Hi Chris, Dianne, and Don
This is certainly a challenging time.
We’ve cancelled public events until the end of May and will reassess then. We may lose the whole season. Retail sales have slowed dramatically, although yarn is still selling. Knitting is a popular isolation activity, apparently.
We can apply for some of the subsidy programs but that will take a while to kick in. Leah is on top of this thank goodness, and the lack of visitors is giving her a chance to catch up on all the accounting. She is very much looking forward to the day when she can get back out onto the land and out of the office part time. We have not laid anyone off yet, but that is day to day. As you guys always said, if this was easy everyone would do it. We have a lot to be grateful for, and this is a pretty good spot to be during these uncertain times.
As a group we've decided to work the farm like we rented it for the long weekend:
To work on predator-proofing the fences (the coyotes are coming in and out at will), we will use every piece of fencing that we have in the ATV shed. Chris, I am following through on your plan for stand-off wire and barbed wire at ground level.
A culvert has been installed in the stream near the bluffs so that a vehicle can drive from Lighthouse pasture to Battery pasture without getting wet. An added bonus is it protects the fence from debris.
Will has been rebuilding all the gateways out of reclaimed wood. This week we start driving new cedar posts into the ground to hang them on.
The kids and miscellaneous volunteers have been working on grey barn clean out. The west hayloft is nearly cleaned out. We'll redo the floor before deciding what to do with the space.
We have dismantled the old, east bin and we'll use the material for other projects. The new metal grain bin is installed; we have dubbed them Don and Sancho (1 tall, the other stout).
The burning pile has been relocated to the far south-west corner of the upper barnyard; this will free up valuable real estate and hopefully cause fewer tire punctures.
We'll start out-building construction soon: new ATV shed beside fuel tanks, extend woodshed westward two house everything to do with morning chores, a permanent, steel roof kitchen for the yurt, and an awning between A-frame and foster lamb pen (visitor comfort and water deflection).
Kyle has been focusing on bees, firewood, major gardening work at his place with Kayleigh, and keeping the flock in top shape for lambing.
I have been attacking standing water like never before. So much work has been done to cure foot rot permanently that controlling field moisture levels seems a good place to put energy. Major drainage work done on west barnyard, still need to get into the east side. Really need to rent a track vehicle for a weekend. Our 4wd Kubota loaders do a great job (and I am also learning their limits). Have also have added rock around the new barn, will send pics later.
Shearing happens this weekend. We are not really set up for it but that prep ought not take very long given the tidying that has happened. It’ll be strange to not have folks visiting, but we’re going to livestream it.
Ian and Sally are doing less hands-on work; but are both still very much involved. Ian's cancer treatments are taking a lot out of him, yet, he still holds his corner up. He's been doing some machinery work and has been moving yards and yards of gravel in a borrowed dump trailer. He has put lots of effort into organizing the many boxes of inventory in our two shipping containers, Alice and Bill, so that the most recent 12 boxes could be logically stashed. Sally is hard-pressed to do much as she'd like. It's still a full time job doing the garden expansions, social media/customer interactions, organizing volunteers and adoptive families, and now sending regrets. Many are kindly donating their adoption fees. French lessons for the boys, baking for shearing and all the other misc things that come in front of her daily.
The two boys and Cole (summer student) heroically pulled a hypothermic kayaker from the water this week before anyone else could arrive (the ferry boat was 3 to 5 minutes behind them). They acted as warriors with only consideration for the suffering of another, and the deeply instilled knowledge that they, themselves, could make a difference.
Our social media is focused on Victory Garden promotion. I am personally concerned about the national food supply chain. This seems a productive way for people to spend their time and a great way to de-stress.
The pastures are starting to turn green. Kyle will turn the sheep loose on Lot 64 as soon as is prudent. Thank goodness, as we do not have much hay left.
Signing off for now, going to make good use of this sunshine.
Forever love from home.
Jacob
]]>When we took over the farm in 1971, the old ice house with its dirt floor was showing its age. It had become just a place to store stuff too good to throw out. Needing a work shop for machine repair, we poured a concrete floor, put new shingles on the roof and outside walls, insulated the walls, put on new doors, installed electric wire and did some painting. This was our farm work shop and, sometimes, candle-making area.
