Shearing 2016 Day One + A Couple Videos

Shearing is not over yet. We spent the day on Wednesday with our shearers Kevin Ford and Gwen Hinman. We did 133 sheep and still have 100 to go which will be done this coming week (weather permitting). 

There are a couple of 15 second videos at the end of this post if you would like to see it live. 

If you have followed this blog for a while, you know that Kevin shears with blades (by hand!) and Gwen shears with electric shears. It is a very busy day and many people are involved. Two shearers, Mark catching the sheep, Rachel and I sorting the wool and packing it into giant wool bags and me also being the caterer to feed the crew. 

The days before are busy too. Sorting and grouping the sheep to get them ready is a massive job. Rachel, this year's apprentice, helped Mark do this on Monday so the sheep would be out of the rain. 

Mark sharing his wisdom with Rachel, his apprentice

Early in the morning on Wednesday, Kevin arrived and then a bit later Gwen. It was all business - catching sheep and passing them off to the shearers. Then the constant clipping of the wool.

Gwen Hinman

Kevin Ford

Kevin's glove with his sheep counter

Picking up the wool

Skirting the wool

Packing the wool in the giant wool bags

Getting rid of the nasty bits (manure, vegetable matter, matted bad wool, etc.)

We also had a reporter from The Greenfield Recorder named Richie Davis who is writing a story about Kevin Ford and a photographer named Paul Franz for photos for the paper. I'll let you know when the story runs. 

Shorn sheep looking on at the others

Kate watching the action from afar. She had a fantastic day. So much action and sheep to watch. 

We were pooped by the end and went to bed early. We are still trying to figure out how the shearers do it day in and day out. Kevin just turned 70 and he is a marvel. Gwen is a marvel too. I love spending the day with both of them. 

At least the day wasn't too hot. We changed our shearing schedule so that the sheep wouldn't have to be brought back in from pastures near and far. Next week we do it all again with a few less sheep. 

Video of Kevin Ford shearing 

Video of Rachel jumping in the wool bag

Every Week is Wool Week Here at the Farm

You all probably know this but in the Shetland Isles in the UK, they are celebrating Shetland Wool Week. I think it is a great concept to help promote the island wool industry - including woolen mills, farmers, and everyone who sells and believes in WOOL. You can read more about it here.You can follow along on their Facebook page too. My friends Gudrun Johnston and Mary Jane Mucklestone are leading a tour there this very week. You can follow their trip on Instagram by clicking their names above. 

Last week, on one of the first gray, fall feeling days, I went with The Farmer to check on the ewe flock. They are grazing about a mile from our farmhouse along with three rams in some pretty rough terrain. Most of the ewes should be bred by now and will start to lamb in late December, January and February. Here are some photos of the day. The leaves were just beginning to turn. Ness and Kate were with us and if you look closely, you will see them in the photos.

Hope you all are having a good week. Cannot believe it is Wednesday evening already!

Shearing Week

We started shearing the adult ewes and rams on Monday early in the morning. Two shearers arrived - Kevin Ford who shears with blades - and Gwen Hinman who shears with electric clippers. It was a long day and very hot and humid. 

The Farmer catches a sheep and feeds it to one of the shearers. I am outside the corral, skirting the wool and bagging it up into enormous wool bags that hold 250 pounds of wool. Here are some photos of Gwen shearing. She is so lean and strong and watching her makes me think of a ballet as she moves the sheep around under her shears. She cleans the sheep of wool in about 3 to 4 minutes.

Here are some photos of Kevin working his blades. Gwen shears twice as many sheep as Kevin and they are paid by the animal. Kevin is very zen about things and prefers the silence and skill of blade shearing. He is a most amazing guy and a really interesting person to be around. He was in Ireland earlier this year competing with his blades in the World Competition of Sheep Shearing. These photos show him shearing our 300 pound Polypay ram.

