The MV Ag Fair in Pictures

The Martha's Vineyard Ag Fair is quirky, eclectic, wholesome and one of the highlights of the Summer season. Adults and children enter projects they've made in the past year and the categories are just endless.

My friend Glenn Jackson organized the Fiber Tent this year and he did a fantastic job!

Harry, Patrick's 16-year-old son, made this amazing display for our table in the Fiber Tent

I desperately want a triangle loom like this one.

And an antique sock knitting machine.

We brought our February kids to the Fair to be sheared for the first time since they are already six-months old.

Logan, Patrick's 10-year-old, learned to spin on a drop spindle. Now he wants a wheel of his own!

My friend (and shareholder) Shirra took home a ribbon for a hat she knitted

MVFF won three blue ribbons

Buck Fifty won Best 1-2 Year Old Buck

We also won Best Island Wether (Squall) and Best Flock

The last day of the Fair is all about the dog show. My friend Alisa and Fenway won a blue ribbon.

The Horse Pull is another popular event.

We introduced three of our new fall colors- Cherry Soda, Blueberry Pie and Avocado- at our Fair booth. Look for them soon in our etsy store.

We had a really great time at the Fair. Lots of shareholders and ravelers stopped by and we ate more corn dogs than should be allowed. 

After breaking down our booth Sunday night we headed straight for the 9:30 ferry and drove all night to get to JFK in time for our flight to California. After a series of frustrating delays (*shakes fist at JetBlue*) we arrived at Lake Tahoe 30 hours later completely and utterly exhausted. (I promptly came down with a nasty summer cold.)

We're here for  a week- our first week off in two years, thanks to Erin, who has been promoted to Farm Manager. I am reading and knitting for the first time in I don't know how long. Patrick and Logan have been hiking and rafting and are going kayaking this morning. Harry and I took an hour drive across the border into Nevada to visit Jimmy Beans Wool. I taught him to knit about a month ago and he is completely and utterly addicted. He's already on rav (he'd be thrilled if you friended him!) and has completed two projects already. He bought his first set of double points and some beautiful sock yarn for a project he is working on for his girlfriend. 

As for my own knitting, I am working on the Irish Hiking Scarf and have every intention of finishing it before our plane touches down at JFK on Monday morning, provided my needles don't get taken away by security.

The Spring 08 Yarn has FINALLY arrived from the mill. I haven't even seen it cause it came after I left. Erin tell me that it is packaged in huge bales! My mom is coming up from Texas next week to help Erin and I with the shipping so the end is in sight. Thanks so much for being so patient.

I have a couple of BIG BIG BIG announcements to make. Check back here this afternoon for exciting news.

XO

There are two really great things about August.

Logan and Harry

Although they usually look more like this.

Logan and Harry are Patrick's boys. They spend every weekend with their Dad at our house in New York and the whole month of August with us on the Vineyard. I love having them here because they are hilarious and sweet and really interesting to talk to.

Logan is 10 and Harry is 16 which means that they spend approximately every waking moment eating. So I am going to the grocery store every single day. Sometimes twice a day. You know I must be crazy about them because more work I do not need.

In between trips to the store we have managed to do some much needed sheep and goat care. Every six weeks of so, we need to deworm the sheep and goats and trim their hooves. Additionally the goats have to be deloused. Since we have two flocks- the bucks and rams at Tisbury Meadows and the ewes, does and all the babies at Felix Neck- so we do one flock every three weeks, more or less.

We had lots of help this weekend, cause in addition to Harry and Logan, our friend Erin was staying with us. All the extra hands made it so much easier that what usually takes us two days was finished in a couple of hours.

The hardest part is catching each animal. Even the last year's bottle babies who are basically house pets can't stand having their hooves trimmed. Poor Patrick is tasked with catching each buck and ram and flipping them over so we can get to work.

Patrick is trimming FDR's hooves.

We've been looking for an alternative to the petroleum-based chemical that is used to control lice on the Angora goats. I recently read about a farm that is using food grade diatomaceous earth on their goats so we decided to give it a try. I am dusting the goats with it in these pictures.



We had one hilarious moment when Ernie, our 300 + pound wether fell on Patrick.

Well, it was funny to me. So funny that I had trouble helping to get him off because I was laughing so hard. Patick didn't see the humor until later.


After spending several hours in the blazing sun we cooled off with a dip in a friend's pond. The boys can't get enough of that rope swing.

I have all kinds of good news for you. First of all, we have hired our first apprentice! Erin O' Donnell is going to be moving to the Island the first week in September and working with us full-time. This is super-exciting for us.

A little background- Like a lot of people, Erin emailed me when the Wall Street Journal article came out in April to tell me that I was living her dream. Unlike a lot of people, Erin really wanted to learn about sheep and offered to come over from Boston and help out the animals on weekends. And then she did. Which impressed the hell out of me.

