Everybody Pick a Moving Buddy!

Martha's Vineyard Fiber Farm's blog has moved. Join us our at the new place. www.fiberfarmcsa.com

Don't worry about bringing anything along- we've moved all these old posts and comments over there. :)

Coming Soon!

Our new website is coming, just not as soon as we expected. I've got my fingers crossed for tomorrow. I am so very not good at waiting. Especially cause we have a very exciting giveaway planned for day 1. And days 2 through 7. 

Fingers crossed for tomorrow...

The Case of Too Many Mystery Novels

My mom and I were on the way to get lunch today when I noticed an old grey car following us. Of course, I didn't mention it to my mom because I didn't want to worry her. I just kept "uh-huh"- ing at the appropriate pauses in her story and kept my eyes glued to the side view mirror.  The car turned off after a couple of miles. Must of known I'd made him.

The restaurant was packed and the man in front of us was a pilot. At least, he was wearing a pilot's uniform. The thing is, the restaurant was no where near the airport. "Why," I thought, "does he want us to think he's a pilot? What's his game?" 

When we got home there was a UPS delivery truck parked in front of the house. A man with a package was standing at the door but it turned out he was at the wrong house. A likely story.

It might be time to lay off the mysteries.

From the In-Flight Magazine

"Detroiters eat more potato chips than anyone else in the country- about 7 pounds per person, compared to 4 pounds everywhere else." - Peter Cipriano, CEO, Better Made Snack Food

Huh? 7 pounds of chips? For that matter, 4 pounds of chips? Don't get me wrong- I eat my share of junk food. I probably eat your share of junk food too. But 4 pounds of chips seems...a little much.

Book Recommendation

Okay, this one's a little...odd. My sister sent me Dark Banquet a couple of weeks ago, and it is a fascinating read, but not for the weak of stomach. It's about all kinds of animals that feed on blood- Vampire bats, bed bugs, chiggers, ticks and vampire finches. Vampire finches! It's a really fun read though, and totally worth buying for the chapter on candiru- a tiny amazon fish that swims up the penises of men who pee in the water and wrecks all kinds of nasty havoc. Makes me happy for the equipment I have, let me tell you.

Welcome Home Chuck!

Some of ya'll may remember that Chuck, my truck, had an ugly encounter with a deer back in November. 

Chuck finally went into the shop to be fixed on December 23rd and even finally-er was finished on Friday evening.  I can't tell you how hard life was on the farm was without Chuck. We borrowed Patrick's dad's little-bitty toy pick-up truck to use while Chuck was away, but that only made us miss Chuck- with his four-wheel-drive, dual cab, CD player and HEAT- all the more. My Lord, I love that truck!

So here are the BEFORE pictures: 

And here's AFTER:

We still need to have our logo put on the new driver's side door. 
I love farm chores on the weekends because Patrick's home from the Vineyard and Logan's with us; Harry lives with us full-time now. Chores are just a lot more fun when we do them together. I took these pictures this morning and they crack me up, because they really show everyone's morning personality.

I love the little dance Logan is doing. 

Logan has learned a lot of compassion from the sheep and goats. 

The goats adore him.

The lambs look at him like he's crazy.

"Anybody home?"

Conversations with Logan

Transcript of an actual conversation with Logan, Patrick's 11-year-old:

ME: We're doing giving away some really cool stuff on the blog next week.

LOGAN: Are you giving away Japanese swords?

ME: No.

LOGAN: Chinese throwing stars?

ME: No.

LOGAN:Russian hats?

ME: (sigh)  Yes. We're giving away Russian hats. Good guess.

LOGAN: Cool!

The Great Susonnni Will Reveal All...

It seems like I just did an FAQ but Erin and I are getting many emails asking the same questions over and over again,which means that lots of you are unclear on the same things and this seems like the best place to bring everybody up to speed.

1. Where's my yarn/roving/fleece? I bought a Fall Share...why didn't I get my yarn in the fall?

If you have a Fall 2008 share what you own is a share of the fall 2008 Shearing. The "fall 2008" is referring to the shearing date, not the delivery date of the yarn.

