An afternoon on the farm
Yesterday I went out to my friend John’s farm to collect some free wool he had promised me (gotta love that free wool) and he and his son took me on an impromptu tour of their land. Of course, since I did not foresee the tour, I didn’t take my camera with me, so I have no pictures to actually prove I was there.
But I do have the wool.
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This is a total of 4 1/4 pounds of raw lamb’s wool (well, not all in that one bag), and there’s a lot of grease in it. Here’s a closeup:
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See those little orange dots on the butt ends? Those are beads of real live lanolin. I weighed the fleece before washing so that I can do a comparison of the weight after washing. It will be interesting to see how much loss there is from just the weight of the grease.
And, because I just couldn’t wait, I rinsed a few locks in hot water, just to see how they’d turn out.
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Aren’t they pretty and fluffy looking?
I enjoyed the tour of the farm quite a bit, too. It had been a long time since I’d piled into a truck with a farmer and taken off cross-country across the fields. To a native Midwesterner, there’s nothing prettier than this kind of local farmland, full of hidden and unexpected beauties. And cows. I got to pet a day-old calf, and listened with interest as John talked about many of the individual cows, who all looked the same to me. He told me about the ones he’s lost over the last months: one got hit by lightning, one had a heart attack while giving birth and he lost both the mama and the calf.
He raises corn and beans as well, and told me about how much that corn brings when he sells it. Not much. It’s a hard life, and easy for the rest of us to forget just where our food comes from.
John and his mother, who lives near him, gave me some peaches off their tree. This is bona fide local Missouri fruit.
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Today’s task is to make peach preserves. A little bit of bottled summer.
July 28th, 2006 at 12:47 pm
The wool is lovely. I don’t believe I’ve seen it in a state so, well, close to the lamb before. How very kind of John.
There are plenty of country songs (I love country music) that talk about losing your livestock in ways similar to those John told you about and about other farm-related travails. I’ve always found those songs quite affecting. I’m sure that response comes from growing up in the rural Midwest.
Good luck with those peach preserves! Great post!
July 28th, 2006 at 2:17 pm
This was a great post! I was gratified and touched by your tribute to your rural Midwest growing up. (Also referred to in “sister’s” comment.) John is a generous and good man who probably would not leave his farm under any circumstances. It is a tough way to make a living. It is a calling really.
We still have many of those around us who are called to make that their lives. We also who have many around us who would like to make it their lives, but without inheriting the land cannot come up with the capital to do so. It is one of the tragedies that could be told of in country music, but to my knowledge never has been.
I love reading the blog every day. Both of you write in a compelling way. Makes me proud to be your momma!
July 28th, 2006 at 3:28 pm
I was all set to say, “Let’s gossip about Ellen since she’s not here.” and then I read your post and the comments by the Bales ladies, and you took the gas right out of my combine. A beautiful tribute to farm life and beautiful wool and beautiful peaches. Hope your preserves turn out well. We owe so much to those people who have the heart and discipline to work the land. Thanks for the visit. And Rule #1 of blogging–always carry your camera. Rule #2–if you find yourself without your camera, refer to rule #1.
July 28th, 2006 at 4:20 pm
What a fun trip! I grew up in semi-rural Missouri and loved going to farms and seeing how they worked. The peaches look amazing, too. I miss fresh Missouri peaches. Make a pie- it’s to die for. In fact, I used to just cut excess peaches up in slices, mix in an appropriate amount of sugar, and freeze them in ziploc bags just enough to make a pie in each one. People will be very impressed come Thanksgiving or Christmas when you show up with a “fresh” peach pie.
And, I *so* have to look the other way when people talk about spinning. I’ll spin when I no longer have more knitting than I can handle. Yeah. Right. But it looks so cool!
July 28th, 2006 at 8:54 pm
Yummy…peaches and wool. I really like Missouri…the land is much like here in western New York, but it’s much, much milder in the winter. Not only is my own family (around St. Joe) wonderful to be around, but most everyone else is too.
I may have to contemplate moving in that direction…we’ll see what happens with the job first!
July 28th, 2006 at 10:58 pm
nice crimp on those locks… The peaches are good too!
July 31st, 2006 at 11:24 am
One of the few things in the world better than free wool must be fresh, right-off-the-tree peaches. Looking at the picture, my mouth is watering! I didn’t have the good fortune to grow up on a farm, but I did grow up in a very small town/rural setting. How I miss the sweet smell of alfalfa on summer mornings. Our farmers do amazing work and don’t get anywhere the credit (or recompense) we owe them. Thanks for the reminder.
January 10th, 2007 at 10:57 pm
[…] With this in mind, then, I decided to “learn” a new wool this evening. This is the Suffolk lambswool that was given to me by my friend John last summer. I washed all the wool over the summer, and it’s been sitting in a big bag upstairs in the stash since then, patiently awaiting my attention. […]