We eventually built a new work shop and the old building became a place to park our ATVs. In the late ‘90s, the shed became a band room for our youngest teenager, housing his buddy’s drum set, a couple of old amps and older couches with ‘decorations’ to match.
The building’s next incarnation was as a retail outlet for our wool blankets and yarn, our first Wool Shed. It did this job well except for flooding during spring thaws or heavy rain. Situated downhill from the laneway, we had to bail it out a few times.
A few years ago, the road in front of the ice house was widened and the municipality bought the building intending to demolish it. Following our ethics of re-cycling and re-using, we had the building moved south to a new concrete slab where it was reborn as our new office and shipping & receiving facility beside our new Wool Shed.
It is less than perfectly square so the siding had to compensate. Jake says the end boards, bell-bottom shaped, are just a tribute to the former hippie days.
]]>Alice, Bill, David, Ian and Randi purchased the farm on the northwest corner of Amherst Island on December 31st, 1971. Seeking a different lifestyle, we formed a commune called Headlands Community.
We planned to tear down the old barn to build a geodesic dome, move in, sell the farmhouse, and pay off the mortgage.
Then the head of the municipal government visited us to find out what we were up to. He sadly shook his head when he heard about our plans to take down the barn. He expressed disbelief that we would destroy such a good barn and casually mentioned that he had a few heifers he’d maybe consider selling to us.
That was how Topsy history began. We got into farming – a slippery slope as it turned out. The heifers needed hay, so we bought some machinery, did some fencing, put lots of hay into the barn and got more cattle to eat the hay. We bought some goats to have healthy milk for our children; and we also bought chickens, pigs, and sheep. Huge gardens were next and we built a big root cellar.
There were great times with great meals, great parties and interesting people. And we had disagreements – lots of them. On June 30, 1975, we officially disbanded the commune. This was done amicably – quite an accomplishment – and most of us are still good friends. Three of the commune members and a friend arranged to buy the farm operation from the other members.
Everyone was eventually repaid.
The next few years were very difficult for those who stayed on the farm. We did a lot of paid labour on the mainland, construction work, candle-making, and custom farm work on the Island to pay down debts while continuing to develop the farm.
In 1977, our bank manager advised us that we couldn’t keep losing money on both beef and sheep and that we had better concentrate on one. The sheep seemed more promising so we sold the cattle and ended up getting more for the hay that would have fed them than we got for the cows themselves. It was a hard thing to see them go, as they were good cows, each with a unique personality.
We had purchased our first sheep in the summer of 1974 – 50 ewes from Manitoulin Island. The sheep flock gradually increased to 1100 breeding ewes at the end of 2017.
Other animals presently on the farm are 2 Highland heifer calves, 2 pet lambs and 8 sheep guardian dogs, two of which are new puppies.
The guidline when we first got sheep was that the annual wool clip would pay for the flock’s medical expenses. In the following years, the wool did not even cover our shearing costs. A family trip to PEI in 1995 by Ian, Sally and the boys, to visit Ian’s family, resulted in the first Topsy wool being shipped to the mill we still use today. In 1996, we received the first blankets and yarn.
In 2005, an old ice house/workshop on the farm was renovated to be our on-site retail outlet – the Wool Shed. This was its 4th incarnation after candle-making shop, repair shop (tractors didn’t fit) and music room.
We have steadily increased the sales of pure wool and related, all-Canadian products through craft shows, online marketing, and on-site Wool Shed. Our yarn and other wool products are also available in several retail stores. We’ve learned how to use social media – Facebook, Twitter, and Instagram.
Fortunately for us, the municipality undertook to improve our road and bought this building. That helped us build a new Wool Shed and we re-cycled the old building into an office and shipping/receiving facility.
Three partners have retired, and our three adult children, their partners in life and some of our close friends now opperate the farm. Topsy history enters a new chapter.
We are expanding our tradition of making people welcome, and demonstrating how to care for the animals and the land, with respect.
Since its birth, the Wool Shed has steadily increased our farm-gate business and has become an Island destination for tourists and locals alike. People enjoy the level of personal contact with us and with the animals whose wool creates the products they love.
