Saturdays at The Market

Before it is light on Saturday mornings I walk across part of my dew laden back yard to my neighbor's house, coffee, peacock feathers, eggs, and yarn in hand; and we drive into the city as the sun comes up. Not many other folks on the road. Sun up by the time we get there, we unload her van. Although its flowers, it feels like clowns out of VW Bug, because its so amazing how much plant material can be packed in there.

My next door neighbor is Marilyn Rooze, The Flower Lady of the Montgomery Farm Woman's Cooperative Market in Bethesda, Maryland. The Market is a unique little spot from times gone by. It is an old historic building that has always been this Coop. Back in the Great Depression wives of struggling local farmers in upper Montgomery Co. Maryland, got together to "save the family farm" by bringing their goods down towards the commerce and activity of Washington DC. There are 11 members on the Coop Board including Marilyn. Most of them several generations down from the original "farm wife". However, Marilyn is new; she has only been at the Market for 43 years. (Goodness!)

She has a quaint little booth by the back door -- crowded with color and the luscious aroma of all her flowers. She also has a corresponding space behind and out side in the back parking area. I usually tend to the outside, especially when the weather is beautiful. Marilyn has a wonderful touch with all things natural. She can beautifully blend the most unpredictable colors with flowers. Her work is amazingly artistic, elegant and naturalistic looking. Absolutely not at all the commercial flower look.

As a painter, my self, I was surprised how much goes into this craft. You are working with space, shapes, color, texture -- and sense of touch and smell! People interact with flowers! A painting is on the wall, a bouquet is at the center of our dinner table. I wish more of the world would slow down enough to "stop and smell the flowers."

With the exception of a little lull just after lunch the day goes by very quickly. The public can take a lot out of you. The noise, counting change correctly with a silly 6% tax calculation, the cars, people rushing, and the constant moving of plant material... it can be a tiring day. But some how, I am addicted to it. I think I like all the different vendors, eccentricity of the flea market, the historic nature of the building and atmosphere, the being out side, food, color, and people -- there is a pleasant social aspect to all of it. I also have been learning a lot from Marilyn. I enjoy learning about the plants themselves; I love to garden. But, I also am learning about flower arranging and of course, retail (oh joy!). I jest, but I've already admitted to thinking its fun.

I can't say how thrilled I've been that lately Marilyn has encouraged me to bring some current samples of my yarn down to the market to display in her booth space. The nice thing is that it is getting some attention too. I get lots of complements, and a few sales. Here and there people are beginning to associate me with my own farm and goats.

At the end of the day we pack it all up and take it back to Marilyn's little farm house. After all, they are plants -- each one needs different care with regard to temperature tolerances and watering and the right amount of light to look their best on the next market day. When I get home, my husband looks at me playfully and says, "Why are you so tired, its a few flowers and a potted plant you sold today?" I return the volley with "Honey, I'm taking my shoes off, what's for dinner?"

Colored Angora Goat Breed History

The acceptance of the Colored Angora Goat as a recognized breed by the fine fiber and livestock community began in the early 1980's. Colored Angora Goats are essentially an outgrowth of the traditional white Angora Goat. The White Angora Goats have been agriculturally maintained for thousands of years.

Occasionally an Angora goat bearing color would by born of two white Angora parents. It was not some thing that shepherds of Angora goats were unfamiliar with despite its rare occurrence; it was just a product that was routinely culled from the herd.

Isa Jennings, a current breeder of CAGs (Colored Angora Goats) in Oregon U.S.A., is credited with making the first observations of this phenomena as an asset and not a detriment. She came across a faded red buck from a herd of registered white Angora goats; she also obtained a brown doe. Her idea and intent was to breed them together and see if the color could be sustained. She collaborated at this early stage with a good friend in Idaho, Linda Mercer, and they formed a partnership.

It was clear that they needed to find more examples of this phenomena in order to do breeding long term, so they traveled through the Navajo Nation in the South West, United States in 1985. This region of the country has plentiful Angora herds as well as a variety of other goats. The fruit of this trip was a small group of goats that were mostly black or reverse badger patterned goats. At this point, they published their experience and observations in an article in the Black Sheep Newsletter.

The Black Sheep Newsletter was a publication started and edited by Sachiye Jones, as a way to develop a relatively local market for wool producers. The newsletter has historically been in conjunction to the, now well known, Black Sheep Gathering. Black Sheep Gathering is a big show and sale that began as a small pot-luck event in Rickreall, Oregon U.S.A. in 1974.

