Just Another Day (or Two) on the Farm

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I can’t think of a title for this post. Unplanned Tasks. Distracted by Other Stuff. Digging up Bones. What I did instead of weave or wrap presents. Sheep Skulls.
This is from two days ago. I remembered these sheepskins in the barn. We had three rams harvested in early December. I salted the hides and they cured like they are supposed to. But then I forgot about them. Last week we had a significant amount of rain and dampness for several days. The hides were in the barn and weren’t rained on, but the salt absorbs moisture from the air. These were very wet, including puddles of water on the skin where it wasn’t well supported. I took them outside and put them on racks that I tilted to help water drain. I knew if I put them back in the barn they’d be wet again overnight. I brought them to the house. Fortunately I have “the weaving house”, another house on the property that I have taken over for my projects. I spread them out there, and turned on the heater and the ceiling fan. I was going to box them and ship them yesterday, but decided that they weren’t quite dry enough to pack into a box since over the Christmas holiday there would be a delay before the box was open. I spread them out in the house again, but moved them into my sewing room (second bedroom) because my son and DIL just arrived from Idaho with their cats and dogs. They’ll be here a week. I’ll ship these hides the day after Christmas. The skulls on the upside-down tub are another story (below).

That evening I found a scrap of a sheep coat on the barn floor and knew that there must be more of the coat somewhere–hopefully not entangling a sheep with a fence or branch. I found SilverSun, the same lamb who featured in this post from December 6 with the same problem. The coat was around her middle so tight that it was difficult to get her front leg back through even bent at the knee. Eventually I got her out of the coat.

This one is not going on the repair pile. It’s not worth it.

I debated leaving her without a coat, but with only four weeks until shearing I hate to do that. None of the sheep are coated all year but she has worn a coat for several months.

I put this coat on her. I think it is a little snug and I hope that I don’t regret that, but I don’t want to risk her getting stuck in one again.

The skulls on the tub in the first photo are from the many skulls in the barn waiting for me to do something with them. I hosed those off and was letting them dry. Yesterday I decided to soak them in a peroxide solution to see if they would lighten up. That led to thinking about all the other skulls around. I have an email from someone who wants to find out about skulls AS IS without me trying to do all the extra work. I needed to figure out what I have and take photos.

I didn’t go into detail but this post of August 27 says that I found the ram, Townes, dead two days prior. There is a photo of him (alive). To be realistic about the farm as a business I need to try a salvage what I can from the sheep. A skull with four horns that size has real value–if it’s cured and cleaned properly. By the time I found Townes, it was too late to take his hide. We didn’t take the head at that time because it was so swollen I wondered if it would explode if I used a knife or saw. We buried the whole ram. I tied baling twine around a horn so I could keep track of where to dig later. I don’t have enough experience to know for sure how long bones should be in the dirt. I’m sure conditions of heat, moisture, and type of soil all have an effect. And this was more than bones–it was the whole sheep with skin and wool all intact. So that was four months ago.

Here is what the skull looks like after hosing it off. I was able to pull the outer horn off the bone. Now I have to figure out how best to thoroughly clean the skull. I have saved several recommendations. I think the first step is to make sure there is no more tissue–that may mean simmering (but paying close enough attention so it doesn’t come to a boil) for awhile first. That’s always challenging because I get distracted by doing other things. Even with a time set I may not pay close enough attention. This is the kind of thing that I’d be simmering outside and not on the kitchen stove. If that is successful, then there is degreasing in soapy water, then soaking in a peroxide solution. All of it will have to wait at least a week.

Then I decided to dig up the rest of the skulls I’d buried after harvest days throughout the summer. Many may have been in the ground too long. At least I should have pulled off the outer horns because they deteriorate faster than the skull. There is still tissue on some of these especially at the base of the skull. Some of the bones on the front of the face are missing. This is why I may sell them AS IS if someone else wants to tackle them. I feel like this is something that I should be able to do, but there is always something else I want to do too.

These two aren’t bad and I think I’ll experiment to see how well I can clean them.

Here are two more that are in worse condition.

I have many more in the barn from earlier in the year and there are still a few out back that I did not bury. I guess I should check on those.

Random Farm Photos

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This post is just what the title says. You may have seen some of these on Instagram if you happen to notice them among all the others that bombard you.