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Field stones are a staple of modern, urban landscaping. Field stones are a challenge in a field but a useful resource when properly stacked into a wall. The walls keep the animals in thus creating a micro-climate, improving grass yields and redistributing the sun’s heat at night.
Some Amherst Island neighbours sponsored our Jake to attend the first Tir Connell stone festival in Donegal, Ireland in 2014. He wrote the song “Donegal” after that intensely moving experience. He helped organize the 2015 Dry Stone Wall festival on Amherst Island. Jake was again invited back to Ireland in June 2018, to be a part of the ongoing restoration work, and took his sons to share the experience.
Dry Stone Canada needed a site for their 2018 annual Festival, so Topsy took a financial risk and plunged in. For a month, Jake worked by day and by headlights at night, hauling rocks from our fields, using our top tractor and borrowed equipment.
It was tough timing as it was the first month without newly retired head shepherd, Christopher Kennedy. Kyle was stretched to his utmost, managing the flock. Everyone on the farm, even the kids, stepped up and filled in; the teamwork was outstanding.
It was hard to believe that 200 tonnes of piled-up rock-chaos could translate to a functional structure. Every stone in the wall came from our farm; gifts from the glaciers or of the limestone bones of our Island. A drystone wall has a place for all sizes and shapes of material – like the wallers themselves – all fit together with loving care.
This festival took a lot of planning and logistical work. Dry Stone Canada were terrific organizers, helping with the fundraising, registering the maximum 12 students for the Stone Carving Workshop and 30 students for the Walling Workshop. They did great prep work.
The Ontario government approved a matching grant through the Great Waterways RT09. McCormick Excavating, an Island business, loaned us unlimited use of a dumper wagon. Battlefield Napanee donated a skidsteer loader.
The Back Kitchen and The Lodge on Amherst Island were wholehearted supporters. The McMullen family, Andrea Cross and Bonnie Livingstone were magnificent. Lorna WiIlis and an army of local volunteers provided feasts for and accommodated 100 students, wallers and their families. The MacKinnon Brothers Brewing Co. kept the beer flowing.
We greatly appreciated donations from Home Hardwares in Odessa and Napanee, BGM Metalworks, Rankin Construction and Lafarge. Miller Thompson Advocates helped significantly with the food costs. Thanks to Value Sciences Investment Counsel for sponsoring international guests.
Islanders helped with donations of art for sale and money for tee shirts. We are grateful to them and to our local MP, Mike Bossio, Lennox and Addington County and to Lion’s Club, Odessa. Loyalist Township donated ferry and dump tickets.
It was opened by an indigenous ceremony, acknowledging we are merely caretakers of the land, and that the “grandmother” and “grandfather” stones were choosing to help.
Students worked with experienced wallers. All felt the joy of international wallers’ reunions; sparks of energy; inspiration and passion for the work; delight as the lichen-covered stones found their perfect fit.
Troubadours entertained. Vendors displayed. Information tents were popular: Dry Stone Canada, The Ontario Sheep Farmers Association, and a ‘thanks to the following’ tent.
A Kid’s Walling Workshop area was safe and extremely popular.
There was even enough energy and expertise overflow to complete a wall at Jake’s and build a 40-foot repair on a 150-year old stone wall at Kyle’s under the supervision of the Queen’s own Dry Stone Waller, Norman Haddow.
Norman stayed a few more days, building a sheep scratching post in the barnyard on a sloppy day, with the help of Jake, Kyle, and a tractor.
The Wool Shed did a roaring business that weekend, with international and local folks appreciating the beauty of wool.
This International Dry Stone Wall Festival, with Dry Stone Canada, was a joyful success. Topsy Farms now has a beautiful,110-foot, functional barnyard wall – truly a community project. Come visit and see our wall – it was built with love.
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I get joy out of feeding the lambs. I hurt by the end of the day, but the reward of seeing a lamb revive and thrive makes it all worth it”.
This past year, Sue has been dealing with some particularly heavy grief and being back on the farm as one of the volunteers, has helped her lighten the burden she carries.
“I like being around people and I like animals.