We did the Fall 2008 shearing on October 25th. After the fleece is sheared we deliver it to the mill to be processed. At that point, the control I have over when we will get our washed fleece/roving/yarn back ends. That's really, really hard for a control freak like me. So I spend a lot of time choosing a mill to process each shearing and turn-around time is a HUGE factor in which mill I choose. The mill we are using now had an estimated turnaround of 12 weeks when we dropped our fiber off. 

That does not mean that the mill went right to work on our fiber. There were people in line ahead of us, and the truth is that no matter where you take your fiber, the majority of the time at the mill the fleeces are sitting patiently awaiting their turn. When last I spoke with the mill, they had gotten behind during the holidays and said they would give me a new ETA sometime next week. Personally, I want them to do the job well, rather than quickly. Once the fleece is processed there is no turning back, you know?

As soon as I know more about when to expect the yarn I will post it here. Promise. Cross my heart and hope to die. We know your anxious- we're anxious too! Just believe that we want you to have your yarn as much as you want you to have your yarn, okay?

2. What did you decide to name the church/yarn shop?

Unfortunately, we have had to put the yarn church project on hold due to the fact that we can't get anyone to install heat until the spring. We purchased three wood stove waaaaay back in September and spent more than three months trying to first get on the an installer's schedule, then waiting for one to show up for an appointment. One guy stood us up five times. Five flippin' times. The next company we engaged gave us an estimate 200% higher than Mr. No Show and couldn't do the work until February anyway. At which point I gave up, curled into a ball under the covers and started hitting the bourbon. 

The thing is, with everything else we have going on right now- the book, the new website, the Hudson Valley CSA, the new ewes-  it felt a bit like we were trying to force the yarn shop too quickly and against too long of odds. We will revisit the idea in the late summer for opening next fall. In the meantime we have turned our heated, glassed-in porch into a smallish shop and you are more than welcome to by and fondle the yarn when you're in town.

As for the name, there are one or two I am trying to decide between. But I haven't decided just yet.

3. Will you be moving back to Martha's Vineyard?

Of course! We have a our spring shearing schedule for April 18th and we are lonesome for the Island. We still have a lease on Tisbury Meadows, our Vineyard Haven farm, but are looking for more grazing land. If we can't manage to work out all the details, we will be moving a smaller number of animals back, but I don't think it will come to that.

4. When are the Spring Shearings?

The Martha's Vineyard Shearing will be held in conjunction with the Martha's Vineyard Fiber Fest like last year on April 18th. The Hudson Valley Shearing Day Celebration will be held on May 9th. Anyone can come to either or both. Yes you can bring your family, your friends, your knitting group, a blind date, small children, large children, you guru, your hypnotherapist and your facialist. Only dogs and rodeo clowns are unwelcome. Don't get me started on rodeo clowns...

5. When is the new website going to be up? Where's our lambcam? 

So glad you asked. The new website is schedule to be up on January 15th with a new online shop, your favorite blog and a reader's photo gallery. And that's it. 

Just kidding! The lambcam (or "lambcamb" as Rebecca Blood's husband brilliantly named it) will be up and running too. If this stupid storm that is beating the crap out of the Northeast lets up, that is. We were supposed to be setting the cameras up today (and worming the nanny goats, and picking up hay, and getting the oil changed, and, and, and...) but the falling snow made that impossible. Hopefully we will be able to get it all set up before I leave on Tuesday.

We are also going to be doing some spectacular giveaways to celebrate the new site launch so be sure and visit everyday and comment for your chance to win.

Now with 33% more lamby goodness!

There is nothing in the world softer than a lamb's muzzle in your hands. Heavenly.

I love this shot! The way they are all looking at the camera reminds me of photos from an office holiday party. 

Delicious, delicious molasses.

Victoria is a very proper sort of lamb. She kind of reminds me of Margaret Thatcher.

Nan is hands-down the sweetest lamb I've ever had. It's hard to get good pictures of her because she wants to be right beside me, nuzzling me all the time.  She is wearing a bit of hay in this pic...

which Victoria finds absurd and wasteful.

"Let me help you out with that. Nom nom nom nom."

We moved Miss Linda, our oldest nanny, in to the lamb pen this week. Linda is 14 or 15, toothless and she doesn't get anywhere in a hurry. She has a lovely spirit though and is the best mama we have. We put her with the babies so she wouldn't have to compete so hard for food. She's already gained a little weight and the babies seem happy to have her body heat in the shelter. Every time I check on her there are three or four kids snuggled up to her.

