New Hampshire State Sheep and Wool

We took a trip last weekend to the New Hampshire State Sheep and Wool Festival in Deerfield, NH. Spent a full morning there, lots to see, many vendors in a number of buildings. About 120, as I recall hearing. Many vendors selling yarn, some processed wool fiber, some had fleeces to sell. Not enough equipment and supplies for us fiber artists at these shows. I am a weaver and Handspinner. I want to see lots of spinning wheels, combs, tools, plenty of fiber! Not commercial yarns. I make my own, remember? I went with a list of about 10 items I was looking for, found 2 of them. One being Power Scour, for washing fiber. One vendor had some, so I bought a refill. I went looking for several fleece types, found none. Very disappointing fleece sale. Plenty of Romney, and Lincoln Longwool, some Shetland, too....I did find a Finnish Landrace ( a.k.a. Finnsheep). Lovely soft, fine fleece. Not crisp or bouncy, this is softer. Cannot wait to process it! It is very white--a nice cool bright white. Lots of ideas for that. I had planned on taking photos of the show, but I completely forgot, I was so busy looking things over! They had an Alpaca Fest in one of the buildings, we didn't have time to see that, but perhaps next year. It warrants a trip back! Not as big as Rhinebeck, certainly, but a nice size show, nevertheless. I will put posts about the fleeces I bought there, as I work with them! Can't wait....

The Garden

Beautiful things are beginning to grow here at Huntington House. The garden is coming to life. Tulips, violets, daffodils and peonies are pushing their way up through the dirt! Our goats provide us with not only wool, and laughter from watching their antics, but they make wonderful compost for the garden! I have put many cartloads on the herb garden this spring, and it is like gold to us naturalists! I've been poring over my gardening books....."Cottage Gardens" is a favorite, as is "The Self Sufficient Gardener", and "Backyard Homesteading". One of my classic favorites is "Herbs" by Emily Tollie Meade, published in the 80's, it is a treasure trove of lavish photos and information about herb gardening. Highly recommend it. I have been dabbling in vegetables a bit, in the herb garden. It is so nice to go out on a warm summer evening, and pick fresh herbs for dinner, as well as tomatoes, zucchini, cukes and beans to round out a meal. Nothing better than fresh picked. My gardening ambitions always exceed my budget and my time. So, I often sit down with a good gardening book and a glass of iced tea (with peppermint picked from the herb garden, I might add!), and dream of what I could do, with lots of time and lots of money. I would like to get my water garden up and running this year. It has been laying fallow for two years. Perhaps this weekend......