This is the second in a two-part series of interviews and visits to Northern California Fibershed producer members Shepherd’s Dream and the Woolgatherer Carding Mill. While intertwined, these individual businesses highlight the role of regional manufacturing using natural fibers. Both companies operate within the strategic geography of the Northern California Fibershed, which spans from San […]
Read MoreTag: Sheep
Naturally Colored Fiber Fun at Blue Barn Farm
Written & Photographed by Koa Kalish On a steep and sunny, five-acre hillside in El Dorado County, Catherine Lawson tends to her flock. They are some of the most luxurious wool-producing ungulates around, Merino sheep and Cashmere goats, and here, they live in many colors. Photo of lambs on left by Catherine Lawson. The Merino […]
Read MoreMulti-Colored Merino at Kirabo Pastures
Written & Photographed by Koa Kalish I meet Carrie and John outside of their farmhouse at the base of Kirabo Pastures: 250 acres of rolling hills and valleys in Witter Springs, Lake County. The spring air is fresh and hot, and they invite me to walk around the grounds with them. We first enter the […]
Read MoreLearning to Blossom
Written by Sasha Wirth; Photography by Paige Green Rain clouds linger above, but they do nothing to dampen the excited voices of those gathered below. Today is Shearing Day at Duckworth Farm and everyone from teenagers to retirees has come to lend a hand. There’s Jasper, a fifteen-year-old with bright blonde hair, who recently helped […]
Read MoreGrazing At the Cutting Edge
Written by Erin Rae & Photographed by Paige Green “I want to tell the story of sheep.” states the bright, blue-eyed Robert Irwin, one of the owner/operators of Kaos Sheep Outfit. He looks up from under his ball cap and pauses to let that sink in while his hands continue to untangle a section of […]
Read MoreWild Oat Hollow: Breeding Vitality
Written & Photographed by Koa Kalish Bright and luscious, glowing from within. Reflective and plump in the piercing winter light — this is how the grass shone verdant on the day I arrived at Wild Oat Hollow, a small homestead situated on a flat two-acre parcel in the tiny town of Penngrove, California. Wild Oat […]
Read MoreAlways Good Natured: Skyelark Ranch
Written by May Reid-Marr and photographed by Alycia Lang Alexis and Gillies Robertson, the team behind Skyelark Ranch, both come from environmental conservation backgrounds. Their interest in, and commitment to, sustainable agriculture is born of this background, and it is present in every aspect of how they manage the 120 acres that make up the […]
Read MoreTimeless Shepherding
Written by Marie Hoff and Dustin Kahn; photographed by Paige Green For Bill Jensen and his son, Jim, ranching is in their blood. Jensen Ranch has been in the family since 1856, when Jim’s great-great-great grandfather, Joseph Irvin, emigrated to Tomales, California from Ireland. Irvin Lane is still the name of the street where the […]
Read MoreRevitalizing Wool: One Dish Mat at a Time
Written by Sasha Wirth and photographed by Koa Kalish, with landscape and sheep photos by Paige Green A flock of sheep grazes on a golden hillside, on land that has been in the Pozzi family for four generations. Raised primarily for their meat, the shaggy pelts of these British breeds are coarse and thick – […]
Read MoreSurfing Serendipity with Mary Pettis-Sarley
Story by Caroline Spurgin, photos by Paige Green Mary Pettis-Sarley is primarily concerned with knitting herself into the fabric of her world, and her world is anything but ordinary. She is sage and earthy, philosophical and pragmatic; she seems to exist on two planes, one highly metaphysical, the other profoundly terrestrial—neither involves the mundane. Yet, […]
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