Mid-afternoon Monday, after a nice lunch (the shearers always appreciate a nice lunch), we were down to 27 sheep to go and the heavens opened up and there was a monsoon. Shearing had to stop. You can not shear wet sheep. We covered up the enormous wool bags with a tarp and hoped it would stop. It didn't and we quit for the day. We scheduled another day with Gwen and then hoped for good weather.

We shear outside which is far from optimal. It means that it can't rain 2 days before shearing nor the day of shearing. Because we usually schedule a couple months in advance, it is a crap shoot - like most things in farming. Our sheep have to be brought to a central location from their grazing pastures and then held until shearing. A few years ago we figured out that the driveway next to the lamb shack was: 
a. flat 
b. shady 
c. close to electricity. 
So now we shear there. The Farmer brings the sheep in and sets up the portable corral. The sheep can't be wet when shorn or the wool will become moldy and full of mildew. It is one giant logistical nightmare and nothing either The Farmer looks forward to or me either.  The realities of building a shearing shed are not financially feasible - $25,000 to use once a year makes no fiscal sense.

At lunch, one of the shearers told us about a big sheep farm building a $4.3 million dollar barn. I'm thinking probably more money than sense. How will they ever recoup that cost?

Here is what our lawn looks like tonight. 

Some of the wool that had been stored in the giant wool bags soaked up some water during the monsoon - even though it was undercover. We have it spread out on tarps to dry because there is a good stretch of weather. We'll re-bag it and then get it under cover until the buyer picks it up. I'll be happy when we get the check. Winston has now taken it upon himself to guard the wool. Cute boy.

I always get asked what we do with all the wool. My standard answer is get it out of here - hopefully dry - and try to get enough to cover the cost of the shearing. When you have this much raw dirty stinky wool, you just want it out of your life quickly. If we had untold amounts of money, I might go into getting it custom spun and market it. But I know how much work that is - remember I used to work for a yarn company - and I know what the financial return is on it. I just don't have the energy or the interest.

When we had four sheep it was easy to get all romantic on how gorgeous the fleece was and then spin it myself to knit The Farmer a sweater - which I did do a few times back when we were beginning raising sheep. I'm just past that now. And I am totally okay with it. 

I suppose seeing these photos makes you appreciate where your wool does come from!

Local Wooly, Yarny, Colorful Friends

My friend Gail Callahan sent a really great newsletter this week about the visual appearance of skeins of hand-dyed yarn. If you are a fan of hand-dyes, you should read it - you will learn something about how the appearance of a skein can trick you into thinking that the yarn will knit differently than it appears. Make sure you read to the end because there is a lovely example of her student's work from a dye class knit in Fair Isle. Here's the link. While you are there, subscribe to the newsletter. Gail sends very nice (mostly) weekly newsletters on Sunday evenings. 

Gail goes by the yarn name of The Kangaroo Dyer. She is also the Author of the best-selling Hand Dyeing Yarn and Fleece. She is also the developer of the color tool called The Color Grid. Gail is an incredibly talented colorist and is one of the nicest people on the planet. I count myself lucky to have her as a friend.

Gail hosted Julia and I back before the holidays for a fun afternoon of dyeing. I had a bunch of felted wool and old sweaters I needed colored for Christmas projects.  Here are the colors we dyed in her washing machine after the excess water was spun out.

 

Here Julia and I are in Gail's awesome dye studio after dyeing a bunch of wool felt.

Gail also helped Julia dye a couple scarves which she has had fun wearing to school on Tuesdays which is Scarf Day. She has it on in the picture above. Thanks to Gail for a fun afternoon. 

Thank you everyone for the orders for the Craftsy Crewel Yarn and fabrics to accompany the new on-line Crewel Embroidery class. You can check it out here or on the link on my sidebar. My studio is such a mess and now I've added cutting fabric and packing crewel wool. Order is needed and I am going to have to develop a system. I'm in the midst of 3 different projects that I am working to bring out. It is good to be busy but sometimes hard to complete one task. Maybe tomorrow! 

