the sheep "on our farm"
(Looking for "Charlotte" at our CSA farm)
There are a lot of conversations around here that begin with "on our farm..." It's followed by any number of things, depending on who's talking. Because of course, our "someday farm" means five different things to all five of us. But we have so much fun dreaming about the possibilities, driving around perusing the possibilities (not yet! but it's coming soon...I can feel it), and talking about what we all do share in common for our farm plans. A near nightly conversation at the dinner table - always started by one of the boys - begins with "tell me the first three animals you want on our farm." Calvin's keeping track of it all on a pretty fabulous 7-year old version of a visual spreadsheet that I adore.
The chickens are a must (we all agree). A cow is a must (Calvin and I insist - Ezra's the swing vote, and we've still got some convincing to do with Papa). The donkey is uh, questionable (though Ezra is persistent on this one). As is the colt that Calvin wants to 'break' by his 8th birthday (just like Almanzo - his super hero). Adelaide will get her kitties. But sheep. Oh, the sheep are fast making their way to the top of my dream farm wish list.
Not helping has been the arrival of these two books in the past month. Shear Spirit: Ten Fiber Farms, Twenty Patterns and Miles of Yarn by Joan Tapper is a portrait of fiber farms in the US, with tales of their lives and animals, wonderful knitting patterns, and gorgeous photography sprinkled throughout. There's some knitting in here that I'm pretty excited to give a closer look at, but until then, this book sits on our coffee table for all to pour through the pages of farm life, and the amazing creative fiber works that come out of that (Calvin keeps stealing it away to his bed to look at the sheep - I think I've got an ally on the sheep argument).
A Fine Fleece: Knitting with Handspun Yarns by Lisa Lloyd is another I've been daydreaming in the pages of lately. It has some great information about handspinning, wool, sheep breeds and other technical detals like that. And then 26 amazing knitting patterns - each featuring a handspun beauty as well as a more readily available commercial yarn. The designs are gorgeous - a little beyond my knitting skill, perhaps. But that hasn't stopped me from admiring them and scouting our yarn for a pattern or two that I'd like to give a go at.
For now and until the time is right, we're all quite happy to get our farm fix at our local CSA farm (where this new little one was born last week - just hours before we visited), where they're kind enough to let us hang out and pretend. Which is just what we do.
