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Rhiannon Curtis, a member of Cashmere Kids 4-H Club, holds a cashmere kid for a visitor at 4E's Farm in Cambridge during the Washington County Fiber Farm Tour last Saturday.
Weaver Lilly Marsh displays some of her hand-woven cloth at Battenkill Carding and Spinning Mill's shop in Greenwich during the Washington County Fiber Farm Tour on Saturday.
Jennifer Byrne studies an angora rabbit at 4E's Farm in Cambridge during the Washington County Fiber Farm Tour on Saturday.
Rose Derbyshire, right, shows a young visitor and her mother how to operate a portable loom at 4E's Farm in Cambridge during the Washington County Fiber Farm Tour on Saturday.
David Campbell, husband of Battenkill Carding and Spinning Mill owner Mary Jeanne Packer, on Saturday shows a spinning machine, one of the machines at the Greenwich mill that turns raw wool into yarn. Cleaned and straightened fiber, called roving, goes into the spinning machine to become one-ply yarn.
CAMBRIDGE — For Rose Derbyshire, fiber animals and fiber arts are all in the family.
“We just love our fiber animals,” which include alpacas, a llama, cashmere goats and angora rabbits, Derbyshire said. “Everyone should own one. The next best thing is to visit one.”
Visitors were doing just that Saturday as 4E’s Farm, the Cambridge farm that Derbyshire owns with her husband Bill Jojo, opened its barn and field for the Washington County Fiber Farm Tour.
The annual self-guided tour this year has 12 stops, featuring wool and dairy sheep, goats, alpacas, llamas and rabbits, plus businesses that process and sell animal fiber products and equipment.
4E’s Farm is named after the couple’s four children, who all have “E” names, Derbyshire said. (She preferred not to give their full names.)
For one daughter, “goats are 100% her thing,” Derbyshire said. The other daughter takes care of the alpacas, one son does woodworking, and the other son “does a little bit of everything.”
Like Mom, “they can all spin and weave,” Derbyshire said.
The area outside the barn was a bit of a petting zoo, with beige angora rabbits, two alpacas and a llama, and goats in pens. More goats and one of the family’s chickens were in the barn, where Jojo was staffing the sales table.
“We’re seeing a lot of traffic,” he said. “It’s fantastic, especially post-COVID.”
The family had planned to join the 2020 tour, but it was canceled due to the pandemic.
Merchandise included ready-to-spin wool from their animals and other farms, felt objects made by their daughter, and wooden spindles made by their son.
“It’s a whole family thing,” Jojo said.
A jet black nanny goat and her three kids had come with Sister Mary Elizabeth from the Episcopal Community of St. Mary in Greenwich. Sister Mary Elizabeth sold the family their first goats, Derbyshire said. The nun runs the Cashmere Kids 4-H group, which focuses on fiber goats.
The Community of St. Mary has been on the fiber tour in other years, but “it got to be too much” for the nuns, who are mostly older, Sister Mary Elizabeth said.
“We’re grateful to Rose and her husband for letting us join them this year,” she said.
Well-known in the local goat community, Sister Mary Elizabeth said she intends to keep raising goats, but “I’ll have a smaller farm.”
Rachel Gerdes had come from Salem with her daughter Avery Gerdes, Avery’s best friend Fiona, and Fiona’s mom. Avery already wanted goats and was captivated by the angora rabbits of 4E’s Farm. “She wishes!” Rachel Gerdes said, laughing.
Fuzzy animals are just the start of the fiber process. The Battenkill Carding and Spinning Mill in Greenwich turns raw fleece into high-quality yarn that’s ready to be knitted or woven into finished products.
David Campbell, husband of owner Mary Jeanne Packer, was giving tours of the facility. The process takes 11 or more steps from start to finish, he said. Specialized machinery does much of the work, ensuring a strong, uniform product for crafters and manufacturers. The mill can dye to order or spin dyed wool.
Packer’s clients include fiber farmers who want a value-added product to sell to crafters and manufacturers who want a certain kind of yarn for their products. They may supply their own fibers, including specialty fibers such as silk or nylon, or have her go out and purchase it. Some customers specify New York or New England wool, Campbell said.
“You can follow the fiber from farm to store,” he said.
“Business has grown since the pandemic started,” Campbell said. “The demand for local yarn has increased.”
“I never would have predicted so many people would want American wool,” which is more expensive, Packer said. “The need is far from just local. We’ve spun an entire line for someone on Bainbridge Island in Washington.”
The interest in local fiber goes hand in hand with the local food movement, Packer said. People are asking not just where their food is grown, but also “what goes into what we’re wearing?” she said.
Lilly Marsh, from Queensbury, was selling her hand-woven blankets and fabrics at Packer’s shop, across the alley from the mill.
“I moved here from Tennessee six years ago,” she said. “This area is a hotbed of locally sourced fiber products. The Hudson Valley has so many creative designers using local fibers.” She, Packer, fiber farmers, artisans and crafters recently organized the Hudson Valley Textile Project to strengthen the fiber industry supply chain.
That extends to Washington County fiber farmers.
“This tour is about helping the little farms around us,” Packer said. “They really need the business.”
The Washington County Fiber Tour continues Sunday from 10 a.m. to 4 p.m. The tour is free; producers will have goods for sale, and some locations will have demonstrations of related activities such as shearing and spinning.
For more information, visit washingtoncountyfibertour.org.
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An 8-year-old Argyle boy died on Saturday in an accident involving a utility terrain vehicle, state police said on Tuesday.
A man was charged with aggravated DWI on Saturday after he drove off Lockhart Mountain Road in Queensbury, police said.
A man has died after an accident at the town of Long Lake's transfer station on Monday.
A Glens Falls woman is expected to be sentenced to 7 years in prison in connection with a burglary in Hartford last Christmas Eve.
A Glens Falls woman was arrested on Saturday during a traffic stop after police discovered she had an active bench warrant, and she was also found to be in possession of narcotics, police said.
A Colonie man is accused of unlawful surveillance at the Warrensburg Travel Park and Riverfront Campground on Saturday.
A man from Boulder, Colorado, drowned in Friends Lake in the town of Chester on Sunday, police said.
A Monday evening storm pulled down some trees and power lines in the region, including in Kingsbury and elsewhere in Washington County.
A GoFundMe page has been set up for the Dean Road residents who lost their home to a structure fire in Kingsbury on Thursday.
A Ballston man was arrested on Tuesday after police said he choked a 1-year-old.
Rhiannon Curtis, a member of Cashmere Kids 4-H Club, holds a cashmere kid for a visitor at 4E's Farm in Cambridge during the Washington County Fiber Farm Tour last Saturday.
Weaver Lilly Marsh displays some of her hand-woven cloth at Battenkill Carding and Spinning Mill's shop in Greenwich during the Washington County Fiber Farm Tour on Saturday.
Jennifer Byrne studies an angora rabbit at 4E's Farm in Cambridge during the Washington County Fiber Farm Tour on Saturday.
Rose Derbyshire, right, shows a young visitor and her mother how to operate a portable loom at 4E's Farm in Cambridge during the Washington County Fiber Farm Tour on Saturday.
David Campbell, husband of Battenkill Carding and Spinning Mill owner Mary Jeanne Packer, on Saturday shows a spinning machine, one of the machines at the Greenwich mill that turns raw wool into yarn. Cleaned and straightened fiber, called roving, goes into the spinning machine to become one-ply yarn.
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