The article was successful in galvanizing some interest and continuing the project; people emerged that were fascinated by the concept of the Colored Angora Goat. In 1990 Linda Mercer began the process of record keeping for the future breed. This led to work done in '91 by four people: Isa Jennings, Linda Mercer, Sharon Chestnutt and Roly Thompson. Ultimately, it was Sharon Chestnutt that created the functioning and lasting registry. She simplified the paperwork and developed the database; by the end of 1992 the Colored Angora Goat Record (CAGR) was up and running.

In time there were several means for inclusion in CAGR (eventually CAGBA): first, registry by virtue of direct offspring descending from the original recognized goats. Second, a continuation of the principal observation that color occurs naturally (although rarely) in traditional white herds, therefore, AAGBA, American Angora Goat Breeders Association registered white goats would be accepted as genetic donors. Third, (which took time to develop) should a breeder be successful in out crossing white and other colored Angora goats with a secondary goat breed used for lending color, that goat could be inspected, evaluated and accepted. Rigorous standards for passing were developed. It has been a necessary tool in order to have a large enough genetic pool to draw from to establish a viable and sustainable breed whose development continues today.

It is easy to see why interest in Colored Angora Goats has grown so much. They have all the attributes of the traditional whites with the new and exciting assets of a wide variety of natural colors. These colors include: many tonal values of black, silver, and gray; a wide range of tints and shades of red, tans, and browns. And, the fiber retains its excellent luster, reflective qualities, and shine through the color.

The number of breeders increased and the number of goats continued to increase. This eventually led to the desire for a larger organization whose primary mission was the protection and development of the record into an official registry. This is where this story becomes the story of the history of CAGBA, the Colored Angora Goat Breeders Association. CAGBA officially organized in 1999, and opened its corresponding Registry in the summer of 1999. Sharon Chestnutt continued on seamlessly in the role of keeper and operator of the data base.

Today, CAGBA has a Constitution and By Laws, Non-Profit Tax Status, a Board of Directors, Elected Officers and Regional Directors through out the U.S. and Canada. It has developed a strict breed standard, method of training inspectors, and numerous inspectors in the U.S. CAGBA also sponsors a National Show, and there are many regional shows in association with the organization and/or this breed.

Research and Bibliography:
CAG Breeders Consulted -
Greta Dise, Persimmon Tree Farm, PA
http://www.angoragoat.com/persimmon/

Web Sites -
Black Sheep Gathering, Inc.
http://www.blacksheepgathering.org/

CAGBA
Both on the web and in the Inspectors Training Manual
http://www.cagba.org/

Hats off to Emily... or maybe "hairs off" to Emily!

We just had 20 goats shorn, whew!

I can not believe how I am so exhausted and I didn't do the shearing. Larry and I just moved the animals about, caught the next one to get a hair cut, picked up and bagged the new & beautiful fleeces.... and watched.

In the decade that we have had these goats we have been through several shearers and even learned to do it ourselves. In the beginning we had a fun shearer; he was born in the U.K. and spent a good deal of his youth shearing in Europe and then down in Australia. Huge guy & had a personality that matched. But, as our luck would have it one year he informed us he would only be doing sheep from now on and no longer goats. We panicked. We bounced around, one year begging a guy to drive 7 hours down from New York - also very good at what he did, but not a practical solution. Another time begging the guy who supplies our feed to do it, just because he had seen it done and was brave enough to try. He had owned a few sheep at one time so he wasn't completely new, and he was genuinely helpful. Then for a while we had the husband of someone who we bought animals come. Also, very helpful because we were desperate, but again not a permanent solution. Next we found our first, female shearer. She was extremely nice to our animals, but it took her a long time to do them, and we would never get through the whole herd. As a matter of fact with all of the acts of kindness, some here or there wouldn't get done, and increasingly we would have to try doing a few ourselves. The most important person to us on that scale was our feed and fence guy, Kevin. He of all the folks was the first, perhaps because of his patient nature, to put the clippers in my hands and slowly teach me how to do it.

Larry and I were quickly realizing that if we were going to have these animals we were going to have to learn how to do "everything" that involved their well being. For goodness sakes, I had assisted in a C-section on a goat once -- how could shearing be harder than that! Well, darn it, it is! Thank goodness there are some aspects of Maryland that are still very Agriculturally oriented. We have a rare thing over here, an annual "Shearing School". So, off I went.

