2015 Shearing is Done!

A total of 57 fiber animals are now shorn but the work has just started.  First my body has to recuperate.  The muscles need to stop aching and the joints not stiffen up out of fear of further work.  Each fleece will need to be sorted and graded and a determination made of what it will be turned into.  Will it be sent to the NFP co-op to be blended with fiber from the rest of the US to be made into rovings, yarns, finished items? Or will it be sent to a local mini-mill to be made into rovings and/or yarns for outerwear items (items not worn next to the skin)?  No matter what over the next few months my fingers will be in fiber heaven.

Sunday of leisure

Yesterday attended the women in agriculture conference where I realize that I have to be very serious and deliberate about writing a business plan and really defining future plans for the animals and fiber.  Today sorting fiber is at the top of the list.  Off I go.

Regular Sunday

Well the tractor is sitting unable to move at the hay barn again.  Will have to call my "vehicle go to guy" and see if he can figure out what is going on.  Will also have to get some screws to attach the separated sheep wall back to the sheep enclosure. For now baling twine is keeping the boards to the studs.  The wall fell during the rain, snow, wind, flood and street wash out storm last week.

I returned sorted fleece to  a client and had discussion of what can be produced from coarser fiber since we are not mating our animals to get new fine cria fleeces.  Outerwear, carpets, wall hangings, mulch were some of the projects mentioned but we need more.  The fun of creativity.

Snowy day

It snowed very steadily today with an accumulation of over one foot.  I watched while Windy (a llama/alpaca mix) watched my friend plowed out my driveway since the diesel in my tractor gelled with the low temperatures.  I kept busy by satisfying my tactile senses with sorting fiber into length, micron width, grade and color.  Some of the fleeces were fine and felt really good.   After I finish this client's fiber harvest I plan on working on sorting sheep fleeces to become a certified wool sorter.  I love natural animal fiber.