Off to the Lawrence County Wool Pool!

News Clip From Lancaster Farming

The news clip says it all if you've never heard of a "wool pool".  In 2020, due to the pandemic most, if not all, of the regional wool pools were canceled. This year folks will be bringing 2 years worth of their sheared fleeces to the pool and we're not sure of the price that we'll be getting.  I'll report back on the results later today! Wool is an international commodity, so that enters into the picture.

Wild Rose Farm - Truck Completely Packed With Fleeces!

Of course, even though the truck is crammed full of fleeces, we still have nicely skirted fleeces available for sale & I have some Rambouillet wool set aside to be sorted for processing into yarn.

 

2021 Waynesburg Sheep & Fiber Fest - Friday Sneak Peek!

 

Appalachian Hills Farm - Beautiful Batts!

Here is your sneak peek at some of the booths set up today for the Waynesburg Sheep & Fiber Fest tomorrow!  After finishing the Wild Rose Farm booth set-up, I took the opportunity to get a few pictures of what some of the vendors brought.

Ashgrove Soaps & Sundries - Nice Selection!

Folks, Lori as back this year and the wonderful smell from this booth is sooooo tempting!

Mystery Booth?

Boone Hollow Baskets

It turns out that we can get a glimpse of the mystery booth in the background of the Boone Hollow Baskets photo ... that's Holly Road all the way from eastern Pennsylvania.   Can't wait to see what else is undercover.

Ridgetop Pottery - Working on Booth Set Up

Finally, a glimpse at some beautiful work in Tabitha's booth ... fingerless gloves or wristlets?

Tatting by Tabitha - More Than Tatting!

Of course, I forgot to take a picture of the Wild Rose Farm booth!  Well, you've seen the skirted fleece photos and the naturally-dyed yarn in the studio before it was packed up.  We have our Rambouillet combed top, Dorset wool quilt batts, Dorset pencil roving and wool locks for sale.  BTW, our "upcycled woolens" rack has several Irish wool sweaters, a vintage green Pearce wool blanket, some cool wool and felt hats and a Marlboro buffalo plaid car blanket with carrier handle strap.  

See you tomorrow! The festival is from 10AM - 5PM. 

Skirting Fleeces for 2021 Waynesburg Sheep & Fiber Fest!

 

Wild Rose Farm #119 Dorset Fleece

Here are a couple of fleeces that we skirted today - warm weather is perfect for this job!  The lanolin is great for your hands ...

Wild Rose Farm #151 Dorset x Rambouillet Fleece

Stay tuned for more skirted fleece pics tomorrow.  We're bringing these fleeces to the 2021 Waynesburg Sheep & Fiber Fest this weekend.  The festival will be a "streamlined" one day event this year on Saturday May 22nd at the Greene County Fairground in Waynesburg, PA just off of the I-79 Waynesburg exit. This is in Southwestern PA folks! :)

Finally after a year without fiber festivals, you'll be able to actually GET YOUR HANDS on wool & wool yarn!

Wild Rose Farm - Three Lambs Resting!

The great part about skirting fleeces is that I get to enjoy watching - and listening to - the ewes and lambs in the barn!  

Sadly - 2020 Waynesburg Sheep & Fiber Festival Cancellation!

No Waynesburg Sheep & Fiber Festival This Weekend … :(

Normally at this time, we'd be in the Saturday morning joy of the Waynesburg Sheep & Fiber Festival!  Wild Rose Farm would have set up our booth on Friday and headed out around 6AM this morning to be ready for opening day … Unfortunately with the COVID-19 restrictions, the committee was forced to cancel the festival.  Just look at the great art for our Save the Date Cards and t-shirts … we were READY!  Many other fiber festivals have been canceled or may be rescheduled this year. Waynesburg will be back in 2021.
Our farm is still essentially closed for visitors now, but we have had a couple of folks show up asking to buy freezer lambs later this year. People are looking at their food and fiber a little differently these days.  We also have 2 custom made cherry wood shelving units from Pat Zeibers Furniture ready and awaiting pick-up for our studio.  The were ordered after Christmas and were finished just as the Pennsylvania lockdowns started!  Hopefully we'll be able to pick them up in the next couple of weeks and get things organized.

April Shearing Day - Penned Up & Ready!

One thing that did happen during the shutdown is the essential service of sheep shearing! 

 We'll be skirting fleeces and posting pictures of fleeces for sale as soon as we get several warm & dry days to work on them!    

Rambouillet Ewe on Shearing Board

Just Hanging Out!

Wild Rose Farm Ewes Resting 

The weather has been going from hot & sunny to hot & T-storms over the last week or so.  We've managed to get the grazed sections of pasture mowed, but it has been too wet to plow the garden area. Hmmm … not sure when we'll get any veggies, herbs, & flowers planted! The ewes and lambs have started to get out for grazing so we'll have some pictures of them soon.
We paid a visit to the Great Lakes Fiber Show over Memorial Day weekend to drop off and pick up our processed wool items. I'm starting to clean and put together the old Sears & Roebuck 6 harness Hearthside Loom out in the studio … it looks like I'll have to order a couple of reeds and then figure out what the first project will be. This will be fun (I keep telling myself)!

Wild Rose Farm Fleeces For Sale @ Waynesburg Sheep & Fiber Fest!

Our skirted fleeces sold well at the Waynesburg Sheep & Fiber Fest. They are sold with a washed sample lock and the ewe's micron test ... there was a lot of interest in the Rambouillet micron tests this year. The hand spinners were comparing the tests and the "% of Fibers > 30 Microns". Fibers greater than 30 microns are the indicator of the comfort of the wool, since 30 microns is where the famous "itch factor" creeps in & becomes important!  I am planning to go to the Lawrence County Wool Pool next week to drop off fleeces that we don't need for processing this year. This pool pays the day of the pool and they will be grading each fleece out of the bag.

More Fleeces Skirted!

Wild Rose Farm #153 - Dorset x Rambouillet Ewe & Lamb

The first fleece up on the blog post today is brought to you by WRF #153, a 2 year old crossbred ewe. She is a 50% Dorset/50% Rambouillet ewe.

Wild Rose Farm #153 - Skirted Fleece

We also skirted a group of nice Rambouillet fleeces to take to the 2019 Waynesburg Sheep & Fiber Fest this weekend …

Wild Rose Farm Rambouillet Ewe #554 - Skirted Fleece

Wild Rose Farm Rambouillet Ewe #555 - Skirted Fleece

Wild Rose Farm Rambouillet Ewe #556 - Skirted Fleece

& Barn Book With Shearing Notes!

Finally, we finished another x-bred fleece as it was getting dark outside!

Wild Rose Farm #142 - Skirted Fleece

The truck is mostly packed up and ready to go for the festival set-up tomorrow. In addition to the fleeces, combed top, yarns, quilt batts, etc., we've got a really nice selection of vintage/upcycled woolens this year.  Come check out the racks and stacks! Did I mention buttons?