Don't you want to kiss that little nosey? I kissed it this afternoon for you.

I can't get enough of the perpetually surprised look on Martha's face. 

A Lovely Project for a Great Cause

My BFF Julie can't ever seem to have enough going on. She owns her own copywriting, blogging, social media consulting, public speaking business, is co-mama to two of the world's most precious and perfect babies, and she twitters roughly 75 million times a day. Julie is the most "get it done" person I've ever known, and when I need inspiration, or the world just seems too big, she is the first person I turn to. She's also a hell of a lot of fun to be around. 

But because she had, like, ten seconds to spare, she is putting together an eBook  to benefit people who have lost their jobs due to the crazy economy. The theme is love and she is still accepting submissions of poetry and images for inclusion in the book. 

The book will be free to download February 11th through the 14th (Valentine's Day. Love. Get it?) although donations of any size will be accepted to benefit Dress for Success for Women and Career Gear for men. I have submitted a couple of photographs of our flock and I'll be damned proud if one of them makes the cut.

I love this project. It's simple and beautiful and could really make a big difference to a whole lot of people who need something to wear to an interview. In this country, in 2009, a proper suit should not stand between a person and a decent paying job, you know?

Consider contributing your poems or images to the project and be sure and download the book when it's completed. Don't worry- I'll remind you.

Heading West

As you know, Patrick and I have a book coming out in the fall. The thing about a book coming out is you have to finish writing it first. Our publisher has been very specific about that. 

Trying to write in the crazy house I live in is, well, damn near impossible. I no sooner sit down at my MacBook after morning chores than Erin has a concern about one of the animals or needs an answer to a shareholder question. Then Harry, Patrick's 16-year-old son, wants to tell me about something that happened at school. In the meantime my inbox has filled up with 30 or 40 emails and my cell phone's ringing and I need to get something out of the freezer to thaw in time for dinner and oh, Lord! Look, it's time for evening chores. 

Each and every one of the ten thousand interruptions is perfectly reasonable and valid and important, but, Holy Monkeys, does it make it hard to write! Just feeding this crew takes up a huge portion of my day. (Yes, I make all the meals around here from scratch but I enjoy it, and it makes me feels less guilty about the $20,000 my ex-husband spent on culinary school. Thanks, Steve.)

So, in an effort to fulfill my contract with the lovely people at Chelsea Green Publishing and in hopes of turning in a final manuscript that you and I can be proud of, I am heading for Texas for two weeks of solid, interruption-free writing. 

Now ya'll might think going to my mama's house would not be conducive to writing but that's only because you've never met my mom. She is very, very goal oriented and very supported of all my crazy shenanigans. When I started a jam company a few years ago in California, my mama worked with me, stirring jam pots until 3 in the morning when I had a big order to fill.

[This is me standing in front of my jam on a supermarket shelf. I was so proud!]

When I decided I was going to be a shepherd it was my mama who found out about the Heifer Institute's Women's Lambing Weekend and insisted we go.

 

If I have a deadline, there is no better place for me to be than at my mom's house in Fort Worth.

Of course, my absence will mean more work for Erin, Patrick and Harry, but we've all agreed that getting the book done is Priority One right now. I'll just have to shovel my share of poopy hay when I get back.

I will be blogging while I'm away but I won't be answering emails. The fact is I get so many emails these days that it nearly a full-time job answering them. And, as much as love reading your email- and I do read every single one of them- I pass all the ones that need replying to on to Erin, our indispensable and beloved farm manager. Erin is also kind, loyal and thoughtful and I hope she never, ever quits because we would fall apart in 1.6 days without her.

If you just want to tell me something that doesn't need answering feel free to write to me. Please send any questions you have directly to Erin at carib_erin AT yahoo DOT COM. 

Let's Talk About Felt

Not felting, mind you. Felt. Have you shopped for felt lately? I have, and let me tell you, most of the fabric out there masquerading as felt is not really felt at all. By which I mean it isn't made from 100% wool. Most fabric labeled "felt" is only 35% wool and 65% Rayon. And what's in Rayon? I mean, seriously, what is rayon? According to the wise old internet, rayon is "manmade textile fibers and filaments composed of regenerated cellulose." Huh?

