“Long before women were allowed into colleges and other forms of education, they were engineering things out of wool. Creating equations, counting stitches, building together.” When these words came out of my spinning instructor’s mouth, I was struck.
It was day three of the Vermont Sheep and Wool festival and I had thrown myself fully into it. I entered my fleeces into the show (we got a 1st and a 2nd!), I took three wool classes, and I walked through the vendors selling their wool products buying every single thing I wanted. I came home with a bag stuffed with gorgeous yarn and roving.
A few months ago I was ready to sell our entire flock of sheep. In fact, we had a buyer lined up to buy them all. At the last minute, they couldn’t get their financing together. The same week Ben was working full time on the airstream and I was farming full time.
I’m not really sure what happened but there was a moment where I was moving sheep fence and moving sheep, and I thought, “I really love doing this.” Ben’s eyes rolled so far back in his head when I told him I wanted to keep them that I think he could see his brain.
Fast forward a few months to this weekend and in that moment it hit me. Women and wool. Women and wool together. Women have been working with wool for thousands and thousands of years.
And when we work with wool today, something old unlocks in us. Something I think that many of us are craving. A connection. A belonging.
Why am I going on about the magic of wool and women? Lately I’ve been feeling a shift in my role on the farm. A couple of steps away from the day to day of farming and a couple of steps towards wool and women’s retreats.
I’m making space to build a vessel that will be filled with magic for women.
Don’t worry we’ll still go on raising what we believe to be the best quality beef and lamb on the planet. But weed whacking fence lines? Mowing the lawn? Spending hours a week cleaning our house for Airbnb? That’s not what I want to be spending my energy on anymore.
Imagine coming to the farm on a Thursday night for a welcome dinner. Friday morning our shearer comes and hand shears eight sheep, one for each woman present. We clean the wool together and over the course of the weekend each woman turns her fleece into a felted wool rug. All while eating gorgeous meals featuring our grass-fed beef and dairy products made from Karma, our beloved cow.
Now, this is what I want to be spending my energy on and yes we are doing this exact retreat next September!
Do you want to know an amazing secret about life? It’s here to SERVE AND SUPPORT YOU. You get to follow your dreams. You get to accomplish them. And when you realize something is missing and you want more, you can adjust your direction and go for it.
Right now I’m in a period of observing. Slowing down and really looking at my life. What do I like? How do certain events make me feel? What kinds of human relationships am I longing for? After a lifetime of achieving and grinding away towards the next things, it’s a welcome reprieve.
I’m coming out of the cocoon, feeling my wings for the first time. Observing how they feel in the gentle breeze.
And soon, women, we will fly together. I’m ready to build a better world. I think we all are.
If you want to be the first to hear about these retreats, send me an email at katie@grassfedvermont.com. Tell me about the world you envision and the things you long for in this life!
Sending love and belonging from the hills of Vermont,
Katie