Ginny on her bed. She likes to take things out of the recycle bin on the back porch. That’s why the oil bottle is there. That moose has been a favorite inside toy since she was a puppy. Amazing that at age 9 the moose is still here with only a couple of repairs.

Four Jacob rams with hills in the background.

The rams that are still here after the last culling. Left to right: Meridian Blizzard, Meridian Typhoon (both born in March 2023), Hillside Gabby’s Barrett, and Fair Adventure Horatio (both born in 2021). There will be lambs sired by all of these rams in February.

Devil's claw seedpods dried out so they are open. Pasture and trees in the background.

Devil’s claw pods. I have these listed for craft or decorative use on the website. I had an order the other day so I thought I’d take more photos while I was gathering them. Not only do they get tangled up with each other, the points on those claws are very sharp. These are not a good plant to have around when you’re raising fiber animals. If I see them on the sheep side of the fence they are removed. I gather these from places where there are no sheep.

Across the Road with Ginny yesterday before the rain. There is hardly any water in the cement ditch now, but what is there is stagnant and slimy and muddy. Ginny was hot from chasing the ball and thought it was a good idea to lie down in that.

Border Collie focus.

This morning’s look at the rain gauge. It’s about time we started to get some real rain.

Most of the flock after feeding in the morning. I think I count 40 sheep here…and a goat.

There are eight sheep here so there must be a few at another feeder. The hardest question to answer is “how many sheep do you have?” I think there are 53 ewes, 2 wethers, and 5 rams now.

And 4 chickens. The rooster is a new addition.

I’ve been finishing up some weaving projects. I usually weave rayon chenille scarves, but decided to weave a series of shawls. These are two different shawls on the same warp with slightly different weft colors

This is on the same warp with a different color weft, but stitched together to create a poncho of sorts. I really like how it came out. Even though the sewing adds a bit of work, I think it takes far less time than twisting all those fringes. I hope that this style is popular because I’d like to make more of these.

Unusual Request

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I occasionally get unusual requests. Years ago someone asked about filming a Nativity scene. I just looked that up and found my blog post from 2009. Earlier this year someone wanted to do a photoshoot with sheep for his pregnant wife. That is in the second half of this blog post from April. A few weeks ago I was asked by someone who had been here if she could bring a visiting professor to scope out our place for a video. They didn’t need sheep for this one, just a natural background. They lucked out with the weather on Sunday–no rain, no wind, and blue sky.

I have photos to share but I will tell you right at the top that I don’t understand any of this. Katya Grokhovsky is the visiting professor with the UCD Art and Art History Department. Her crew included two undergrads (in green pants, capes, and black head cover) and two graduate students (a videographer and still photographer).

Katya put on a huge papier-mâché “head” and got under this parachute-like drape.

The students created movement in the parachute as the central figure moved about.

At one point this reminded me of the Wizard of Oz when the witch melts. Katya is under the fabric but rises again.

A student picked up the pole in the foreground…

and gave it to Katya under the fabric.

She then moved the “arms” around for more movement.

A view of one of the helpers. Katya will spend time editing this footage and eventually have a film.

Ginny was out there with me until I decided that I really needed to go work on my weaving while the group continued filming.

Today on the Farm

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Who says we don’t have fall color? I’ll count blue as one of those colors too.

Today we were holding a class in the front part of the garage and I needed to organize the corner where I’d been piling natural dye plants, pots, walnuts, torn sheep coats and more for months. The reason it was on the table is that the shelves along the walls were filled with STUFF–the stuff that accumulates when you don’t have a space to put it and you think you might want it someday…maybe. Or at least you can’t throw it away because maybe it’s useful. I don’t have a photo of the BEFORE. But here is part of the AFTER. I feel so much better after that. I think I should go do some dyeing. Notice those stainless steel containers on the top shelves on the right. My Dad had a lab at UCSF a long time ago. He used those in his lab. They never wear out. Some still have his name on them — R Pratt.

I opened a bag in a cupboard and found all of these bags of various mordants or dye aids and natural dyes that I don’t grow. The two with clothespins are ones I collected (madder root I grew and osage orange across the road).The rest were purchased by someone. Maybe me many years ago. This is the kind of thing you find when you get into deep cleaning. I don’t have a photo of the table full of stuff that Maybe My Kids Will Want. Fingers crossed.

I found these warps of rayon chenille waiting to be dyed. I don’t know how long they have been there in the garage.

