Created by Emily Robinson of Braehurst Fiber & Dye
A digital art piece honoring the leader of my flock, Queen B the sheep, and the multitude of dye plants I am growing to transform the already beautiful fleece into a rainbow of color. Queen B is a mostly benevolent ruler — by day, she protects the flock by screaming at deer and neighboring cows. By night, she steals everyone’s snacks in order to become increasingly large and in charge.
Welcome to the 9th edition of the Fibershed Producer Newsletter!
A BRIEF NOTE BY
LEXI FUJII, FIBERSHED PRODUCER COORDINATOR
As we enter into the season of change — with the light subsiding, yang energy shifting into the slower, softer sister yin energy — I reflect on this past season. A season of community, learning, and full garden abundance. Thank you to everyone who joined us at our Learning Center, a mini meetup (or two), community farmers markets, our carbon farming, business, and equity cohorts, and for promoting our fibershed’s work and bounty! I’m continuously inspired by and in awe of everyone’s creative, compassionate, and driven efforts. We hope to see you at our upcoming community events, and please know that you’re always welcomed at our Learning Center.
Fibershed Staff Cheat Sheet
Lexi Fujii, Learning Center & Membership Coordinator (lexi@fibershed.org): Producer membership, print and e-newsletter submissions, producer benefits, producer meetups, producer in-person marketplaces, producer blog posts, Directory page updates
Mike Conover, Climate Beneficial Technician (mike@fibershed.org):
Sarah Keiser, Intersectional Land Stewardship & Community Grazing Coordinator (sarah@fibershed.org):
General land stewardship, prescribed grazing, healthy fire ecosystems, creating community grazing cooperatives, monthly land steward and grazing fundamentals discussions
Producer Business Curriculum
All Fibershed producer members have access to our Business Curriculum, which is designed to empower Fibershed Producers with basic business, strategic planning, marketing, and financial skills applicable to fiber economy businesses at any stage in development or tenure.
Courses are served “a la carte”, delivered online through recorded webinars, and includes a suite of practical template-based tools to apply to each specific business. All webinars will be 1-2 hours long. Courses are applicable to Producers at all levels of business experience and are exclusive to Producers with a current membership.
Here are samples of the course offerings:
• Financial Basics for Fiber Economy
• Sales Strategy: Margins, Pricing, & Channels
• Social Media Marketing Best Practices
• Holistic Business Breakeven & Enterprise Budgeting
• Insurance & Liability
• Inventory Management
• Agritourism
• Introduction to Strategic Planning
For a full library of courses, visit https://fibershed.org/ business-curriculum/. You can email lexi@fibershed.org for the access password.
Design school collaborations, Healthy Soils Program demonstration projects, Learning Center indigo pigment processing, textile composting trials, state policy advocacy (microplastics, textile waste policy, state climate goals and working lands/textiles)
Fibershed Rooted in Simplicity event, Symposium event, Spanish Language Grazier Training Program
Spanish Language Graziers Training Program
Fibershed partnered with Audubon Conservation Ranching and UCANR to provide our first workshop for Spanish speaking graziers and herders. On Friday August 26th, over 20 graziers from across the state gathered at the Hopland Research and Extension Center to learn about soil health and reading rangeland from Plelayo Alvarez, Director of Audubon California’s Conservation Ranching Initiative. They then spent the afternoon engaging with Dr. Rosie Busch of UC Davis to gain a better understanding of herd health and diagnostics. This was the first of what we hope to be several Spanish language grazier trainings, planned with the help of Fibershed members Jaime Irwin of Kaos Sheep Outfit and Cole Bush of Shepherdess Land and Livestock. If you’d like to learn more about future offerings, please contact Layla at layla@fibershed.org
(Photo credits: Lexi, Mike and Heather by Paige Green; Sarah by Noelle Gaberman; selfie of Layla
Hulsman Ranch (Photo by Paige Green)
Upcoming Producer Events
Grazing & Land Stewarships Discussions with Sarah Keiser
First Monday of the month, 6:30 – 7:30 pm PT via Fibershed Zoom
Once a month, Sarah — Fibershed’s Intersectional Land Stewardship and Community Grazing Initiatives Coordinator — is hosting virtual Grazing & Land Stewardship Discussions. These meetings are an open hour to discuss and ask questions about your land, grazing operations, soil regeneration, challenges and more! Topics covered in the past include, small ruminant parasite management, invasive species, multi-species grazing rotations, and pasture management. Everyone is welcome to drop-in and join these conversations! These discussions are recorded and linked on our Producer Resource Page.
Zoom Information:
• https://us06web.zoom.us/j/83634130800
• Meeting ID: 836 3413 0800
• One tap mobile
• +16699006833,,83634130800# US (San Jose)
• +12532158782,,83634130800# US (Tacoma)
Carbon Farm Conversations with Amy Lofting
First Friday of the month, 1:00 – 2:00 pm PT via Fibershed Zoom
Once a month, producer-member Amy Lofting has been facilitating a one-hour Carbon Farming Conversation online. Everyone is welcome, whether you are new to the ideas of carbon farming or already have lots of experience.
Carbon farming is moving carbon! We take it from the atmosphere (where, in excess, it is currently causing lots of problems for life on Earth, like climate change) and put it into the soil (where it is a valuable raw material that fuels life-enhancing processes). Anyone can carbon farm on the scale that’s right for them. Even one small action, right for your unique life circumstances, can make a difference and help us all get on track for a healthier planet.
So, come on down! Join us for one or many conversations, amicable interchanges of opinions, news, information, and reflections. We will be joined sometimes by Mike Conover, Fibershed’s Climate Beneficial Technician.
Zoom Information:
• https://us02web.zoom.us/j/87659270409 (for a video conference on your computer or smartphone — you’ll need a stable internet connection)
• Meeting ID: 876 5927 0409
• Or, if you don’t have a good internet connection, join us for a voiceonly conversation via any telephone with long distance service: +1 669 900 6833 US / Meeting ID: 876 5927 0409
• Or use one tap mobile for smartphones: +1-669-900-6833, Passcode 876-592-70409#
Community Grazing Cooperatives & Intersectional Land Stewardship Projects
BY SARAH KEISER
Our Community Grazing Cooperatives (CGC) & Intersectional Land Stewardship (ILS) projects are working to connect graziers, communities, policy makers and Indigenous Fire Ecologists in order to enact real, long term changes in land stewardship for fire ecosystems. We also seek to create a cultural shift in our relationship to the land that feeds us, from extractive to tending. In order to successfully begin this evolution we are working to bring all of these communities back to the land, at the same time, to begin the conversation. When we are together on the land, with people and the animals tending the land, we begin to connect the dots. Those advocating for us in Sacramento, to bring more policy and funding support to this work, get to gain a better understanding of the sophisticated land stewardship that is taking place and how to fill in the gaps.
On Tuesday July 26th Fibershed collaborated with CalCAN and CAFF to host a ‘boots on the ground’ event that brought this diverse group together to discuss the work, the needs and how policy and funding can support both. It was an incredibly successful event that began with a land walk at Luma California Farms. All 30 participants, representing policy development groups, farmers, graziers, Indigenous Fire Ecologists, community gatherers and the sheep that are tending the land, to build a new Community Grazing Cooperative. The event took place at a regenerative, soil building cannabis farm in Penngrove, CA. This organic farm is part of a pilot project demonstrating a collaborative land stewardship model for wildfire resilient communities and shared land access for food production. This is how we work together to effectively create change and pave the way forward to real sustainability. The co-hosting organizations were CalCAN, a statewide coalition that advances state and federal policy to catalyze the powerful climate solutions offered by sustainable and organic agriculture. And CAFF (Community Alliance of Family Farmers), who builds sustainable food and farming systems through policy advocacy and on-the-ground programs that create more resilient family farms, communities and ecosystems. This collaboration with Fibershed, who advocates for and funds climate beneficial agriculture, created the perfect trifecta
Kingsley Ranch (Photo by Paige Green)
Fibershed’s Sarah Keiser, Amber Schatt of CAFF and Tessa Salzman of CalCAN at the policy development event hosted by Fibershed producer Luma California Farm (Photo by Brian Shobe)
Windrush Farm (Photo by Paige Green)
to connect the policy advocates, Indigenous Fire Ecologists and the grazing communities so they can experience each other’s work, to connect as individuals and share their stories. It was our goal to provide an opportunity for relationship building and connection amongst diverse groups with the same goal. This amazing event accomplished that beautifully.
In our planning and design stage we attempted to cover all of the pressing issues of our land stewards and graziers. The subjects we focused on were land access, workforce & organizational development, equipment and infrastructure funding and local/regional coordination. These large issues are limiting the ability to move us forward towards a healthy fire ecosystem. We wanted to address these issues in person, with a motivated group of individuals with holistics visions. So much was gained from bringing the policy makers and land stewards together to discuss and formulate realistic solutions to these limiting issues.
We started the event with a land walk and tour of Luma California Farm. We discussed land stewardship through ecological grazing of the sheep, collaborative food systems and wildfire resilient communities. We finished up the tour with a presentation from Peter Nelson— Coast Miwok and tribal citizen of the Federated Indians of Graton Rancheria one of the Indigenous Fire Ecologists in the Intersectional Land
Building Soil Health and Taking on Climate Change
BY MIKE CONOVER
Thank you to all our Climate Beneficial™ producers for your land stewardship! For those who are not familiar with our Climate Beneficial program, this is a verification program open to all Fibershed producer-members that offers grant funding, expanded market opportunities, peer to peer learning, connection to technical assistance, and soil testing to producers who want to improve their soil health and play a role in ameliorating climate change.
As of writing this piece, we are logging all of the carbon farming practices producer members reported to us from this past year and are calculating the climate impacts of your work. Stay tuned for our 2022 Carbon Farm Fund Report where we’ll share that information as well as project highlights from our latest Carbon Farm Seed Fund awards.
The Carbon Farm Seed Fund (CFSF) is available to all producers enrolled in our Climate Beneficial program and provides direct financial assistance to producers who are implementing soil-regenerating practices such as compost application, riparian restoration, windbreak and hedgerow establishment, cover cropping, rangeland and pasture seeding, and prescribed grazing, among others. The CFSF is available to all Climate Beneficial producers, regardless of the scale of their operations and can help fill in gaps where state and federal funding sources aren’t able to offer support.
