It was 15 years ago this month that we moved to Upstate
South Carolina. At the time, our oldest
child was about to turn 13 & he wanted sheep. We had told the children that when we moved
to the farm they could have any animal that they wanted to be responsible for
if they would read 3 books about the breed & pay half the cost.
Glen wanted sheep & we knew exactly where
to get his first sheep. You see, a few
years before we moved to South Carolina, we were travelling from Florida to my
parents’ home in Ohio. We made our usual
stop at Tamarack on the West Virginia Turnpike.
As we walked through the parking lot we saw a truck with a few beautiful
sheep. The owner was just walking back
to the truck so we struck up a conversation.
It turned out that the gentleman was from Anderson, South Carolina. We were familiar with the area simply because
my father-in-law was a Clemson graduate (class of ’49!) & we came on the
annual family trip to homecoming. After
a nice chat with the sheep farmer, we started to walk away but I turned back
& asked if he had a business card on the chance we might one day visit on
the annual Clemson trip. I tucked his
card in my purse. That came in handy a
few years later as Glen wanted to acquire a small flock of sheep. It was Glen’s interest in sheep & the
need for me to figure out what to do with their gorgeous wool that has helped
us to evolve to where we are now as a farm.
Five years ago, Glen married a delightful young lady whose
family own a berry farm in Anderson. Kelli & Glen decided that they wanted their own flock of sheep at
the berry farm. Although Glen started
with Tunis sheep here many years ago, he decided that they wanted to raise
Romneys at the berry farm. We all did a
little research & he found a handful of ewes in North Carolina. After we’d all visited the flock & Glen
& Kelli had chosen their favorites, Glen & my sweet husband returned
the following week with a trailer & brought them back.
Glen was not done, though.
He located a young ram in Georgia so one day he & I took a
meandering drive over to check out the ram.
The plan was that we would go look at the ram & that Glen & his
father would return later with the trailer to retrieve him.
As we drove along, it became obvious that we were travelling
quite off the beaten path & that it was a bit longer of a trip than we
imagined. I told Glen that I did have a
tarp in the back of my car so perhaps we should just throw the ram in &
drive home with him rather than make another trip. We’ve done more foolish things in the
past. The ram was quite handsome &
only about three quarters grown. Glen
bought him, we spread the big blue tarp & a few spare towels, wrestled him
in & hauled him home. I drive an SUV
so Glen rode home in the backseat just in case the fellow should prove to be a
jumper. After a few moments of
uncertainty, he plopped down & behaved for the two hour ride.
Glen & Kelli have taken very good care of their little
flock. They acquired Jack, a handsome
Anatolian Shepherd pup, who has grown to be a wonderful livestock
guardian. And they’ve had several lambs
through the years. Their flock gets lots
of admiring visitors at the Hardy Berry Farm.
Every spring my sweet husband shears their flock. The Romney wool is long, wavy & has such
a pretty sheen to it. They have sold
some of their fleeces but I also have some of them here. When they announced that they were expecting
their first baby at the end of October, I decided to get busy on a very special
project. I carefully picked through the
fleece, washed the best & spun a
nice yarn. Once they discovered that
they would be having a little girl, I pulled more wool & dyed it one of
Kelli’s favorite colors.
Although I do
knit, I wanted something “perfect” for our first grandbaby so I talked with a
sweet friend who is quite the expert. I
met my friend, Jan, many years ago when Saturday Market was just starting. She was a knitter who was sucked in by my
weekly yarn display. She would often
come minutes before market technically opened to see what was new. I had custom spun yarns for her in the past
& was quite confident that she would not only do wonderful work but would
enjoy being part of our heirloom project.
After some discussion & much browsing, we chose a
pattern for a little asymmetrical baby jacket.
She sampled the yarn I’d already spun, told me how much more I would
need to produce & went to work. She
even found the most perfect little sheep button! She delivered the finished treasure to me
this past week & the first thing my husband said was, “Well, now you have
your final farm story for this season’s market.” So here is baby girl’s wool jacket. It is from Mama & Daddy’s sheep which
were shorn by Grandpa, spun by Grandma & lovingly knitted by a very special
friend. And it seems like the perfect
way to end our eleventh season at Saturday Market where I have been blessed to
sell yards & yards of yarn through all these years!
Our very first grandchild, sweet little Jane Autumn Potter, was born on October 31st. She was merely hours old when we presented her with her sweater.
