Skirting the fleece, Chopping the wood, Driving the Horses

Kiyoshi skirting the fleece

Where does wool come from?  A sheep, of course.  But it is a lot of work to turn that warm coat into YOUR warm coat.  We are learning the steps for working with fiber and today we continued with "skirting the fleece."  This process, skirting, is laying out a fleece, what was shaved off of a sheep, on the table and picking out all the yucky bits caught in it.  There were a lot of yucky bits--bits of poop, straw, seed pods and a ladybug--I kid you not!   And your hands get covered in lanolin--a waxy secretion sheep use to protect themselves--so they feel slick.  I can see why professionals put coats on their sheep to keep the fleece from being infested with grime.  There are parts of the fleece that we just threw out because it was so grimy or tangled into burdock burrs.

Once the fleece is skirted, we began the washing process.  Fill a large tub with very hot water, push the skirted fleece into the water and let it sit for a good long time.  Drain the very dark brown water (we carried it out to the compost pile since it was full of "nutrients") and refill the tub with hot water adding Orvis soap this time.  Push the fleece into this hot soapy water and let it sit for an hour.  Don't stir it or push it around in any way--wool fibers will grip and cling and will become matted.  We want this gripping and clinging to happen, but not until we spin the wool or felt it.

Emma, tidying up

This washing, soaking, spinning process took the rest of the day, interspersed with other work.  There was quite a bit of the fleece that was unusable  and as we cleaned up, we took those bits out and mixed them into our compost pile.  Again, nutrients to be returned to the earth.

Brian driving Prince and King

Sophia, Emma and Nora, splitting wood

In the afternoon, our group went over to Sentinel Elm farm to work on cordwood.  First, we used the horse team to skid logs out of the forest.  Then the chainsaw came into use to buck them into burnable lengths.  Lastly, we used mauls or axes to  split them into stackable pieces.    It was a chilly day but the work kept us warm.

Sophia helping Emma L. to taste

We also celebrated Josh's birthday with an ice cream cake.  Sophia made the ice cream from scratch and churned it with the help of a few friends.  The crust contained some of Emma's (my daughter's) famous gingerbread caramel.  Here is a shot of some tasting that went on:

Hungry farmers watching dinner prep

We had our weekly community dinner which was very enjoyable.  Josh spear-headed the dinner of roast chicken, lentils, rice, polenta and a winter veggie stirfry--cabbage, carrots and parsnips seasoned with onion, garlic and rice wine vinegar.  Delicious!