- Author: Hannah Bird
From the Barn to the Yarn in Hopland
On Monday morning a group of 25 strangers gathered in front of the lambing barn at the UC Hopland Research and Extension Center. “If you survive the week, you'll be in a rare group” commented John Harper, Livestock and Natural Resources Advisor to the class. This heralds the beginning of the sheep shearing school, an intensive week long class, which is so eagerly anticipated that space on the class was filled in just 4 minutes from the opening of online registration.
The participants are varied and have traveled from all over the USA. As they introduce themselves they explain their motivations for joining this class and a common theme begins to emerge “there's just no one else to shear my sheep”. Many of the participants work with smaller sheep flocks and it is not economical to employ travelling shearers, used to shearing flocks of hundreds or thousands, for just a few sheep. These small flocks are increasing across Mendocino County and the need for qualified shearers who are sympathetic to the needs of small producers is high. The group mix might surprise some, with over 20 female participants and a number of the group using vacation from their “day job” to attend this class including a hair dresser looking to expand her scope. During the introduction it is made clear to all that shearing is not as easy task “a full day of shearing is equivalent to running a marathon” concluded Harper as he led the class into the barn to get started.
“One of my favorite things about this school is the range of people who are brought together for such an intensive experience” commented Hannah Bird, HREC community educator. “At the end of the week you always see such pride in their achievement, and the possibility of a new economic string to their bow, we're proud to see that being expressed in our community through Matt Gilbert and his family, a past shearing school participant who has now opened Mendocino Wool and Fiber, our local wool mill”.
Alongside a renewed interest in keeping small flocks of sheep, there has also been increased practice of fiber arts such as knitting and felting in the last 20 years, particularly amongst millennials. Celebrity knitters such as Julia Roberts and Cameron Diaz might be partly responsible, but the many qualities of wool as a fiber are greatly appreciated by local spinners, knitters and artists.
To get a taste of the entire process from sheep to scarf, HREC invites the community to their 4th annual Barn to Yarn celebration on Saturday, May 12th. There will be displays and demonstrations including herding sheep with a sheepdog (performed by Tom Trent from the Redwood Empire Sheepdog Association), shearing, knitting, felting, spinning and weaving.
“Our amazing team of experts and volunteers will help attendees at Barn to Yarn to try their hand working with wool – this is such a great day for all the family from kids to the committed fiber artist. We'll even be creating a beautiful shawl during the event which will be offered at silent auction through the day. What could be a better Mother's Day present?” added Bird. Guest of honor, Jean Near (103) will be adding to the event with stories of over 100 years living in Mendocino, ranching merino sheep which are prized for their wool over many of those years. Matthew Topsfield brings rare knitting skills all the way from the Outer Hebrides of Scotland which he will share with attendees who might enjoy making a “fisherman's gansey”.
Admission is $10 for adults, children under 12 $5. HREC asks visitors to leave their pets at home to protect the site and the sheep resident there. Bring your own picnic and all utensils; tea, coffee and water will be available. Visit http://bit.ly/BarntoYarn2018 to find out more and purchase your ticket. Barn to Yarn will be held at the Rod Shippey Hall, 4070 University Road, Hopland, CA 95449 from 9am-3pm on May 12th. For more information contact Hannah Bird, (707) 744-1424, Ext. 105, hbird@ucanr.edu.
Barn to Yarn 2018 - small
- Author: Hannah Bird
On Monday morning a group of 25 strangers gathered in front of the lambing barn at the UC Hopland Research and Extension Center. “If you survive the week, you'll be in a rare group” commented John Harper, Livestock and Natural Resources Advisor to the class. This heralds the beginning of the sheep shearing school, an intensive week long class, which is so eagerly anticipated that space on the class was filled in just 6 minutes from the opening of online registration.
The participants are varied and have traveled from as far afield as Washington, Virginia and Texas. As they introduce themselves they explain their motivations for joining this class and a common theme begins to emerge “there's just no one else to shear my sheep”. Many of the participants work with smaller sheep flocks and it is not economical to employ traveling shearers, used to shearing flocks or hundreds or thousands, for just a few sheep. These small flocks are increasing across Mendocino County and the need for qualified shearers who are sympathetic to the needs of small producers is high. The group mix might surprise some, with over 20 female participants and number of the group using vacation from their “day job” to attend this class including a tax accountant, fashion designer, environmental restoration consultant and an art gallery manager. During the introduction it is made clear to all that shearing is not as easy task “a full day of shearing is equivalent to running a marathon” completed Harper as he led the class into the barn to get started.
“One of my favorite things about this school is the range of people who are brought together for such an intensive experience” commented Hannah Bird, HREC community educator. “At the end of the week you always see such pride in their achievement, and the possibility of a new economic string to their bow, we're proud to see that being expressed in our community through Matt Gilbert and his family, a past shearing school participant who has now opened Mendocino Wool and Fiber, our local wool mill”.
