Tag Archives: Fiber CSA

Ahhh! The Weekend

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Next week I will be participating in a 2 day Open House and a Harvest Festival. This time of year I like to have items other than our goats milk soaps, lotions and socks. So any yarn that hasn’t sold during the year I use to make items to sell at events like these coming up. This year I have very little yarn left over..so, it’s going to be a hats season. This box of yarn is representative of what will become those hats.

Future Hats!

Future Hats!

Several of the skeins left over are handspun and include a little mohair and silk in the blending. The others are mill spun skeins left over from the CSA shares from last year and are all wool. All of the yarn is handpainted by me and I think the colors have turned out pretty nice this year.

Remember, today is Fiber Arts Friday, so click this link and join in:

http://www.alpacafarmgirl.com/2009/10/fiber-arts-friday-using-a-drum-carder-video/comment-page-1/#co

As you can see I have added an Events tab to my Blog. Over the weekend I will be adding events, so check back often to find out where we will be and when.

Time On The Move

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I can’t believe that it’s the middle of August. Time has just gotten away from me and I suppose that’s the case with everyone. It seems as though it was just yesterday that I announced our Spring Fiber CSA and as of today, word from the Mill is all of the fiber should be spun into yarn and ready to ship by the end of the week. It seems as though they wanted to get the really large orders out as soon as possible..my good and our shareholders good. All of the Roving is ready for shipping now and should go out Friday.

So many people have emailed me asking if we have any plans for a Fall CSA. As of right now, no. I am trying very hard to get all of the soap and lotion orders caught up before the Holiday season gets here and I’m not sure that I’ve got it in me to set up another CSA for the Fall. The only thing that makes me want to say yes, is all of the fiber I still have here at the farm. It would be nice to move it out of the loft before next Spring. We are working on another idea though for Fall that I will discuss more in upcoming blogs. It’s a little different but I think that the concept might be well received. Keep checking back to find out more.

As of last count, I have moved over 300 bars of soap out of here since the 1st and that’s what I am doing today..making soap. It’s amazing how well this side of the farm business is doing. We just shipped a very large order to Italy yesterday and I am working on a pretty good size order to deliver tomorrow locally. Breeze Hill Farm is becoming a household name in the states and abroad. Can’t beat that, eh?

I wish I could say that our Co-op sales were this good but they aren’t. I don’t know what is going on but each week sales are consistently going down to the point that this week we’ve sold less than $100.  of product. We love this Co-op and the other producers and members but it gets a bit costly to travel close to 100 miles to deliver so little. Maybe everyone is concentrating on final vacations and school starting. Don’t know but I miss my customers! Our products in a “food” Co-op have been fairly hard to sell anyway. Try as we may, we just can’t seem to get the point across that we are trying to “take care of outside while the food producers are taking care of the inside”. The fact that our soaps are molded in pretty molds doesn’t take away from the benefits of goats milk soap for the skin and our lotions and creams are just wonderful, for the whole family. Of course, being a producer, I just want everybody to buy bunches all of the time. Maybe in the Fall.

Got to get back to the soap. Everybody have a great day!

CSA Update and More

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I cannot believe how quickly a week..or two goes by! Each time I blog, I promise to do so more often and the next thing I know it’s been a week or more since my last post. Apparently, having employees is how so many of you farmers/business owners are able to blog constantly. I find that there are simply not enough hours in a minute.

First thing I want to cover is the progress on the fiber processing for the CSA. I talked with the Mill Thursday. All of the blending and carding is complete and they anticipate that spinning will start by month end. The good news, for those who purchased the roving shares, the roving is being shipped this week. That shipment should be in by the end of the week and we will start sorting out the natural shares next week. I will start dying the dyed shares the following week and those should be ready for shipping to our shareholders the last week of August. Our plan is to have a small gathering the last Saturday of this month for roving pickup and for any other shareholders who want to come out for the day. We will have a lot going on for everyone to enjoy and there will be lots of food and drink. For those who wish to come in from out of town, we have reserved our favorite, local B & B for the entire weekend. Email me at breezehillfarm@verizon.net to let me know if you need lodging.

It was pretty exciting to see Breeze Hill Farm listed as the “Featured Producer” this week with Fall Line Farms Co-op. We are so happy with how successful the Co-op has been its first two seasons and look forward to season #3. Check them out, if you aren’t already a member. Several of our drop/pick up points are now carrying our products, so if you forget to order from the Co-op, you can pick up extra items from these these points. Gather carries a complete line of  our wonderful goat’s milk soaps and Cavanna Pasta has a nice sampling of our entire line of goat’s milk products. Weekly we are increasing our outlets for our products and are so happy when we hear from our customers through referrals.

Well, that about covers everything for now. I am off to make another large batch of lavender soap, so I’ll be very relaxed by the end of this day!

Just Stuff

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Well, the last couple of days have been just wonderful. Part of our Goat’s Milk soap and lotion farm business is made up of wholesale accounts. I picked up three new accounts and they are biggies. After a year of working hard and being patient with these accounts, Breeze Hill Farm soaps and lotions will be in our first Virginia Historical Home gift shops. This is so exciting and now it’s time to get to work. Also, we’ve added two new vineyards to our wholesale base. I love it when we are able to recognize how our hard work pays off.

