A Special Breed
I’m sure you’ve guessed by now that I’m a big fan of Gotland sheep. Part of it has to do with my association with Sweden, and Gotland Island is one of my favorite places there. Also, I just love these sheep who want their noses and ears scratched and produce endlessly lovely fleece. Although rustic in texture, its challenge is for me to find what it wants to be as yarn.
Meet Erika Burrows of Burrows Farm. She and her husband Charlie have pigs, chickens, and bees, a cat, two Bernese mountain dogs, and have recently added a cow in their quest towards sustainable farming. There also are two llamas hanging out with a small flock of Gotland sheep (14 ewes, 2 rams and a wether). I met these lovelies this week when Erika allowed me to visit for their fall shearing.
Shearman Colin Siegmund hails from Vermont where he and his wife have their own herds of Border Leicester and Finn sheep. They also run the Yankee Clippers shearing service. Seen here with a Border Leicester with a magnificent glossy black fleece, Colin quickly removed the wool in long swaths that revealed the lovely, dense crimpy locks these sheep are known for.
While Erika is not new to farming, the sheep are a more recent addition to the menagerie. She sort of backed into shepherding when her friend Heather dropped off two Gotland lambs from Maine a few years ago. She now has a little flock of completely friendly sheep. I’ll confess that one of this year’s lambs, an all black ewe, really spoke to me.
“My” little ewe Linnea is in the middle of this photo, and you can clearly see the shine off of her undercoat. I’ve asked for her fleece after it gets cleaned up. I’m expecting it should spin into some gorgeous, rich black yarn.
[on a side note: Linnea is named for Erika’s great aunt who came to the US from Sweden. I think Linnea is a great name, and can’t help but wonder if it’s a diminutive of Linnaeus, for the Swedish poet and naturalist.]
The fleece from this fall shearing will go to Windover Farm in southern Connecticut, for processing. Here are both roving and yarns from last year’s shearing. The yarn colors on the left were over-dyed by Erika’s friend Heather, and I’ll be giving them a test run shortly. With the natural Gotland as the base color, the dyed yarns are really rich colors with wonderful depth and under tones.
I’m really excited to spin the roving and compare it to the Gotland I got for this past month’s breed study from Sheep Spot.
The breed study fleece came from Kim Goodling in Vermont who writes the blog Living with Gotlands. Kim has imported Gotland embryos from Sweden in order to produce 100% Gotland sheep, and in fact had her first born this spring.
Charlie and Erika are working diligently with their flock to up breed (by introducing additional Gotland lambs their flock is about 98% Gotland) to improve the quality of the fiber. You know, of course, that this means I’ll need to follow their progress and continue to sample their fiber as they upgrade and refine their flock. That certainly won’t be a hardship!
Another side note:
This post is one of a continuing series of Special People, Special Places that get archived on a page of the same name (the pages are listed across the top of my blog). I hope you’ll take the opportunity to visit some of the many friends I’ve made while on my never-ending fiber journey.
Note: edited 12-11-2021 to correct spelling and add note about the purity of the Burrows’ flock.
I’m so jealous, Sara. Loved reading about some of your latest adventures.