I was eager to help this weekend with foster lambs to gain experience working with sheep and lambs. I like the people at Topsy Farms – the way they welcome me”.
Adèle Crôteau is in her forties and works as a public servant in Ottawa. She has no prior farming experience. She’s a five-year cancer survivor and mom of two young children. She responded to a post on Instagram, seeking farm volunteers to come and help during lambing season. Her husband always encouraged her to find ‘her thing’. Well, she found it with Topsy!
“I always felt I belonged somewhere else than in a cubicle. I’ve always loved animals, could spend quality time with family in Napanee,so using some of my vacation days to come up to Topsy Farms was a no-brainer. My mom’s passing 10 years ago, taught me to stop putting things off, to do them now and live each day as your last. Each Christmas, my mom gifted my sisters and me with her handmade mittens. This became my goal, mittens for my sisters. I was entranced by the yarn resources of the Wool Shed.
As an army brat I’ve always been cautious of new people and situations, so I never knew that strangers could become family so quickly. I now have a family in Topsy and I will be back.”
Shelley Dyet is a mom of 3 homeschooled adults, has worked with her husband on their own business, and is very active in the scouting movement, world-wide. She and her husband are considering buying a small farm and moving to a simpler lifestyle. Her mother’s sudden death a few years ago emphasized for her the importance of not postponing important life decisions. When she learned of the opportunity to work with Topsy Farms, she felt it would be a good chance to gain some farming skills and to test the environment personally. She chose to join the volunteers working with the lambs and people.
My heart was literally swelling within my chest. The whole experience has fuelled my need for a simpler, more authentic life.”
Topsy Farms’ visitors and farm volunteers find healing when they connect to the land and to the animals. We’ve welcomed those struggling with addictions, with depression, with illness, with exhaustion of spirit and body, with a wide range of physical damage and challenges and almost all have found some comfort. We’re also glad to welcome groups seeking family fun and togetherness.
We will expand and continue our entertaining and soul-healing events and offerings in the coming years.
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Dad didn’t have bees in Ontario, as there was a mountain of work needed to get a run-down farm back into production. Had he lived longer, he might have again started beekeeping. I’d like to think so.
Maybe the memory of the early honey-processing got me into bee keeping in 1975. I remember putting hive boxes together on a late Sunday winter morning with 3-year old Leah playing nearby and Leonard Cohen on the record player.
The next dozen-or-so years were very busy with farm-work and money-earning jobs off the farm. The bee operation struggled along until, through bad-luck and poor-management, the last few hives of bees died over winter.
Some years later, I enrolled in a bee keeping course. I made it to the first Saturday class. I was about to order a few nucs (nucleus colonies) when I got a job offer that I couldn’t refuse – over twice the hourly wage that I’d been earning. Unfortunately the work was on weekends so I gave up my beekeeping dream.
The bee equipment was sold to a neighbour with the understanding that if I, or one of my children, wanted to get bees that the neighbour would be helpful.
A few years ago, our son Kyle expressed interest, visited some colonies with the neighbour, and decided to pursue it with his encouragement.
Kyle feels that pollinators are generally in trouble worldwide. By working with bees and learning about their social organization, he’s found them to be complex and most interesting. The fact that they produce a healthy, quality food with indefinite shelf life that we can sell through our store is a bonus. He has shown his nephew a bit, and the interest might continue to the 4th generation. A healthy bee population enhances the well-being of our land.
This winter I asked Kyle if Topsy could buy his bee business and I would work with him to expand the operation. He agreed.
There is so much to learn. Our neighbour gives us advice and we’re watching bee keeping videos on YouTube. We have decided to add more hives to those who survived the very long cold spring.
We are determined to keep our bees on land that Topsy owns or rents to eliminate pesticides from the in-coming nectar.
Bees are fascinating and necessary for pollination. We are proud of our natural, heathy, raw honey.
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In the late ‘80’s, our rapidly growing sheep farm needed a proper shearing floor area. Our sheep deserve the top quality shearers; for efficiency, the workers need an adequate setup.
Our farmers investigated other Canadian shearing setups and talked to shearers. We designed the upper story of our barn to become a shearing floor. Previous farm owners used the space to store loose hay, then square bales. The floor was not sufficiently sound or laid out for shearing use.