Over the next few days, I will be revamping a lot of our website www.breezehillfarm.com and welcome your comments and suggestions along the way. The Fiber CSA offerings are down to just a few left but next week we will have a new fiber related listing. So, check back often. We have a lot of alpaca fiber, in every recognized color so, much of this will be made available.

I placed a dye order today so I’ll be ready to get started on the dyed CSA shares when the yarn comes back from the mill. Finally, I’ll get to do what I really love. Every single dyed share is going to be painted yarn, which really gives the true fiber artist (that would be me) the opportunity to show her stuff!

You know, I am such a lucky person to be able to have this wonderful life. So many people never get the chance to live and work their passions. I have both, plus a wonderful husband to give me help and support every step of the way. I could never imagine not going through this life without him. July 7th, we will celebrate our 31st anniversary. Wow, am I really old enough for that? You bet. Funny thing, that’s kinda cool too! 

Breeze Hill Farm Fiber CSA “Raffle”

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Here’s a way to double your CSA share and only pay for one. We are holding a raffle. For everyone who purchases a share in the Spring 2009 Fiber CSA by June 15th 2009, your name will be entered in our raffle to win a second CSA share. This would be a fantastic way to increase your stash or give your second share as a gift to a family member or friend. It could also be a super way to double up on yarn or roving for your Guild.

Simply go to our website www.breezehillfarm.com and purchase your Share/Shares, we will notify you that we have received your order and email you a confirmation number that will be your raffle number. Hold on to the email for your records.

The drawing will be at the end of the day Monday, June 15th 2009. If you have any questions or want more information, please feel free to email me at breezehillfarm@verizon.net.

 Good Luck!

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**The fine print: The winning share will be a natural colored share only. Dying will be available for an additional fee.

 

 

Hello Again!

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Wow, I cannot believe how busy the last, almost two weeks have been and how behind I am on blogging and just about everything else. It’s been so crazy, in a good way, I’m not sure what I’m doing! Just in case anyone really cares..business is really good. Since the introduction of the Fiber CSA, it’s been endless emails and phone calls and yes even some purchases. Also, once the offering was listed in the Local Harvest Store it’s been out of control. Who knew how well this was going to catch on. Be sure to check the CSA out at www.breezehillfarm.com, there are still shares available and the time is nearing for us to send the fiber off to the processor.

Let me share a little bit about what has been going on. It all started on Saturday, May 23, when we took off to the mountains in search of the magic “Heirloom Vegetable Seeds”. Well we found them; tomatoes, peppers, okra, squash, pumpkin and many more. It was a nice day for us to finish up shopping for seeds for the garden..the late garden. After lunch at historic Michie Tavern, in Charlottesville, we headed back to the farm. On the way we received a phone call from our friends at Shady Nook Alpacas www.alpacasinvirginia.com/, in Powhatan, they were birthing babies and wanted us to come out. So we diverted our trip to their farm. How wonderful to be included in this. I had spoken to Lois and Ken on the phone numerous times but had not met them. Our visit was two fold, we got to meet two of the nicest people and see one live birth of a cria. (Sorry, no photo’s today)

The next day we sheared our llama, Kosmo. Still don’t think we’re over that one yet. He is so big and so spoiled (don’t know how that happened!) and is such a bratty baby. First he had to have his hum and kick fest, that was fun. Then he cushed and refused to get up. The crowning blow though was when he got nose to nose with me and spit. He had eaten breakfast about 3 hours before, you know that was a really pleasant spit! He and I got in a spitting match while my husband just stood there and laughed. Finally, Kosmo was shorn. We were invited to a Cuban Party that afternoon, so after showers we left for the party. Didn’t stay very long but the food was to die for. We promised we’d come back later for fireworks but came home and crashed.

I’m glad we got good rest on Memorial Day because last week was the week everyone decided they needed to order soap and lotion. With it only being me doing the production work, I tend to get backlogged easily and now I am. We’ve got a Farmer’s Market this weekend at St. Stephen’s and wholesale orders coming in from all of our accounts. This is such a good and encouraging thing. Business is picking up for all of us.

Wow, I’ve been all over the map with this post. Look next week for some fun and exciting things we will be offering to our customers and readers. Have a great rest of the week and upcoming weekend..we’ll be back Monday!

Almost forgot to include that we sheared most of our sheep this past weekend. We had one ewe produce 22 pounds of fiber, with a staple length of close to 12″. I’m thinking that we might should consider shearing her twice a year from now on. She’s always been a big producer but this was huge. To add to that, she is over weight, so her diet started Monday.

Farm Visit’s

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Wow! This has been a very exciting week and it’s only Wednesday. On Monday I spent the afternoon with my friend that raises Alpaca’s, selecting the animals that will be coming to live with us. We’ve chosen 6; 2 adults, 2 yearlings and 2 cria’s. The 2 cria’s are offspring from one of the adults we are getting. We are very excited about these new additions to our farm and hope that everything will work out well with them. Once I have a good day to photograph them, I’ll bore you to tears with pictures. Can’t wait for everyone to see one of the cria’s. He is just beautiful and his fleece is the most stunning shade of golden fawn. But the Alpaca’s are not the only exciting addition we are making.