Producers who were offered awards as part of our 2021 Carbon Farm Seed Fund have just wrapped up their projects as of August 31st. For the 2021 round, we awarded $58,875 in grants to fourteen producers who carried out carbon farming projects on 583 acres, with an estimated carbon impact of 4004 Mg CO2e sequestered over the next 20 years. To give a sense of scale, that would be the equivalent of sequestering the emissions produced by a gas-powered car driving almost 10 million miles!
Our 2022 Carbon Farm Seed Fund application process had a great response so thank you to everyone who applied! We had 29 producers apply and at the time of writing this we are reviewing your applications.
Stewardship project. Peter showcased indigenous food systems and highlighted the wild food all around us. He also reminded all of the land stewards and policy makers to get tribal input as we move forward with different land stewardship models. Let’s keep the original land stewards engaged in the discussion and planning. In this event Fibershed’s goal was to bring together all of the pieces. To make sure everyone’s voices were heard and respected in the establishment of our land stewardship planning.
At the conclusion of the event the participants left feeling more connected to their larger community, developed new relationships and learned from perspectives different then their own. One profound evolution occurred with Michael Jarred, the lobbyist for both CalCAN and CAFF. He let us know after the event that he learned so much about grazing for wildfire resiliency and ecological regeneration. He took this new knowledge to change the language in his advocacy and lobbying work in Sacramento.
This was the first of many collaborative events that Fibershed hopes to participate in. The way forward is in connecting these people passionate about land stewardship and climate action in a community oriented fashion. We look forward to seeing what more great policy and funding comes out of this amazing event.
Filling a no-till planter with cover crop seed at Chico Flax (Photo courtesy of Sandy Fisher)
“ The property before we leased it was an almond orchard, farmed conventionally for 20 years. Our first soil organic matter tested at 0.75% soil organic matter. The three years of Fibershed Carbon Seed Fund has helped finance compost application, cover crop seeds, no till planting of the last 2 cover crops, dye plant seeds and soil testing.
“We currently have 5.22% soil organic matter. Earthworms with every weed pulled. Lower electric bills for less water used. Next we want to try 3 cover crops a year to suppress weeds.
“As our ability to process linen fibers increases we hope to plant our entire 3.75 acres in flax plus add borders around the barn and acreage of dye plants.”
– SANDY FISHER AND DURL VAN ALSTYNE OF CHICO FLAX
Producer Meetup at Chico Flax
Saturday, October 22 | 11 am to 4 pm
Finally, we are pleased to welcome five new producers into our Climate Beneficial Program:
• Blackberry Farm in Bolinas
• Braehurst Fiber & Dye in Sebastopol
• Luma California in Penngrove
• Mustang Acres in Petaluma
• Olivet Ranch in Santa Rosa.
For more information about joining our Climate Beneficial Program please reach out to Fibershed’s Climate Beneficial Technician Mike Conover at mike@fibershed.org
“ Thank you so much for offering these opportunities. For medium-sized farms like ours this funding can be the missing link in project development for carbon farm practices.”
– THOMAS NICHOLSON STRATTON OF FOGGY BOTTOMS BOYS
Join us for our next producer meetup at Chico Flax in Chico, California on Saturday, October 22, 11a-4p!
We will visit Sandy and Durl’s flax farm, learn how to process flax, hear about the research and development they are working on to expand flax in our region, along with connecting with other Fibershed producers and showing off your latest projects! PLUS a bonus tour with AVL Looms (avllooms.com).
Family is welcomed, and we encourage you to invite other fiber and dye friends who might be interested in joining our Fibershed network! More information and address will be sent out prior.
Photos by Paige Green
Fibershed Learning Center
In-person Workshops
In-person workshops at the Fibershed Learning Center in Point Reyes Station have been ongoing since February, and well-attended! Upcoming workshops through the end of the year are listed below.
As part of your producer membership, you get a 10% discount on Fibershed workshops and events. Enter the code “producer” at checkout for your discount. Visit fibershed.org/learningcenter for more details and links to register for classes on Eventbrite.
• September 10: Indigo Pigment Extraction with Judi Pettite
• September 11: Earth and Sky: Indigo and Tannin Dyes with Judi Pettite
• September 24: Weaving with locally-harvested Tule with Rimiko Berriman
• October 15: Weave a Tule Mat with Charlie Kennard
• October 29-30: Designs from Nature, printmaking on fabric with natural dyes with Karen Hampton
• November 5: English Willow Basket Weaving Demonstration with Charlie Kennard
• November 19-20: Papermaking from Scratch using local plant fibers with Jane Ingram Allen
• December 3-4: Making an English Willow Basket with Charlie Kennard (prerequisite: Attend Charlie’s demonstration on November 5th , or have previous experience weaving with willow. Enrollment is first come, first served.)
If you are an experienced fiber arts teacher and interested in teaching at the Learning Center, email learningcenter@fibershed.org to discuss.
Learning Center Garden
Volunteer Opportunities
We’re hosting open garden days at our Learning Center’s natural dye and pigment garden!
Our demonstration natural dye and pigment garden incorporates a wide range of both native and cultivated plants with rich cultural traditions of use in fiber and dye systems (eg. mugwort, goldenrod, dogwood, native grasses, sedges, marigold, coreopsis, Japanese indigo, and more). Together with the restored riparian corridor and salmonid
spawning creek adjacent to our garden, this tended landscape provides materials and land connection for artisans and students working at the Learning Center.
We will be welcoming volunteers into the garden every Tuesday afternoon, from 2-5p with various gardening tasks, like mulching, weeding, maintaining our hedgerows, watering, harvesting dye flowers to dry, and more!
For first time garden volunteers, RSVP preferred (email maria@ fibershed.org), but drop-ins are welcomed.
Fibershed Wool & Fine Fiber Symposium
Save the Date: December 10
Fibershed is thrilled to announce that we will be holding our symposium in person again this year at Black Mountain Ranch. We are excited to be collaborating with a local organization that uplifts the voices and work of women in agriculture, Celebrating Womxns Leadership in Food (CWLF), to bring you a robust lineup of speakers, workshops, immersive experiences, art, and music.
Mark your calendars for Saturday December 10th! More information coming soon...
Clockwise from upper left: Indigo pigment extraction in progress at Fibershed Learning Center (photo by Paige Green); coasters woven with tule rush by Rimiko Berreman; The Dancer, textile art by Karen Hampton; English willow baskets by Charlie Kennard; handmade paper by Jane Ingram Allen; textiles dyed with indigo and tannin by Judi Pettite.
Introducing: Weaving Voices Podcast
Weaving Voices is a Whetstone Radio Collective and Fibershed collaborative podcast that stitches textile systems and traditions, economic philosophy, and climate science into a quilt of understanding. Designed to transform our thinking and actions both as citizens and material culture makers and users.
Welcome New Producers
Hosted by Fibershed Executive Director Rebecca Burgess, Weaving Voices tells the stories of our textile culture. We learn from communities that have enduring textile recipes that have lasted for multiple millennia, a complete contrast to the current and contemporary system dependent on fossil carbon and volume-based production models.
If you wear clothes, you’ll want to tune into these stories about how the dominant narrative, imagery and trends try to tell us what is “appropriate” and good to wear. And how most of the time, this leaves out the voices, lives and daily realities of the people, animals and landscapes that make our clothing possible.
Episodes:
Episode 1: The Economic Waters We Swim In
Episode 2: Mulberry Trees, Silk Moths & Modern Sustainability Measurements
Episode 3: Reflections from an Industrial Ecologist
Episode 5: A Life Woven Together Between Shepherd and Sheep
Episode 6: Threads of Life, a Visual Map of Indonesian Island Communities
Episode 7: Shedding Plastic, Our Modern Wardrobes’ Impact on Oceans & Soils
Episode 8: Labor’s Lever and a Just Transition for Fast Fashion Workers
Episode 9: Kantamanto Market—Life and Livelihood in the Throws of Fast Fashion’s Waste Streams
Episode 10: Cotton Before it Became the Fabric of Everyone’s Lives
Episodes available on the Apple podcast app and Spotify. You can also listen at whetstonemagazine.com/weaving-voices
We want to welcome and highlight producers who have joined our Northern California Producer community since the publication of the previous issue of this newsletter. As always, you can find information about local fiber, dyes, and skills within our community, alongside direct links to contact or support their enterprises, in our Producer Directory: fibershed.com/producer-directory/
ABOVE, ROW 1: Braehurst Fiber & Dye is a small family project run by Emily Robinson with support from David Lumpkin and Kate Schaffner. We have four Jacob sheep whose wool is used for family clothing, and we grow a large variety of dye plants in our gardens. We are currently working hard at controlling invasive species on our land and reintroducing native plants in large numbers, as well as increasing our soil organic matter and developing perennial food systems.
Oaktender Home Ranch, located just south of Petaluma on San Antonio Rd, has a native oak nursery, seasonal lambs, targeted grazing services, and sheep dog training center of excellence.
Hunter Grazing Cooperative is a community grazing cooperative in the neighborhood of Hunter Lane and Horn Avenue in Santa Rosa. Established in the Fall of 2019, the cooperative now includes five households (with properties of 1-5 acres), nine sheep, and three goats. The sheep and goats graze our properties to reduce fuel load and improve the land.
LEXICO/Pluckyfluff is an artist, author and teacher of non-traditional yarn spinning.
ROW 2: Blue Dot Farm, in central Marin County, grows flowers for the local market, raises Ouessant sheep for fiber and vegetation management and board horses. We do what we can to use regenerative
practices, improve soil health, sequester carbon and hold water, provide habitat for wildlife and create a healthy home for all living things. (bluedotblossoms.net)
Sullivan & Son’s Farm is a small-scale olive farmer and producer of Tuscan-style olive oil, along with grazing sheep and rescuing unwanted animals.
