Yes, I actually spun the wool on this spindle. Swear.

I learned to spin today. I’d been waiting for this for years.

More specifically, I learned the first part of spinning wool. Apparently there’s a few more steps and the next one involves “plying”. Plying basically goes like this: after you stress out and finagle everything into spinning a couple of bobbins, you let a couple of yarns twist together (or a single back onto itself to add the plies), effectively cutting your progress in half. Go figure.

Anyway, I’m trying hard not to think that far ahead. My teachers run a small business called All About Ewe and are some of the nicest ladies I’ve met since we moved up here. They kindly cheered me on saying that my spinning looked great (no doubt “for a beginner”, but ya’ll know I’m easy and I’ll catch any bone tossed my way).

I think I did okay.

I had my first spinning lesson inside a charming barn filled with all things warm, colorful, and handmade. This place where the sheep ladies teach doubles as a handcraft boutique that I didn’t get nearly enough time to peruse.

There couldn’t have been a better classroom.

Like every fiber craft I’ve ever learned, I knew I would enjoy it. I felt comfortable right away while drawing the wool from the roving and letting the wheel twist the fiber onto the bobbin. I’m learning on a smoky-brown wool called Rambouillet (pronounced ram-boo-lay) and while I don’t know much about the sheep breed itself, rambouillet is about as romantic and exotic sounding as it gets — so there’s that.

You’ll recognize this sheep breed from the back of your expensive wool sweaters — Merino.

When my lesson was over, I got to meet the sheep behind the wool, so to speak. I say “so to speak” because these sheep weren’t actually those behind the wool that I was spinning — but they very well could have been. The fiber I was using came from a sheep named Victor who is now grazing on that big pasture in the sky. Although, I’ll never meet him I silently thanked him for donating his lovely wool so that this first-timer could learn this ancient and classic art.

I tried to sneak this one into the back of the car…

I did get the chance to chat with a black sheep that had some seriously big doll eyes framed in long lashes that let me ruffle his wooly head — like a story book come to life. I kid you not. There was also a curious Llama who came right up to me and wasn’t unfriendly, but would rather you kept your hands to yourself thank-you-very-much…I felt I should respect that.

I got the feeling that she ran the place.

As I drove away with both spinning wheel and fluffy roving, I thought about the fact that after completing the basic spinning steps and the necessary hours of practice, I’ll be able to create something warm and wonderful for my efforts.

Then that it dawned on me that I don’t know how to knit.

Many thanks to Suburban Farmer who has graciously invited me to write this guest post to shamelessly promote a good thing: Common Ground’s 4th Annual Edible Landscaping Tour is coming up this Saturday, July 24th, 11AM to 4PM.

This self-guided tour of suburban gardens features ten homes in the Palo Alto area, plus the Common Ground demonstration garden. Last year, I was simply amazed at the creativity and variety of of the suburban gardens. It was a lot of fun to talk to the gardeners about their experiences and vision, and to gather ideas. Many homes also kept chickens, and some had beehives.

All used organic practices and composting, additionally, some had systems to recycle greywater for the garden. I was thrilled that all of this was going on in my area, I had no idea! I also really enjoyed showing our garden (our home was part of the tour) to visitors and telling them how our ideas evolved, and the special challenges we tried to design around (we have two large dogs).

The tour is $35 per person, but the proceeds go to Common Ground (a non-profit). If you haven’t been to their garden store in Palo Alto, here’s your chance! The store has a wide variety of products to support organic gardening, plus classes, books and their own newsletter. I particularly love the plant starts I find there- many unique heirloom varieties (seeds too).Participants will meet there first to pick up maps and a tour book. You can register in advance online, or on the day of the tour at the store.

More information can be found at:
The Common Ground website
and at my blog site where I tell our story (pictures too) of our garden transformation and our experience on the tour last year:
Urban Artichoke

And if you live in Mountain View and have (or are planning) an edible garden, please contact me through my blog. I’m looking for gardens in Mountain View for next year’s tour.

Urban Artichoke

Urban Artichoke’s edible front yard.

Urban Artichoke’s edible backyard.

Growing things isn’t brain surgery. After all, squirrels do it everyday and without – I might add – opposable thumbs. They hide acorns away for literally a rainy day and half the time they forget about it. The next thing you know, there stands a mighty oak that ends up housing and feeding God-knows-how-many squirrels over its lifetime. If a squirrel can plant an oak that sustains generations of squirrels, you can grow lettuce and potatoes for your household. Trust me on this.

Suburban and urban yards can handle quite a bit of home ag. The list is endless. Produce growers saw the writing on the wall along time ago and have been busy as bees creating smaller varieties of trees, heavier producing vegetables, even smaller scale chickens. Small yards (even containers) can grow dwarf and columnar fruit trees, berries, grapes, every vegetable you can think of, and even collect your own farm fresh eggs.

Home agriculture means you get to feed your family real food. You remember real food, right? It’s the stuff without the extra helping of poison on it – the stuff that still has its own genes. Well, grow some of that. You’re going to be so pleased with yourself.

You’ve probably figured out that there are tremendous advantages to growing your own food, or you probably wouldn’t be at this site. But I’d like to revisit the undeniable benefits so that there’s no doubt left in your mind, that farming in your own backyard is the right idea.

Remember the Victory Gardens of WW I and WW II? They were planted to reduce the pressure on the public food supply brought on by the war effort. In 1943, over 20 million American Victory Gardens produced 8 million tons of food in this country – 41 % of all the produce consumed by this nation. That’s a lot of groceries. Modern homesteading in suburban and urban areas is an echo of those successful American gardens.

Today our social and economic climate is at a place where Americans can once again benefit from the bountiful of our historic past. There is a monstrous movement on the horizon that is just as appropriate as it is necessary. It’s time, once again, to take responsibility for not only what goes into our families’ bodies, but how it gets there.

Suburban farming is being accomplished successfully in backyards everywhere. And it’s being done with high yields on very little land. You can plan, plant, maintain, and gather your own food for pennies on the dollar for each meal harvested. You’ll not only receive the many health benefits of fresh food, but also enjoy working outdoors with the pride that comes from creating food with your own hands.

Plus, if the truth be told, I am a control freak. I got tired of relying entirely on external sources for our necessities and wanted to take back some control. Because I like healthy food and I like my family, I decided to start there.

Growing your own groceries is catching on all over the country and sales from seed catalogs are up; some say they’ve doubled. A weak economy and a global movement toward a healthier diet and sustainable planet make home produce farming not only timely, but appropriate.

A mere 20 years ago, farming was considered passé. What was once old fashioned has come back into its own. Could the timing be any better? The difference for this decade is that most of us don’t own what is traditionally considered “farm land” anymore. We live a suburban lifestyle.

Not to worry, since modern produce and fruit growers have created strategic ideas for getting high yields in compact spaces. These strategies let the average family, with average-sized yards; grow their own food throughout the seasons.

Food that is healthy, free of pesticides, herbicides and artificial fertilizers. Food from heirloom plants so rich with flavor, it’s proof-positive that grocery store quality has been missing the mark for years. This is food people feel good about feeding their families, because it’s fresh, safe, affordable, and because they grew it.