September 2026 Happenings at Withers Wool and Farm
Farm and Animals
We finally started getting some cooler weather towards the end of September. Much appreciated by me and by all the animals. I think if I could poll the animals they would generally like it to be in the high 40s/low 50s in the morning and mid 60s in the afternoon. They can obviously handle much hotter and much colder temperatures, but from my observations this range is preferred.
The Angora does have started going into estrus. So, I moved Oak, the Angora buck born in April, to be with the other bucks. At 5 months, Oak is probably too young to be fertile but it is possible and I do not want unexpected pregnancies so I needed to move him. He is a feisty fellow and held his own with the other bucks. After a few minutes of butting heads, they left each other alone. He was very anxious for a few hours about being separated from mom and the other goats he had known. By the end of the next day, he had started assimilating with the other bucks and by the third day they were all best friends. I will selectively breed a few goats starting in mid-October.
As anyone with a lawn knows, the vegetation is still growing. So my mowing cycle has slowed down but I am still mowing the occasional field. Any field I mow now will probably not get mowed again until next year after the Spring growth cycle. And speaking of vegetation, I got two more loads of hay in September (for three total) to finish up all the hay I will need over the next year. I receive 105 bales per load so that is 315 bales in total. Since the sheep and goats go inside every night, and also stay inside when it has rained (or snowed) and wet outside - I go through a lot of hay throughout a year.
All adult chickens molt; molting is the annual process where a chicken sheds its old, worn-out feathers and regrows new, healthy ones. Decreasing daylight in late summer or early fall is the primary natural trigger of a mol. Chickens redirect their energy and nutrients from making eggs toward building feathers. The shedding and regrowth process during molting for the average chicken takes about 8 to 12 weeks; for a Blue Cochin, which has lots of feathers, the molt process can take up to 16 weeks. I think my Blue Cochin chickens started their molt process in early August which is when egg production went down and I started seeing lots more chicken feathers on the ground. Egg laying has picked back up - but I am still seeing copious amounts of chicken feathers on the ground so I expect there is at least another few weeks before the molting process is over.
Oak (in the middle) meeting the other Angora bucks
Fiber and Shop
Production of various fiber products continued apace during September: hand spun yarns; batts from the drum carder; misc items like coasters, dryer balls and cat balls; etc. In preparation for the Shendoah Valley Fiber Festival (SVFF) which took place 26-27 September, I made lots of cat mats since they sell well at fiber shows.
Regarding hand spun yarns, I made one beaded yarn and posted on social media how straight-forward the process I used was. In this case I threaded beads onto a (thick) thread, distributed the beads across the thread approximately two yards apart, and made a knot around each bead to hold it in place. Then I spun a single yarn. Finally, I took the thread with the beads and used it as a core to spiral ply the single hand spun yarn. There are other more elaborate methods to make a beaded yarn. This demonstrates a very straightforward methodology. Other hand spun yarns produced for the shop included a number of stand-alone singles (the mid month email was on making a stand-alone single), some thick and thin yarns and a few corespun lock yarns.
A number of the solidly dyed sock yarns had been sold, so more sock yarns were dyed in various solid colors.
And the never ending process of cleaning fleeces continued. My goal is to clean four fleeces a month; by clean I mean to thoroughly wash, skirt and pick detritus out of the fleece so it is ready to be processed into batts, roving and/or yarn. And I did meet that goal this month, cleaning two mohair fleeces and two merino fleeces.
Some of the new hand spun yarns
Events
There were two classes in September at Withers Wool and Farm - nuno felting and beginning crochet. And lots of events, both at the farm and external:
The 2nd Annual Maryland Farm Tour took place on Saturday, September 12, 2026, from 10:00 AM to 4:00 PM across multiple working farms in the state, one being Withers Wool and Farm. Visitors got a tour of the farm to meet the various animals: peafowl, Blue Cochin chickens, Merino Sheep and Angora goats. As always, feeding the Angora goats tortilla chips was a highlight. There were also demos of carding, felting and spinning fiber. Hard to keep up with the count; I estimate between 40-50 visitors came by.
Members of Paving The Way were at the farm 21 September to see the animals and do some crafts - making coasters and painting with wool pictures. (Paving The Way is a community where young adults encourage each other while exploring and discovering their individual purpose through meaningful conversations and shared experiences.) Lots of fun to host and a very enjoyable evening with them.
On 27-28 September Withers Wool and Farm was at the Shenandoah Valley Fiber Festival (SVFF) along with over 100 other vendors. The weather was mostly good (no rain until mid-afternoon on Sunday) and it was a great show. Thanks to everyone who stopped by the booth.
On 24 October I will be at the Fall Frederick Fiber Fest. (And so the farm shop will not be open on 23 October as I set up and also closed on 24 October while I am at the show.) This will have over 100 fiber oriented vendors and run from 9 to 4 at the Frederick Fairgrounds located at 797 East Patrick Street, Frederick, MD 21701. They will have a kids zone from 11-2 that includes a petting zoo, bounce house, and face paining. The fest will also include a number of local restaurants and beverage makers.
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Lots of social media posts about all of this.
Instagram: withers.wool; Facebook: Withers Wool and Farm