The Dorset Wool Year – April 2021

April – Weather Report

April, this year, was cold and dry.  After the mud earlier in the year it was the complete reverse.  In fact, it was too cold and dry really and the grass sat and shivered, especially when it snowed!  It is a month that grass normally explodes giving lush green colours.  The trees didn’t want to break their buds either.  The only ‘colour’ was from the white Blackthorn flowers.  They are one of the earliest flowers of the year and generally don’t last long as the days lengthen and warm up.  These are the plants that are related to plums, producing sloes in Autumn, ready for sloe gin!  Despite the amount of flower, I don’t think the crop will be large as it was too cold for the pollinating insects.

Sheep Report

I kept the two little flocks of sheep apart, as there was so little grass anywhere.  This meant the 6 in-lamb ewes could be fed a bit more and the rest had a bit of a diet.  The grazing is good here most of the year and the sheep are permanently fatter than I would like.
Lambing is just around the corner and I am quite excited to be expecting the mad lamb races, after a 4-year break.  I just hope it goes well and it warms up a bit, so we can all enjoy the new arrivals.

Dorset Wool

Another month whizzed by.  I celebrated Earth Day 2021 with a 10% discount code for signing up to my newsletter, which you can still do.  Earth Day celebrates what Dorset Wool is all about.  It is caring for the planet, producing sustainable fibre and meat with a low carbon footprint and zero product miles.  I know there is an argument that meat (mutton) is not sustainable.  My sheep, however, are on conservation grazing.  No chemicals have been applied for years now and the buzz of bees and noise of other insects in the long grass of mid-Summer is deafening.  There is also a year-on-year increase in wild flowers (I manually remove the thistles etc or they would take over).  If it were left to go long and ungrazed the downland would become shrubby and wouldn’t support the same range of plants and animals.

I have spent a bit of time reorganising my web-site too, so it is easier to find products.  I started with the Shetland chunky yarn. This is an ongoing process so let me know what you think.  I also pinned on Pinterest for the first time and will continue to do so…. At least that is the aim.

Of course, I did some creating, combing some lovely, soft fibre into nests. I spun these into a single thread, ready for plying into a soft, fine 3 ply for knitting.

My next blog will be suggestions for Summer Holiday Projects.

Happy Woolly Crafting