WoodsEdge - Life on a Fiber Farm
Thursday, August 1, 2013
Thursday, June 13, 2013
Life on a Diversified Family Farm
Despite the unprecedented cool weather and abundant rain,
spring has sprung at WoodsEdge! Flowers, crias (baby alpaca and llamas) and yak
calves are each welcomed with delight. The herds run and romp through the lush
green pastures. Our grass fed beef are content and although our honey
production is somewhat hampered by the rain, our hives are healthy and the bees
enjoying the increased bee friendly plantings we have done.
Our alpaca and llama fleece harvest was done in late March
and early April this year so we could get the fleece into manufacturing
channels sooner, with some exquisite hand-spinning fleeces pulled aside for our
upcoming annual Summer Stitch, Spin ‘n Sip on June 23. The yak soft down is
still being harvested, but visitors to our Farm Store will be totally
enthralled with the yak fiber, rovings and yarns we already have processed and
ready to sell.
We welcome your visit to our Farm Store filled with the
bounty our 90 acre diversified family farm produces. Please
visit soon! We are open from 10 a.m. till 4 p.m. on Saturdays and Sundays.
Saturday, February 9, 2013
Fashion Forward - Spring 2013
New York is abuzz as Fashion
Week rolls into town! These runway shows symbolize the beginning of the
spring!
I particularly like to add my own signature to the beige or light fawn products by over dyeing with a pale pink Linen or soft Nectarine. I feel these over-dyed colors are more feminine, more saleable, and look better on more skin tones.
Handspun handknit shawl made from medium silver grey alpaca overdyed with a hint of blue. Vintage WoodsEdge circa 1990's. |
The new bright colors on the
scene are Emerald
and Tender
Shoots (aka chartreuse), which look fabulous with Monaco Blue
or Dusk Blue.
Poppy Red
paired with white, navy or black continues to be a quintessential All American
favorite.
Tuesday, January 29, 2013
News to Yak About
Brent, our head yak master
here at WoodsEdge, just returned from the International Yak Show and
Conference, held annually at the National Western Stock Show in Denver,
Colorado. He had a great time, made lots of friends and bought the Reserve
Champion bull along with a few other cows. Photos should be forthcoming
on our new Tibetan Yak Foundation Female and Signature Sire pages, on our web
site. It is not live yet, but keep checking - it will be soon!
Coincidentally, on Brent’s first
day back at the farm, a new yak heifer calf born! It was a typical winter
thaw January day in New Jersey with temperatures climbing out of the deep
freeze to start snowing, then sleeting and gradually warming up enough to rain.
After growing up in Iowa, New Jersey weather never ceases to amaze me after 40
years of living here!
Yakfully yours,
Stock Yards at the 2013 National Western Stock Show, Denver, CO |
Fortunately, this mama yak
was no ordinary cow. She is one of the infamous elite McRobert/Puckett yaks,
who we affectionately call Boss Mama. She has earned her title respectfully as
a stellar wooly Imperial who is a no nonsense mama and herd protector. A little
funky New Jersey weather was not about to get in her way of birthing another
outstanding wooly Imperial yak! Ollie, our resident yak whisperer, and
caretaker of yak has done a marvelous job with taming this wild and wooly group
from Nebraska! Hence it was no surprise to Ollie that Boss Mama chose the dry
bedding in the barn to have her new calf. I am sure Jerry McRoberts (God rest
his soul) never imagined one of his cantankerous cows choosing a barn to birth
in, but then that is why we have always said the animals who are lucky enough
to be chosen as WoodsEdge bloodstock come to the WoodsEdge Spa and Resort.
Boss Mama with her 2 day old calf. |
We are happy to report that
Boss Mama and her lively heifer calf that is up and running, are both doing
fine! This calf takes its place as one of the elite few who earned the name as
McRoberts’ BEST, out of his two best bulls that he sold to Tad Puckett along
with this elite group of cows right before he died. Having known Jerry and his
brother Wayne, and their wives Barb and Cathy (who was one of our first alpaca
garment models) since the mid 1980’s, I am sure Jerry would be pleased his
elite yak who were the love of his life (other than his wife and daughter
Brooke) are in a breeding program that is determined to take Tibetan Yak to the
next level.
