I know it’s uncool to pick favorites, but below is my favorite ewe here. She was really friendly to me before I started feeding her, so now, of course, after I’ve started feeding, she is super friendly. On the day I took this photo, she enthusiastically tried climbed the first rung of the gate in order for me to better pat her head.
It’s been moments like these that remind me why I am here at this farm. Because I am interested in small-scale wool production, I am overjoyed to know that the sheep here are lovingly taken care of and shorn with the animals well-being and health in mind. I am also happy to have found many other farmers/sheep owners who treat their animals the same way.
Which is so very different from the ways that many sheep are taken care on much larger farms, and why I had trouble buying wool whose origin I wasn’t sure of. Ethically it didn’t make sense for me to work with yarn made from fleece obtained via cruelty or use synthetic yarn made from petroleum-based products. And while fibers like bamboo, cotton and hemp are lovely, they aren’t so lovely when it’s cold and snowing.
When shorn by someone who has been trained to work slowly and treat the animal kindly, the sheep get a haircut instead of trauma. Is this possible worldwide? Yes. But once you realize that it takes more time to shear a sheep carefully and without injury, it gets trickier. For workers who get more money the more sheep they shear, animal welfare is not always a priority.
Which is precisely why purchasing wool from small-scale wool producers is so important- because not only are you enabling agriculture to have a future and farmers to work, but you are also allowing the sheep to live happier and healthier lives. And for people to work with sheep that come running up to the gates to greet them when they walk down the drive, lifting their heads for some TLC and wagging their tails like puppies.
Earlier this week I went out to feed two of the ewes, who were idling away the morning on the far side of the paddock. The minute they saw me (and, I admit, the feed bucket), they dashed across the grass as fast as their little hooves would allow, raising up a chorus of ‘bahs’ with each step. Their noses nudged under my hands for a good morning scratch and their heads peeped curiously into the bucket anxiously awaiting their breakfast.
As I tipped the bucket over and they eagerly dove for the mix of organic meal, I couldn’t help but smile, because I knew that in a matter of minutes, I would go inside and start working on a new knitting project with yarn procured from their fleeces earlier in the year.
And working with this particular yarn makes me feel happy because I know the origin and I know that just a few yards away the sheep whose backs it came from are wagging their little puppy tails and eating grass and soaking in the sunshine. And when I walk past their paddock, they will say hello and come to greet me, which makes my craftwork lately even more fulfilling and enjoyable, knowing that I am working with a product that was produced with everyone’s welfare in mind.
this post is really beautiful. I love the idea of being knit with wool from sheep you know.
i’m really happy to see somebody (somebody whose story i actually have some access to) doing something like what you’re doing. i always wish i could get more information about and feel more connected to the process of making yarn, and of course ideally i’d be using yarn made in a thoughtful, humane way.
sheep are such a mixture of familiar and alien-looking. brown ewe there looks like a very sweet and cuddly girl.
I’d also like to work with more ethically produced yarn from smaller-scale farms. I wonder if there is a list or directory of such producers somewhere?
Hi Betsy – I’ve been enjoying your blog for sometime now. I wanted to tell you that at least in the U.S., small scale sheep/wool farms are enjoying something of a resurgence. There are five small yarn producers in my general vicinity, and many more in other states. In fact, less than 2 miles from my home is Yolo Wool Mill, which operates the only North American cooperative mill for small yarn producers. The equipment they use to produce the wool is old machinery that was cast off by the original users, refurbished, and still in use to create custom millspun yarns. There are links on my blog to small North American Yarn producers if you are interested. Thanks for your thoughtful and thought-provoking posts!
man. i wish i could come visit you on your sheepy farm.