So I felt very productive today all the while getting the place organized for the class. Farm Club member, Siobhan, taught her Vegetarian Sheepskin class to five people. they came from Auburn, Pleasonton, and Oakland as well as more local. We sure lucked out on the weather. It was cold but not rainy or windy.

We had roving and fleece for everyone and Siobhan supplied other needed supplies.

Participants arranged the fiber on bubble wrap and netting.

They applied soap and hot water.

The table is a good height for working on the fleece.

Lots of pressing and rubbing…

…followed by rolling.

Unfortunately I didn’t get photos of everyone’s finished pieces. Hopefully they will share photos later and I can include them in another post.

Siobhan spent the previous night here so we could get organized for the class.

She found this book on the Farm Club shelf. I’m not sure where I got it. It’s possible it was donated by another member. Imagine Siobhan’s surprise when she recognized the author’s name.

She recognized the author as her husband’s relative, but wasn’t sure the relationsihip. I gave her the book to take home and it turns out that this author is Shiobhan’s husband’s great-great uncle. How random is that?

I finished the day with a walk Across the Road. That is a view of Mt. Diablo from a spot where i take a lot of photos with the intent of showing the year progression in this field–I just never get around to putting it all together. That didn’t really finish the day. I worked on one of the looms with things I’m trying to finish before Christmas. I’ve been at the computer since just after dinner. I’m ready for bed, but right now hearing a party going on well across the road or up the road or somewhere. That’s unusual. It’s almost always very quiet here.

Week in Review – SF, Sheep, Weaving

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So much for my one blog post every day routine. It’s been a week. I think I had a set back last weekend. I often work on the computer in the late evening. Last Friday I went to bed earlier than normal because I had to get up early for the next day’s event. That backfired. I woke up at 3 a.m. and couldn’t go back to sleep.

Charlene (Integrity Alpacas, creator of Gardener’s Gold, and my down-the-road neighbor) and I left at 5 a.m. for San Francisco to be part of the Fibershed booth at the Ferry Building Farmers’ Market.

We arrived at dawn and some people were already setting up. It had been raining and continued to rain and drizzle off and on all day.

This is the opposite view from our location.

A few Fibershed producers arrived, and we finished setting up in time for the market to open. There were twelve producers represented at the booth.

Do you recognize any fabric here? Gynna (creator of Soil to Soil Market is using some of my woven pieces to create earrings! (FYI – Soil to Soil Market is open, there are still only two of us listed while there is more behind-the-scenes work.)

This was a cold, wet day. Thankfully we were able to pack up when the market was over at 2. When Charlene went to the parking garage to get her truck she found it, along with six other vehicles, had been broken into. Her rear passenger side window was shattered and the truck had been searched. The next day after, a night of freezing temperature, the front passenger window had shattered and you could tell where it had been hit first but hadn’t yet broken.

I didn’t feel warm until that night in bed (early). I’m ready to stay home.

Back to farm life.

This is SilverSun, one of the March 2023 lambs. I changed coats a couple of weeks ago. Its always a gamble to figure out which coat is big enough to give room for more wool to grow but fits well enough to stay in place. I had bought some new coats last summer and I they fit a little differently. She had probably got a back leg out of the strap and then the front was loose enough to get a front leg through. Eventually the neck opening was around her middle and she was trapped with the coat dragging underneath. The other sheep were harassing her and she couldn’t do anything about it.

Here she is in one of the old style coats that has been patched. That’s a better fit.

Ewes (and a goat) in the small field behind the shop.

I’ve been focused on weaving…all the weaving that I wish I had done earlier in the year to be ready for the holidays. These are three wool shawls now at The Artery in Davis.

I’m also creating other pieces using odd bits of handwoven fabric. These pillows are at The Artery.

At Spinners Day Out on Friday a friend who had harvested our pomegranates brought me a treat of pomegranate soda!

Also at Spinners Day Out, our youngest friend, daughter of one of the original Farm Club members, went to the barn to visit with Jade. (That’s a stuffed kitty snuggled in her clothes.)

Back to normal work–weaving, website, sheep, etc.

Stars and Stripes in Black and White AND New Jacob Yarn

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Three days in a row with a blog post! I’m on a roll.

I didn’t write about my newest yarn because I wanted to have all the details. Here it is, although not on the website yet.

I shared this photo in a previous post. I just picked up the yarn from Valley Oak Mill a week or two ago. This is the last of the 2023 Jacob fiber.