An elderly Island structure needed to be demolished. A major economic shift caused the granary at Emerald, one of two that provided a key hub of Island economic trade, to be abandoned years ago. The owners approached the farm with an offer – to take everything down and clean up (except for the grindstones) in exchange for all the wood.
Those who built the granary did a solid job, nailing flat board on flat board of Island spruce, with hardwood where needed, but the roof had failed. The demolition crew cut the corners off with a chain saw, carving the structure into manageable chunks that could be transported on tractor bale tines.
Our preteen sons and friends were pleased to inherit the shorter bits, learning to build outdoor forts and walkways and outlooks, hammering often a dozen nails in each piece, hauling boards one at a time by bike.
Building the shearing floor in the second story of the barn took time, with labour for haying and sheep work taking precedence, but it was accomplished in time for the next year’s shearing. Here’s a wonderful speeded up video of shearing day action, taken by our good neighbour from Lynn’s Lids.
The wool gathered, sorted, bagged and shipped to PEI for washing, becomes wonderful wool bedding, sold online and from our Wool Shed. The blankets are even stored in the unused (most of the time) shearing area.
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We birth a large number of lambs on pasture every year (nearly 1400 in the past couple of years). With all those babies, there are inevitably troubles. We ‘rescue’ from our own flock those who just won’t thrive:
• Smallest of triplets
• Mud-puddle babies
• Hypothermic lambs whose moms just can’t cope
• An occasional ‘reject’ neglected by its mom
We invite members of the public to do a virtual adoption. For only $50 they choose a name, receive birth announcements and photos and are welcomed to visit and cuddle while that lamb is with us, before it retires to its more permanent home near Kingston.
People give a gift of the adoption option for bridal showers, for wedding anniversaries, a wedding gift and for a child’s birthday. It was a surprise gift for the director of Loving Spoonful in Kingston, and as an auction item to help that group raise funds. Lambs have been adopted by Holt Renfrew staff, school groups, knitting stores like Yarns Untangled, and craft clubs. (“Darn it Purl” club was named after our first adopted lamb 2 years ago.)
The lambs in turn have helped burned out teachers, a person struggling with Chemo treatment effects, and a child with advanced physical ailments. People with special needs – in wheelchairs, or who are vision or hearing impaired are often the most sensitive visitors. The lambs tune in beautifully to those who are autistic, have C.P. or other challenges.
The names have been chosen in tribute to a departed loved one, for loved grandkids, and for the playful, joyful sound of it. We’ve had Arabic, Icelandic, French, Hungarian and Spanish names.
A loving dad purchased the first adoption for his 10-year-old daughter last September, even though the lambs aren’t due until the second week of May, because he knew how happy it would make her.
We number each adoption until it receives its name, and crochet a different coloured chest and belly band, so each lamb can be easily identified. Our blackboard helps our staff keep track of who is who. The bands are made from our own pure wool coloured yarns.
One endearing 8-year-old has adopted lamb #14 with his own earned $50. He has written several times asking good questions. While waiting to meet his lamb, he’s learned to knit with our yarn.
The generous adoptive parents who support our foster lambs enable us to nurture and save these, the most vulnerable of our flock. A few parents have returned each year for three years. We’re grateful.
Topsy Farms, Connect to the Land
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A huge cloud of smoke, then flames, shot up from the workshop as the ewe lambs and farmers moved down the road towards the barn.
Will stashed the sheep; Christopher moved vehicles; Kyle unplugged the burning tractor, released the brake and grabbed and discharged extinguishers; Jake ran to the house, said “call it in”, and then rushed to the scene with our best tractor. Chris hooked it on with a chain, Will steered, and Jake towed it into an empty field. We were lucky the market lambs weren’t pastured there that day.
We’d parked the tractor in the lean-to, an open part of the workshop.
They gathered more extinguishers, emptying them into the smoulder. When those were depleted, Kyle started shovelling in snow.
Ian called 911 reporting what we believed – workshop fire! Loyalist Township rerouted the ferry and dispatched 2 pumper trucks, while our Island fire fighters charged to help us. Ian rushed toward the smoke with the house extinguishers. By then the workers knew it was ‘only’ a tractor fire, and we called 911 again to report the building was not involved.
