Farming in the shade

In preparation for Shearing Day, we set the shop up to house all our products and 3-5 demonstrators. This year we had people demonstrating needle felting, spinning and sock knitting. Most of the 500 visitors who came also took the time to walk down the driveway to the shop to see the demonstrators and the wool (and other farm) products we have for sale.  This barn was the original chicken coop on the farm, and a few years ago we took the flat roof off and built a second story on top. You can read more about that process by clicking here for all the "barn renovation" posts.  We sell roving and combed top for needle felters and spinners. Many spinners have not had the opportunity to spin the wool from Polypay sheep. They are pleasantly surprised at the loft and sheen in our wool. Our unique wool socks are popular to give as gifts, and are a full-circle "Made in Michigan" product. We care for the sheep, send the wool to a Michigan mill to be ma...

Why do we host an open house each year at sheep shearing time? It's important for us to show the process of farming. Many people will tell you things about farming that "ain't necessarily so." Unless you can see farming practices yourself, and meet the farmers who care for the land and the animals, you are at the mercy of what you see on social media. Farming is a messy, heartbreaking lifestyle. It's also an amazing, joy-filled lifestyle. When you come to visit us, you will smell what a barn smells like after it's had 100 sheep living in it for 2-3 months. You will see baby lambs and their mothers. You will watch sheep struggle to get away from the shearer, and then lay still while he works. Then you will see those same sheep jump up and run off to join the others. You will check out the inside of a fleece--snowy white--and the outside of a fleece with a year's worth of oils and dirt in it. Not so snowy white anymore. We encourage you to com...

Have you ever wanted to learn to knit socks on a circular sock knitting machine? Maybe you found one in an attic and need to learn how to use it. Maybe you're looking to buy one, but before you spend the money, you'd like to know for sure it's something you can master and enjoy. During February and March, you can take a 1-day or 2-day class at a time that is convenient for both instructor and student. Sock knitting classes start at $90, and include everything (even the machine!) you need to take home a pair of fresh-from-the-farm wool socks. Email info@shadysidefarm.net for more info.

The bean harvest of 2014 was not great. So last summer we rotated between three farmers markets, and didn't have too much trouble moving the small quantity of beans we needed to market. The bean harvest of last fall, however, was much better. We continued to rotate between three markets all winter long (some of them outside!). But early this summer, we realized that we needed to work a little harder to move all these beans. We added two new markets to the mix, and now we need a Franklin Planner (an old-fashioned kind of scheduling app that uses paper and a pen) to keep us knowing where we are coming or going. With the great help of our parents, we cover five markets. The Holland market is an every Saturday market. The Fulton Street market (GR) is an every other Saturday market, as is Sweetwater Local Foods market in Norton Shores. New to the mix this year are Kalamazoo (every other Saturday) and South Haven (as often as we can get there--generally every other Saturday and mo...

I often hear folks admire our wool products and then turn away, sighing, "I'm allergic to wool." There are a few folks who are genuinely allergic to the lanolin in wool. Can't help them, although over time the lanolin washes out and should cause less of a problem. But the rest of those who are "allergic" to wool  may  be reacting to some thing else. The large wool manufacturers need to get a lot of ick out of the raw wool (imagine wearing the same clothes for a year!) and an easy way to do that is to use harsh chemicals. Some of us are simply sensitive to the  way  commercial wool is produced.  Our wool is cleaned using soap and water. In addition, hay natur ally gets in the wool over the course of a year. Each fleece is skirted after shearing, which just means we pull off the worst parts and discard them. In the washing and carding process at the mill some of the remaining hay comes out of the wool, and some is just broken up into really...

It's been nearly a month since I last blogged. Perhaps you were too busy with family gatherings and holiday celebrations to notice my bloggy neglect. I certainly was too busy to notice... This blog post is just a reminder that we have open farm shop hours each Friday afternoon from 1 - 4 pm. Our farm is located at 13275 Blair Street, Holland, MI 49424. Feel free to drive out if you need a fresh infusion of wool or beans in your life.  In addition to farm shop hours, you can find us at farmers markets (yes, even in the winter!). To the best of our knowledge, our market schedule is as follows: Jan. 10 - Fulton Street , Sweetwater Jan. 17 - Holland Pop-Up Winter Market, Sweetwater Jan. 24 - Fulton Street Jan. 31 - Holland, Sweetwater Feb. 7 - Fulton Street Feb. 14 - Holland, Sweetwater Feb. 21 - Fulton Street Feb. 28 - Holland, Sweetwater Mar. 7 - Shearing Day at Shady Side Farm (more about that later) For more up to date information about markets and other ...