Charity, owner of Wild Things Ranch, raises Icelandic sheep for meat, fiber, and contract grazing. The foundation of Wild Things Ranch is healthy soil which means healthy animals. (wildthingsranch.net)
The Spinning Angora: My name is Mary and I live at the base of Mt. Shasta in Weed, CA. I have been a rabbit raiser since 2003. Specifically German Angora rabbits since 2013 when I taught myself to spin yarn using Angora and local wools (Romney, Jacob, Cotswold) and alpaca from farms in my county. Due to lack of available services I taught myself to process raw fleeces from skirting to spun yarn. Now I small scale process and spin alpaca, angora, wool on a commission basis. I forage dye plants in Siskiyou and Humboldt counties to dye my yarns. I sell my yarns and raw spinning fiber online. (thespinningangora.wixsite.com/thespinningangora)
(continued on following page)
ABOVE, ROW 1: Mustang Acres is a small non-profit farm in east Petaluma, CA, that is maintained by individuals with disabilities and their families. We practice rotational grazing with our sheep and llama and produce fiber with our animals. (mustangacres.org)
Luma California Farms is a licensed living soil outdoor cannabis farm focused on regenerative practices and highlighting our unique geographic location and terroir. We believe the soil foodweb isn’t just about microbes in soil, it encompasses plants and animals above ground as well. The waste from farm animals are packed with nutrients and microbes that will help us restore our land and feed our plants. We feed our worm farm with organic material from our leaves and food scraps, allowing us to make our own microbe and nutrient rich vermi-compost. We ferment fruit and prickly pears from trees and cacti on site to use as fertilizer and also collect blooming plants around the farm then used in our compost teas, helping us close loops and recycle nutrients back into our soil. These techniques are all essential building blocks to cultivating new microbial species and creating healthy balanced soil. In doing so, we allow our plants the opportunity to reach their full genetic potential. (lumacalifornia.com)
Odd Fox and Fern: I’m a first generation German American, born and raised in the San Francisco Bay Area. I have always shown my respect and love for nature through my art, and in 2012 began moving to natural dyes in my personal yarn-making practice. In 2021 I founded Odd Fox and Fern to bring my passion to others in the form of craft supplies, watercolor paintings, and small workshops. (oddfoxandfern.com)
ROW 2: Green Goose Farm is modeled after historic homestead practices, combined with current knowledge, and future adaptation requirements. The guiding principle is low-energy, high-labor land
Producer Voices
Why Wool Pellets?
BY CHARLENE SCHMID
The Struggle:
In my world of alpacas, there is a short window of fiber I consider worthy of processing. At Integrity Alpacas & Fiber, I define worthy fiber as having length at >2.5” and grades* 2, 3, and sometimes 4. The costs of milling fiber into yarn are not economically sustainable. In 2021 alone, Integrity Alpacas & Fiber paid $9,800 for fiber processing – and that does not include the labor of washing, skeining, labeling, store setup/breakdown and days off ranch for selling, not to mention and costs of markets, transportation and advertising. If the fiber is not the absolute best for the product I make, it becomes “wasted wool.” I generate far more wasted wool than fiber that meet my standards for processing to yarns. Many alpaca owners, myself included, have found ways to use the wasted wool. I have made my share of dryer balls, and use it in needle or wet felted goods, making kits, teaching classes, etc. Again, these tasks are very labor intensive and costs may cover the product, but not my labor.
stewardship, that over time increases total biomass and biodiversity of the land. The core practice is pasture management and improvement, and all animal and plant production stems from grass productivity and harvests. The animals and farmer work in concert to improve total land health, while food and fiber are a by-product of responsible stewardship.
Chisum Trail Woolery and Farm is a small farm in Penn Valley with a flock of Merino sheep specializing in weaving and spinning. Also Jersey/ Dexter cross cows.
Meinolf Weaving School: I inherited a loom in 2000 while pursuing a degree in Industrial Design at SFSU. Going on to earn an MFA in Textiles and Social Practice from CCA, I have been spreading knowledge of simple weaving processes through public demonstrations and workshops for over a decade now. Living in West Marin, and currently founding a small weaving school in San Anselmo, the strands are all starting to fall into place. I also weave fabric for many uses.
NOT PICTURED: Audubon Canyon Ranch – Cypress Grove Research Center’s mission is to connect nature, people, and science in a rapidly changing world. Their vision is to inspire and inform communities to use scientific knowledge to build a resilient, sustainable society that respects the intrinsic value of our natural world. This effort by staff and partners was initiated to create management units and collect baseline data at Cypress Grove Research Center (CGRC) while simultaneously, considering targeted grazing as an alternative, or in combination management approach to prescribed burning, mowing to manage non-native vegetation, fuel loading, and native grasslands. As the Land Steward (Jim Jensen), I was looking for tools to reduce hazardous fuels near structures, under power lines, shaded fuel breaks (Cypress) and reduce invasive species and shrub encroachment into the grasslands at CGRC while promoting a mosaic of more desirable species. (egret.org)
An Epiphany *Alignment of the Stars* THE Answer:
And then, one day before my birthday in February, I was gathered around a table upstairs at Warner Mountain Weavers in Surprise Valley, CA with Fibershed friends. We were having a visionary retreat for the future of the Fibershed Cooperative Marketplace. I don’t recall how it came up, but once Rebecca Burgess started talking about the potential of waste wool pellets I was challenged to focus on latter conversations.
When I asked Rebecca what we need to make this happen, she replied with something like, “We need someone who loves the earth.”
I believe my hand shot up immediately as I pointed to myself. I might have even said “Helllllooo.” This is the merging of my need to give back to the earth, to nourish our degraded soils, the reason for becoming a Climate Beneficial ranch, the love that alpacas can provide so much and do not harm the earth—and this fills my need in bringing economic sustainability to the potentially 15 years of life that alpacas do not produce fiber that is worthy of the cost to process. BAM!
Inside, I knew this is the direction that called to me. Back at the hotel that night, I was all over the internet learning what I could, sourcing the machines, visioning a plan. In the morning, poor Rebecca and Stephany were showered with all that I learned.
Upon returning home, I immediately contacted the most prominent producer of machinery required to make the waste wool pellets. I connected with a representative in Canada that sells the machines and systems produced in Eastern Europe. The first disappointment is the supply chain back up. The second was the cost, and the ending was the need for 480 wat/3 phase power to run the machines.
But I continued to write my business plan. I found machinery made in China, but I don’t think there was representation in North America for sales/service.
Knowing that many pellets are made—that’s not anything new—I started looking for who makes the pellet machines. I found a small engineering company, Buskirk, in Indiana, called them up and started a lively conversation with my new best friend, Adolfo. He explained that they have a wool shredding machine in development. They have wanted to produce this for a few years, but without a buyer, the machine remains in Research and Development and gets bumped for paid projects. We discussed what it takes to get it in line for development.
I spoke with my husband, and 2 days later wired the funds to purchase the machine still in concept. If all goes well, maybe 8 weeks until delivery (all has NOT gone well and I still wait). They are so excited—I am so excited! A couple weeks later I wired off the funds for the pellet machine that will also be made for me. They provided electrical options that work in rural parts of the US—even an option to run off the PTO of a tractor.
About this time, I contacted Lexi at the Fibershed to see if I could join the Waste Wool Working Group. I told her what I was doing, and the excitement tripled! She sent the recording of the last waste wool meeting where Anna, from Longway Homestead in Manitoba, Canada shared her story on this wool pellet process.
Anna and I have walked the same path in learning and bringing waste wool pellets to life. She is 2 steps ahead in that she has purchased her pellet machine from the same team that is making my shredder and pellet machine.
Working with Lexi, we invited the engineers at Buskirk to join the April Waste Wool Working Group meeting. As of this time, Anna was in possession of her new pelleting machine. Buskirk did not have the shredder to a point in development where he could show or demonstrate for us, but we were able to have a live demonstration by Anna producing pellets on her machine. Without the shredder, the pelleting process is slower as care is needed to ensure the longer fibers don’t get wound around the rollers.
My Vision—Our Future—A Solution:
Through the production of wool pellets, Integrity Alpacas & Fiber seeks to keep waste and wasted wool from our Fibershed region out of the landfill by creating a system to transform the waste into pellets that renourish soil and reduced need for water while growing our food and flowers. What is Waste and Wasted Wool?
Waste wool—Less desirable fiber from the areas on an animal that are not ever intended to be processed.
This fiber, in the pictures below, is typically dirty from poop, called “tags,” or filled with vegetable matter, “VM,” from the ground. Some animals also produce many guard hairs in these regions. Guard hairs are typically straight and coarse making them undesirable in a processed product.
wool—usable fiber that is not put into
There are many reasons a grower might not process the
Some animals are raised for meat, some for grazing lands. Some growers do not have an outlet to sell end products and quite frankly cannot get enough return in commodity sales to make it worth packing and shipping.
Wasted
production.
wool.
In this photo, the best fiber from the alpaca has been removed; remaining is waste fiber. It usually comes from the bellies and back ends of the animal. With alpacas, it might include necks and legs if the fiber is not long enough for processing.
R. Emigh Livestock young rams, one source for Climate Beneficial Certified waste wool. Poopy butts—all sheep poop while walking around. Some gets stuck on the fiber, the rest provides nutrients back to the soil.
Skirting once shorn, the wool is checked and waste from poop or VM is tossed on the ground below.
This photo illustrates what may have been usable fiber but is wasted, or, not put into production due to the excessive bits of grass, hay, or seed pods (VM). A producer generating usable fiber needs to protect the fleece from VM through pasture management or coating the animal to keep the fleece clean.
Where Does Waste and Wasted Fiber Go?
For many, waste and wasted fiber ends up at a landfill. Creative alternatives may include burying it in the soil or spreading it over hillsides for erosion control or mulch. The latter uses are wonderful, but also have limitations. The greatest limitation is that waste fiber is only available to the producers and their circle of motivated friends. We don’t have systems that transform this “waste” into a valuable resource that replenishes our earth—packaged and accessible to a wider audience.
Selecting a Name:
Well, the hours I spend selecting names—as a former teacher, my selected names must be just right. One that has resonated with me is Gardener’s Gold. This incorporates the gold reference to alpaca manure. I applied to register this as a trademark as I expect others will have the same ideas. I then reached out to my friends at Ink Monkey in Davis and they helped to bring my conceptual logo to life.
Rainbow Fiber Co-Op
Rainbow Fiber Co-Op is a Diné-led agricultural co-operative organized to improve the financial sustainability and equitable market outcomes for the remaining flocks of Dibé dits’ozí (NavajoChurro sheep) on the Navajo Nation. Their mission is to close the gap between rural Diné shepherds and an e-commerce marketplace for their wool. The Co-Op’s website and online fiber shop can be found at www. rainbowfibercoop.org. Their yarn shop was recently updated with an exciting new collection of hand-dyed natural colors including cochineal and indigo!
Why is Traceability Important?
As I begin this new venture, traceability is one manner of giving thanks. Traceability means community. Traceability also provides evidence that your purchasing dollars stay in our local communities as the income flows back to provide value in all parts of the producer’s harvest. It is my continued acknowledgement of our fiber producing community that has supported my vision through the initial gift of their waste and wasted wool. As I process the pellets, each batch will be labeled with the ranch name included.
