Flying Goat Farm

1. What is your website?
Flying Goat Farm
Etsy Shop

2. Your Ravelry username?
goatherd



3. What do you make?
I have hand-dyed yarns made from luxury fibers. Some of the yarns are from our angora goats, cormo and BFL sheep and others are commercially prepared. I also have some wonderful handspun singles. We have spinning fibers for sale in rovings and some art batts. All my yarns are made in a pet-friendly, non-smoking home. We also have photographic greeting cards, silk scarves and some handknit items. We include a free pattern with each purchase of yarn.

4. How did you get into making stuff?
I started as a weaver several years ago. I wove a lot of Ikat, so I needed to learn how to dye my warps and wefts. I swore I would never spin, but I won a spinning wheel and it must have been fate to do that too. Now we have our own farm with wonderful animals who give us lots of fleece to share!



5. What is your favorite thing about the local fiber community?
My favorite thing is the weaver/knitter/crocheter/spinner’s handshake. We are such visual and tactile people that it is hard to not touch someone else’s work when talking with them. My favorite thing about Homespun Yarn Party is the energy and creativity of each and every person there. It is so much fun to see what people are working on and talk with them about their projects.

6. How does what you do/make influence the rest of your life, and vice versa?
Now that I have my own animals and tend my own pastures, orchards and fields, I am much more cognizant of working in a sustainable way. I have to take care of my animals so that they produce great, soft, fine fibers. I have to take care of my trees and fields for the same reason. I believe in honestly labeling my items to reflect their origin and we are trying to increase the amount of local fibers we have for people in MD, VA, WV, and DC. We also have classes at Flying Goat Farm in beginning spinning, dyeing basics, weaving, fruit tree pruning and testing/controlling parasites in your sheep, goats, and alpacas.



7. Any funny stories, words of wisdom, something else to share about you or your business?
Everyone we meet asks us about the name of our farm. It comes from a silly story I invented to make sense of what was happening in my trees. In our first field, we had 2 apple trees. Being new to goats, I didn’t really understand that a goat’s favorite foods are leaves, bark and other tasty parts of trees. We would go to work each morning and when we came home, higher and higher pieces of the trees were missing. So we made up a story that our two goats, Winter and Inkblob, would fly and browse among the tree tops when humans weren’t looking. When they heard a car, truck or skateboard, they would quickly land and stow away their wings and appear to be just calmly grazing in the field.