It was wild! A brief talk about how to clean some clippers, a note book full of hand outs, and then out to the barn. It was snowing that day. It stuck in my mind, because, how would these animals stay warm once they were shorn? There was about 4+ inches of slush and mud every where that would suck your boot off. My feet were wet and freezing. There were about a 15 of us trying to learn and 2 teachers, and the farmer that was lending his flock. All 15 of us terrified of hurting his sheep. Okay, so next, a teacher leads a 170 lb. sheep up to you - turns her head back towards her hind and flips her over into your legs, and tells you to begin. Believe it or not -- there is a connection to BALLET, here... When you shear there is a position one, position two, a pliea, a courtesy, and an ever reaching arch. It is a bit of a dance, only your holding this 12 lb. pair of razor sharp clippers, so maybe it should be better described as ballet meets surgery, all in the barn yard. The weight of the animal is all on you, you glide the clippers along the curves of the sheep's body, keeping them as parallel as you can, intuitively predicting were the next lumps and bumps are going to be as they are revealed under the wool. You are totally terrified of armpits, shins and nipples. And the sheep just wants the whole thing over with -- and, of course, you identify with the sheep. From the first day to the second several of the contestants did not show up. Was it all the snow... hummm, I think not.

So after this experience, we had the awesome and daunting responsibility of shearing our own herd. And somehow, we limped along doing it our selves for a couple of years. At the beginning of each session you feel like you've never done it all over again. Then you get going, and you feel good because you make a little progress and it is hard work. Then you nick one/cut one. Uuuugh! That is the worst; you empathize with the animal so, you almost can't continue. But, they hop up after their done, forgive you for their boo boo and are happy to have their coat off. At the end of doing 3 or 4 you have tons of tiny hairs stuck all over yourself, and all you want to do is shower. Larry and I would muddle through it. We would both be nervous, inclined to both be back seat drivers, but still need each others support. We wrecked a lot of fleeces, but we got through it with out hurting any animals.

Then we found out about Emily! Emily's family had sheep while she was growing up. When she was a young teenager her family's shearer quit on them too. Emily had the where-with-all to give it a go and shear her family's sheep. She will tell you it was instrumental in learning. She then applied to the shearing school. The stinkers at the school turned her down saying she was too young (my guess both ageism and sexism). She applied the following year and they let her in -- good thing, she knocked their socks off. Now, she teaches there. Emily is still very young, but definitely born to do this job. Of anyone I've ever see shear, she leaves the cleanest looking animals, has the fewest second cuts, extremely low in nicks -- she is just great! Furthermore, she came and did 20 in an evening, no problem.

Perhaps, it was a good thing that we had to learn. For the moment, however, it just deepens my respect, appreciation and admiration of what Emily dose. Hats off Emily! Promise us you will take good care of yourself!

To contact Emily:
Chamelin Shearing
Phone: 443-244-2702
Email: aeriedairy@yahoo.com
Web: chamelinshearing.com

YarnParty

Sunday, March 15th from Noon to 5 p.m. was Yarn Party at Historic Savage Mill. The idea of Yarn Party is a little bit different than many other textile and fiber enthusiast shows. Yarn Party is also a "party," in other words it is also a social event for the shoppers. The set up reflects this...

The vendors were all placed in a promenade like ring in a huge hall; the center of the ring had a large grouping of big round 8-12 seat tables. Folks came in walked the ring of vendors as well as mixed and mingled in the center with other shoppers. The inner "party" tables were all full the entire day with people sitting and knitting, crocheting, spinning and working on an array of different kinds of textile art projects. There was also a series of instructional classes that people could attend through out the day.

The day was a very grey, wintry, drizzling rainy day. At first, I wondered whether it would bring people to an indoor event or keep them at home and out of the weather. We had a little more than an hour to load in and get set up in the cold misty rain. By the time the doors were to open, there was a line around and through the mall building to get in. It was standing room only within 20 minutes after twelve. The whole day was a buzz of people, fiber conversation, door prizes, class announcements and sales. Hurrah! Everyone was carrying some unique bag full of art and textile supplies, new projects and stash material.

I have found that folks sheepishly complain about having too much in their fiber/textiles/yarn/art supply "stash" the same way they complain about having too many books on their bed side table.

