Last week my daughter and I headed out on my second annual fiber buying trip. Hailey was on spring break, and between the good weather and rumors of fresh fleece, baby lambs, and a new puppy in the air, we planned a road trip out to north central Minnesota.
The sky was bright, the roads were clear, and my car was fully fueled. We had two farms to visit, and our maps were in hand. This day was going to be ours to build memories.
Our first stop was estimated to be two and a half hours away from where we live. Three and a half hours later we found ourselves helplessly lost after taking a wrong turn outside of Osakis, missing a turn due to a wonky map, and then losing all access to cell phone reception. Hungry and in need of a "pit stop", we chose to find the closest city. Thankfully that was Eagle Bend, the city just outside of our first stop.
We pulled into a gas station to try and get directions. Within minutes the awesome folks in the gas station were opening maps, checking their GPS, and calling friends and family on local farms to try and get me back on the right path. Fortunately the neighbor of the farm I was looking for walked in. He chuckled, and then drew me a map of how to reach the farm we were looking for. To make sure that we didn't lose this precious scrap of paper, I ran it out to my car and set it on the dashboard.
Of course, we were hungry by now. Fortunately there was a cafe hooked on to the gas station. We went in, sat down, and I made the joke that "... I should have taken a left in Kukamonga."Hailey was not impressed. (Laughter)We gobbled up lunch, hit the facilities, and headed out to the car. The wind had REALLY picked up by now. As I opened my car door I noticed an updraft that blew my maps into the air, including our precious hand drawn map. And it was at this moment that Hailey and I had a slow motion "Hollywood Moment". As she opened her door, the papers fluttered wildly and were sucked out her door in a whirling vortex, blowing all over the dirt parking lot. I shouted for Hailey to try and capture the map. And, THANK GOD she is super athletic.
After sprinting, dodging, stomping, diving, and lunging after that map, she finally managed to get her hands on it. And, like the bad mom I so often am, I couldn't stop laughing at her hustle. It reminded me of an old time film where Charlie Chaplin, Buster Keaton, or Laurel and Hardy try to chase down a hat blown away by a strong breeze...
... And again, Hailey was not impressed. (giggle-snort)
Nerves calmed, maps TIGHTLY in hand, we headed out. And in 10 minutes we found ourselves pulling into the driveway of the first farm, Flat Rock Farms. This lovely little farm is owned by the Ayers family, former residents of the suburb where we currently live. Diane quickly greeted us and took us to see her flock, and miniature Llama "Santiago", in the barn. She had one new lamb (Zelda), and was waiting on the birth of six to seven more. After about an hour, she pulled out the fleece that I had reserved weeks earlier. I had a 7 lb Jacob's Ram fleece waiting for me from "Elliot", and a 10 lb Border Leicester fleece from "Gwendolyn", who was a happy, food loving ewe after my own heart.
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| A sneak preview of the Border Leicester fleece that I had purchased. Look at that staple! |
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| "Elliot" the Jacob's ram is on the left. Notice his multiple horns. The Jacob's sheep can grow up to 8 horns total. |
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| Lydia's Flock. Photo by E. Katie Holm |
As we pulled up to the house, we were greeted by a diverse flock of freely foraging chickens of all sizes, shapes, and colors, closely followed by Penny the Corgi, and Lydia.  |
| On of the ladies waiting to deliver her lambs. |
We were quickly taken to the barn to see the sheep close up. At that time, Lydia was waiting for 30 of her ewes to deliver their lambs. She fortunately had one white ewe had delivered two black lambs, which was pretty much the cutest thing ever. And I honestly believe that it was in that barn that my little city girl was transformed forever.
After a brief conversation with her ewe, Lydia picked up a lamb and handed it to Hailey to hold. My kiddo was just tickled to bits, melted entirely, and you could see bliss just fill her. And I don't think she will ever be the same. This lovely little lamb was a good and strong, but oh so peaceful. You could feel the little horns forming on her head already. She was solid black, and her sister had a little smudge of white on her head. Just precious I tell you.
We also got to go into the hen house, and Hailey got to hold fresh, warm eggs right out of the roosts of the hens. She was pretty much in awe of this.
I wonder how many other city kids got to do this over their spring break?
After a nice tour of the farm, and an opportunity to meet their new resident, a Vietnamese Pot Belly pig, we headed indoor to talk about yarn. See, Lydia's Flock isn't just about having beautiful animals as pets. Her flock is about the whole animal, all of the gifts they have to offer, especially when they are happy, healthy, and allowed to live in as much of a loving environment as possible. And this level of love, care, and knowledge shows in the yarns that are produced from the fleece of her sheep.
Last fall I picked up the fleece of her only black ewe. On this particular day I was fortunate enough to pick up several hanks of yarn in an array of colors. I even managed to get my hands on some glorious wool blend sock yarn. My goal was to get her yarns back to the Twin Cities area, and available to people here immediately via my online shop, The Palette and Purl.
| Natural cocoa brown, Natural Grayish White, Natural Gray, and Natural colored/Oatmeal sock yarn |
"I had a GREAT time with you today Mom.
We need to do this again sometime soon."
Mom for the win. ^_^
P.S. I will be washing and cleaning fleece over the next few weeks. Stay tuned for more details on how to get your hands on locally grown, sustainably raised, lovingly cared for fleece.
