A Visit to Heather Ridge Farm

 On April 2, I took at trip to Heather Ridge Farm near Potter Hollow, NY.  It was sheep shearing day!  I was anxious to return to the farm to buy more wool.

I had purchased some Icelandic wool from the farm last fall.  It was the "summer coat," and Carol told me that she would be shearing the winter coat from the sheep in the spring.  The day had finally come, and I was very anxious to see what the winter coat would look like.  My goal is to mix some of the winter and summer coat into a nice yarn that I can use for my sweater project.

Heather Ridge Farm has somewhere around 40 sheep, and the process was due to take several hours.  I think I stayed for two of them.  :-)

The shearing process is fascinating to me.  A typical shearing of one sheep took just a couple of minutes.  The sheep got a complimentary mani/pedi prior, and then it was off to the races.  Before you know it (and before the sheep knew it), the haircut was complete--the sheep was back in the pen few pounds lighter, and there was a beautiful fleece ready for me to buy.

I won't go into all of the details about how sheep are sheared and why, there are lots of resources online that go into quite a bit of detail.  But it was a fascinating thing to watch.

Carol asked me to step into the sheep pen and choose the Icelandic wool right off the animal.  I chose a brown and a gray/white fleece (both pictured here).  I purchased those and had them neatly tucked away in my truck.  I SHOULD have left right then!  But noooo, I stayed to watch...and the next thing you know, another black/gray Icelandic was sheared.  It was so pretty that I just HAD to have it.

So I wound up the a third fleece.  And of course I stayed for more.  Watching the shearer's shearer shearing sheep was a sheer delight.

Then about 30 minutes later, another Icelandic sheep was sheared.  As the fleece came off the sheep a few of us remarked just how pretty it was.  The sheep seemed like just a "brown" sheep at the beginning.  But underneath, the wool was brown, tan, gray/almost white, and black.  The color of the wool was so amazing...that I had to have it.

I managed to stop myself after four bags of fleece.  I think I have enough wool for a year of spinning!

It really was a treat to see a working sheep farm, to be able to choose the wool right off of the animal and then have it in my house the same day, and to meet Carol and John.  They have had a farm on the property for at least 30 years.  Sheep is just one thing they raise, they have quite an operation going.

Check out their website, www.heather-ridge-farm.com.  You'll find they have quite a few fiber-related things for sale, as well as lots of other farm goods.  They also have a small cafe that is open on the weekends...something for the next visit!