So, yes, they came, and they seemed to enjoy the shopping and the party. It was an high energy event!

I, Avalon Springs Farm, shared a booth with Lisa Check of Flying Goat Farm.
Some of the things I brought were:
Lots of dyed locks in an array of colors, raw fleeces, skirted & washed fleeces, my two current yarns, some silk scarves, and rovings (mohair in two colors and a llama/mohair blend in two colors).
Some of the things Lisa brought were:
Mohair rovings in two colors, some hand dyed cotton blend yarns, some alpaca hand dyed yarn, silk scarves, and hand made cards of her photographs.

We both had a great time. We both socialized a lot our selves. I invited a friend of my daughters and she came; it was fun to see her. I also invited Marilyn Rooze, The Flower Lady of the Farm Woman's Market of Bethesda (who I work for on Saturdays). It was great to see her; it was a fun role reversal because suddenly I was in charge of "the booth." Lisa and I, also connected with some other local Angora Goat farmers we know from Pennsylvania. And we did some official networking for other shows and events we hope to be a part of in the future; that felt very productive -- there is nothing that can replace meeting people in person.

So, the day was a great success! Thank you Yarn Party!

We know that we were photographed by some Yarn Party volunteers and were informed that those photos will be available to us at some point after the show. As soon as I get them I'll add them to this post.

Karen

So why "Endangered Species Chickens" ?

Well actually the first question is usually more along the lines of are there such things as endangered species chickens. And, the answer is: "Yes, there are."

I found out about endangered species chickens from two sources:

1. The American Livestock Breeders Association, http://www.albc-usa.org/

2. Murray McMurray Hatchery, http://www.mcmurryhatchery.com/

The A.L.B.C. had a booth at the Maryland Sheep & Wool festival one year around the time I started my farm. The person running the booth was very friendly and interesting; she wore an A.L.B.C. tee shirt with a beautiful line drawing of a chicken which started our conversation on the subject. It stuck in my head that when I "someday" got chickens in my own backyard I would find ones that were endangered. I had a friend, Karen L., who had chickens, but she got them as adult layers. There was a place in Westminster, MD that used to do that a long time ago, but the diminishing profit didn't allow them to continue. It wasn't what I wanted anyway. Southern States also sells intoxicatingly adorable peeps every spring that I was always temped to get, but again, it wasn't what I really wanted to do. Then I found McMurry Hatchery on the Internet. I loved the artwork on their catalogs. A silly reason to be attracted to them over any other hatchery, but it got me to look further. McMurry Hatchery, to my luck and surprise, has a supportive relationship with the A.L.B.C. In their catalog they have a section on "rare breeds"; they publish statistics siting the A.L.B.C.

Hurrah, I found my source for birds, and it was really fun choosing.

Over a ten year period I have had a number of flocks. I usually like to keep a flock around 30 birds; it just seems the right size for the coop that I have. Birds generally have a nice laying span of about three years. It takes them about six months to start laying from peeps. Then the very first eggs they lay are called "pullet" eggs; they are miniature sized eggs. Very cute. You could have a 10 egg omelet with "pullet" eggs and be telling the truth when you said you ate the whole thing. When we are finished with our birds we found a local family that doesn't mind butchering them, and they eat them. It feels complete. Our family eats plenty of chicken, but I just don't want to think about a pet being on my own plate. And, sometimes we have lost chickens to predators.

Goodness, chickens have a lot of predators. It seems, humans aren't the only ones that know they taste good. Lots of predatory birds will try to swoop down and take them away from above, then there are the sneaky foxes, also plenty of rodent like creatures that attack in the night. Believe it or not we lost an entire flock --26 birds, to a family of MINK. Yep mink, right here in Maryland. If it weren't for some lingering snow on the ground, our local trapper would have never figured out how they were getting in, and exactly what was getting in. He found the foot prints and distinguished them from a few other leading suspects. He actually got the lead male, and then the problem stopped. My last 9 birds were in a dog create hanging from ropes tied to the ceiling beams of our barn, at this point, trying to keep them safe.

So, we have tried lots of different kinds of birds over the years; we stick with those on the A.L.B.C. lists. They prioritize the list from "a bit worried" to "urgently small numbers" (my terms). We find combinations of birds that are about the same size & weight, so no one has any advantages at the feed trough. I love all the different colors of the chickens.

