9/21/15 - NEW this year! We have a fantastic new event called "Shepherds Talk Fiber" - a scheduled list of talks about breeds focusing on their fiber. Our presenters have been asked to provide a 5 min intro of their breed, highlighting its fiber & Breed Association information. What is the breed standard for the showcased breed, color, micron, special characteristics, historical and/or current uses? Any special care and handling of the sheep to produce great fiber (Breeding choices, nutrition, stress, coating, controlling vegetable matter, effects of lambing or age) 15 Minute Presentation or Demo This can be spinning and talking about various ways to spin the breed for different results, OR Recommendations on how to have it commercially prepared (what spin or ply or weight of yarn best highlight your breed’s characteristics etc.) OR Talk and/or demonstrate felting, or weaving or any other ‘best use’ for the breed’s fiber and what makes it special, OR You might see them could skirt a fleece, or do just about anything they want to get you excited about their breed’s fiber (why they love it?) 5 Min Question and answer. Show up on time to learn about breeds that would work for your new flock (hint hint), or types of fiber you may never have worked with before. Enjoy! Add the talks to your Sched so you get reminders and can plan your festival experience.
Our 2015 Schedule is evolving. Please check back to see additions and create a Sched account to start your own custom festival schedule and plan your time wisely. Share events with friends and family via Facebook and Twitter to rally them to plan the day together. Accommodations around the Hudson Valley are booking up, so if you haven’t done it, get on that ASAP. This is just the schedule - see our official website www.sheepandwool.com to volunteer and see more pics.
Heritage Gardens, Heirloom Seeds: Melded Cultures with a Pennsylvania German Accent Michael B. Emery & Irwin Richman. Heritage, or traditional, gardens and heirloom seeds are joined at the hip, but previous books have separated them. This is the first holistic look at several of the most vibrant trends in contemporary horticulture, both in vegetables and flowers. Lavishly illustrated, it is a how-to manual, a history, and a guide to gardens and historic landscapes. The basics of heritage garden design from California to the East Coast are here, with special attention to the Pennsylvania four-square garden. Plans and suggestions for your garden are included, and seed-saving techniques are clearly enumerated. A gallery of heirloom plants and lists of suppliers are featured. There are travel suggestions for visiting gardens ranging from Bethabara Park in North Carolina, to The Landis Valley Village and Farm Museum in Pennsylvania, to the Frontier Culture Museum in Staunton, Virginia. This book is sure to delight historians, traditionalists, green thumbs, and horticulturists alike. Irwin Richman, Professor Emeritus, The Pennsylvania State University at Harrisburg, works with the Landis Valley Associates, a private group dedicated to forwarding the aims of the Landis Valley Village and Farm Museum. He is a widely known lecturer and the author and co-author of many books, including ten for Schiffer Publishing. Richman was born in New York City and summered in New York’s Catskill Mountains. In Williamsburg, Brooklyn, he tinkered in the brick-pathed garden behind his long-widowed Grandma Schwebel’s Italianate house.
