Over Abundance

Now that I’m taking a break from school, I get to have days off again and I’m enjoying it quite a bit. Yesterday I woke up at 10 and stayed in bed until 2 finishing a book. I ate cake for breakfast in my bed.

Remind me of these days the next time I think about eliminating all of my free time, okay?

Onward! This past Sunday we all closed the shop and paid a visit to Central/Eastern/Eastern-Central/Central-Eastern Oregon. (There were several minor disputes as to the actual location of the place we were going to. Now we’re all right, yay for backslashes!)

We got to meet the sheep that grow some of the yarn we carry. Imperial Stock Ranch has been in operation since 1871. They’ve had four owners, the most recent one being Dan Carver and his wife Jeanne who have been there since the year I was born. Making this their 20th year.

Dan and Jeanne are such welcoming people that I was immediately homesick for the small town I grew up in and around. Sometimes I forget that there are places where complete strangers will say “Hey, how are you?” and not want your change or to sign petitions or to try and preach their crazed religion to you. Knitters are the only people I trust instinctively. Besides, they can’t mug me if their hands are full of yarn.

Anyway, we got to see lambs, and shearing. They shear once a year, and we were there the 1 day they do it. 364 other days we would not have seen shearing. But we are lucky if nothing else.

My favourite part of the whole shearing process? Um, the shearers. But that’s just me. Andres had a go, and so did Jayme. Both much braver people than I, for sure.

Jeanne told us all about the history of the ranch, which is really fascinating and also fraught with different tragedies. I think what struck me most was the continuity. The building they shear in has been sheared in annually for over 100 years. She showed us hand-shears, and then where they had mounted a drive shaft for the very first mechanical clippers, and then finally the building got electricity for electric clippers which have gone through an evolution of their own. But think about it. The sheep there are descendants from the very first sheep to be sheared in that building. That’s about 12 generations of sheep, all on the same piece of land, all eating the grass that just keeps growing. It awes me every single time I think about it.

There was a man there, Andy, who has been shearing sheep for 20 years. That means he sheared the grandmommas of the lambs that were born this year. Very cool, if you ask me. Anyway, this is a video of him shearing a whole sheep in under 3 minutes.

And, um, these are lambs. LAAAAAMBS! Oh my GOD they are so cute, you seriously want to stick one inside your coat and steal it home with you. They’re incredible. Loud. Cute. But loud. Each lamb had a very distinct voice, and Jeanne told us that sheep are actually quite quiet most of the year and that they usually talk the most just before birth and while their lambs are growing. Interesting, non?

These are the things I like about Imperial Stock Ranch.

1. They use minimal processing to make their yarn. They shear, skirt, and then take the fleeces to a full-service mill in Alberta (The closest one they could find that can handle the volume they have.) They don’t use chemicals, or carbonise their fleeces so they retain a lot of their natural softness.
2. Their sheep never get a single shot. No injections of any kind are given to these animals. They are guarded by two Italian guard dogs that have completely eliminated any predator problems. Jeanne told us they used to lose 40% of their lambs to coyotes. These guard dogs are environmentally friendly, cost-effective, and best of all keep the lambs safe. The ranch has not lost a lamb to a predator in 8 years since they got the dogs. These sheep? They are loved.
3. Jeanne and Dan are NICE! Seriously, folks, they’re nicer than heck and so giving of what they have to share it makes you want to visit all the time.
4. Their yarns are a lot like stuff that Schoolhouse Press offers, and you all know how much I love Elizabeth Zimmermann. Well here is a local source of yarns that are really similar to the stuff that dear ‘Liz used. Their pencil roving? So similar to the Unspun Icelandic! The 2-ply, 4-Ply, and Lopi style yarns are all very close to various yarns. The 2 ply especially reminds me of a softer version of Bartlett’s. They have a sock yarn, which we will be getting in as soon as their yarn is done being processed and shipped to them,

All in all, not a bad way to spend a Sunday.