Each year during Kerstmarkt (an outdoor, European-style Christmas market) we are so focused that I neglect the blog. This year I wanted to give you some pictures of what we have made to bring to the market. We are busy all year long making these items.  My mom and one of our daughters make these mittens from recycled wool sweaters. Yes, many people make this style of mitten, but ours are especially well-made and cute! The famous sock-maker has been very focused on his task. His mom and one of our nieces did a huge batch of dyeing this fall. Despite his head-start, the shoppers are quick to snap them up. This year I have a decent stock of rugs for the market. I make these rugs the traditional way--by cutting recycled fabric into strips, sewing them together, and weaving them into rugs on a loom. The one in the right foreground on the top is made from blue jeans. I cannot keep blue jean rugs in stock. They are very durable and beautiful. We offer our heirloom bean...

It doesn't look like much from the picture. But we are oh-so-proud. (Search "barn renovation" in the search bar on the left side of the blog home page for the whole process.) Our little shop offers a place to buy our farm-fresh dry beans, wool roving and yarn, and handcrafted items made by our family: mittens, scarves, rugs, socks, quilts and more. At this point, we are only open Fridays from 1 - 4 pm, or by appointment. Today is our soft opening, and perhaps we'll have something more organized soon. We are located at 13275 Blair Street in Holland, MI. The shop is in the red/white barn to the northeast of the house. It's a lovely day--feel free to drive out!

The end of September we borrowed a camper, loaded it full, and headed for West Branch. It was gorgeous weather, and we both felt like we should be home harvesting beans. But sometimes you just have to go. And we had committed to vending at the Northern Michigan Lamb & Wool Festival.  We enjoyed wonderful weather and were surrounded by great people. I've taken pictures of our booth, for those of you who only know us as "the bean guy" and "the bean lady".  The Farmer took his sock machine along and demonstrated sock knitting. We often had a crowd at the edge of our booth. For these pictures, I tried to wait until there was no one in the booth. We were in a steel pole barn. For some reason, in our booth only, there was a barn board backdrop. Very unique! The rugs seemed to be the hit of the show this time. We never know what will sell--which makes preparing and packing a bit of a challenge. We end up taking too much of most things, as we ju...

A few weeks ago we made a quick trip to the wool mill in Frankemuth, Michigan. Zeilingers has been our go-to choice for wool processing for several years. We were picking up comforter batts, but poked our heads into the yarn making part of the mill. They just happened to have our wool on the machines.  This stage is called pencil roving. The wool has already been washed, and the next stage is spinning the pencil roving into yarn. The pencil roving is very fragile. It's easy to pull it apart, and yank it right off the machines. I am always amazed that such huge machines can be set to work so gently with such a fragile product. Gary is demonstrating the fragility here. After spinning, this wool will be sent upstairs at the mill to be machine knit into socks for us to sell at our markets.

A few weeks ago, we hosted our annual Shearing Day event. It was a perfect day. Cold, but not too cold. Snow on the ground, but very little falling from the sky. A couple of days before Shearing Day, a friend and I set up the shop and demonstration area. (Thank you, Pat!) This was the maiden voyage of the shop--the first time it had been set up since last summer, when we took the roof off the whole building, and added a second floor. It's still rough--no paint, no insulation, no heat. But the wares looked nice, and I don't think most people cared that they were in an unfinished barn. We displayed our coned yarns in a lovely old cupboard. Barbara, our needlefelting demonstrator, was back again this year. (What?! No photos! Oops!) And Chris showed how to spin wool into yarn. Sometimes she let people help. I'm always busy in the main barn, helping with skirting the fleeces. (More about that later.) But if I had my way, I'd be in the demo/shop are...

I love Chicago. I love to visit. (I love to leave again, and come home. But that's another story.) When the Holland Convention and Visitors Bureau started talking about advertising Holland as a Christmas holiday destination to the people of Chicago, someone somewhere along the line brought up The Farmer's name. I can imagine the discussion. "How about that crazy farmer guy out at the Kerstmarkt who makes socks on that old crank machine? That's weird enough to get their attention." Fast forward a few weeks and we found ourselves in the fortress-like studios of WGN-TV, just north of Chicago. Fortunately enough, the Holland CVB was wise enough to send along a "handler" for us country bumpkins. Kirsten (pictured above) made appointments and reservations, briefed us on what we could expect, and did everything in her power to make sure we were where we needed to be at the right time. So appreciated! Once we were ushered into the correct stud...

