Busy, Busy, Busy

I haven’t posted in a while because life has been BUSY! So here’s a summary of what’s been happening on the farm …

Combing Goats
Cashmere is harvested by either combing it out as it sheds or shearing. We choose to comb. It took me about 2 hours per goat to comb out the cashmere and trim their hooves. I got much faster after the first few as I refined my technique. There is still a little bit to do, but most of them are done.

Renovating the Old Store
We have the original county grocery store next to our house. It was basically just a shell – no utilities, sagging foundation, old roof, etc. We’ve had contractors here for about 3 weeks working to fix it up.

To save a little money, I am the errand girl. Everytime they need materials, I run for them. Not to mention that I need to be on hand to answer questions and make decisions about how we want things done. I’m excited to get it done, but the construction process is a bit disruptive. Fortunately, we have a great contractor.

It will become a woodturning shop for Brett and a fiber studio for me. More details on that later…

Vacation
I took a whirlwind vacation to the Maryland Sheep and Wool festival and to Pennsylvania to visit family and bring our son home from college. It was a great trip but I was exhausted by the time we got home.
The festival was awesome and I bought about a dozen different kinds of wool and fleeces so that I could spin them to learn first-hand the differences between them. I’m not sure how many breeds of sheep there are, but there’s got to be at least 50 – all with different wool. I am focusing on those with wool soft enough to wear against the skin.