The Island First Response crew arrived and hosed it down, reducing the heat and the cloud of dark smoke. The smell of melting wires and hoses and burning diesel was really toxic.
A short in the electrical system caused the tractor fire. The heat buildup caused the diesel fuel line to rupture. The tractor fire melted all the hoses, wires and some parts. Our low budget, aging tractors are good for lots, including relatively simple repairs. Our intrepid mechanics, Will and Christopher, took it apart and got it sort of running again, in a week, including waiting for a few replacement parts. There is more to be done.
Did you know that wool is inflammable? It naturally resists flame. I wrapped myself in a throw, then a blanket, when the adrenalin passed and the cold shakiness of the mild shock aftermath hit.
We are grateful to our First Response Team and to the partnership with the Loyalist Fire Department. Thanks to the blind luck of timing, it was only one more minor farm setback.
We all leapt into action to respond to the tractor fire with no discussion or leadership. We’ve had years of teamwork. We all just saw what needed to be done. And we did it.
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You will find a Snowy Owl by open fields, sometimes on the ground; other times perched up high. Most often people sight them at the Township Roads office on the Stella Forty Foot, at the Bird Sanctuary on the south east corner of the Island, or out Long Point Road, the peninsula accessed by taking the Stella Forty-foot south then turning west. Their main food are voles and ducks. Other owls may be found in our “Owl Woods” but not the Snowys who need space.
This week, two Amherst Island Snowy owls, now named “Stella” and “Emerald”, were fitted with solar powered transmitters by Project SNOWstorm, a group that tracks and protects Snowy Owls in North America. The project story may be found here: https://www.projectsnowstorm.org/posts/back-to-amherst/. They were trapped with care, brought to Bird Lady Janet Scott’s dining room table for careful handling, and then released.
Both owls were strong and very well fed – Stella, less than a year old, weighed 5.25 lbs. with a wingspan of just about 6 feet. The transmitters are quite light, fitted with solar chargers. The researchers ensure that the Snowy Owl’s flight is not in anyway affected.
The data is coming in smoothly, tracking their hunting movements on the Island. Later valuable information will be sent when they travel in the Arctic. The transmitters can store data for up to 3 years, if they stay in the Arctic, far from data transmitters, or during the northern darkness. This project is in its 3rd year.
BIRDERS TAKE NOTE: When you come to visit the Wool Shed at Topsy Farms, looking for wool bedding or sheepskin products, we offer the only public, warm washroom in winter.
]]>Many have come back home to raise their families. Twelve young adults of our sons’ and daughter’s generation who’d left for education and a broader scope of life, have chosen to return to Amherst Island. In a total population about 450, that’s significant.
“The community, peaceful life, small school, and being around family were top priorities for us, convincing us to do it!”
Some who have come back home have parents and grandparents who help support the early child-rearing years. Their kids are safer here from the kinds of dangers that can lurk in urban areas. They create jobs for themselves; commute; or join the family farm. They know that our small school has a high caliber of education, and that the multi-grade classes and small numbers are of tremendous benefit to most. The sense of community, though less that it once was, is still very powerful. Committees ensure fund-raising for activities and food programs. This year’s school play served a potluck meal feeding almost 1/5 of the Island population. After the feast, every child had a role in the school play.
Our grandsons work in the Wool Shed during shearing, and help educate other kids who visit our foster lambs.
An older group of those who come back home are people whose previous generation moved away to make a living, to get broader experiences, or just to get off the farm. These adults have grown up in urban worlds. Some of them have made a pretty good living. But then, a rootlessness occurs; a feeling of being unsettled.
In our small population there are 6 who have come back in the past couple of years, to where the ancestors are buried; to where their family names are instantly recognizable. Their immediate challenge is to figure out just how many individuals they meet are somehow cousins and to sort out the tangles of the family tree.
It was once a proud hotel called the Royal, later the Dominion, built sometime before 1821, then registered in 1860 as a commercial establishment.