The first thing I need to do before planning a weaving project and before listing the yarn for sale is evaluate the yarn. Measuring wraps/inch (WPI) is one step.

Look at what I finally figured out–how to put photos side-by-side. It only took 20 minutes of trial and error and I don’t know if I can do it again. Now if I could just figure out how to change the size of the spaces .

The point of this is to show the wpi measurements for the same yarn before and after wetting. The yarn on the left is wound straight from the cone. The sample yarn on the right shows the WPI after the yarn has “bloomed”. I soak the skeins in water for about five minutes and then spin them out and let them dry. It is important to plan a project based on what the yarn will look like when the knitted or woven or crocheted project is wet finished. In the case of all these yarns they measured 17 WPI when wound from the cone and 12 WPI after washing. That’s a big difference.

Here is how the black yarn looks.

Here is this yarn on the loom. I sett it at 8 epi (ends per inch) based on the 12 WPI measurement. It looks very open but remember that the yarn is under tension on the loom and it has not been wet finished. It will bloom as in the photos above.

The stars appear due to alternating 6 dark threads and 6 light threads in warp and weft AND the weave structure. Without the two colors you wouldn’t see stars and without the weave structure (tie-up and treadling) you would see a plaid. There is a trick to weaving this without cutting the yarn every time you change color and keeping the selvedges neat. I put boxes at the right height at each side of the loom and rest the unused shuttle there where I can reach under the yarn when I catch the active shuttle for six picks.

This is how the scarves look off the loom, not yet wet finished. The stars are black on one side of the scarf and white on the other.

Here are the finished scarves. I have two of the stars scarves and one of the stripes. They may be sold this weekend but I can make more before Christmas. I wonder if I should try other colors. I could use the Timm Ranch naturally dyed yarn or Ashford yarn. I’d like to weave some in cotton as well. Too many ideas, too little time. If you’d like one let me know soon.

Today on the Farm – A Day of Random Projects

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Could I actually write a post a day? This is two in a row. I don’t want to bore anyone who clicks here, but I think I could always find photos to write about.

I shared this photo on IG this morning. This is me trying to stay warm while looking at IG before getting out of bed. The woven piece has meaning. After I had the major accident in 2019 my Farm Club friends got together at one friend’s house and wove this shawl/blanket using handspun yarn they had all brought. I think some weren’t even weavers, but Mary had the warp on the loom and guided them all through it. I have my own woven blankets around here but this one always makes me think of friends.

By the way if you go to that link in the last paragraph you’ll find lots of typos. That is because my small motor control still wasn’t very good and I couldn’t type very well.

I have been harvesting my walnut crop. When the wind blows the walnuts off the tree a lot of them are still in husks. I can’t throw all those husks away when I know what great color they give. I had a bucket of husks that had been soaking for a week and decided to use them this morning.

I also decided that its time to do something about the skulls that are in various stages of progress in the barn and the garage. I never get them as beautifully white as most you see for sale, but I still sell them. This one needed a little glue.

Dan’s project for the day was to pour concrete in an area where the concrete walkway is being undermined because it’s a low spot and holds water once it starts raining.

This was the first load.

He ended up getting two yards of concrete for this patch.

This is at the north end of what we call the corral, out of sight behind the tractor in the photo above. The disturbed part in the center above the black tub and in the foreground are where I have buried skulls. There are some in the tub too. The baling string in the front is tied to horns so that i can figure out where they are and how many. When I dig up the others I have to be careful because I don’t know exactly where to dig. When the ram, Townes, died Dan buried him in the mound at the very top of the photo in front of the burn pile. You can’t see it but there is a string on his horn too so I know where to dig eventually. At the time of his death he was so bloated, even his head, that I didn’t want to try and salvage it then. It seemed to likely to explode. [Some of you probably don’t want to hear this stuff, but it’s not always pretty on the farm.]

I spent the afternoon at the Weaving House working through a box of handwoven pieces that I had put aside and never got around to finishing. I think that three were destined to be ponchos–at least that’s what they are now.

I spent a long time going through all my weaving notes to figure out when I wove these and what fiber I used. This one is handspun weft. I don’t know if I meant it to be a poncho–maybe it was just a very short blanket. It’s a gamble to choose how it will sell best. It looks like an awkward size, but if it’s worn at an angle I think it will be good. I need a photo on a mannequin.