Yesterday, I spent the day at Magi’s Wood Farm. They raise Icelandic sheep and we are adding this breed to our farm. As you will see in the photo’s below, the sheep are a really cool looking breed and I enjoyed the time spent with them, but Magi is an incredible Felt Fiber Artist. I wish I had photographed some of her work to include in this post but didn’t even think about it until I had left..that’s OK, I’ll be back there next week giving a spinning lesson so I’ll be sure to get some great photos of her work. What she has done with this fiber art medium is too beautiful to put into words. I am so impressed and so fortunate to call this amazingly talented lady my new friend.

In the photo’s below you’ll see one sheep named Holly, she is one that we will soon have at our farm. I’m trying to make up my mind which ones will be the other’s. These girls all have such cool personalities, it’s hard to choose. Being a dyer, I’m always looking at white sheep but I’ve learned through the years that over dying colored sheep fiber gives some excellent results too.  I just can’t wait to have all of our new babies here at the farm. Once everyone has moved in an are settled, we are having a Field Party, to introduce everyone to the neighborhood..any excuse to have a party!

"Holly" and Friend

"Holly" and Friend

"Holly"

"Holly"

Is this too cute?

Is this too cute?

Happy Lambs

Happy Lambs

Take Me Home!

Take Me Home!

Heard you were looking for more sheep!

Heard you were looking for more sheep!

With all of these new additions, Breeze Hill Farm‘s Fiber CSA will be absolutely awesome in the Fall.

Look At Our Big Suprise!

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Yesterday went very smooth with Co-op deliveries and I am sorry to say, I didn’t get a single picture of anything all day. I did set up at Gather for a couple of hours and enjoyed meeting and greeting all of the new Co-op members as they picked up their orders and a reporter from the newspaper did interview me, so next week I should be able to share that with everyone. I also had the chance to sell several Fiber CSA shares. There are a lot of knitters in this area and they are all very excited about the idea of knowing exactly where their fiber comes from. It was just a good fun Thursday.

Look what we found at the barn this morning!

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Now I ask you, are these two little girls cute enough. Their mother, “Blackie” is our stray goat (long story, we’ll share it some day). We knew Antonio had bred her and were hoping for a little black mohair. Antonio’s father was a black Angora but the white prevailed. She obviously is a very good Mom. She had these little girls all cleaned up and ready for a photo shoot by 8:00 a.m.  I’ve been at the barn most of the day just watching them with Blackie and watching Carley. I think she’s next, so tonight I won’t leave it up to her. It’s her first so I want to make sure she does OK.  It’s starting to look like a long sleepless Mother’s Day weekend. That’s fine..who could ask for a better Mother’s Day gift than beautiful healthy babies? Not me.

Spring Fiber CSA is Now Available

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Oh Boy!! We are so excited. We’ve just finished uploading our Spring  Fiber CSA to our website/store. Just go to www.breezehillfarm.com to view it, comment on it or buy a share (or more!). If you have any questions please email us or call. It’s not perfect..yet, but everything is working great.

Come Visit Our Fiber CSA Listing

Come Visit Our Fiber CSA Listing

As I have said before, in an earlier Blog, at a different address, this is something that could have not happened if folks like Martha’s Vineyard Fiber farm and Jacob’s Reward Farm had not validated a concept that I had stored away for years. Thank you guys!

As time goes by, we will have more and more photos and information to share.  It shouldn’t be much longer before the “new” website is up and running too. This is not always an easy task because 2 of us are working on this..at different times and it can get a bit confusing but the fact that we are on the same page (ha) helps the process.

We really hope that you will support the concept of the Fiber CSA and join us for the Spring 2009 Harvest!

What A Hot Day

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Well here we are, the 25 day of April, the day time high was 92 degrees! That’s a bit on the high side considering we are in Virginia. According to the forecast we are looking at another day in the 90′s tomorrow and Monday. Thankfully, Breeze Hill Farm got it’s name because we have a breeze here most of the time. Unfortunately, all of our shearing is not done. Kosmo, our llama has been laying on his back most of the day. He will get shorn later on this week. The sheep are wondering why we waited so long to shear them, not to mention all those beautiful oak trees haven’t completely sprouted their leaves, so there’s no real shade yet.

Enough about the weather for now. I know everyone is wondering where the Fiber CSA option is in our Store. It’s coming! Just making the last few tweeks on it and it will be up for purchase by the end of the week. I can’t tell you how exciting this is for us and hopefully it will be for you too.

If anyone happened to make it out to the West End Farmer’s Market today, I’m sure you noticed we weren’t there. Hubby and I managed to eat something that didn’t exactly agree with us yesterday, so we stayed home. I really don’t like to miss the first market’s of the season but sometime you have to make decisions based on how you feel. So, our first market will be next Saturday at St. Stephen’s Church (Richmond, VA). It should be a fantastic producers market!