Big News! Stitch It with Wool - Crewel Embroidery - Kristin's New Class on Craftsy

Popping in today to announce something that I've been up to. Back in March I went to Denver to tape a new class for Craftsy called Stitch It With Wool - Crewel Embroidery. If you are a longtime reader, you know that I enjoy all kinds of needlework and art. Crewel embroidery is one of the first needlework disciplines I learned - back when I was about 10 years old. I have written a couple of books on embroidery. It is a craft I come back to again and again.

This class is an introductory class which teaches you all about Crewel Embroidery - from beginning skills to more advanced. I teach 25 different stitches and share many of my stitched examples. These two pillows were made exclusively for Craftsy. You can make them while you are taking the class and the patterns are included with the course materials. 

Pop on over to Craftsy to check out Stitch It With Wool. I'll be posting about it over the next few weeks. Crewel embroidery is easy to do and very rewarding. If you are a beginner, it is one of those very forgiving techniques - because of the use of the wool thread.

The cost of the class is $29.99 which gives you lifetime access to the class. I'll share more about taking Craftsy classes next week. For a limited time - until next Friday May 2nd, if you sign up for this Craftsy class, you will receive a $15 discount because you read my blog - half price! You must use this link to receive the discount. 

To coordinate with my Craftsy class, I've added some great new Embroidery Supplies to my website - linen fabric squares for stitching, crewel wool embroidery thread, needles for stitching and a beautiful wooden high quality embroidery hoop. Pop on over to check them out. 

Again - here is the discount code for my blog readers to receive half off the class until May 2nd, 2014. 

Shearing the Ewes + Back to School

Busy week last week - but really what week isn't. Julia started school on Wednesday - her freshman year of high school. Hard for me to believe! It was bittersweet seeing her get on the bus. I was, I admit, a bit relieved that we will be getting back to a schedule considering the amount of work I have to do in the next couple months. She did okay but I think it is going to take her a couple weeks to feel comfortable and not get lost in the big hallways.

On Wednesday, The Farmer moved the sheep closer to home. They are now grazing the hayfield right next to our little barn - all in preparation for shearing. I was able to get these two Instagram photos after the sun was gone - hence the grainy photos. They look so fluffy and peaceful, don't they? You can follow me on Instagram by clicking here (I think). My name on Instagram is kristinnicholas if that link doesn't work. 

Last Thursday, Kevin Ford and Gwen Hinman arrived to shear the rest of the ewe flock. It was a very busy day. Two shearers means twice as fast wool sorting and bagging. The day went well and at the end, they had sheared 158 ewes. 

Kevin uses old-fashioned blade shears. Gwen uses an electric shearing machine. The result is the same but Gwen usually shears 1/3 more sheep than Kevin. They charge by the animal so Gwen's check is always bigger. 

If you know Kevin, the money isn't why he shears. He is one with the animals, the wool, the people he shears for. We always have such interesting conversations on shearing day - especially while we are breaking for lunch.

When you take the wool off the ewes, it is easier to see their condition. Amazingly, most of them were in good shape, if a little fat. Considering the way the fields look that they have been grazing, that was good news. (To me, it just looks like piles of weeds!) They must be getting the right nutrition from the plants. 

It is breeding season so it was good to see the ewes in such fine form. After several years of assorted locations for shearing, we have finally found the right place - just next to our little barn which houses the lamb stand. We had some gravel put down to level the space and we shear inside the mobile sheep handling unit. It stays nice and cool under the trees even on wickedly hot days.

At the end of the day, Kevin did us a huge favor and sheared Winston. Winston had major mats on his tail, neck and back but it's not like we can take him to the groomer. I was afraid he wouldn't let Kevin clip him. I held him down (he loves me) and Kevin worked away. 

Quite a pile of dog hair was left. Winston looks a lot younger and puppy-like now. What a beautiful boy. Kevin wouldn't take any money for cutting the dog - only the leftover half of the peach and blueberry crisp I made for dessert. Thank you Kevin!