Contributors to date include:
3 Bags Full Wool
Barinaga Ranch
Black Cat Lamas
Blue Barn Farms
Canfield Hill Ranch
Emigh Livestock
Flying Mule Sheep Co
Griffin Rd
Herding 4 Ewe
Hilltop Rd
Joan Cotter
Full Circle Wool
Meridian Rd Phillips
Meridian Jacob Sheep
Stonehenge Lamas
The Wolf and Horseshoe Ranch
Timm Ranch
Wind Dancer Ranch
Wooden Ewe
Alpacas of El Dorado
Alpacas of Marin
Alpacas of Sommerset
Arapaho Rose Alpacas
C-line Alpacas
Corning Ridge
Derwydd Alpacas
Diece Alpacas
Luv R Pacas
McCarty Creek Alpacas
Menagerie Hill Ranch
Picatoot’s Pack of Paca Ranch
Rockstar Alpacas
The Loom Room/Fanfare Farms
This is the second year of operations for the Co-Op. In 2022 the CoOp expanded their services to the Diné wool producer community by providing shearing support, in addition to reaching more shepherds. The Co-Op supported 9 families with a wool purchase of 3,000 pounds in 2021. In 2022 they increased to 32 families for a purchase of 6,000 pounds of wool. Average price paid per pound was $2.50, for a total of $15,000 in wool payouts. On the open market this wool is valued at $0 or $.01 per pound.
The Co-Op’s board heard straight from the producers how this income was going back into their herds to buy feed and supplies. The Co-Op’s approach validated and dignified the efforts of these shepherds to preserve their ancestral sheep and traditions. Due to drought and other negative externalities, the future is uncertain. Despite these factors the Co-Op brought a ray of light to many of the shepherd’s lives. Some shepherds became emotional upon receiving their wool payments. It isn’t about the money for these shepherds. It’s about respect.
Top: 9 skeins of naturally-dyed blanket-weight wool form a rainbow of colors; above: Zef and Nikyle weighing wool from the shepherds. (Photos by Kelli Dunaj)
“ Thank you for seeing the value in my wool. I’ve worked hard to keep my quality up over the years.”
“In all my life I’ve never been paid this much for my wool. Thank you.”
“Wow this is awesome. Thank you. I’m going to use this money to buy hay for my sheep.”
In February of 2022 boardmembers Nikyle Begay, Jay Begay, Zefren Anderson, and Kelli Dunaj traveled around the Navajo Nation doing outreach. They sat down with the shepherds to prepare them for the wool buy coming up. They explained how to get the best price for their wool, and provided storage bags. They also identified the need for shearing help and put together a plan for assisting the largest flocks execute their spring shearings.
The Co-Op came back together in April with a contract shearer and traveled from Ganado, Arizona to Two Grey Hills, New Mexico shearing sheep for the 4 largest producers. Wool was skirted and packed on site and payouts were made based on a tiered pricing system ($.50 per pound for waste wool on up to $5 per pound for premium grade). This effort was gratifying and motivating to the Co-Op team as well as the shepherds. The Co-Op had a 30% increase in usable wool yield based on their preparation and hands-on activities. What would have taken some of the elder shepherds months to complete shearing by hand, took two days per flock with a dedicated team. Initially the Co-Op set out to
increase their wool yield with the shearings only to realize the shearings were also a valuable community service. The Co-Op plans to continue to provide shearing support in 2023 and wants to expand the program to more producers. The total wool purchase for the April trip was 3,000 pounds. In addition to the wool payouts and shearing services provided, $10,000 was distributed out to Diné contract helpers.
In May the Co-Op executed a second round of wool buying activities at the Hard Rock, Arizona Chapter House. Another 3,000 pounds of wool were purchased. The wool was transported to Shiprock, New Mexico for skirting and packing by color lot. Then the team hit the road to deliver the wool to a new mill partner in Natalia, Texas http://www.winterstromranch.com. The team negotiated a faster turnaround with this mill, and plans to be in stock on their 2022 yarn collection by November. In addition to the wool payouts for the May trip, approximately $10,000 more was distributed out to Diné contract helpers. In total the project has disbursed $35,000 in funds directly to Diné shepherds, artists, and contractors so far this year.
The biggest challenges facing the Co-Op are the increased costs of labor, travel, fuel, and mill processing. They are also looking ahead to the 2023 spring season and the expense of expanding their shearing program to support more producers. The pastoral lifeway is under constant threat. Every little bit of support helps. Follow the Co-Op on Instagram or Facebook @rainbowfibercoop. You can also sign up for their newsletter, make a purchase from their yarn shop, or make a tax-deductible donation through their website at rainbowfibercoop.org
At left: Rainbow Fiber Co-op group shot; above: cochineal and paprika-dyed blanketweight skein of wool yarn; top: new boardmember Ilene Naegle helping the team skirt wool. The Co-Op now has a 100% Diné board of directors. (Photos by Kelli Dunaj)
Plants
Bloom Times for Shrubs and Perennials in Mendocino County
Created by Peggy Agnew, utilizing information from the California Native Plant Society website, Calscape.
Bloom times for shrubs and perennials
Common NameLatin Name Jan Feb MarchAprilMayJuneJuly Aug Sept Oct NovDec
ManzanitaArctostaphylos manzanitaxxx
Redbud Cercis Occidentalis xxx
Blue Jeans Ceanothus xxx
Blue BlossomCeanothus thyrsiflorus xxx
Buck Brush Ceanothus cuneatus xxx
Flannel Bush Fremontodendron xxxx
Coffee Berry Frangula californica xxxx
White Sage Salvia apiana xxxxx
Hollyleaf Redberry Rhamnus ilicifolia xxxx
Mock Orange Philadelphus lewisii xxxx
Common Yarrow Achillea millefolium xxxxx
Wooly Sunflower Eriophyllum lanatum xxxx
Toyon Heteromeles arbutifolia xxxx
California Wildrose Rosa californica xxx
California Sagebrush Artemisia californica xxxxxx
Sticky Monkey Flower Diplacus aurantiacus xxxxxxx
California Buckwheat Eriogonum fasciculatum xxxxxxx
Fibershed-Certified California Cloth Foundry x Lani’s Lana ~ Fine Rambouillet Wool
A commercial collaborative effort between California Cloth Foundry, Lani’s Lana ~ Fine Rambouillet Wool and Northern California Fibershed Cooperative.
This collaboration between California Cloth Foundry and Lani’s Lana ~ Fine Rambouillet Wool was an effort to bring Local Wool and Local Cotton together in a knit fabric that would showcase the beauty that we can create when we work together. Northern California Fibershed Cooperative was our connection and we brought them in as partners in an effort to have a truly locally made and sourced product that the Fibershed Co-op could also sell to benefit the programs that they offer. We hope this is the first of many of these collaborations between Fibershed producers. We’re excited about offering this fabric to our maker community. A knit like this has been a dream come true!
About the Cloth:
The Climate Beneficial Collaborative Cloth—a double-faced cut and sew knit fabric—is reversible. Designed with beauty, quality and our skin in mind. The weight, surface design and texture were intended to reflect a casually-luxurious ‘boiled wool’ side, with a lovely pique-textured cotton face for reversibility.
This cotton wool blend cloth is very easy to use, it was designed for ease of cutting and sewing. A knit fabric that doesn’t curl or fray much even after cutting and dye-testing with raw edges, it is very clean and stable to test and play with.
Contents:
Our USDA certified CA Cleaner Cotton™ is grown by Gary and Marie in the San Joaquin Valley using non-GMO seed and farmed with best practices of sustainability and biological cultivation techniques. CA Cleaner Cotton is blended with NM Organic Cotton — both are USDA certified organic cottons, supporting clean air, water, and soil.
Lani’s Lana ~ Fine Rambouillet CA wool that is Fibershed certified climate beneficial through land and animal management practices that sequester carbon and help reverse the effects of climate change.
Cloth Details:
• Double-faced cut and sew knit (Cotton pique knit one face, Wool 1x1 rib knit the other face)
• Content: 58% Cotton Blend of CA Cleaner Cotton™ & NM Organic, with 42% California Rambouillet Wool
• Weight: approx. 13 oz per linear yard
• Width: 52"
• Price: $80/yard Retail
• PFD (prepared for dye)
• Made in the US
• Fibershed Certified Climate Beneficial
• Care: wash cold, lay flat to dry
Dyeing:
About:
Lani Estill is the founder of Lani’s Lana ~ Fine Rambouillet Wool. A commercial wool business and small yarn line. Lani offers yarn that is heaven to knit and a joy to dye. She has a transparent supply chain and is certified Climate Beneficial™. The wool for Lani’s yarn is sourced at the Bare Ranch, which is operated by Lani’s family. Lani is a Certified Wool Classer.
Lydia Wendt is Founder and Design Director of California Cloth Foundry®. Before founding CCF in 2014, she helped produce The Fibershed x North Face Backyard Project and was a member of the faculty of the Academy of Art University’s internationally recognized fashion department, teaching graduate and undergraduate courses in sustainable fashion and textile design.
From Lydia’s 25+ years of industry expertise, California Cloth Foundry Inc was born. Her past work on 7th Avenue informs and guides CCF’s design process, values and mission: to reverse fashion’s ‘race to the bottom’ of ethics, environment and quality by reformulating its supply chain in collaboration with nature and community, for the health of the planet, and the beauty that natural fashion & textiles contribute to it, and the future of her two daughters.
Carbon Farm Planning
BY AMY LOFTING
The fires of 2017-2021 brought polluted air, toxic runoff, loss of life and property—and hopelessness. The climate is getting hotter, the oceans are warming, habitat is disappearing and with it, many species… But what can I, one person with a small flock of small sheep in Northern California, do about it all?
I can sequester carbon.
Taking carbon out of the air and placing it into the soil is a gift I can give to the land I live on; the region, country, and planet; future generations, whom I will never meet; and all my relations who are thirsty, hungry, and sometimes burning out there in the wildlands, the deer, bear, raccoons, hawks...
So, how do I sequester carbon? Where to start? What to do? How to figure it out?
Amy Lofting with her flock
I tried for years to find someone to write a Carbon Farm Plan for me, but no one did—I live on a smallish place, not producing in commercial agriculture. There is much demand for these plans (in part because people with a plan written by a Technical Service Provider certified by the NRCS find it easier to get funding for their projects).
