Tasting Notes for the 2023 Harvest Collection
In the spirit of our wine growing neighbors ... we are in wine country after all... I've put together my own ‘tasting notes’ for the Collection.
These notes help capture and define the unique, subtle elements of the growing year.
Similar to the concept of ‘terroir’ in wine, the quality of our fiber is influenced by environmental growing conditions, climate, and health & nutrition.
The 2023 Collection is a vintage in its own right and is comprised of fiber grown between April 2022 and April 2023.
As is typical for Eastern Washington, we had all four seasons during the growing season.
The early spring shearing ensured the herd was comfortable in the heat.
Leaving the leg fiber gave them padding when they curled up at night, and long bangs kept the flies and bright summer sun at bay.
Plus, it gave a real Boy Band look for our teen boys — Hammie, Bernie & Earl.
And I have to say, it’s quite fun those first few months after shearing to enjoy their ‘noodle neck’ style. It always makes their adorable face features more prominent, too.
But month by month, the clipper marks faded as each animal enjoyed fresh pasture grass, sunshine & the rain…and transformed it into soft, silky fiber.
As fall descended, my morning rounds topping hay bunks gave me time to pause.
Photo by Andrew Boyd
Growing clothes is such a long process but I use the cool weather months to re-envision what pieces I want the Collection to include.
Becoming a ‘human hay feeder’ gives me an up-close view at just how the fiber is growing, and to visually inspect the stoic herd’s health.
Photo by Andrew Boyd
Although the 2023 harvest would be the Boy Band’s (Hammie, Bernie & Earl) second hair cut, it was the first one where I could put their locks into knitwear production.
I wanted their fiber to become something extra special.
Watching it grow week by week and month by month in all the seasons was exactly the time I needed to figure it out.
As winter settled in with a dusting of snow and cold, cold temps, I was reminded how insulating the fiber is when I often awoke to snowy outlines of alpacas who opted to sleep under the stars despite a nice cushy barn!
Putting up the Christmas tree in the barn instead of the house has become one of our best traditions yet.
Everyone has an ornament on the tree, of course!
Each is handmade with a couple of locks tucked inside.
Coming out in the cold, swaddled in my own collection of the herd’s garments, to see the barn twinkling with a happy, well-fed herd inside…that’s a real Christmas wish come true!
Winter felt longer this year for some reason - maybe it was all the snow?!
But harvest arrived with a quickness at the end of April, but also an ease, thanks to so many friends who came to help us reap the bounty.
While it’s a physically exhausting day, it’s also filled with all the emotions. Almost exactly 365 days from the last shearing, it’s an entire year’s worth of work. It culminates with the clippers and then immediately begins again because the moment we harvest the 2023 crop, they begin growing the 2024 crop.
I go through each and every fleece one by one removing bits of hay and debris that gets trapped over the days and months of each alpaca rolling in dirt and sprawled out on the pasture.
I confirm which fleeces are of sufficient quality to become garments and which are better for craft yarn or hand spinning fibers. There’s always a heavy bag of 3rd cuts (belly and britch) that become mulch.
But getting the Boy Band’s fleeces on the skirting table was a special delight…
Probably the softest and most consistent fleeces in the whole herd.
The kind of fleece so supple that you want it right up close to you.
An idea came to me immediately — headbands! I’d have to wait several more months to know for sure though, because it all depends on how nicely the mill is able to spin it up.
As usual, I got all the fiber boxed for shipment the very next day. Leaving the farm with the ‘whole herd’ in the van is always a moment worth saving!
Getting our fiber in the mill’s production queue is always a bit of a scramble, as it’s an inherently long process.
But when it all returned later in summer, it’s definitely a moment that brings deep gratitude.
Seeing the finished yarn finally return to the farm was a joyous and relief-filled day.
Dropping off the yarn at the machine knitting operation and seeing how each piece is seamlessly knit is always a treat.
As is bringing the finished pieces back several weeks later.
The old milking parlor that I’ve made into my dye house is where I spend days and nights. It is the best office I’ve ever had.
The same summer sunshine that helped grow the fiber now helps to dry each piece.
They say art mimmics life and that couldn’t be more true because at any one time — there are pieces dyeing, drying or being labeled — all the while the herd is out to pasture growing next year’s pieces.
It’s an incredible cycle.
365 days of water, sunshine & grass transformed into functional, durable, wearable art.
And for me, the shepherdess, it’s affirmation that good things come to those who plan the work…work the plan…and knuckle down to see it through.
The resulting colorways of this year’s Collection are courtesy of this summer’s dye garden.
Each color carries the hues of every sunrise and sunset, as clear as the big sky vistas, and with all the depth of the passing year.
It’s privilege to do this work and it is my honor to share with you these natural fibers and natural colors from our farm. And I take special pride in sharing that each piece in the Collection is made entirely in the USA.