I was super-excited to find filzfelt on etsy. Filzfelt imports 100% wool felt from Germany in about a million gorgeous colors. They sell it by the yard, but also make placemats, coasters, table runners, floor mats and pillows from it. 

I ordered a set of coasters in Olive just so I could get up close and personal with the felt before laying out a lot of money and they are just lovely. Very thick and soft and really saturated with color. Can one fall in love with coasters? I think I'm living proof.

I covet the floor mats.  And the placemats. And I am dreaming of a skirt made from the yardage.

Check 'em out on etsy or at their beautifully designed website.

Say NO to Vilsack For Agriculture Secretary!

I try not to be too political here on the blog but I did want to bring this issue to your attention. I think we are at a crossroads in this country as far as farming is concerned. We can either chose to hand our food supply over to big Agribusiness or we can demand that our politicians protect our food, our farmers and our green space. I think Vilsack is a giant step in the wrong direction. 

If after reading what follows you agree, please consider signing the petition linked below.

From the Organic Consumers Association:

Despite a massive public outcry, including over 60,000 emails from the Organic Consumers Association, President-Elect Obama has chosen former Iowa Governor Tom Vilsack to be the next Secretary of Agriculture. Similar petitions circulated on the internet by OCA's allies, including fooddemocracynow.org, Pesticide Action Network, and the Center for Food Safety have generated an additional 60,000+ supporters, making Vilsack perhaps the most controversial and unpopular Obama cabinet appointment.

While Vilsack has promoted respectable policies with respect to restraining livestock monopolies, his overall record is one of aiding and abetting Concentrated Animal Feeding Operations (CAFOs) or factory farms and promoting genetically engineered crops and animal cloning. Equally troubling is Vilsack's support for unsustainable industrial ethanol production, which has already caused global corn and grain prices to skyrocket, literally taking food off the table for a billion people in the developing world.

The Organic Consumers Association is calling on organic consumers and all concerned citizens to join our call to action and block Vilsack's confirmation as the next Secretary of Agriculture. Please help us reach our goal of 100,000 petition signatures against Vilsack' nomination. Sign today! Your email will be sent to your Senators and the President-Elect's office.

More information on why organic farmers are opposing Vilsack's appointment:

Corporate Agribusiness Applauds Obama's Appointment of Vilsack as USDA Head

Obama's Choice of Vilsack: Agribusiness as Usual at USDA?

The USDA's time in the sun: Michael Pollan, Nicholas Kristoff, and others weigh in on USDA pick

Six Reasons Why Obama Appointing Monsanto's Buddy, Former Iowa Governor Vilsack, for USDA Head Would be a Terrible Idea

Want to help us get the word out? Blog or Twitter this link. 

http://tinyurl.com/9m386x

Because I am a Sharer

Puff's Plus with Vicks. Get some. No, not on your next trip to the drugstore. Now. 

When word gets out about these they will be as hard to find as a Cabbage Patch Kid in December of 1982. For the love of God- START HOARDING NOW.

 You don't have to thank me until you have a cold. I can wait.

Naming Names

It may be a wee bit early but I think we should start coming up with a naming convention for this year's lambs and kids. For those of you new to the blog, we use naming conventions for a bunch of reasons. It makes it super-easy to figure out how old an animal that was born on the farm is but mostly it's just easier than coming up with a million names on the spot during birthing season. 

Two years ago we named our babies after candy and varieties of cheese. Last year the shareholders voted to name the kids (baby goats) after herbs and spices. We have, up till now, named our ewes (female sheep) after islands and our rams after presidents of the United States, but we have so many sheep now that we are going to name the new lambs the same way we name the kids from now on.

With so many readers I'm sure we can come up with a really good naming conventions this year. Post your suggestions here. We'll winnow the list down to five or six and then let everybody vote.

Here's what you need to know:

The category needs to be something with lots of naming possibilities. Candy was great cause there are umpteen jillion kinds. Think broad. Characters from fiction? Good. Characters from Dickens?Fine.  Characters from Salinger novels? Not so much. 

Be creative. Chinese food dishes. The counties of Ireland. Just be sure there are names suitable for males and females.

We can do two different conventions for the goats and the sheep as long as they kind of go together, i.e. goats are herbs and sheep are spices. 

This is one of the most direct ways in which you get to help us on the farm so have fun with it! I can't wait to see what ya'll come up with.

