June 2026 Happenings at Withers Wool and Farm
Farm and Animals
June has been a relatively normal month for the farm and the animals. We have had a few hot days, but only a few and the weather has been uneventful: warm with periods of rain and not excessively humid. (But July and a heat wave is coming.) The sheep and goats are enjoying grazing in the bountiful fields and on the warmer days they can take a break in a shelter or covered area that has fans. All the sheep and goats have been sheared in April and May so none of them have excessive fleece that would prevent them from cooling down. The two baby Angora goats, Willow and Ash, are doing well; they are still nursing but getting more and more of their nutrition by grazing in the fields or eating hay and grain in the evenings and morning.
Every field on the farm has been mowed once and I have started to mow selected fields a second time. I mow a field when it is excessively stalky so the vegetation will grow back leafy - which is more nutritious for grazing. I mow a field a second time (and sometimes a third time) when the vegetation grows to over a foot and/or it again has lots of stalky growth. I started to have a problem this year with what I considered excessive growth of buttercups. Now these may appear to be pretty flowers, but they are toxic to livestock and they outcompete desirable grasses for nutrients. Since I do not use pesticides or herbicides on the farm, wherever I saw a butter cup I either mowed very low to the ground, picked the flower/stem, or dug up the plant by its roots. This has stopped the problem, at least this year. I will need to be more alert next year to deal with them as they grow and bud in the Spring.
Regarding the birds, the chickens are laying their eggs all over the place instead of their nesting boxes. This started after the issue with the raccoon last month. I have read if a hen gets spooked, she will often abandon her established routine and seek out a completely new, often hidden or isolated, location that she perceives as safer to lay her egg - so I assume that is what has happened. The peafowl are still in their normal mating season routine: the peacock is courting the peahens and the peahens are laying the occasional egg. (I pick up the eggs as I do not want any more peafowl.)
Willow and her mother, Plum, taking a break
Fiber and Shop
As I mentioned last month, I sheared all the Angora goats in May and would periodically post about transforming Cutie Pie’s fleece. I have done two posts on social media about this process: (1) initial skirting and tumbling of the fleece; (2) followed by washing and full skirting. Next I will use a mechanical picker (on a part of the fleece), followed by carding what was picked and then spinning the fiber. (And post on all of this.)
Various fiber magazines that were spread all across the barn and house have been collected and sorted and are being put out at a table in the shop. These are mostly magazines about knitting but there are also various magazines on beading, crochet, quilting, needlepoint and other topics. Visitors to the shop are welcome to take a magazine or two for their own use.
A normal month for fiber production. A number of new batts have been made on the large Patrick Green drum carder. Regarding handpsun yarns, new singles, cable, and thick & thin yarns have been produced and put in the shop. I have also dyed a number of mill spun yarns in various combinations of green(s) and blue(s). (Green and blue are iconic colors of spring; green represents fresh foliage, new grass, and returning life, while light, sky, and pastel blues symbolize clear spring mornings, spring showers, and the expanding, sunlit atmosphere of the season.)
Crochet Class
Classes and Events
We have had a number of classes at Withers Wool and Farm in June: one fiber processing class; three beginning spinning classes; two beginning crochet classes; one shawl workshop; and the needle felting class to make a fox.
Our big event coming up in July is Tour de Fleece. Withers Wool and Farm and Avalon Springs Farm are jointly sponsoring a Tour de Fleece team: Fiber Farms and Friends. Tour de Fleece is an annual, global "spin-along" event for hand spinners and fiber artists that runs concurrently with the Tour de France bicycle race. The central concept is simple: when the cyclists spin their wheels, fiber artists spin their yarn. The event acts as a fun, motivating challenge rather than an aggressive competition. Participants set personal goals to push their skills, build consistency, or clear out their fiber stashes over the three-week period.
Info about the Fiber Farms and Friends team, the challenge days, the Tic-Tac-Toe board and prizes are in the flyers/pictures that follow. Come by and spin! We hope to see you!!!
