CNY Fiber Festival Wrap Up

After saying goodbye to the Canadian Angels who helped me shear, I took a good soak in a tub of hot soapy water, with fresh patchouli soap scraps floating all around me. I had to be a Mindy Layton's (Olde Homestead Farm just over the hill from me) to hitch a ride to Paulie Drexler's farm in Pompey. Pam Haendle joined us and gave me the stack of vendor survey's to check out on the way. It was interesting to read the comments of the talented artists who made our festival a success. They ran the gamut from "should be more room between the tents" to "the port-o-potties were not situated properly on their bases" and "there was an insect infestation in my booth" to "great show, talented artists, can't wait to come back next year." Not a single vendor declared they would not come back to our show, but you never know. We'll see what happens next year. Meanwhile, I was happy to be invited to Paulie Drexler's Springtide Farm. Paulie and her husband have made an agri-business out of their dairy farm with a shearing festival, pumpkin festival, Christmas tree business, etc. Paulie raises Akbash guardian dogs and oh, are they handsome. My dogs are part Akbash, along with Maremma, Great Pyrenees, and Tatra. Paulie has Tunis sheep and does a brisk business with local Bosnians who come to her farm, buy a lamb and slaughter it on the premises. She showed me the room where, just that day, a local Bosnian had done the deed. Paulie takes the guts out for composting. She charges them $10 to use the room which used to house the bulk tank. I have the same room, but am not into the practice of selling lambs for that purpose. I know I could make some money on it but I'm just not there. We had a lovely summer supper outside, with Paulie's gorgeous peacock strutting around making a wild bird call which sounded like something out of the jungle, and her husband putting away round bales in her barn. Mindy drove us back to Brookfield and I made my way over the hill to my farm. A giant mound of dirty dishes with flies buzzing around it greeted me, along with some very happy dogs and cats. Sleep is good.