Thanks Jerry! With every calf
out of your breeding program, your name and reputation as the foremost breeder
of Tibetan Yak in North America remains talked about! Brent and I are so
grateful we have these genetic treasures in our herd.
Yakfully yours,
Linda Berry Walker & Brent Walker
Breeding
Award Winning Fibers
since 1976
Friday, October 12, 2012
Life on the Farm in Autumn
Our last blog was about what the Fashionista’s would do this year at the Garden State Sheep and Fiber Festival. Despite the sticky weather on Saturday, the Festival was a huge success! Amy & Illumina won the Shepherd’s Lead class wearing an ensemble inspired by the fall colors. If you love the scarf that Amy is wearing, come visit the Farm Store as we hand dyed a few in the same color palate.
All of the farmers markets are in full swing, until they sing their sweet swan song at the end of October or the weekend before Thanksgiving, depending on the market. We are at full tilt at the markets, as the weather has turned chilly and everyone is looking for our alpaca socks and blankets! Stop by a farmers market near you and see our selection of alpaca and llama wears.
As we have still not yet had a killing
frost, my great gardener friend Leisa and I have been strategizing what we can
save and what we have to put to bed until next spring. Amazingly we still have
a fair amount of color in the gardens and Leisa’s addition this year of grasses
has been spectacular. My favorite is graciella with her graceful plumes –
sounds like a great name for an alpaca cria too! In our efforts to save as much
as we could, Leisa decided to take Madame Gardenia home to her eastern sunlight
breakfast nook. This year Madame performed better than any other gardenia that
I have ever raised with prolific blooms all summer. Too our dismay, we learned
gardenia’s are poisonous to cats and dogs, thus not a good choice for anyone
with indoor pets. If anyone reading this has a greenhouse, or home without pets
and a great eastern sunny exposure, let us know right away. We would love to
give Madame Gardenia a new home.
Crias and little yak calves are being born.
What a thrill!
We invite you to the farm to share the
wonders of the fall season!
Thursday, September 6, 2012
What will the Fashionistas do this year?
Around our farm, Amy is known as one of the two legged fashionistas, but there are quite a few four legged fashionistas as well. Meet WoodsEdge Bright Ilumina, one of our best dressed suri llamas!
Last year Amy and WoodsEdge Causin’ A Commotion placed second in the largest adult Shepherd's Lead class to date. This year Amy and WoodsEdge Bright Illumina will be back to strut their stuff! With the help of fellow fiber aficionado, Ginger Clark, and WoodsEdge’s in-house fiber aficionados, this year's garments will surely impress the judges! Come cheer on these fashionisitas this Sunday around
Click here to learn more about the Shepherd's Lead class.
Tuesday, September 4, 2012
Yakkity Yak - All About Yak Fiber
Our three Imperial Tibetan Yak cows pictured here, although true black to look at; actually produce a warm milk chocolate brown fleece. The yak fiber is short stapled, and ultra-fine like cashmere, but often compared to quiviut. They shed this precious downy fiber annually, with the shed complete usually by fall.
It spins into a fine soft yarn; making a lovely lace weight yarn. Depending on your preference you can spin yak on a light weight top whorl spindle or a supported spindle, or a high ratio spinning wheel.
Yak blends very nicely with
other fibers. If you are going to blend by hand, use a similar staple length
fiber like cotton, cashmere or camel down. Commercially combed tops are also a
great way to try yak for the first time, and spin quite easily. My personal
favorite is a 50/50 blend with Merino or Cormo, which changes the color to a
lovely pearlescent grey with a rich patina. Perhaps the most surprising quality
of yak fiber is the soft luster.
This coming weekend at the
Garden State Sheep and Fiber Festival, held at the Hunterdon County
Fairgrounds on Rt 179 in Ringoes (directions -http://www.co.hunterdon.nj.us/depts/rutgers/2011-4HFair/directionsandmap.pdf) you will get an opportunity to purchase
both the Imperial Yak down and white Royal Yak down, as well as the pewter
colored yak/merino top. We are in Barn 3 – just look for the 10 ft Yak banner!
Perhaps best of all, you will see Ginger spinning lace weight yak yarn on her
top whorl spindle, and hear yak stories from Linda. For you knitters, we will
have the first few skeins of yak/alpaca yarns for sale.
Come see us at the Festival
and yakkity yak with us!
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