Eventually, this led to a desire to learn to do it for myself. And magically, I was allowed to study Carbon Farm Planning with the Carbon Cycle Institute of Petaluma and with California State University Chico’s Regenerative Agriculture and Systems Thinking program in 2021 and 2022, alongside far more educated, experienced people. I tried hard; and I made it. There is so much more to learn, but I have written our Carbon Farm Plan. My husband (most important audience) read it and said, “This is great!”
Learning to see through a carbon lens brings me a little closer to understanding what helps make healthy, vital land. The land is showing itself to me in new ways.
Right now, Carbon Farm Planning is considered the province of technical experts. I believe what I learned can be taught and shared with a broader group.
I want to share with other Fibershed folk, especially, those who, for one reason or another, aren’t qualifying to make it onto long waitlists to get a Carbon Farm Plan; or, who are working with the Climate Beneficial Workbook to get provisional Climate Beneficial designation; or who are interested in Carbon Farming and want to learn more about the nuts and bolts; or, who are Fibershed fans who want to support Fibershed’s Climate Beneficial Fiber program by helping to create a cultural shift, where people understand more what climate beneficial means, and how it is built. Learning about this gives all of us a way to assess what farmers are doing; what government is supporting in its programs; and what we can do, wherever we live, however we live, to be part of the solution.
My vision is that as more of us participate, three areas are enhanced:
• Product: More Climate Beneficial Fiber designations are awarded/ renewed, and more Climate Beneficial Fiber is out there in the world, warming people’s hearts
• Outer Resources: The crushing load is eased for overworked technicians (like the local Resource Conservation Districts); as we do more for ourselves, hopefully, the less time they’ll need to spend to sign off on our Carbon Farm Plans; so more Fibershed producers can receive more money and support to get conservation practices installed and working on the ground
• Inner Resources: Fibershed producers become more empowered, capable, confident, resilient, and secure, in community.
If you are interested, please join me and Mike Conover, the Fibershed Climate Beneficial Technician, in the Fibershed Zoom room for Carbon Farming Conversations on the first Friday of the month. (See page 3 for details on how to join.)
You are welcome whether you are experienced, or a beginner. Let’s talk and listen and learn from one another.
Meridian Jacobs BY ROBIN LYNDE
Many of us Fibershed producer members are in the same situation with too many roles to count. Farmer. Weaver. Teacher. Shop Keeper. Social Media Coordinator. Bookkeeper. Etc. I just finished a 3 week visit by my 8-year old granddaughter followed by a trip (with my daughter and granddaughter) to the Jacob Sheep Breeders Annual Meeting in North Carolina. Overwhelmed sums it up nicely, but I want to share a few announcements:
Yarn is here. I have 2022 Timm Ranch yarn and Jacob yarn with more expected back from our local mills soon (I hope).
California State Fair. We showed sheep at the fair with no competition in the Primitive Breeds division. The livestock department is working to make this event more attractive to breeders, so I encourage sheep producers to consider participating. There was competition for the Marketing Award and I am proud to say that I won that with the help of my Farm Club.
Windbreak, Monterey Cypress, 2022
Black and White Show. I am now weaving to be ready for a show that is in October at The Artery (artist coop) in Davis. This will feature pieces woven from my Jacob black and white yarn and others.
Japanese Indigo: Field Notes 2022
BY CRAIG WILKINSON
Fall 2021
• Collect seed from my two indigo crops (Persicaria tinctoria) located at Santa Rosa Junior College Shone Farm in Sonoma County and Fortunate Farms in Caspar, Mendocino County.
Spring 2022
• Clean seed using mechanical seed cleaner at Shone Farm.
• Send small samples of seed from both farms to Headstart Nursery in Gilroy, California to conduct germination trials. Both seed samples resulted in an average of 85% germination ratio, which is good.
• Seeds from both farms were blended together and packaged for sale through the Fibershed Marketplace online, Fibershed’s Spring Farmers Market and Fiber Circle Studio in Petaluma, California.
• Send seed to Headstart Nursery and place an order for 5000 seedlings to be propagated in March and delivered in early May.
• 5500 seedlings in trays of 128 plugs are delivered to Shone Farm in early May and staged in a greenhouse.
• Deliver 1000 seedlings to Fibershed Learning Center in Point Reyes Station. Deliver approximately 1000 seedlings to Duckworth Farms in Sebastopol. Deliver seedlings to Summerfield School and Farm in Sebastopol and Marin Country Day School in Marin.
• Sell seeds and seedlings at the Fibershed Spring Farmers Market.
• Mechanically transplant 1000 seedlings at Shone Farm and install irrigation.
• Cultivate the planted beds by removing unwanted weeds and troubleshooting the irrigation throughout the season.
• Har vest leaves in mid-July and use the water extraction method to extract indigo pigment.
• Experiment composting dried indigo leaves using a small scale method as described in the book, “The Way of Indigo” by Takayuki Ishii.
• Participate in the Fibershed Summer Farmers Market by creating a community indigo vat to share with visitors.
• Collaborate with local and regional Fibershed producers to create indigo dyed fibers and textiles to be displayed and modeled at the Fibershed ‘Rooted in Simplicity’ event in September, 2022.
• Continue to harvest and process indigo leaves at Shone Farm into the Fall season and support the crop for flower and seed production into the early winter months.
• Later this season, harvest and collect mature seed to be dried and cleaned for the 2023 season.
2023
• Repeat the above.
Participants in the last weaving class before my granddaughter visited, showing off their Jacob yarn samplers
Right: mechanically transplanting seedlings at Shone Farm; below: the 2022 indigo crop at Shone Farm
Left: leaves of Japanese indigo (Persicaria tinctoria); below: harvesting the 2022 indigo crop at Shone Farm,
Left: seedlings propagated by Headstart Nursery
Below: seeds available through the Fibershed Marketplace and in-person sales at events
Macedo’s Mini Acre
BY MAUREEN MACEDO
Macedo’s Mini Acre, located in Turlock, CA, is a multifaceted operation, producing quality fibers, products, and educating the community. Our farming methods improve the soil, produce animals that are hardy and strong, and work with the natural environment.
We started with 2 boys over 16 years ago. We now have a variety of color in our herd—solid white to solid black, patterns and shades of grey or brown! Our focus has been on fiber from the beginning.
The ranch name comes from the miniature horses that we had prior to owning alpacas. We added an alpaca to update the logo. We’ve recently sold our miniature horses to concentrate on fiber, alpacas and llamas.
We also promote agritourism. Visitors view our alpacas and get to learn about their history, diet, temperament, habits and uses of their fiber. You will see spinning and craft demonstrations, and examples of items created from alpaca fiber. Dryer balls are our top selling product created on the ranch!
Our fiber operation has expanded and we are now processing other ranch’s alpaca fiber into dryer balls. The Belfast Picker and carder have streamlined the process. A rug yarn maker is in the works as well.
There are many reasons for alpacas to be raised, but one of the most popular is for their soft, luxurious fleece (fiber). Alpaca fleece has a great variety of natural colors, and each shearing produces about five to ten pounds of fleece per animal. This fleece is stronger, lighter, and warmer compared to breeds of sheep. Alpaca fleece is hypo-allergenic and fire resistant too.
Tours are available each month, weather permitting. Reservations are required and must be booked in advance through our website: www. macedosminiacres.com
Additionally, we schedule yoga, paint parties, birthday parties, AG Days, group tours, photo shoots, and craft classes. See you soon!
(209) 648-2338, or (209) 648-2384
11175 Golf Link Road, Turlock, CA 95380
High Desert Fibershed Learning Center
BY BONNIE CHASE
Warner Mountain Weavers is excited to announce that we launched the new High Desert Learning Center here in the Surprise Valley, Cedarville, California. We are collaborating with the Fibershed Learning Center in Marin County sharing ideas and advertising.
We are open for for in-person classes and want to reach out to teachers to contact us if they would like to schedule a class or workshop.
Warner Mountain Weavers has been in business since 2000 and has a 2 story building with a classroom upstairs to accommodate students. We also have a large outside dye area with picnic tables, burners, antique ringer washing machines.
We are centrally located and draw students and customers from a 250 mile circle including N.E. California, Southern Oregon and Reno, NV. The Surprise Valley is a hot spot for agri-tourism, birding, hiking and geology which draw people to this area.
If you are interested in scheduling a class or workshop please contact us with your class title and a description of what you want to teach. Save that date!
Rug Hooking on a Copper Bowl and a Santa Fe style Mat
Friday, October 14, 10:00-3:00 and Saturday, October 15, 10:00-2:00
Registration fee: $150
Instructor: Bev Hills
This is a great class for a beginner or anyone looking for a refresher. In this 2-day workshop you will learn all the basics of rug hooking starting, persistence and finishing! There is only one stitch in rug hooking— the loop. The design emerges as you change colors. The yarns for both projects are from local Navajo Churro sheep and natural dyed. warnermtnweavers.com/shop warnermtnweavers@gmail.com 530 279-2164
Valley Oak Wool Mill Update
BY MARCAIL MCWILLIAMS
This year has been good so far! In June we went to Black Sheep Gathering in Albany, OR and enjoyed our first IN PERSON show since 2019! Woo!! So much fun. It was also my first time ever having a 10x10 booth all to myself, I’ve always shared a space with someone. I was proud I filled it so well with a great display of yarns, rovings, carded fluff, etc. and had some great conversations with other vendors.
In July we participated in the Fibershed Farmers Market and I had a blast! Such a great crowd of people that appreciates exactly what Fibershed is all about: LOCAL fiber, LOCAL labor, NATURAL colors, the REAL DEAL! I completely loved the event, and seeing other vendor friends. Our next vending opportunities are Lambtown which is October 1&2, and then almost immediately after that we’re checking out Oregon Flock and Fiber Festival in Albany, OR on October 15&16. I’ve never attended that event so hopefully it’s a success making the trek up there again. I’ve heard good things about it so I’d like to check it out.
In the spring I found an electrician that helped diagnose and treat an issue that my new spinning frame was having. So thankful that it was an easy fix! Since then I’ve really been able to grow my knowledge of the machine and how to use it confidently. I’ve been spinning yarn on it for customers over a handful of months now and had wonderful customer reactions to what I made them. That makes me feel very satisfied and encouraged! I’m hoping that this new machine will enable me to make yarn more easily during the winter months, my other machine is very temperamental with the cold so it would be great to have one that’s more easy-going.