The third poncho of the day. I don’t know if these will make it to the website. I think one will be at The Artery and two may go with a friend to her Bay Area sales.

This is on the south side of the Weaving House. The vegetable garden is done and the indigo that was left is all shriveled and dry after the frost. It’s almost December and a couple of the hollyhocks I use for dyeing still have flowers! What’s with that? Do you know I have packages of these flowers for sale with directions on using them for dye?

Today on the Farm – Ultrasounds

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I’ve been having the vets come for ultrasounds the last few years. I tell them the first and last day the rams were with the ewes and they tell me the best date to confirm pregnancy and be able to count fetuses.

I gathered all the ewes into the barn and while I was waiting thought I could get a photo of a sheep and me both in wool. The wool I’m wearing is all handspun and knitted. You know that I am not a knitter, but I did knit the hat. One friend spun and knit the sweater and another spun and knit the dickie (which I just pulled out of the drawer today since we are now getting into the 30s at night). COZY, COZY!

That’s Jade on the left, Patchwork Bettylou in the middle, and Betty on the right. Betty is the second oldest sheep here–she’ll be 10 when she lambs in the spring.

Four veterinarians were here. One held the sheep. She was also at the end to do a quick FAMACHA score and check teeth on the old ones. No problems to report. The person who is crouching has the probe and they are all looking at the monitor (about the size of an ipad). The fourth vet recorded results.

They used to bring a small TV-sized monitor that had to be on a table. That meant we had to bring the sheep to the monitor. Now they are using this portable one. We can load all the lambing pens with four or five sheep and the vets move from pen to pen. They looked at about 50 sheep in two hours.

I wonder how long it takes before you are good at interpreting this. All I know is that the black part is fluid. I don’t make out the lambs very well.

They confirmed the breeding dates I had written down and where I had a question mark or two dates they gave an estimate of the correct date.

Results: All ewes I expected to be pregnant are pregnant. Ewes were all bred between September 10 and October 6. Lambs are due from February 5 to March 5. There are 45 pregnant ewes predicted to have 82 lambs. There are six marked 1+. That means they confirmed one but didn’t rule out a second, so there could be more than 82. Last year we had 96 lambs and my goal was to have fewer this time. I guess I met the goal but not by much.

I kept one ewe back when we were finished because I hadn’t changed her coat when I changed the others last week. This is what her fleece looks like. It may be on the coarser side compared to some but it is sure long.

Moonrise this evening.

Random Farm Photos

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Once again I had several great blog ideas to share, but other things happen. So here are random photos that were going to be in some of those post.

I have friends who talk about what they see on the Next Door website (or is it an app?) and I didn’t get around to exploring that until recently. I still haven’t spent much time on it, but right after I signed up I got an email about For Sale and Free stuff. I saw these bookends ($25) and knew I needed them. The person who had them was going to be driving near my place the next day and offered to deliver. Aren’t they great?

That’s random. What else?

Butternut squash on a gray plank deck.

Butternut squash harvested from my garden. I made “pumpkin” pies from these for Thanksgiving. They turned out great! The three little ones at the top are too green but I thought I’d try them. Not ripe.

Here are the rams I’m keeping through the winter. The two on the left are this year’s lambs. The four horn ram is Typhoon and the two horn is Blizzard, both born here. The two two-horn rams on the right were born in 2021. That’s Hillside Gabby’s Barrett from Michigan on the right and Fair Adventure Horatio from Colorado on the left. I would have used another 4-horn ram for breeding but Townes died in a freak accident when he caught his horns in a fence panel. After a fertility issue last year I had the vets do some fertility testing and Silverado was found to be not fertile at the time of the test.

I have finally been spending time at the loom. These rugs are woven from corespun yarn that is spun from the coarser britch wool that I have sorted away from the rest of the fleece.

This is a close up of the corespun yarn that is the weft for those rugs. It is listed here on my website. The rugs are here and now I have two more to post.

I use a big ski shuttle to weave with this yarn. What you see on the loom in this photo is the part that will be the hem and I’m ready to weave with the corespun yarn.

Speaking of weaving, these are some of the shawls that just came off the loom. I wove some holiday colors so that they would have a place in this room at The Artery in Davis. Everyone has an opportunity to bring more work in for the month of December.

