Tag Archives: alpaca

A Perfect Day

Posted on by

I’ve had the best “Geek in the Country” day. After watching the Sister let the horses out to pasture, (sometimes they leap around like baby goats, which is always fun to see), I ran out to the grand opening of Crimping River Fiber. This mill will be processing sheep, llama, alpaca, and goat fleece for small producers throughout the region. In one of my previous rants, I’d decried the lack of processors for all the small natural fiber producers in the area and this mill is filling that need. I hope they do exceptionally well.

This last winter, I learned how to spin using a drop spindle. Now I want to find a spinning wheel that fits my height and learn how to finish both 2 ply and 3 ply yarns. (Yeah, I need another hobby.) I may have found a resource for a wheel. Stay tuned…

I had a delightful chat with the folks from Paca Pride Guest Ranch about their permaculture practices. They employ a pasture methodology for their llamas and alpacas that allows for constant use throughout the year without the need for shoveling…um…well… paca poo. I don’t know how well it will translate to horses since they are much harder on the grass with their big, heavy hooves. However, it’s always worth looking into.

After that, I went to my dad’s house for a delightful little soiree and stopped at Fry’s on my return home. It’s techno-geeky heaven for those not familiar with the store. I managed to make it out for under $30, which is a pretty impressive feat considering the awesomeness of all the toys there. Sticking to my commitment to lower my power consumption, I picked up a solar charger for all my techno-toys. It will not only keep things running smoothly, it will give me a power backup in case of an emergency. Those include natural disasters, power outages, and forgetting to plug in the phone at night. (There’s nothing worse than realizing your constant connection to Twitter is compromised by a low battery.)

And I got to play with some tablets, even though I’m almost entirely sure I’ll be getting a Surface when they are available. I just can’t wait for Windows 8.

Yep, nearly a perfect day…

The Value-added Middle Ground

Posted on by
Reply

My next stop on this 2,167-mile journey is Portland, where I had dinner with a clothing-designer friend of mine, Nancy. She specializes in organic fabrics and just had a show at the Bonaroo Music Festival.  Here are a few of her designs.

In creating these beautiful items, she found it quite difficult sourcing organic, sustainably produced cloth. At the same time, I’m talking with farmers raising heirloom animals that are trimmed every year for their fleece. These include sheep, alpacas, and goat fleeces. Yet they can’t sell them because so few mills are turning the fleece into cloth. We have supply and we have demand, but we are missing the small manufacturers crucial to filling in the puzzle.

This type of problem is endemic throughout the growing sustainable-farming community. This is why we are working on a project to create the Port Susan Food & Farming Center which will provide a way for farmers to create value-added products from the produce they grow. In other words, they can grow berries for a few weeks in early summer, process them into jam, and be able to sell that throughout the year. With the proper facilities, produce can be frozen, canned, pickled, cooked or preserved into all the fun things we like to have on-hand for year-round cooking.

So, my question to you is this: do you know of small mills where we can do the same thing for fleece? It would be great to bring producers and designers together, and what we need is the manufacturer who can do this.