Lastly I have some big milestones coming up in November: 5 years of business AND the majority of the machinery will be paid off!! Very excited anticipating that, I hope it provides me with some mental relief over the winter when I tend to struggle with the cold and dark days. It will be interesting experiencing business ownership with less financial burden, what will that be like? :D
Bodega Pastures Contract Grazing
BY JOHN O’MARA
Bodega Pastures is a heritage sheep ranch. A vestige of a way of life that breathes integrity into the landscape, its shepherds, and our surrounding community.
Recently Bodega Pastures had the opportunity to support a contract grazing job on Coleman Valley Road. With help from a LandSmart grant from our local Gold Ridge Resource Conservation District, we partnered with three landowners to graze in the wild urban interface. 55 of our sheep joined a small team of goats to perform this grazing job which totaled 27 acres. Sheep left Bodega Pastures for the first time ever, while most of our flock stayed home on the ranch to continue the work of reducing biomass in Bodega.
Contract grazing is a dance of density, duration, and rhythm. It is important for the shepherd to be attuned to the sheep—when they are ready to move, what they are eating and when. We utilized electric netting to mimic migrant herds of long ago, aiming to remove a third to half of the available forage. If one sheep eats 4 lbs per day, then 55 sheep eat 220 lbs per day. Imagine plucking 200+ pounds of grass from a quarter acre and returning nearly the same weight value in manure each day. That’s how we drawdown carbon.
As the sheep crossed fence lines, we bridged the gap of tending our diminishing coastal prairies, whose access would lay feral without help from the Resource Conservation District, whose grants help landowners share the cost of prescribed grazing. Together, we are creating migrations of resilience, growing lamb and wool from fallowed fields, whose danger lay dormant until the dry east winds of the fall remind us of our friend fire. Pasture that has been grazed effectively reduces oxygen in these dry grasses- an important ingredient in fire. By consuming and trampling standing dry material the potential for fire is drastically reduced. Sheep not only remove the risk of fire— cloven hoofed and ruminating— they cycle carbon in a way that brings more organic matter back to the soil, where it works to draw down carbon from our atmosphere. Mimicking the effect of one of our oldest relationships, that to sheep, is hard to do.
Contract grazing provides the opportunity for us to work with our neighbors, to graze land that has oftentimes been fallow for decades, providing the cycling of carbon and the reduction of fire danger. For us in years of drought, being able to graze our neighbors’ pastures and extend our grass season is a huge gift. Making our daily lives of tending these animals front and center for our neighbors, is a very kind opportunity.
The pasture on the right is grazed and pasture on left is not grazed. Bodega Pasture is using contract grazing to reduce the fire fuel load on its land.
The culture of shepherding exists in every culture in every place in the world today. Contract grazing builds that culture exponentially as we are placed between the wild and our homes. Where our animals find forage and where we find the place to share and connect with our neighbors, who for a few weeks get to experience this culture of sheep herding, of pastoralism.
The obsession for me lies in between all of these points- when the fences are set, the water is connected, and the sheep are together grazing. Then you can listen closely to the sound of grass being devoured, with the barn swallows following sheep tails, often landing on their backs in the afternoon sun. In between the meetings leading up to the job, between the moments of pounding in the electric fence, there is a deep palpable feeling of goodness. When many species come together for the good of the commons, it is a moment of wonderment and kinship. Languages beyond our common tongue emanate, we can try to capture this feeling in our narrow language, speaking to the increasing biodiversity and carbon cycles, but it falls short. There is something important
Transmutation
CREATED BY GRACE HARRIS
www.transmute.earth
Just a Good ’ol Ball of Fun
Two Truths and a Lie
Two of the three statements listed under each Fibershed team member are true… but which is the lie? Circle which of the statements (A, B, or C) you think is a lie.
Rebecca
a) I have two brothers named Michael
b) I have no middle name
c) I used to work with Sharon Stone
Heather
a) I have two horses
b) I was born and raised in the Midwest
c) I moved 10 times in my childhood
Layla
a) I was chased by gangsters in Brazil
b) My pets are named after Addams Family characters
c) I lived in Maui for three months
in knowing there is more going on here and paying attention to it imaginatively as it continues to munch along, in goodness for all. There are not many ways of life that work to increase vibrant life for all involved and do work! There are not many opportunities to make a living by walking with sheep, whom we have been walking alongside for 15,000 years. To walk with sheep in these times, across lands that have been divided, twisted up with wire fences, is a responsibility that we wake up each day with joy to be given such an opportunity. We have found that with collaboration comes unity, towards a world that weaves us together to create strong and meaningful connections. To grow honest wool and lamb to feed and clothe our community, and to do so in a way that reduces our watersheds risk of fire danger is the biggest gift you could offer a shepherd. We thank the Gold Ridge Resource Conservation District, and the three ranches we moved our animals across. We hope to see more funding for prescribed grazing and ways to weave our firesheds, foodsheds, and fibersheds together.
These pictures represent a concept; a process of transforming “lesser” material — considered waste — into functional objects of comfort (rather than burden) for a home space. Through color transmutation, a new life-cycle emerges for remnants of climate beneficial wool, waste wool, and old bed sheets.
Lexi
a) I’ve bungee jumped off of a bridge
b) I have no pets
c) I had a wedding planning business out of college
Mike
a) I have been chased by a bear
b) I have 15 musical instruments
c) I’m a Rescue Diver
Sarah
a) My favorite fruit is an apple
b) I grew up in Iowa
c) I have three daughters
Lynette
a) I lived in Montreal for 4 years
b) I have traveled to all 63 National Parks
c) I was captain of the safety patrol in grade school
Answers can be found on page 27.
Crossword Puzzle: Natural Dye Plants
Across:
4. Perennial tuber
5. Cactus insect
8. A brilliant red
9. Latin name: Tagetes lucida
Down:
1.California native
2. Evergreen shrub
3. The color blue
6. Reddish brown to orange dyes
7. Great garland flower
10. Latin name: Solidago Speciosa
Crossword puzzle answers can be found on page 22.
Word Search: Sheep Breeds
Santa Cruz Island
Corriedale
Ouessant
Navajo Churro
Dorset
Jacob
Rambouillet
Icelandic
Perendale
Merino
Shetland
Targhee
This ninth volume of the Fibershed Producer Newsletter is designed to be a space to re-acquaint and connect, as well as refresh ourselves on the who and what of our projects and collective efforts. We look forward to hearing from you about what kinds of information sharing, column ideas, poems, art, doodles, updates on your family and business, and notes from the field that you’d like to offer for the next publication. Newsletters come out twice yearly, and our next edition will be sent in March, 2023.
Ongoing Public Notice: Do you have an internship, residency, ongoing course or service that you offer? We will again include a Producer Classified Section in our next newsletter.
Classified ads, stories, artwork, and updates as well as your thoughts and visions, should be emailed to lexi@fibershed.org. Feel free to submit both your ideas and your classified ads between now and the end of January.
Gynna Made
WRITTEN BY
SASHA WIRTH AND PHOTOGRAPHED
BY
HUBBARD JONES
Originally published on Fibershed’s blog on July 6, 2022
“You can do anything, but you can’t do everything,” muses Gynna Clemes, arranging her bespoke cardigans and t-shirts on an outdoor rack while her toddler, Hank, weaves happily between the clothing. Then he takes off and scurries to a table piled high with socks and home goods.
“Mama made,” he says proudly, pointing to a stack of washcloths, before disappearing underneath the table to play. Clemes smiles. Motherhood itself has been both the catalyst and inspiration for the evolution of her business Gynna Made – a zero-waste, made-to-order clothing and home goods line – while also a test for her entrepreneurial spirit. As someone with a strong, self-taught approach to life, there are endless interests, directions and possibilities that await. But there’s nothing like parenthood to make establishing priorities and pulling focus essential.
“There is a time and a season for everything,” she explains. “But that doesn’t mean you stop dreaming and planning. You realize that everything goes in spurts and that having a creative outlet is key. Just because something isn’t happening now doesn’t mean that it never will.”
It’s a philosophy that has served her well, allowing her to continue creating and growing her business while also balancing the needs of her family.
“I’ve been an entrepreneur since I was a child,” she says. “When I was ten years old, my brother and I would go to Sam’s Club and purchase big boxes of candy bars to sell around the neighborhood. We’d also mow lawns and pick weeds. But whereas my brother was more hesitant about asking for payment, I’d smile sweetly, extend my hand, and ask for what I’d earned.”
This confidence helped Clemes launch her first business, GRABstuff Creations, on Etsy shortly after college. “At the time I was hosting weekly knit nights and making project bags. Friends saw the bags and encouraged me to sell them, which I did successfully for five years.”
Along with meeting every week, the knitting group also attended events together. The 2010 Lambtown Festival was coming up and they decided to sign up for a few classes. One workshop in particular caught Clemes’ eye: a private class taught by Fibershed’s Robin Lynde from Meridian
Jacobs, a sheep farm and weaving studio.
“When I get a bee in my bonnet, there’s no stopping me,” she grins widely. “I sure get a lot of them, and when I came across the weaving class I knew it was something special!”
The workshop intrigued her so much that Clemes couldn’t wait for it to start. She went out and purchased a loom before the first day of class to experiment with. When the day finally came, she enjoyed herself immensely. Lynde noticed, and mentioned she might like to try spinning.
“I have too much going on. I’m not going to learn how to spin,” responded Clemes with a sigh.
“Not yet,” countered Lynde encouragingly. “You aren’t going to learn how to spin yet.”
That one word – and the mindset shift that went along with it – would go on to impact both Clemes’ personal life and her next entrepreneurial leap. “The way I see it, nothing is discounted. Everything is embraced. But in its own time,” she emphasizes. And paired with her self-starter attitude, which approaches “rules as mere guidelines,” she has been able to use her time both wisely and creatively.
When Lynde began Farm Club, a membership program where individuals help with farm chores, events and participate in handson learning opportunities at Meridian Jacobs, Clemes jumped at the chance to join. Through her burgeoning relationship with Lynde, she eventually found herself involved with Fibershed (becoming part of the Fibershed Marketplace and the sixth member of the Fibershed Co-op), meeting local dyer Brooke Sinnes from Sincere Sheep, and bringing home two sheep from Meridian Jacob’s flock.
“I had admired Brooke’s beautiful yarns and fibers for so long that it was incredible to meet her and learn more about her natural dyeing techniques,” she says enthusiastically, adding with a cheeky grin: “Though I’m not a dyer. Yet.”
