new Year Reflections
The turn of the New Year serves as a reflection point for all of us where we look at the wins and challenges of the past year and open to new possibilities for the year ahead. For us, this fall has prepared a pathway launching us into this New Year. Each moment shaping plans, decisions and opportunities that are to come.
Some of the highlights of this year were:
In the spring our sheep gave birth to 6 healthy babies. All of which were in a beautiful array of natural colors- white, black and 3 shades of brown which are called morrit. This was a blessing as we had been hoping for more color diversity in our flock as we move into our next phase of the project.
We learned to hand shear our own sheep in May. This is a very challenging and physical skill so we felt extremely accomplished with every sheep that was shorn. After the first 2 learning experiences where our sheep had temporary bad haircuts. The next few looked amazing and the fleeces were excellent.
David has pushed forward our garment production. He set up a work space, built a table for skirting fleeces. (This is the first step after shearing the sheep where you pull out the dirty/worst pieces of the fleeces and sort the good pieces to be ready for washing.) We invested in a comb set to prepare the washed wool into roving. David is investigating the next pieces of equipment for spinning and garment production.
We grew new herbs this season in our fields and foraged wild herbs for our herbal self-care products.
Our bee keeper, Anais, from Bun Bun Bees had her first harvest of honey despite national bee colony collapse. She and the bees produced beautiful honey in many different flavors from the various seasonal forage that the bees find here at the far. We are looking forward to her growth now that all 19 colonies are situated at our farm.
During the summer, we decided to try something new with the sheep. Last year, we fabricated a shade structure that was cumbersome to move and a few times blew away into the trees during high winds. This year we decided to work with the land. David mowed pathways through the forest buffers around the farm field to place our netting partially in the woods and partially in the fields. Our sheep have never been happier and more relaxed during a hot summer season. They deeply enjoyed the natural shade and cool offered by the trees and brush.
In October, we traveled to Sedona Arizona to share the story of the farm and some adventures in listening to the land at Crystalline Convergence, a conference run by Sandra Walter. We met so many amazing people and had a wildly magical experience in the beautiful Red Rock dessert. The creativity and connection from this conference continues to flow. We are excited to be co-creating with other participants on design and farm projects. We will share more in 2026!
Finally, we had a wonderful holiday season. It was so touching for our products to be a part of so many holiday gifts. We pour our love into every product we create, from the moment we place the seeds into the soil to placing a label on the final herbal product. We included handwritten notes in every package to share our love and gratitude.
Thank you so much for being a part of the farm family. We are so grateful for all the love and support over the years. We are so excited for 2026! Wishing you the most beautiful New Year filled with joy, love, abundance, vibrant health, creativity, excitement, miracles, blessings and happiness.
With infinite gratitude,
Anne and David
