From the Pastures: Wool at the Olympics

Summer always seems to fly by much faster than winter. At least it seems that way to me. This summer has been hot and wet here in northern Illinois. Seems that hot is a common theme across the country. Our lambs had an especially hard time with the hot weather this year. It is also pretty hot in the room where we wash wool. It had to be insulated to keep above-freezing temperatures in the winter. The insulation requires extra fans in the summer. The heat and humidity causes at least one extra day for the wool to completely dry after washing. We build this into planning the week’s production schedule.

The mill is processing a lot of wool roving and spinning. Thankfully, there are also a lot of inquiries for processing. Most of the inquires are from people who have not processed their wool in the past. I enjoy talking to them and discussing the wool and their ideas for adding value to it. Small sheep flocks are still growing in Illinois and surrounding states.

In a couple of weeks, the Olympics will begin. Take note of Team USA’s opening ceremony blazers. They are made with USA-grown wool. Actually, the Ralph Lauren website lists it as USA-grown Responsible Wool Standard-certified wool. The Responsible Wool Standard can be found on the textile exchange website — https://textileexchange.org/responsible-wool-standard — which explains that farmers and ranchers are evaluated against animal welfare, land management and other requirements. Wool for the summer. It does work.

If you get a chance to mentor any youth during this fair season, take advantage of the opportunity. Encouraging youth will hopefully lead to more young people continuing to raise sheep as they get older. A little time spent goes a long way. Hope you enjoy some great fair food, also.