This past week we made a dash for the east side of the state, where our favorite wool mill is. We received a call about a week ago that our wool was finished. This HAS to be the fastest they have ever turned it around. We were amazed. A 6-7 hour trip is not undertaken during lambing season without some fear and trepidation (on my part, mostly). We knew we had a small break between the experienced ewes and the first-timers. So we took our chances. We left behind our competent farm hands--our son and my parents. None of these competent farm hands are wild about helping with difficult births, but we were hopeful that nothing would happen while we were gone. And we got lucky. This year we ordered some bulky and aran-weight yarn. And roving--quite a considerable amount of roving, in fact. We are very grateful that we didn't have any accidents on the trip. But we did joke that if we were rear-ended, we'd probably be well-cushioned against the impact. Here is most of the r...

We've been spending some time getting ready for Saturday's Shearing Day Open House. We assembled some felting kits. They include felting needles, foam, and an ounce of our wool. If you come to our Open House, you will be able to meet Barbara, who is a fabulous needle felter. You can see some of her work here. Who knows? You might be inspired to start needle felting yourself.  We spent some time cranking socks. If you come on Saturday during the morning, you will be able to see Joyce crank socks on her circular sock knitting machine. We will have some of our socks for sale, if anyone is interested. We also dyed some wool yarn to make socks with. If you come to the Shearing Day, you will be able to watch Kari and Chris spin wool into yarn. Never a dull moment at Shearing Day. Pass the word... For more information, click here .

Wool is flame resistant. Because it is made up of protein, wool fibers are naturally flame resistant, requiring a higher temperature to ignite than other natural fibers. When wool does ignite, it burns slowly by smoldering and charring but giving off little heat. A wool blanket is an effective tool for smothering a flame. Most synthetic fibers are made from petroleum and have dangerous burning characteristics.

As an etsy shop owner, we get a lot of requests for custom items. A 5 x 7 foot rug. Black socks in size 9 with pink toes. A needle-felted nativity scene. Many etsy shop owners are happy to work on custom orders, but we find it difficult to get our regular work done, much less taking on special orders. The farming must always come first. So most of the time we decline custom orders, kindly. It is better to say no up front than to disappoint. But this weekend, a mom from California found our etsy shop, likely searching for Suffolk wool. Her daughter wanted to do a science project on factors that affect pilling in wool. She wanted to knit swatches of different breed wool yarn, and then abrade them to see which wool held up better. She wanted to include Suffolk, but was having trouble finding single-ply 100% yarn. Who can resist the story of a 10-year old knitter who wants to feature wool in her science project? That's like three of my seven favorite things in the whole world, a...

We do one (1) fiber festival a year. This hardly makes us gypsies, but I like to dream. Other festivals land at bad times (actually, this one isn't landing at a great time, either) or are too far away or already have 4,000 vendors selling exactly the same thing as we sell. But the Northern Michigan Lamb and Wool Festival is small, charming, and held on the grounds of the lovely Ogemaw County Fair Grounds. In the fall. What's not to love? Come and see us this weekend. It's worth the drive. You can take your wheel or your spindle and sit a spell with us and visit. The Farmer will be demonstrating sock knitting on his antique circular sock machine during the day on Sunday.

One of my friends bought a kick spindle just like this from this etsy seller and then found a used spinning wheel to buy. She likes the wheel better. She has her kick spindle for sale for $30 + shipping. It was used less than 3 hours total, so if you're in the market for a kick spindle, this is a good deal. Contact me for her information by using the "email me" button. 

Did you know? Different breeds of sheep grow different kinds of wool. Sheep can grow fine wool, medium wool or coarse wool. Fine wool is often used to make suits, baby clothes or dress fabrics. Medium wool is often used to make blankets, outer sweaters, mittens or upholstery fabrics. Coarse wool is most valuable for carpets and tough-wearing articles of clothing. 

One of my favorite craft advocates (who is herself the owner of a small "handmade" business) wrote a quick piece late last night that has provided me with a little pep talk this morning as I struggle with shipping labels and packing tape. You can read her blog post here . And if you are still looking for a good gift for a crafty person in your life, I highly recommend her Craftsanity Magazines and her peg looms . Now, back to the grindstone...