January 24th is National Soup Swap Day

Don't tell me you've never heard of National Soup Swap Day? It's one of my favorite holidays.

In a nutshell, on National Soup Swap Day, you invite a group of friends over to swap soup. Here's how it works (with all due credit going to Nerd's Eye View, from whom I swiped the following.)

"You bring six 1 quart containers of frozen soup of one kind. We will then draw numbers and take turns picking out different soup. You will then leave with six 1 quart containers of different soup. Bring whatever soup you like to cook best.

There’s excellent protocol for the distribution of the soup as well. Follow these guidelines.
1. Gather the soup (and the chefs) in a central location. Admire the quantity and variety.
2. Go around the room and have each chef describe his or her creation.
3. Place numbers in a hat equal in number to the particpants. Each person picks a number.
4. Number 1 picks one soup, and so on, until everyone has had a go. Repeat until all the soup is gone."

Isn't that awesome? My favorite part- besides leaving with a freezer full of homemade soup- is number 2. also known as The Telling of the Soup. 

We are going to host a Soup Swap on Saturday, January 24th for anyone who lives near us in the Hudson Valley or wants to drive up for the occasion. Just comment here if you'd like to come. But I strongly encourage all of you to start a Soup Swap in your own area. You can read everything you ever wanted know about swapping soup at the creator's blog.  (Don't be put off by last year's date at the top- scroll down to see this year's.)

With Apologies to My Male Readership...

Last September I had the good fortune to sit next to a woman named Nancy Aronie at an animal communication workshop I was attending. I say good fortune because Nancy is an absolutely fabulous woman. She's a wonderful writer and gives a very famous workshop on the Vineyard called Writing from the Heart.  Everyone at the workshop we were attending had to go around the room and introduce themselves and Nancy laughed deeply and wept openly in the same sentence. She is brilliant, and brimming over with life, and, lucky for me, she is freezing all the time.

Lucky for me, because the other reason I was so fortunate to be sitting next to Nancy was that she brought a hot water bottle with her to the workshop. Turns out she takes it everywhere she goes to keep her warm. During a break in the morning session Nancy refilled her water bottle from the tea kettle. At first I thought the whole thing was kind of bizarre, but when she stuck it in between us I was instantly converted. "You'll have to get one," Nancy said. To which I replied,  "Nancy, I am 38-years-old. I cannot start carrying a hot water bottle around with me." 

Which turned out to be totally untrue. Even as I write this I have my trusty hot water bottle by my side, keeping me toasty. Oh, I don't carry it around with me. Not out of the house anyway. Unless I'm going up to Patrick's parent's house across the street. Or for a long car ride. Or to the movies. Not that we ever go to the movies, but if we did, I'd take my hot water bottle with me.

The only problem with the hot water bottle is that I can't take it with me when I'm doing chores outside cause you have to hold it. I actually considered getting one of those baby slings to hold it in place against my chest while I'm feeding or working the livestock but it seemed kind of impractical.

The thing is, I am cold all the time. Well, not all the time. I'm warmish from May through September. But winters in the Northeast kick my ass. I hate being cold, and as a result, I dread doing all of the everyday tasks that I so enjoy doing when it's warm.

And, if I may be frank with you, (and I think I can speak frankly with you) the worst thing in the world is when my breasts get cold. It's beyond uncomfortable- it's painful. And, short of taking a hot shower, I find it very, very difficult to recover from cold breasts.

Until today that is. Today, I came up with the idea for which I will become famous. Forget the whole "started the first Fiber CSA" business. If and when my obit appears in the New York Times, it will be because of the discovery I made at 2:30 p.m. on Sunday, January 4th.

And it never would have occurred to me to share this particular piece of awesome if Patrick, upon hearing the news of my miraculous invention, hadn't groaned and said "I can't wait the hear what the blog readers think of this!" That's when I realized it would be wrong for me to keep this discovery to myself. As wrong as wrong can be.

I was getting ready to go out and work sheep and goats with Patrick and Erin this afternoon. "Working" livestock means trimming hooves, worming and delousing all the animals in a particular pen and it. takes. for. ever. Like hours. Outside. In the cold.  As usual, I was dragging my feet and stalling because I was already cold, and I really didn't want my boobs to get any colder or more painful. So right before I left the house, I grabbed two of those "Hot Hands" hand warmers from the kitchen drawer. You know, those little packets that you shake up to cause some kind of chemical reaction and then stick in your gloves? Only I stuck them in my bra. And it was magic, my friends.