The answer to the title question:

The reason that some chickens are on the "endangered" list is the concept that once upon a time this great country, and other places around the world, were not so encroached upon by humans. Then there was a much greater variety of chickens and locally specific different kinds of birds. The loss of that physical space is one reason, but the mass production, commercial egg laying industry, and large corporate size farming practices have also tremendously reduced variety. The public wants uniform big white eggs, and sometimes uniform big brown eggs. This means that really only two or three kinds of chickens are in mass demand to lay all these eggs. That diminishes breed variety.

We are not actually breeding the birds our selves, so in one sense we are not increasing numbers that way. But, the folks that work solely on bringing these birds back can't do it without being able to out-place birds. So we are happy to give a home to some and increase total nation wide numbers that way. That is important. Plus all the folks that eat our eggs know this story, and we work to increase awareness, also important.

Buy local, eat fresh. Save an endangered breed of chicken. A good thing; I think.

On Luna

Luna is our guard llama.

Llamas can have an invaluable trait, to protect and guard the farm. Not every llama has the interest or instinct to do this, or if it is in there somewhere the assertion of this trait can highly vary. Luna has got it.

I will never forget Luna being trained by our past guard llama, Curnonnus, to do the job.

For many years the dominant guard for our farm was a llama named Curnonnus. People often asked us about his name, it comes from Celtic folk lore. Curnonnus was a "guardian of nature". Curnonnus was a loyal and loving great uncle to every kid goat on our farm. He truly bonded with the goats. I will always have an image of him sitting under a tree, getting some shade in the midday sun, completely surrounded by all our goats. The kid goats playing around him and often on him, or sleeping in the safety of his side. Curnunnos was a master guard. He patrolled the fence lines. When he stared in a direction, you knew he saw something....sometimes you could find what he was looking at, and sometimes with only your naked eye you couldn't, but you knew something was there. There were times he announced things with a snort and a bugle call like humming noise (sounds like a contradiction, but you'd have to hear it to know). There were also times that he just rounded up all the goats and put them into a corner of the field or into the barn. He did this by galloping around and using his long neck like a boom (of a ship) to visually push them into a direction -- where he was looking usually. An awing sight, but one that also brought alarm.

One summer when Luna was old enough -- Curnonnus decided -- he taught her to be a guard like him. Over a period of several weeks he made her do exercises of rounding up all the goats. He snorted, spit and nipped at her hind to scold her if she didn't do as he indicated. Some of the non-verbals were beyond what we under stood. But, boy 'o boy, we understood when she goofed up. On one such occasion, near the beginning of these events, Curnonnus stood in the corner he wanted Luna to bring all the goats to, Luna ran around in a large looping pattern to scoop up all the goats and get them to run to the corner with Curnonnus. Well, she left about three of them, yearling goats -- more inexperienced with patterns themselves, out in the field. When she came to the corner, like mission accomplished, chest beaming, Curnonnus threw a fit. Screeched at her, wrangled his neck wildly -- like and excited person talking with their hands, spit at her face and nipped at her tush. Luna ran back out there and struggled to get the mixed up nervous goats, but she got them.... and all immediately calmed down.

Honestly, I don't think she ever made another huge mistake like that again... even thought these exercises continued to go on for some time. The two of them patrolled fence lines together, and one after the other; ran from one corner of a field to another, made occasional noises; and stared off at distant focal points as if they had laser pointers on the tips of their noses.

I have an ache in my heart to have to report it, but Curnonnus is no longer with us. However, he did his job elegantly and lovingly. Now Luna is a very fine guard. She is priceless, and we should always remember that.

Welcome

Avalon Springs Farm is a small farmette located in Mount Airy, Maryland U.S.A.



We have been raising Angora and Colored Angora goats for just a bit over a decade now. We have a standing herd size of about thirty to forty goats. We also have a guard Llama, named Luna (who is currently expecting -- we are very excited), and we have Alpacas too. We have three gelded males, one stud, and two breeding females, and one new baby! We also have a flock of endangered species chickens & several peacocks.



My education and career has been in art; I've been a public school art teacher for eleven years. Currently I am an at-home Mom and full time fiber artist & farmer.



Our farm website is: http://www.avalonspringsfarm.com/

Our on line store is: http://www.avalonspringsfarm.etsy.com/



We are delighted you have come to read, please enjoy....