Alongside a renewed interest in keeping small flocks of sheep, there has also been increased practice of fiber arts such as knitting and felting in the last 20 years, particularly amongst millennials. Celebrity knitters such as Julia Roberts and Cameron Diaz might be partly responsible, but the many qualities of wool as a fiber are greatly appreciated by local spinners, knitters and artists.
To get a taste of the entire process from sheep to scarf, HREC invites the community to their 3rd annual Barn to Yarn celebration on Saturday, May 13th. There will be displays and demonstrations from herding sheep with a sheepdog, performed by Kevin Owens from the Redwood Empire Sheepdog Association, to shearing, knitting, felting, spinning and weaving.
“Our amazing team of experts and volunteers will help attendees at Barn to Yarn to try their hand at working with wool – this is such a great day for all the family from kids to the committed fiber artist. We'll even be creating a beautiful shawl in the 5 hours of the event which will be offered at silent auction through the day. What could be a better Mother's Day present?” added Bird. Guest of honor, Jean Near (102) will be adding to the event with stories of over 100 years living in Mendocino, ranching merino sheep which are prized for their wool over many of those years.
Admission is $10 for adults, children under 12 $5. HREC asks visitors to leave their pets at home to protect the site and the sheep resident there. Bring your own picnic and all utensils; tea, coffee and water will be available. Visit http://bit.ly/BarnToYarn to find out more and purchase your ticket. Barn to Yarn will be held at the Rod Shippey Hall, 4070 University Road, Hopland, CA 95449 from 9am-2pm on May 13th. For more information contact Hannah Bird, (707) 744-1424, Ext. 105, hbird@ucanr.edu.
- Author: Hannah Bird
- Author: Hannah Bird
We are so fortunate to have had Dana Burton join our team over the last few weeks, interning on a variety of our educational projects - here's a note from her!
Hi Everyone!
I am Dana Burton. I was raised in Los Angeles, CA. Currently, I attend University of California, Davis majoring in Environmental Science and Resource Management and interning at the Hopland Research Extension Center for the summer. Here at HREC, I've been able to help on many projects such as the "Sheep Stories" a tour of Mendocino County libraries. Also, I have been fortunate to experience many different habitats and wildlife as I work on the Shippey Hall Museum drawers.
Dana worked hard to prepare raw fleeces (straight from the backs of our sheep) into brightly colored, clean wool for our educational projects! As she commented during the process "I've never even touched a sheep before!"
- Author: Hannah Bird
Have you ever wondered where your wool sweater came from? Or just how to keep a 160lb sheep still enough to shear it? Join the Hopland Research and Extension Center (HREC) team and friends on Saturday, May 28th, 10am-2pm to get the answers to these and many more questions.
Expert shearer Matt Gilbert and owner of the new Ukiah wool mill will be offering demonstrations with a few of HREC's flock of over 800 western whiteface sheep working as his models! Visitors will also have the chance to see different kinds of wool from the fine, soft merino to the long, coarse Navajo-churros and to learn how they are graded.
Throughout the day Cathy Hessom, Beth Keiffer, Tim Easterbrook and Aleshanee Akin will introduce visitors to felting, spinning, weaving and knitting projects. California Conservation Corps members will also be giving us a new use for Kool-Aid, using it to dye wool! Stories of sheep ranching in Mendocino will be offered by Jean Near, who at 101 years old has plenty of experiences to recount.
If you'd like to get a little closer to a sheep, meet "Willy and Mitten", 2 of the extension centers sheep and you will even get the chance to see some of their friends being kept in line by Nancy Todd (Redwood Empire Sheepdog Association) and her sheepdog at 12pm for the sheepdog demonstration.
The day will provide opportunities for sheep farmers, fiber enthusiasts and families to get involved and learn more about every step of the process from sheep to sweater! Visitors will be welcomed to the HREC new conference hall, The Rod Shippey Building, and will have chance to picnic on the patio. “We can't wait to welcome the community to our beautiful site and to raise awareness of just one of the areas of research and education that we conduct up here. Our sheep are not only vital for the UC Cooperative Extension sheep shearing school but also for research into best management practices for rangelands and animal science,” commented Hannah Bird, HREC community educator.
Admission is $5 for adults, children under 12 are welcomed for free (online registration or checks preferred). HREC asks visitors to leave their pets at home to protect the site and the sheep resident there. Bring your own picnic and all utensils; some light food will be available. Visit http://ow.ly/4mSr1g to find out more and purchase your ticket. Barn to Yarn will be held at the Rod Shippey Hall, 4070 University Road, Hopland, CA 95449 from 10am-2pm on May 28th. For more information contact Hannah Bird, (707) 744-1424, Ext. 105, hbird@ucanr.edu.