She is, however, well on her way to becoming one. With Hank leading the way up a path that winds around a tiered garden, Gynna points out indigo seedlings in a makeshift greenhouse and a raised bed filled with madder, which will be ready for dyeing projects next summer. There’s also a loquat tree and a vegetable patch. And, of course, the perfect spot for a dyeing vat.
Read more at fibershed.org/gynna-made
Community is a Plant that Grows
WRITTEN
BY
MARIE HOFF AND PHOTOGRAPHED
BY
NOELLE GABERMAN
Originally published on Fibershed’s blog on April 4, 2022
Sarah arrived in balmy Penngrove, California to a plot of neglected land, overgrown with Spanish wild oats (Avena Barbata) in 2014. The adobe ground dried out and large cracks opened up the dry earth in the summer. She had two small children and no practical farming experience. A couple of scraggly oaks and willows adorned the edges of the property, with frequent traffic speeding by on the highway-like road. The house was small, awkward, and in disarray. She set down her roots and got to work.
Having grown up in a farm setting in Iowa, Sarah lived farm-adjacent for many years, spending summers on her aunt and uncle’s Midwest farm, working with horses as a farrier, engaged in environmentalism
and outdoor activities since childhood. She never had the land to do her own farming projects until she moved to Penngrove. There, she found livestock as her way into a deeper understanding of environmentalism by growing plants and caring for animals. Now, with wool sheep, dairy goats, pigs, and chickens, her attunement to the health and life cycle of the plants and animals on her property has sharpened to a masterful touch. She seems to think like a plant, always looking for a new way to grow, a new niche to fill. Although the diversity of plants has now increased, in reverence of the initial wild oat, she named the farm Wild Oat Hollow.
Inspired and supported by Fibershed’s Climate Beneficial Wool program, Sarah began to work with Holistic Management expert Richard King and to develop a Carbon Farm Plan for Wild Oat Hollow. In addition to prescribed grazing (using duration and rest to graze for the benefit of plant life cycling), she planted hedgerows, restored riparian zones, mulched grassland, and installed a silvopasture – a grazing pasture sprinkled with trees including mulberry, chestnut, and persimmon. The land transformed.
Water moved differently, the air turned cooler and sweeter. Grass diversity in the fields increased, and with perennial grasses showing up the fields now stay greener, longer into the season. The adobe no longer dries to the point of cracking. Her children, Imogen and Gage, are growing into adolescence, and have become competent farm caregivers. Imogen loves the unicorn goat, Hazel, and when asked if she would want to move to a city when she grows up her 12 year old -going-on-40 year old eyes kind of widen as if to say ‘are you nuts?’ and she quickly responds, “Oh, no, once you live like this you never want to do anything else.” The original oaks and willows have grown thick and tall, along with the wide plethora of pollinator plants, medicinal herbs, native plants, and drought/fire resistant plants that buffer and block out the intensity of the speeding highway traffic, and line the riparian areas. There is always something blooming, and always in different colors.
Roughly 70% of the family’s food is grown on site, and that includes
Foggy Bottoms Boys Are Changing the Farming Formula
WRITTEN AND PHOTOGRAPHED BY
KOA KALISH
Originally published on Fibershed’s blog on March 21, 2022
high quality and typically expensive proteins like milk, eggs, and meat. The kids have an active role in growing their own food, as well as soaps and other skincare essentials, and yarn. (The yarn bug does not seem to have bitten Imogen or Gage yet, but give it time). Their livelihood does not fit neatly onto a P & L style spreadsheet, it does more than just cover the mortgage. Their farm is their way of life, it is life, not a static number. Their livelihood is wrapped up in the living system that is their farmstead. The land supports their health, their wellness, their education, and their social and neighbor relationships — so critical to an area facing threats of drought and wildfire. The farmstead provides a good upbringing for the kids, while developing reciprocal relationships with her neighbors and the greater community. They, in return, care for the land.
Speaking of growing community, Sarah, like a plant outgrowing her pot, sought fertile grounds for her animals nearby, stretching to neighboring soil, as if a rhizome. She reached out to her neighbors after observing the common phenomenon of undergrazing/overgrazing around her. The phenomenon goes like so: because landholders are spread out, quiltlike, and typically tend to make decisions solely on their own square, those landholders end up overgrazing if they have livestock and undergrazing if they do not have livestock. The patchwork result is that some squares look bare and have a hard time retaining water while some squares look overgrown and dry out over summer to become a fire hazard. Rather than overgraze her square, Sarah broke down the arbitrary square layout in her neighborhood by spreading out the benefits of her grazing animals, to share amongst her neighbors who lack livestock of their own. In doing so she has begun to redefine what it means to live in a neighborhood based on grasslands.
It began as a simple exchange of grazing land for free mowing, on small properties close enough to walk animals to, a tiny transhumance. The endeavor has now grown into a 4 family collaborative, called Penngrove Grazing Project.
Read more at fibershed.org/wild-oat-hollow
Cody and Thomas Nicholson Stratton, otherwise known as the Foggy Bottoms Boys, are seventh-generation farmers in Ferndale, California. There, where the fog hangs low in the Eel River Valley, they run a multi-species farm, including a certified humane, organic dairy for milk, cheese, and beef, sheep for fiber and meat, and pastured poultry. Going viral from their TikTok videos with 90,000 followers and 10 million views, Cody and Thomas are raising awareness about local fiber while simultaneously increasing representation and visibility for the LGBT community in the agricultural world.
At the family farm, all four living generations are present at some point during the day. “There are my grandparents, who live halfway across the field and help with various aspects of feeding and washing eggs,” Cody explains. “They should be retired, but are still here every day. Then, my parents live a mile down the road and are involved predominantly with the cattle livestock business. They are more cow people, but when we need help with the sheep, they’re here as well. Then there is Thomas and I, and lastly, our son who is three. He helps too, and is great at putting stickers on egg cartons.”
Cody’s ancestors first emigrated from Denmark to Humboldt County in 1860, and started a dairy on Cock Robin Island, which sits in the middle of the Eel River. Growing up raising sheep, Cody received his first lamb when he was five, a holiday gift from his parents. Growing into a 4-H project, the initial lamb became a flock of registered Dorsets, and Cody began breeding them for natural colors. “I didn’t know much about fiber at the time, I just loved the colors,” he remembers.
Eventually, Cody left the farm to attend college, and sold off the flock. In 2014 he returned, bringing Thomas with him, who also had his own history and love for farming and agriculture. When they returned to Ferndale, Cody decided to keep a few Angora rabbits. “While raising Angoras, I wanted to do something with the fiber,” he says. He realized that blending Angora with sheep wool would be a good solution. “So I worked with Jill Hackett at Ferndale farms to get some fleeces, and we started milling our own yarn. I fell back in love with sheep.”
Cody’s inspiration and love for sheep sustained and in the year 2014, he and Thomas bought an entire flock, growing their sheep herd from nine to 50. It was a year later when they started making their own yarn. “We’ve been progressively growing our flock and integrating the sheep into the overall farm practice, using them to do grazing projects. And, soon we’re going to start incorporating them more into the dairy, for weed management.” Still, they focus the sheep mainly for fiber, and rotate them between three farms. They have about 120 now, with an ideal goal of 1,000!
“I grew up pretty unexcited about fiber, as most people are,” says Cody. “There was nothing very exciting about clothes, you know? And then, as we were raising sheep, we really started discovering the benefits of local fiber and the serious issues with fast fashion. We were always very conscious of what we ate, but not of what we put on our body. And so as we became more knowledgeable about fiber, that really drew our interest into generating quality fiber that people could use.”
The Foggy Bottoms Boys’ goal has been to produce fiber that is raised locally, milled locally, is high quality, and is affordable and accessible to all. “It is really important to us that our yarn is not super exclusive. Yes, that’s been hard to do. But that’s why we focus largely on natural colors, to not have the additional cost of dying the yarn.”
Read more at fibershed.org/foggy-bottom-boys
The Extraordinary Alchemy of Sheep & Winegrowing at Littorai Wines
WRITTEN AND PHOTOGRAPHED BY KOA KALISH
Originally published on Fibershed’s blog on March 1, 2022
Ted Lemon has worked in viticulture his entire adult life, since 1981. After graduating college with a liberal arts degree, he lived in France for 4 years. In Burgundy, he fell in love with the wine world, working in the vineyards there. Eventually, he moved to Napa Valley to see what the wine world was like in California. After 7 years working in Napa, he met his wife Heidi and they started Littorai Wines in 1992.
The word Littorai derives from the Latin root littor and the Greek plural ai, and means “the coasts”. Ted and Heidi searched for the finest areas along the coasts to grow Chardonnay and Pinot Noir — two Burgundian varieties that Ted had worked intimately with in France. In 2000, they purchased their first vineyard land near Occidental. At that time, Ted had farmed conventionally for 20 years. Tired of the conventional way of farming, he sought to do something different. The question was, how?
“After 20 years of conventional farming, I no longer believed that western agronomic theory could truly explain why and how plants grow and reproduce,” Ted says. In order to farm alternatively, Ted saw two options: organic or biodynamic.
Ted chose biodynamic, because the paradigm was radically different from western agronomic theory. “Although there are many lovely organic farmers out there, it is possible to farm organically but still adhere to western agronomic theory,” Ted explains. Since he no longer believed in that theory, biodynamic farming would be truly a change, and a challenge.
In Ted’s words, biodynamic farming “holds the foundation of a world enlivened by spirit — that all material is manifestation of a spiritual reality. In biodynamic farming, we work with the energies and powers of the spiritual world as it manifests in the material world. We work with
celestial rhythms and specific preparations to strengthen the plants and animals.”
He cites the following example from ecology, “Mature forests have reached the point of dynamic equilibrium — in other words, they are able to remain essentially unchanged for thousands of years. I ask, ‘What does the forest know that I don’t know?’” Ted wanted to find a model of farming that could achieve the balance and harmony of the forest.
This question opened the door to a much wider consideration of what farming is and what a healthy form of farming could be. “One of the main tenets of biodynamic farming is that the farm should be a selfsustaining organism,” he says. “This is an ideal, but to get there you have to have animals. Animals play a fundamental role in rejuvenating the soil.” This led the team at Littorai to gradually add different elements of diversity — animals in the form of cows, sheep, chickens, ducks, and even a donkey. Companion plantings and composting were also added, as essential elements of that diversity.
