Tennessee Living

Beth Collier, a registered nurse and self-professed city girl, never expected to become a sheep farmer. But five years ago she took the plunge with her husband, Steve Shafer, and bought a flock of sheep as a way to expand use of their 56-acre farm in Charlotte.

Collier now spins wool from their sheep into yarn with a wooden spinning wheel, and she demonstrates the age-old art at more than half a dozen festivals throughout the state.

“Spinning is a very Zen thing; I don’t know how else to describe it,” Collier says. “It’s very relaxing, very enjoyable – a deep connection to the past.”

The soothing pastime has quietly blossomed into quite a promising side business – one that has grown as quickly and naturally as the wildflowers on their Dickson County farm.

The couple’s herd includes 12 Icelandic sheep and 29 Shetlands – all of which are registered and have names like Seamus, MacBeth, Sinead and Fiona. They breed the sheep and sell the babies, and they shear the flock each spring to harvest the high-quality wool.

Shafer, a retired schoolteacher, is the sheep’s primary caretaker.

“I spoil them, totally,” he says. “The sheep give us wool, and they also give you a lot of love. A dog is close, but sheep are sweeter. There’s something about them that gets to you. And once a year, you’re going to get lambs. Nothing can make you feel better than lambing season.”

Collier and Shafer researched breeds before buying, and they decided on Icelandic and Shetland sheep – two rare, pure breeds that are small enough for the 5-foot-tall Collier to handle. They also provide top-quality, beautifully colored wool.

Shetland fleece has the most color variety, Shafer says, with 32 different color patterns. The wool gets purchased about as fast as they can prepare it.

Shafer and Collier shear the sheep together each spring, worm them, trim their feet and assist with lambing when necessary. The couple processes much of the wool by hand – washing, combing and carding it into a soft, fluffy texture. To help lighten their load, they’ve recently started shipping hundreds of pounds to a processing mill in Oklahoma.

Collier and Shafer sell roving (wool that has been washed, combed and carded) and fleece (a year’s worth of unprocessed wool from one sheep) at festivals and from a small shop on their farm.

“Our primary market is other spinners,” Collier says. “Most spinners cannot also raise their own sheep, and they may not have any interest in it.”

An agricultural-enhancement grant from the Tennessee Department of Agriculture helped fund a 200-square-foot spinning and fiber shop at the entrance to Three Creeks Farm. The store’s hardwood floors and shelves are lined with baskets of handspun yarn, raw fleece, spinning wheels and supplies such as hand carders, felting boards and needles, commercial and natural wool dyes, and books about dyes, spinning, weaving and felting.

“Even when we started down the path of making this into a side business, I didn’t foresee it taking off the way it has,” Collier says. “It’s quite rewarding to be able to do this, and to be able to do it in a way that is self-sustaining.”

As with any farm venture, however, it comes with a whole lot of hard work.

Shafer and Collier grow their own herbs in a greenhouse, and they harvest wildflowers and raise traditional dye plants – including chicory, woad, amaranth, marigold, zinnia and black-oil sunflower – to create their own natural dyes.

“It’s a good excuse to raise flowers,” Collier says. “I love gardening, and when your flowers can also dye your wool and yarn, it combines two of your loves into one. It’s kind of a macho thing to be able to say, ‘I raised the sheep, I sheared the sheep, I washed the wool, I spun the wool, I dyed it with flowers I picked – and I crocheted a sweater or shawl.’”

A blacksmith for 10 years, Shafer makes candleholders, hooks, door hinges and other metal items to sell. He also cares for the sheep, makes jewelry, raises hay, and sells herbs and award-winning chickens.

The farm offers sheep-shearing, spinning and blacksmith demonstrations to school groups and other visitors by appointment.

“It’s a way of having a small farm and making it work,” Shafer says. “You have to really hustle and do a lot of different things.”

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Wool of Many Colors

Three Creeks Farm holds a “dye day” each year. It’s a chance for visitors to bring their own wool (or buy some at the farm) to dye by hand in big stainless-steel pots.

“Everyone has a lot of fun, and they come up with colors you can’t repeat again,” Shafer says. “We spread out drying racks, and the wool looks like rainbows.”

Collier also hosts a spinning group – the Barefoot Spinners – that meets the first Sunday of each month at the farm. It’s a small, friendly gathering of about 10 women who meet to share their skills and enjoy each other’s company.

For more information about these events and the farm, visit www.3creeksfarm.com or call Beth Collier at (615) 789-5943.

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Magazine:
Tennessee Home & Farm, Fall 2010 Edition Edition

Headline:
Shear Delight

Summary:
Couple raises sheep, then spins the wool.

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