These items are in the main display area of The Artery. That colorful piece on the left is a rug I wove at the same time as I wove the corespun rugs. I have two more of these here at the shop. Most of these items are not on my website because it is risky to have them listed on-line but not know if they might have sold here at the Artery. The pieces in the middle are blankets.

I took this photo out the window when I was leaving The Artery this week. The Artery is located at the other end of this block. At the beginning of the pandemic the bars and restaurants on this part of G Street were given permission to block off the street and have outdoor seating. The street is blocked at that the other end just past our store, so there is still access to the sidewalk and a small amount of parking, but it’s not exactly inviting when you look down the street and it looks like it is a crime scene or a medical emergency. Those of us at The Artery have tried to have the street reopened but The City is not interested. They have ideas about making G Street a destination venue of some kind. Where there used to be other retail shops, now mosts of the businesses here are bars and restaurants. So the street was closed off in 2020 or early 2021, and it still looks like this.

That was random too.

When I got home I saw that Dan was using our new (last year’s purchase) manure spreader to spread the composted pile on the pasture.

It is so much faster and more effective than the old way of taking the manure out one scoop at a time and then kicking it around to try and spread it.

Last random photo. This is the Jacob yarn that I just picked up from Valley Oak Mill on Tuesday. This will deserve it’s own post soon. I am weaving scarves with it now.

Changing Sheep Coats

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I started to name this Dress-Up Day for Sheep, but that is misleading and a little too cute. The title describes what I did yesterday.

Horned sheep with sheep coats in the barn.

I caught 7 of the 8 sheep that have coats. A coated fleece is often prized because it is free of VM (vegetable matter). In my situation that is mostly hay and grass seeds. My coated fleeces may not be as wonderful as some because I don’t usually coat the sheep from shearing day on. Most of these coats were put on either when the sheep traveled to Black Sheep Gathering in June or went to State Fair in July and Lambtown in October. So they may have been coated only part of the year. But that is less VM than if there was no coat. There was also the advantage that those sheep with coats won’t have as much marking crayon from the rams in their fleeces (note the green rear of the sheep on the right).

Why don’t I coat all of my sheep?
1. I’d rather see spotted sheep, not coats.
2. It’s a lot of work. Coats need to be changed periodically through the year as the wool grows and they get too tight. Then they will cause felting and may ruin the fleece. We may go through 4 coat changes in a year, especially for a younger ewe who is not only growing more wool, but she is getting larger too. If I put on a coat that is too large I risk having sheep get a leg through the neck hole or slip out of one of the back leg straps. Then you have a sheep that can be tangled up and/or cause damage to the coat.
3. It’s a lot of work to repair the coats that are torn. Horned sheep are tougher on the coats than those without horns.
4. Eventually coats need washing, especially before I take them to my sewing machine for repair.

Spotted horned sheep tied to the fence with the sheep coat on the fence behind.

I tied all the sheep in the lambing area and removed coats. I hung the coats on the fence near the sheep so I could find the next size without trial and error.

This photo shows another advantage of coating. The fleece under the coat does not have sunbleached tips so the color of the black yarn will look blacker than if those brown tips are mixed in. You can also see the amount of hay in the neck wool of this sheep.

Close up of Jacob fleece parted at skin.

These photos are some views of the fleece under the coats.

Close up of Jacob fleece parted at skin.

Some are cleaner than others because the sheep has worn a coat for longer.

Close up of Jacob fleece parted at skin.

This photo and the one below it are good examples of the different styles of Jacob fleece, at least as far as the crimp. Both fleeces are within breed standard.

Close up of Jacob fleece parted at skin.
Close up of Jacob fleece parted at skin.
Spotted Jacob sheep tied to fence after removing coats.

Here they are all ready to have new coats.

Sheep with coat for protection.

This coat has a little more room for growth. Most of us probably don’t walk around with our clothes size showing, but it is helpful for me when keeping track of coats that may need changing. (The number 3 is above the shoulder.)

I have acquired coats from various sources although most came from Terri Mendenhall who is well-known for her award-winning sheep and fleeces. As the coats need repair they get a mix of patches.

They have been repaired by a Farm Club member who took some home, by me, and by my son who lives in Idaho and works as a smokejumper. Did you know that smokejumpers learn to sew so that they can make gear and handle all their own repairs? They use heavy duty sewing machines and fabric so Chris was able to make some repairs using fabric from the scrap pile.