers Markets. Congratulations to Lucy Fagella and Tiffany Hilton, two local Greenfield potters, and to Justamere Tree Farm, makers of beautiful corn brooms, besides being major maple sugar producers.
This Saturday January 29th, I'll be selling our Leyden Glen Lamb at the Amherst Winter Farmers Market at the Amherst Middle School. There will be a "SOUP-TACULAR" featuring soup made using the local farmers produce made by local chef Tom Hildas. Stop by and pick up some stew meat or half a lamb shoulder and I'll give you a recipe for both our favorite Scotch Broth Soup (full of root veggies) and Braised Lamb Shoulder. I'll be bringing some half shoulders so they will be smallish (1 1/2 to 2 lbs. instead of the normal 4 lb. shoulders). Did you know that Jamie Oliver's favorite cut of lamb is Lamb Shoulder? It is incredibly flavorful and wonderful to have simmering on the stove on a Sunday winter afternoon.
On February 5th, we will be selling our Leyden Glen Lamb at Winter Fare, the 4th Annual Greenfield Winter Farmers Market. Held at the Greenfield High School from 10 to 2, this is a great event. It is jammed with people and has a very festive atmosphere. This market is worth a trip from far away because there is just so much darn good food available for sale there! All you Boston knitters, hop in the car, come to the market and then head down the Valley to the two fabulous yarn stores in Northampton or up the Mohawk Trail to the newish Metaphor Yarns. Cross your fingers for good weather for us!
And speaking of farming and markets, those sheep are at it again. Lambing season looks to be starting within a week or so. Yesterday I heard the door open shortly after noon and as the cold air whooshed in, I heard the telltale baaaaahhhh of a newborn lamb. I will spare you the details, but the mama wasn't able to deliver and instead of losing three sheep, The Farmer acted fast and did a c-section to save a pair of twin ewe lambs. As he was walking in the door, I was talking to Kevin Ford, our sheep shearer, and mentioned what was going on. His quote to me was "Well, he is a real farmer, isn't he?" And I totally agreed.
Do you see that glimmer in his eyes in the photo?
He won't tell you this, because he doesn't often express his feelings, but I can tell that he is really excited that lambing season is almost upon us. The other reason his eyes were twinkling was that he had to work fast to save these two lambs and he was able to do it successfully. I guess I could make the analogy to all you knitters out there, it would be similar to finishing your first Fair Isle Sweater or intricate lace shawl.
When you are a sheep farmer, you act as your own vet most of the time. We rarely have a vet come to the farm - in fact I bet in 30 years, the vet has been here 5 times. This was a concept that was totally foreign to me in the beginning but quickly I understood that the value of a sheep is rarely worth the cost of a vet bill.
We will be lambing out over 250 ewes this year so it is going to be fast and furious and I have already volunteered to be in the knee deep in the thick of things. If there is anyone out there interested in an "un-paid internship" we may be willing to talk.
It is officially "house lamb" season here at our farmhouse. These twins were big and seem to be full-term. After a few hours of mucky breathing, they are up and about and loving the heat in front of the woodstove. In about a week, we'll transition them to the barn but for now it is cuddling time watching television in the evenings with them on our laps and poop and pee patrol. Makes you want to be a sheep farmer, doesn't it?
I've been taking the last couple days to digest my latest adventure to the Big Apple - this time to teach at Vogue Knitting Live. It was a great trip - and a giant knitted whirlwind to say the least. It is still amazing to me that I only live a little over three hours from all the hustle and bustle of one of my favorite cities in the world. When I was just out of graduate school, I worked in the garment district (actually on the 34th floor of the Empire State Building) for a year or so. It was a great experience for a young person and one I am so thankful to have had. To see how the garment industry worked back then (when there were many American garment factories still making clothes) gave me great insight to all the processes and people it actually takes to get a shirt on a rack for sale in a store.But I digress.... sorry. Somehow after my adventure working in NYC, I landed my dream job at a little old yarn company in Lowell, Massachusetts and began the career that I continue in some sort of fashion today. There have been various twists and turns but I am basically doing what I started out to do when I began studying textiles back in the late 70's. When I was asked to come and teach at the first VK LIVE back in August, I jumped at the chance. NYC in January with the possibility of snow, the opportunity to ride in cabs with crabby cabbies, eat real NY bagels purchased from honest to goodness real NY delis, and mingle with lots of knitters and teachers who are creative and passionate about sticks and strings. Sign me up!One thing I have known from my earliest days mingling with everyone who has ever worked at Vogue Knitting is that they all know how to put out a beautiful magazine. I expected nothing less for their first VKLIVE event and I was not disappointed. Add to it the energy of NYC and bizarre combination of thousands of real knitters descending on the NY Hilton in the rush of midtown. I marveled every time I walked through the lobby, seeing knitters sitting on the floor, in the comfy chairs at the bar, at the restaurants, all casting on, clicking and talking with knitters they had never met before. The common thread of the yarn, the needles, the sharing of techniques and yarn scores, the sharing of technology (thank you Vickie for those iPad hints - now if I can just remember them), it was all almost too good to be true! So thank you all of you - who came to my classes, who organized the event, who shared a meal or a glass of wine.I also got a sneak peek at advance copies of Vogue Knitting's Knitopedia which looks like a really fabulous knitting reference book. It's coming to a yarnstore near you soon. I've got an article on "living with sheep" that actually made it! I was sweating that one out.There was a kind of funny dichotomy going on too - in the ballroom next to the "yarn market" there had to be over a thousand men in suits there to see the SF Giants' World Series Trophy. Man, was security tight over that thing. Wonder how much that cost to see? Way more security than that guarding all the cashmere and qiviut. Yarn and baseball - talk about two different worlds. Both full of a lot of passion, to say the least. I didn't stay at the hotel. Instead I chose to stay with a very good friend in her loft on 21st Street in Chelsea. It was a bit of a schlep very early every morning but it was nice to be out of the fray and most of all to spend time with Sally who I don't get the opportunity to see too often anymore. On Monday morning before I left, I got to go to the new Eataly (5th Ave + 23rd St), Mario and Lidia's new store/market/restaurant. Brought home some wacky pasta shapes to try. Great store - check it out next time you are in NYC if you are into food. And then to do a quick run-through of ABC Carpet down at Union Square before boarding the bus at Port Authority to head back up north to the snow and ice and freezing temperatures. 
I'm glad to be home but I must say, I so missed meeting some of the great teachers and knitting personalities that I have admired from afar over the years. That is my only regret. All that knitting talent in one place - overwhelmingly exciting to say the least. And not enough time to meet and greet all of them. Maybe next year!On a food note, I just heard that Mark Bittman is retiring his "Minimalist" Food Column in the NYT. Oh, I shall miss that. Thanks Mark for 13 years of inspiration at my stove. Check out today's article - it has links to his 25 favorite recipes.
Chanel is not quite as forward and she just looked from afar, unhappy and noisy. 
The fashionable new bottle lambs are "going to work" every day now. (With these names, I'm going to have to knit them a Chanel suit. I'll just add that to the list!) And in the evening, they fall asleep in front of the woodstove. Quite the life for a sheep.