Why sheep? At Littorai, there is more acreage of pasture on the property than there is vineyard. The sheep are able to graze around 28 acres, grazing year-round through a rotational grazing program. In late summer and early autumn the sheep are rotated through the forest, helping in fire prevention.
The role of the sheep is to maintain and improve the health of open pasture and the vineyards, as they contribute to species diversity and fertilize the vineyard. The sheep increase organic matter and humus in the soil, sequester carbon, and ultimately, make the wine better. “Our vineyard should be seen as an integrated complex farm,” Ted says. “It is a ‘wine farm’ not a ‘vineyard monoculture.’”
“Viticulture is a very curious form of agriculture, as it evolved towards monoculture before most other forms,” Ted explains. “In much of Europe, viticulture was originally placed in the poor soils where vegetables wouldn’t grow well. There was a great diversity advantage to putting vines in poor areas.”
These places were on hillsides outside of towns. “The vineyard-winery model of agriculture is virtually unique in taking agricultural produce to a very sophisticated end product, all within one house. Alcoholic fermentation is a very complex chemical pathway. So not only are you transforming the original product, you’re bottling, ensuring stability and then selling into a marketplace that is quite complex,” Ted explains. “Vineyards and orchards are perennial crops. Hence, the way we think about soil fertility has to be dramatically different than for annual crops. The ruminants and their relationship to the permanent cover crop in the vineyard floor are critical, because of their long-term effects on those companion species,” he says.
Join Fiber Circle Studio February 9 - 17, 2023, for a 9-day, smallgroup textile adventure with Kakaw Designs in Antigua and Lake Atitlán, Guatemala! Enjoy a unique textile and culture-filled itinerary designed for the fiber lover that generates sustainable income for the partner artisan groups and communities. Participants will learn the art of backstrap weaving, experience a few different natural dyes, spin local cotton with a “malacate” drop spindle, visit a cochineal farm, and much more, while enjoying delicious restaurants and home-cooked meals.
Photos by Kakaw Designs
Summer Solace • Oakland, California
Truly Climate Beneficial™ — Leading the Slow Body Care Movement™ with holistically crafted, tallow-based skincare and candles
Price: $2,550 Shared Room; $2,750 Private Room (Includes all workshops, meals, in-country transport, lodging, bilingual guide and local community guides.)
Dates: February 9 - 17, 2023
Registration and Details: fibercirclestudio.com/pages/visit-guatemala
Scan the QR code for more information.
Grass-grazed, pasture-raised tallow benefits are more than just skin deep. At Summer Solace, we make each buttery smooth batch of nourishing tallow in-house and by hand with exclusively locally sourced suet from certified regeneratively raised cattle from Fibershed Climate Beneficial™ producer Stemple Creek Ranch. More than organic, the ranch we work with practices beyond-sustainable methods that draw carbon down from the atmosphere and directly assist in reversing the effects of climate change. These animals are responsibly raised and grazed on Northern California pastures within 60 miles of our Oakland studio, helping us minimize transportation’s impact, lower our carbon footprint, and maintain healthy relationships with our ranchers.
Our commitment to a fully traceable, locally-focused supply chain is unparalleled in the health and wellness industry. We are ceaselessly working to revitalize our ancestors’ wise traditional skincare practices by drawing these connections between ourselves, our community, and our local environment in all facets.
CONTACT:
Megan Bre Camp hello@summersolacetallow.com
Summer Solace X Fibershed Marketplace
Visit the Summer Solace Tallow x Fibershed Cooperative booth at the Temescal Farmers Market in Oakland every other Sunday. You can peruse our curated Fibershed products, including locally spun yarn, Climate Beneficial™ felted home goods, handwoven shawls, blankets, luxurious sheepskins, and Summer Solace tallow-based body care, soaps, and candles.
Find us every other Sunday from 9:00 a.m. to 1:00 p.m. at: Temescal Farmers Market 5300 Claremont Avenue, Oakland, CA 94618
For more information, visit: uvfm.org/temescal-sunday
Meridian Jacobs we raise Jacob sheep and share our passion for wool and fiber arts by teaching classes in spinning, weaving, dyeing, and livestock management at the farm and around California. We provide ample opportunities to visit the farm with Open House events and Spinners Day Out and we created the one-of-a-kind Farm Club for people who want in-depth experience with raising sheep.
In the farm shop and on-line, we sell fiber, yarn, handwoven goods, sheepskins and horn buttons from our flock as well as spinning and weaving equipment and a few other favorite yarns.
Home of quality cashmere and angora goats, Caprette Cashmere is a small family farm based in Sacramento County. Specializing in goats for over 15 years, Barbara and Ron Fiorica raise cashmere and mohair for both their own use and sale to others. They also sell goats and educate others on how to raise their own cashmere.
caprettecashmere.com rbfiorica@frontiernet.net
www.fullcirclewool.com For cute lamb pics, follow on Instagram @stargrazers
www.fullcirclewool.com For cute lamb pics, follow on Instagram @stargrazers
For cute lamb pics, follow on Instagram @stargrazers
Alpaca Manure
Fresh or lightly composted alpaca manure is mild enough to top dress your plants, but nutritious enough to enrich your soil. Bring your truck, we’ll load it for you. By the pickup load (4-5¼ yard buckets) or trailer load - $40 per load/yard.
Alpaca Rentals
For Weddings, Special Events, Photo Shoots. Make your occasion special and fun! Call or email for pricing.
Alpaca Products
Alpaca fleece, roving and yarn for your next project. Natural colors: white, light fawn, brown, silver grey, rose grey and black. Visit our farm store for best selection. Appointments required. Deb Galway, Vacaville, CA 707.290.7915 deb@menageriehillranch.com
Nasimiyu Designs
Nasimiyu was born into weaving at the young age of 7 years old.
Weaving, Beading, and Pottery was the only part of my womanhood growing up in Bungoma, a village in the western part of Kenya. Enjoy traditional tribal Bantu baskets of color texture design, functional in all seasons.
Sturdy and practical, the basket can be used as you desire both indoors and outside. The baskets are handwoven from straw and reed which grow in the wild and goes through six stages before the basket is born. The straw/reed is first plucked, then dried, split, twisted, and dyed using natural dyes, and finally woven. This process takes 6-10 hours depending on design, pattern, and shape.
Nasimiyu was born to a Ugandan mother and raised in the Bungoma district of Kenya. Growing up in an extended family of 40 children gave her a deep commitment to the tribes and peoples not just of Kenya but of Africa as a whole. She learned to weave baskets as a child and has adapted her knowledge to the grasses and natural materials of Northern California.
Macedo’s Mini Acre
Turlock, CA
Alpacas for sale, as well as batts, roving, pre-felt in natural and dyed colors. (We grow many of our own dyes.) Dryer balls at wholesale pricing. Now able to process huacaya alpaca fiber into dryer balls for other ranches! Classes offered in skirting, felting and spinning by appointment.
Maureen & Larry Macedo 209-648-2338 or 209-648-2384 macedosminiacre@gmail.com www.macedosminiacres.com
In 2003 Nasimiyu founded Born to Aid, a 501 (c). (3) non-profit foundation which has been granted NGO registration from the government of Kenya. The goal of Born to Aid is to help the disadvantaged children in Bungoma, Tuti Village. A portion of the sales from Nasimiyu Designs are donated to Born to Aid.
To purchase Nasimiyu’s beautiful handwoven baskets, visit fibershedmarketplace.com/ merchants/nasimiyu-designs/m/ Njk%3D for limited edition baskets, or nasimiyudesigns.com for custom orders. There are no refunds on purchases, only exchanges or credit within 2 weeks.
Mendocino
Wool and Fiber Inc.
is getting ready to grow up!
The time is right for us to do even more of what we do so well and to become a self-sustaining highly productive mill. We want to make locally manufactured yarns more accessible than ever. The challenge is that we can’t do it ourselves. We are seeking people to collaborate with us to make Mendo Wool the best that it can be.
We are looking for:
• Sweat equity investors — come use your time and expertise to help us build the mill and become a part owner in it.
• Equity investors — come use your investment to help us build the mill and become a part owner in it.
• Employees — come be part of the team, and explore with us ways to make being a mill employee a reasonable long-term lifestyle choice. Please contact us at info@mendowool.com
Check out our website at mendowool.com!
Bodega Pastures
Bodega, CA
Ewe Lambs: We have c20 ewe lambs to sell, born Dec 2021 and Jan 2022, trained to electric fence, did well on the contract graze. Some are Corriedale cross, some Navajo cross. We are asking $250 each. Could sell all or smaller numbers down to 2.
Organically Tanned Sheepskins: We shall soon have organically tanned sheepskins from our sheep, tanned at Traditional Tanners in Oregon and very beautiful.
Roving & Yarn: We also have some Valley Oak Mill prepared scrumptious Wensleydale grey roving and Romney white roving, which we are selling at $4 per oz, and Navajo cross yarn, brown and white, worsted weight, $22 per 4 oz skein.
Fleeces: Many lovely fleeces for felting and spinning, different colors and breeds, $40 each. Felting workshops are being arranged.
If you are interested in purchasing, contact: Hazel at 707-492-0276, hazel@bodeganet.com or Nastasha at 707-889-2941, mroskool@icloud.com
Answers
Two Truths and a Lie
The following statement was a lie (but actually someone else’s truth)
Rebecca: b) I have no middle name
Heather: a) I have two horses
Layla: c) I lived in Maui for three months
Lexi: b) I have no pets
Mike: a) I have been chased by a bear
Sarah: c) I have three daughters
Lynette: a) I lived in Montreal for 4 years
(Photos by Paige Green)
REBECCA BURGESS Executive Director
MIKE CONOVER Climate Beneficial™ Technician
SARAH KEISER
Intersectional Land Stewardship & Community Grazing Initiatives Coordinator
LYNETTE NIEBRUGGE Carbon Farm Planning Lead
LEXI FUJII Membership & Learning Center Coordinator
HEATHER PODOLL Partnership & Advocacy Coordinator
LAYLA AGUILAR Project Coordinator
Fibershed wishes to thank the talented team of consultants and project leaders who contributed to this newsletter, all of whom conduct specialized services for the organization.
Photos by Paige Green; except Sarah Keiser by Noelle Gaberman; selfie of Layla Aguilar
PO Box 221, San Geronimo, CA 94963 hello@fibershed.org • www.fibershed.org