I worked outside for two hours without getting cold. At all. I don't think it's overstating it to say that this may very well have changed my life. 

I think ya'll know me well enough to know that I don't regularly talk about my breasts in public, and I truly hope I haven't offended anyone with my immodesty, but if even one of you suffers from the distress of cold breasts and is helped by my discovery, it will all be worth it.

We happened to have bought a whole passel of hand warmers for our Solstice party, and I think they cost around $2 a dozen at Walmart. Of course it means having to step foot in Walmart- an errand I put right up there with being water boarded- but believe me my friends, it will be worth it.

Victory Garden

I've spent the weekend pouring over seed catalogs. How I love seed catalogs! Just when it starts to seem impossible that it will ever be warm and green and sunny again, a little ray of hope arrives in my mailbox.

I am planning a rather large vegetable garden this year for the house in New York. It's all part of my drive to be self-sufficient-ish. I want to have more agency in my own life, if that makes sense. For me, growing my own food is a lot like knitting and sewing. Of course, my other motivation is my love of food and firm belief that nothing taste better than food you've grown and cooked yourself. 

So, seed catalogs. I can spend hours reading about the respective merits of each variety of tomato. Lemon Boy. Early Girl. Moneymaker. Black Krim. Costouto Fiorentino. German Queen. Martin's Giant. I want to taste them all. 

I read an article the other day by a man who is a sort of professional trend predictor. He predicted the last two big recessions and was quite gloomy about what we can expect in 2009. He said that people will be planting a version of Victory gardens in the coming years (he called them Bush Gardens, which  made me laugh) and that in 10 years people would be amazed at how much land and water we wasted on lawns. Am I wrong for seeing this as a positive development? For hoping that people- whether willingly or out of desperation- will discover the joys of digging in the dirt, watching seeds turn into plants, and harvesting and eating the fruits of their labor? 

If you've never grown your own food you won't believe how easy it can be. Even if you are without a proper yard you can plant a couple of tomato varieties in pots of your terrace. You can also check in your area for a community garden. There was a beautiful one across the street form my apartment when I lived in Harlem and it was always buzzing with activity. 

There are two great cookbooks that are also wonderful introductions to growing vegetable for your table- Jamie at Home by Jamie Oliver and The River Cottage Family Cookbook by Hugh Fearnley-Whittingstall. Both of these authors are British and that's not a coincidence- I think the Brits have done a much better job of educating people about the joys of growing your own food than we have here in the states. 

For the more ambitious among us I highly recommend Foer Season Harvest and The New Organic Grower by Eliot Coleman. You also might want to check out Food Not Lawns by Heather Flores.

For seeds I like to order from Seeds of Change and Johnny's Select Seeds, but order early because their most popular varieties do sell out. 

Are you planning a garden this year? What are you going to plant?

edited to add: Check out revivevictorygardens.org for lots of great info.

It's Bloggies Time!

It's time for the 2009 Annual Weblog Awards- a.k.a. the bloggies. 

If there are any blogs really, really like you might want to click here and nominate them for...oh, I don't know...Best-Kept Secret Blog (which you will find by scrolling waaaaay over to the right side of the page)...or something. You might also want to ask you friends, family members and coworkers to do the same. I mean, if that's something you felt inclined to do...

P.S. I just realized you have to nominate at least three blogs in order for your vote to count. So pick your second and third favorite before filling out the form.

Book Recommendation

I just finished the fourth book in The Coroner's Lunch series by Colin Cotterill. These books are so rich, so fully realized that you can easily forget that you are reading a mystery.

The books are set in 1975 Laos just after the revolution that brought a communist regime to power. The main character is 72-year-old Dr. Siri Paiboun, a field surgeon who's retirement plans are thwarted when he is pressed into service as coroner by the new government. 

These books are packed with lovable characters and the exotic locale makes them un-put-downable. I devoured the first four and have only hesitated to buy the fifth and newest installment because it's only out in hardback so far. (See, if I had the other four in hardback I'd go ahead and buy it, but I hate it when I have a series that doesn't match on the shelf. Because I am odd.)

Got any good book recommendations? Let me hear 'em.