2025 FALL SHEARING

Our Icelandics need to be shorn twice a year, unlike most other breeds (which are shorn once, in the spring). The spring fleeces aren’t their best - the sheep spend the winter putting their energy into staying warm or growing their babies, so the fleece is often a bit shorter and can be impacted by the wet weather. However, the fall fleeces? WOW. These are the stunning, long locked, classic, dramatic fleeces you know from the Icelandic poster-sheep.

This year we were fortunate enough to be able to work with Pony Jacobsen, from Sugarfield Farm. We consider him a true virtuoso and artist of his craft. He’s not only a wonderful shearer, but a lovely person with brilliant insights. We’re so grateful for his care of our flock. It makes all the difference and we can feel it in the fleeces.

From a skill perspective, Pony shears our flock specifically to support the fiber use. It helps us process the fleeces a bit easier and prioritizes the future fleeces as well. One of these techniques include leaving second cuts on the sheep (as Pony says, “I’ll get them next year”). We pay Pony for shearing per sheep, as well as a flat fee set-up cost and a demo fee (happily, so our community can learn while he works).

And speaking of community, we were also fortunate enough to have an outpouring of support in the form of extra hands! Skirting (picking out vegetable matter, second cuts, and removing feces and urine-damaged wool) is made easier with many hands, and saves us literally hours of fiber prep. As a work-trade for the shearing demo, early access to the fleece, and joining us for the entirety of the shearing, our volunteers helped us skirt the fleeces, getting their hands on each one. We are SO grateful for this help.

We had a special guest this fall shearing who took the most incredible photos of the event. Shelby Lascelles, of Wild Folk Photos was with us for the event and captured the beauty, work, and joy of the shearing. It’s hard to express the beauty we see in our farming events like this, and she captured all the emotions in the most stunning way. All of the shearing photos were taken by Shelby!