Yarn!

Yipee! I’ve been dyeing wool everyday in preparation for Common Ground Fair weekend. Just as I did last fall, I’ll be heading over to the little village of Thorndike to set up with the teardrop trailer and skeins of freshly dyed yarn. My friend owns a great little antique/garden/print shop right there in the village called Garden Variety, check it out if you’re on your way to the Common Ground Fair. There will be a few of us there with homemade wares……and music playing throughout the day.
There just hasn’t been much time for wool related fun this summer. There’s been plenty of hypertufa building. plenty of studio progress, and PLENTY of gardening ( no complaints, it’s a love as well), but all things fiber related have been simmering on the back burner until lately. So fun to be dipping freshly spun skeins and unspun wool into dye pots. Right now several skeins are out drying under the arbor. Our flock of Blue Face Leicester sheep provide us with plenty of scrumptious wool to dye and spin. I truly enjoy this breed….lovely, long stapled, lustrous and nicely crimped locks of wool. Also, these Blue Face Leicester will gladly get in your lap for some good long back scratches. When we are moving their fence to new pasture, I just let them roam while we get their new area in place, then I call ” Sheep”, and they all come running! Years ago I would move them down to their summer pasture in the early spring just by having them follow me…..it was two miles down the road! There I’d be, having a leisurely walk with an entire flock waddling along behind me.
So, that’s the sheep and wool news at the moment. If you are heading to the Common Ground Fair consider stopping by Thorndike Village, I’ll be there sipping tea and spinning away! Come join me!

Change Is Going To Come

Chelone glabra

So much change! Yes, the seasons……. we’ve talked about that. At the moment, the big changes we are feeling happen to be the ones experienced by our family. First, no one in our household is preparing for going back to school this fall. Noah has decided ( with our support) to postpone further schooling at the moment, and to do some traveling. He heads out this fall for the wild west, on his own epic adventure to see some of the country, visiting with friends and family and WWOOFing a bit along the way. His older sister has just changed jobs within the company she works for and has moved to the big city of Portland. This means………just two of us in the house this winter. Who are we going to feed? What am I going to do with all this food? It is great to see your children branch out into the world, to find their footing, to create their own independent life and to follow their dreams and aspirations. It is also a very significant mark in time. Excitement and sadness. Thrills and deep breaths. We can account for all the things that have brought us to this point, the stages of childhood, the growth, the life learning, that has nurtured and prepared them ( hopefully) for these moments of flight from their nest. They charge ahead with their very good intentions and work, and we try not to cling or hang on to them, keeping them from the world they are about to explore. Not keeping them from their worlds, their choices, their adventures, and their responsibility to learn and grow from all of these things. We are never far away, we continue to lend support ( and counsel them even when not solicited), and we will always be home to them. This is comforting. They are traveling away, but the nest remains intact. With food….lots of it actually. Ha, this will bring them back on occasion! I feel better. So, what will we do? Oh goodness, lots! More of what we do already and then find all kinds of new things to add to our plate. Indulge in things that have been put on the back burner for years, and explore some new horizons ( we may not even leave home for this, we hardly ever do). We’ll grow too! And of course, we have our very good life here at the farm and nursery. This will continue to keep us busy……. always.
Speaking of the nursery, this wonderful native is in full bloom and bringing us pleasure at the moment. Turtlehead ( Chelone glabra) likes moist soil and part sun, it is long lived and blooms late summer through fall. It reaches a height of about 2-3 ft. tall.

Chelone glabra

Another variety we grow is Chelone ‘Hot Lips” which has blooms of very deep pink and darker foliage. Both are available at the nursery right now.
In about ten days we will be traveling to pick up our new Blue Face Leicester ram. ( I guess we are going to be leaving home once in awhile!). Our current ram, Puck, will service a few ewes here before heading off to his new home and new flock of ladies. We are glad he’s going to a nice farm with hopes of improving the fleeces of their existing flock. Puck’s fleece is quite nice, and he’ll be sure to add some fine qualities to any wool. I will be selling yarn at a few locations this fall. During Commom Ground Fair weekend (Sept. 19, 20th, and 21st), I will set up the Teardrop over at my friends shop, Garden Variety, in Thorndike, Maine. Lots of hand dyed, handspun yarn will be for sale, including the skeins that I had milled into yarn from Battenkill Fiber Mill. Plus, of course, my own handspun yarn. All of the wool is from our own Blue Face Leicester flock here at the farm. I will keep readers informed of other ‘yarn’ events, and people can continue to purchase yarn here at the nursery. So these days, aside from all else, lots of dyeing and spinning going on! And on good days….a bit of knitting, too!