The first thing I noticed about this woman is that she is not afraid of hard work. She wasn't put off by the day-to-day fence moving, water carrying and bale toting that I do. In fact, after spending a day with me and waking up sore the next day, Erin went home and started lifting weights. You gotta love this girl!

Erin is going to be a huge help around the farm and she will free me up to take care of some of the little details that are currently slipping through the cracks. She will start will a trial by fire the last week in August when Patrick, the boys and I are going on a trip to Lake Tahoe.

For those of you that have been following my Aunt Shirley and Uncle Jan's story I have an update. Jan has finished his rehab at the Shepherd Center in Atlanta and they will be heading home to Virginia next week. He received his new wheelchair- paid for through the generosity of all of you- and you can see him in it in the picture below. Sorry it's so small. 

The additional $5000 we raised above and beyond what was needed to cover the copay on Jan's wheelchair was used to a Hoyer Lifter that Shirley will need to lift Jan from the bed into his chair. My Aunt emailed me that they are very grateful for all of your donations, prayers and kind words.

I'm doing a great giveaway tomorrow, so be sure and check back here for details.

XO,

Susan

The Worst Week Ever

I don't mean to sound like a whiner but this summer is kicking my butt. 

And this last week was, without a doubt, the worst week ever. Ever. EVEREVEREVEREVER. Ever.

Don't believe me? Well, the week started with my getting poison ivy on my eyelids (MY EYELIDS!) and ended with Gulliver, our chihuahua, getting sprayed by a skunk. And, friends, those were the highlights.

But I am not ready to write about that yet (give me a week or two to regroup, por favor). Instead I am going to focus on the positive.

I have had some really great visits from shareholders in the past two weeks. Jessica and Jennifer came for what they thought was a day trip but I talked them into sleeping over and attending Patrick's big fundraiser with me. (Jennifer danced her butt off on stage with Jim Belushi. Photos to come.)  Dawn and her husband came for a visit and asked loads of questions in anticipation of starting their own alpaca farm down in Texas. Lisa came all the way from Hawaii. I have serious concerns about her being charged extra for her luggage because she bought so much yarn. And today I got to meet Susan and Ellen at the Farmer's Market and got a visit from Adele!

If you haven't made it over to the Island yet you should start making plans to come. 

Speaking of which, we are still trying to nail down a date for the Fall Shearing. I apologize for the delay in giving you a the info- I'm really completely at the mercy of the shearer and we have several calls into him now. Several. I will let you know ASAP because I know many of you are anxious to make travel plans. I'm shooting for the first or second weekend in October. I'll keep you posted...

This morning on my way to the Farmer's Market I got the phone call we have been waiting for for ages. The Spring 08 yarn is a spun up and ready for pick-up at the mill! [INSERT FIREWORKS AND CANNONS BEING FIRED HERE.]

As those of you who have been waiting ever-so-patiently know, we have a couple of glitches getting the fiber process this spring. The mill we had been using with great success for ages was overwhelmed by the amount of fiber we are shearing now and, after having our fleeces for a month, told us they wouldn't be able to get the job done. This was followed by lots and lots of phone calls to mill across the country, most of whom told us they would love to process for us but were on a six-month wait. 

We finally settled on a mill in Canada, which brought with it's own problems because of shipping and customs and whatnot. But our long national nightmare is finally over because IT'S READY!!! The roving for our Spinner's Shares is being processed at a third mill (are you following all this?) and it will be shipped next week.

I can't thank my original 100 shareholders enough for being so kind about the delays. There was a steep learning curve for us with processing this much fiber and we learned a lot. (Some day you and I will have a long and serious conversation about the relative merits of mini-mills vs. full size equipment.) I can promise you that next time it will be much, much smoother. And faster. And less likely to make me want to bash my head against a wall repeatedly. 

In other news, Patrick and I are busy getting ready for the Fair. The Agricultural Fair on Martha's Vineyard is the highlight of the year. It's a very wholesome event- not in a kitchy way at all though. It's very sincere in it's wholesomeness. There are all kinds of categories to enter, normal fair things like "Best Preserves" and "Best Pies" but there are also things I've never seen before anywhere else. Like the vegetable sculptures. I will take pictures this year, I promise.

We are entering three of our goats in the fair and I am entering a couple of my photographs. We will also have a big display in the fiber tent, so if you are going to be on Island during the Fair (August 21-24th) you must come by and say hi. 

The video that the etsy production team made about MVFF was featured on the front page of youtube for a couple of days this week, which is a huge honor. You can see it here if you haven't seen it already.

Things have been so crazy that I haven't taken many picture in the last couple of weeks but I am settling down and promise to get you some in the next couple of days. Here are a few new ones to tide you over.

Salina and Turman

Astrid and Tansy

My friends Eric and Karina let me borrow their children to model our MVFF t-shirts. I love this picture!

This is one of my new fall yarn colors. It's a lovely pinkish brown called Chocolate Milk.

Eggplant

Mermaid

Quansoo Beach

Cranberry

Rise and Shine

More soon...

xoxo