Fran and Simon breed Olde English Babydoll Miniature Southdown sheep on their small acreage. The little sheep are extremely cute and very friendly. They sell sheep to folks starting their own flocks of course but most interesting to a know nothing like me is their 'sheep to shawl' production. Once a year the Babydolls are sheared, then their wool is washed, carded, spun, and woven or knitted into a finished product. Fran showed me various samples of the angora and wool fibres at their different stages, a visit to her blog shows the process in pictures and words.
Fran and Simon also mill organic flours which they sell at the local farmers' markets. They also make fresh multigrain pasta with the organic grains that they sell locally.
During my tour of Periwinkle Farm i also learned about their greater vision of expanding their business horizontally along the lines of the Fibershed Project's model. Their plan is to bring other local folks, weavers-knitters-spinners-farmers-clothing designers-etc. into a local community collective that produces clothes and goods from local fibres, made with local labor and sold to local folks. This small scale, local, hands on business model is the future for all types agriculture, all types of production really, be it now-because of the carbon footprint issue and the value gained by keeping the money circulating in your own community-or out of necessity in a post-economically collapsed future. Small is beautiful at Periwinkle Farm
