Nov 30, 2017
Who can resist a sweet little lamb? While having sheep around the house may not be feasible (or even desirable, except for a quick encounter at the petting zoo), let me introduce another option to enjoy sheep from the comfort of your own home. Meet Peanut:
Peanut of Blind Faith Farm by Jim Thompson
This is a bedtime story to sooth and inspire all ages. The soft and playful watercolors by Rebecca Gavney Driscoll glow à la Beatrix Potter. A sweet story, Peanut of Blind Faith Farm has an optimistic moral to boost your spirits after the dreariest of days. Maybe it’s a desk drawer story to boost your moral during a tough day at work… in any case, in the face of adversity, it’s good to know that we can make things work.
Author Jim Thompson based this picture book on the real life occurrence at Blind Faith Farm, located between Madison and Milwaukee, Wisconsin. I’m thankful he did. No spoiler alerts here!
Remember my fantasy fleece? It came from Blind Faith Farm (but not from Peanut). Small world, right? Thanks to the book publishing revolution, we can enjoy stories from all over the world. While I’m at it, do you know the work Boston-based Mary DePalma and Jamie Harper? Aren’t we lucky to be alive in a time when we can easily discover the lovely work of others?
Get a copy of Peanut of Blind Faith Farm for the little ones in your life… and perhaps one for yourself, too. Let me know what you think.
Sep 1, 2013
Judging fleece at New Hampshire Sheep and Wool Festival
At my first New Hampshire Sheep and Wool festival with Guido, I was shocked when he confessed a certain attraction to the idea of raising sheep. Why on earth would you do that? Raising livestock reduces your stitching time!
Not one year later, Barb Parry‘s husband told the story of the day his wife came home with animals to graze in the back yard. Hanging around fiber animals produces a contagious desire to care for them, I gathered. Flockitis?
While I am far from interested in becoming a shepherd, attending Lucy Lee’s FiberCamp 2012 talk made me realize that I did want a fleece. Now why on earth did I choose to go to that talk? That’s the fun of FiberCamp… you’ll never know what you’ll learn. No hurry for this fleece, just… when presented with the right situation, I wanted a fleece. Not flockitis, just a fantasy fleece!
The situation presented itself last fall in Wisconsin. I knew that one of my sister’s dear friends, Laura Stremick-Thompson was raising Shetlands on Blind Faith Farm. She and her husband acquired their first registered Shetland sheep in 2009. I thought they just planned on hobby farming. However, Laura and Jim expanded the flock, adding other breeds and crosses. Clearly, flockitis was in the air, as they witnessed the first lambs born on their farm in 2010. Their closed spinner’s flock now has 15 sheep, including primitive double coated and single coated Shetland, Shetland cross, Bluefaced Leicester/Icelandic and Clun Mule. As you can imagine by this list of breeds, Laura is careful and dedicated to her flock, hoping not only for quality fiber but high quality of life for her herd.
What a fluff ball, Rupert!
Stella won won first place in the Double Coat Division and third place overall in the Shetland category at the 2011 WI Sheep and Wool Festival, and placed again in 2012. Also in 2012, Rupert captured first place in the Shetland colored, double coat class. Two others received third place in their categories. Here’s Laura sharing the ribbons with her flock.
Last October, Laura had 2 Shetland fleeces left. The color ways of Spectacles and Buckaroo sounded good over the phone. Sight unseen, I purchased them and shipped them to Boston. Buying a fantasy fleece was too easy.
Buckaroo as a lamb
Spectacles a few months after shearing.
According to Laura, Spectacles gets his name not only from his dark eye marks, but for the spectacle he makes of himself! The fleeces were much better than my pessimistic, novice fleece processing expectations. So clean, so beautifully skirted and with nary a second cut, the bags of lanolin smelling woolliness waited through the winter. On a hot summer weekend, I put on my swimsuit and washed the fleeces in the bath tub. What a jolly time that was! There was great pleasure watching Specs’ fleece go from beige to fluffy white and the delicate grey patch on his back. Buckaroo wasn’t nearly as dirty, but carefully swishing the laundry bags filled with fleece was really pleasurable.
Buckaroo’s fleece, tawny and luscious, before washing
That’s not a shadow, that’s Spectacle’s grey markings
I took some of Buckaroo’s fleece to wet felt immediately for a quilt I’m making now. Wow, Shetland felts much more slowly than Merino or Silk. His fleece has a lovely depth that will be great for this series on childhood camping experiences.
I haven’t finished carding, but it will happen someday. Once combed, I have no idea what I will do with the rest of this fleece, but it makes me happy just looking at it around my studio for the time being!
After processing all of Buckaroo’s fleece, I felted a portion to use in art quilts.
BlindFaithFarm has a shop at Etsy.com. In 2014, they plan to sell roving. If you’re interested in fleeces, catch Laura at the Wisconsin Sheep and Wool Festival next weekend, September 6 – 8, 2013, where her flock’s winning traditions will hopefully continue. Laura can also be reached at laurast25 at wi.rr.com. You, too, could have a fantasy fleece!
