It will come as no surprise to some people that the price of wool in the UK has plummeted to the worst prices ever. Last year was bad enough. When we sheared our sheep, the shearer took the fleeces and gave us a discount on shearing for the swap. This year, even the shearer didn’t…
A New Year is a great opportunity to challenge yourself to something new. With long, dark evenings and nothing much else happening due to Covid restrictions, this really is the perfect time to learn a skill or try out a hobby. Thankfully all you will need is any simple tools required for your chosen pastime…
I am sure you know by now that I love wool. I love how versatile it is, the sheer amount of things you can do with it. It is cool in summer and warm in winter. It is the most natural of materials and is probably the only animal product (as well as dairy) which…
There are definitely some confusion around when it comes to sheep and lamb. I thought I would try and dispel some of these myths for you and try and help you understand why sheep farming can be so rewarding and why eating lamb is not a bad thing. 1. The best time to eat lamb…
When I wrote my post of goals for the New Year, I was full of 1st of January enthusiasm. I had been following Sally, founder of I Can Craft for a while on Twitter and, just happened to see a tweet from her at the right time. Within a couple of days, I had enrolled…
My paternal grandmother is the reason behind my love of wool-long before I married a sheep farmer. She was always knitting and I remember getting one go those little dollies with pegs on the top which started my relationship with yarn. I imagine I was about seven when she started to teach me to knit…
We shear our sheep once a year, usually in June or July. Our main flock are mules which are a commercial crossbreed bred for meat and wool. Despite what some people think, we do not breed sheep for their wool. It is purely a welfare issue which I will go into further in a moment….
Everyone dreams of a good night’s sleep. What if your slumber could also help farmers? If you buy a pillow from Herdysleep, you will be doing just that. From the founders of Lake District brand Herdy, Herdysleep began using fairly traded Herdwick wool to make award winning mattresses and has recently expanded to pillows too-the…
I have always loved knitted things and, being the wife of a sheep farmer, I feel like loving wool is, in some way, helping the industry. I am a member of a farming Facebook group called Ladies in Livestock and, earlier in the year, just as I had given birth to Baby J, I spotted…
Last week I attended a crochet workshop at Black Sheep Wools in Warrington. I am a frequent visitor there already as it is a stones throw away from the farm and, unfortunately for me (not them), it is on my way home from school so I quite often nip in with a baby on my…
