Our Farm, Our Flock
How to separate the two? Impossible for one will not exist without the other. The land gives life and sustenance to us and the sheep, and we care for it, feed it, and improve it. That’s the way it should be.
It’s a special piece of ground, nestled up against the foothills of the Cascades. The giant oaks in the yard have seen many pass by and we are but a page in the book of their lives. The soil here will grow anything, rich and brown, teaming with life, the seasons bounty is always abundant for us and the sheep. The climate is gentle and winter is only a wet inconvenience, nothing like my former winters in the northeast where every day of winter was a test of character and stamina. Our sheep graze on pasture much of the year and only seek the shelter of the barn in the depths of winter for the comfort of the feedbunks full of alfalfa.
It’s a good place.
Martin and I came together thru our mutual love of these wool bearing creatures and over the years have incubated several new breeds here with the semen he imported. The Oussants, the Kerry Hills, the Zwartbles, the Gotlands, and now the Valais Blacknose all had their first US introduction from this green place we call home.
Each has a story entwined to ours that needs telling…
Ewe Herd it Here, Folks…
Our Flock, Our Fiber
Our passion is wool. It’s magic stuff really. Sun, water, earth and air. The growing plant becomes the growing wool fiber. This has shaped human existence for millennia.Trace any culture back to its roots and there you will find flocks of sheep tended by shepherds. Basic. Primal. Harmonious.
All wool is valuable. All wool has a purpose. I confess I am obsessed with wool, specifically, longwool. Each of our sheep grows wool with it’s own special character and I try to bring each fleece to its highest value, it’s most suited purpose. Sometimes that’s artisan locks…other times it’s silky rovings or buttery soft yarns…sometimes sturdy felt…it’s all wonderful and it’s all useful. And when it’s no longer needed by us humans, it goes back into sun, water, earth and air.
