What stood out to me most in my interviews was the passion and excitement in everyone’s voices as they spoke about how they spend their time. Everybody I spoke with chooses to engage with their work because they believe in its impact and it brings them joy. These are some of my favorite clips from the project and I hope they bring a smile to your face.
Hilary on butchering and feeding her community
“I’ve realized how much I enjoy the processing side of it. So butchering them, I don’t butcher them myself necessarily, but having the sheep, the lamb born on the farm, and then taking it through the whole process, and then selling that animal to a customer, for them to put in their freezer and for them to eat through the winter is very satisfying and really enjoyable. And it feels educational a lot of the time for customers, because they can get to understand the process when they buy a custom cut lamb. They learn about how difficult it is to get just a piece of meat on their table, they can’t just like go store and buy it. Like there’s so much more that goes into it. And all the customers that we have, have become really appreciative of the whole process of farming and slaughtering, and come back year after year to buy us. So that part feels really good to be feeding local families and some neighbors with our with our meat.”
Carol on spinning wool as a form of meditation
“At first, it was challenging, especially without a lesson, I mean, a real teacher. But the way I describe it to others is you can, you’re sitting and relaxing once you understand how to spin. But so you’re relaxing but also producing. So even when you’re too tired, what I say to people, even when I’m too tired to follow a pattern, or read a book or write a letter or something that I would normally do in the evening, I can still spin because once you learn it, it’s very easy. And you can just, it helps you relax. Actually in 1973, a young friend of a teacher, we were all young then, she invited me to her class in transcendental meditation. And it just took me a second or two to realize that I have my own meditation at the wheel because every evening I spun and it calmed me down and and I didn’t think I needed another kind.”
Michael on his love for fiber
“What I love about fiber, it’s a fundamental, I don’t know how to describe it. I’m just drawn to it in some ways, just the natural fiber of wool, sheep wool. It’s something that when I found it that I realized that it was home, if that makes any sense, that this is what I wanted to do. After years and years of environmental consulting, which is something that I did to make money. This is what I’d do even if nobody paid me, I would still want to find a way to do this, you know, impoverish yourself so that you can make yarn, just for fun. Which kind of is what I’m doing now with this new spinner but so yeah. There’s just something magical about manufacturing for starters, I think that’s a huge thing. I’ve always been drawn to that. And that’s really meaningful for me, as opposed to just making paper, you know, which is what I did for my day job was basically just making paper. This is very tangible. It’s probably gonna last a lot longer than the paper that I created for all those clients. And it’s just joyful. You know, this is just such a joyful medium, isn’t it? Wool is magical, I love it. I love that people can buy the stuff and be enthusiastic about it and make something gorgeous out of it and be proud of it as well. So that’s really what I love about it.”
Mary on the practice of shearing
“What aspects of the work do I find most joyful? That would be working with the farmers, like going like going to people’s homes, going to their farms and talking to them and seeing all the different management styles and breeds of sheep. And that brings me a lot of joy and the physical, the physicalness of shearing, like the physical part of shearing is like a mental reset. So, there will be days where I’m driving to a job crying, or just like, in a bad place, or like something and then and being like, I don’t know, if I can shear, I don’t know if I can do this. And then I start and it’s just like, oh, yeah, I got this. And then I’m smiling, and my body feels great. And my head feels better. And you have to be like, so present in the shearing, that it’s really awesome, and meditative, and gets me excited. It’s really fun.”
Lee on her attraction to fiber
“I do love wool best. It has a lot of body, it’s very warm. I couldn’t, I love, again, I love winter, I don’t think I could get through winter without wool. It’s very comfortable to wear, it’s very easy to work with, it dyes well, it just has a great feel. And I have to say that I did do some spinning for a long time. I kind of stopped spinning and I gave my spinning wheel away. But I’m still extremely attracted to fleece and at these wool shows they usually have a fleece competition. And I, it’s just bigger than me I just love this stuff. I like to dig my hands in it and smell it and the color of it and feel of it. I say don’t buy any fleece you don’t have a wheel anymore. But it’s, I don’t know it’s a very powerful attraction I can’t necessary explain it.”