We had an exciting day of shearing on the morning of March 22nd this year. Not only were we training in a new -and rather young – crew, but we already had 20 lambs on the ground! The number of lambs was partly due to us needing to postpone shearing a week to avoid a blizzard. The young crew was a neighborly group – all live within 5 miles as the crow flies.

I tried to do a preliminary skirting as the fleeces were shorn from the sheep. This worked better for the Babydoll portion of the flock. The many lambs associated with the Finn x Babydoll portion increased chaos significantly. We even had to search through the “waste” bin to retrieve one fleece! Special thanks to Brandy, Carol and Kendall for helping to manage the chaos!

Links to view samples from each fleece are below. Some fleeces will be reserved for competition in the Shepherds’ Harvest Fleece Competition (May 9th – Lake Elmo, MN ) and the rest are available for purchase. I will will also be vending skirted fleeces, rovings, yarns of various weights, colors, and compositions at the North Star Farmers booth in the barn at Shepherds’ Harvest.

Babydoll Wool – Finn x Babydoll Wool – North Star Farmers at Shepherds’ Harvest

Crew from left: Leland Haugen, Ty Peterson, Minnie Haugen, Kendall Clair, Norris Haugen, and Blake Eiken. Not pictured: Brandi Bowron, Carol Wiegrefe, and Yours Truly. Shearer: Tre Bowron. Photo credits (except bottom center) go to Kendall Clair.