Dave McGinn visited Amherst Island as a kid occasionally – his great-great grandfather moved here; his grandfather ran the general store; his dad was born here as was Dave’s eldest brother; and his uncle had a dairy then beef farm – but he grew up out west, making a living in the oil fields of Alberta. Fortunately he learned a great number of practical skills. He retired, explored alternatives, discovering the advertised sale of the Amherst Island General Store in the almost derelict building, and came home with his wife. They have fit in immediately.
Johnnie McGinn walked in one day, figured out their link (through two half-brothers), then described where Dave’s grandfather would have stood and what he’d have done in the store. As Dave’s careful demolition and reconstruction proceeded, he discovered a big knot in the 2” thick planks with big indentations in the wood on either side, splayed out the way all the McGinn men stand. Goosebumps. Dave was quite literally standing in his grandfather’s footprints.
Amherst Island is a more vibrant community, thanks to the people who have come home.
]]>This era of increasing mono-culture, single crop production makes farmers more vulnerable to weather extremes. In the past, farms were more diversified so that each year, some of what they produced was more likely to succeed. Ian says “Crop insurance and other government programs are now just one more tool in the tool box. Some years on the old farms you were poor and other years you were really poor”.
For quite a while, we’ve had relatively stable weather patterns.
It makes it very hard to plan. Our sheep and dogs live on pasture year-round. It is a healthier, more ethical farming practise we believe. Our lamb, yearling, and mutton is in high demand. However…
Despite having more next-generation labour and working long hours, we all seem to be scrambling mightily just to get done what is needed. (Building our Wool Shed last year from scratch in late summer/fall added another element of pressure.)
At Topsy Farms during 2016’s severe drought:
At Topsy during this year’s wet spring and summer:
Different vegetables, herbs and fruits reacting differently to hot dry, then cooler, wet years. We still managed to put food by.
From early May through August we rarely had 2 sequential days dry. Lake Ontario water was very high, but that affected us less than many others. Our fields were soaked. We made bad ruts when feeding sheep and when trying to cut and bale hay. In some we couldn’t make bales. There were many more than usual machine breakdowns as they were working harder in wet conditions.
Increasingly, the only ‘normal’ is abnormality. Just like our ancestors, we simply have to learn to adapt to weather extremes in order to survive.
]]>We’re always seeking ways to increase feed efficiency and reduce costs so the discussion raised the following points, for and against:
• Less stress for the males not being neuteured
• Better physical growth, as testosterone results in leaner meat; more rapid growth
• Better efficiency and lower costs – it takes less time, less grain to get the animal ‘market ready’ or ‘finished’.
• Not much added labour for chores as we’ve always kept a small number of intact males in the flock. Feeding 400 is not much more difficult than feeding 20.
• Less labour during the very busy lambing season, as care must be taken for each male ringed
• Unwanted pregnancies – (it is really hard to find the males with small balls. We’ve checked the entire lamb flock about 5 times)
• Our butcher at Pig and Olive won’t take them for private sales, wanting only females and neuteured males – just his preference.
• The need for much more secure fencing – difficult in a dry fall with electric fences and abundant pasture. The dry ground reduces connectivity; the abundant pastures lure them elsewhere.
• Our concern to avoid seldom successful mid-winter births.
• Feisty stubborn teenage male behavior when trying to move the ‘boys’ to other pasture.
Ian called Brian, the ringmaster at Ontario Stockyards who has firsthand knowledge of market demand. Brian said there would be no negative effect on prices with intact males; there just might be an increased price offered during Muslim high holidays or with other special cultural interest groups.
So we are experimenting this year.
These include all the Border Cheviots from the ewe lambs (generally smaller animals) and the half or quarter Rideau lamb rams. We’ve ringed the faster-growing Suffolk Cross males for the freezer trade, except those we might keep on the farm.
So we are in the midst of one of those challenging experiences.
Our private lamb sales will start in early November. Those requesting halal kills may also request intact males. Otherwise it will only be the Ontario sales that change.
“May you live in interesting times”!
]]>They like the look, the smell, and even the cautiously-tested feel of the wool products. However, they have experienced rashes and discomfort in the past and are certain they are allergic to wool, all wool, anywhere any time.
A tentative customer might feel a tuft of raw fleece. They will give a surprised, positive response to the natural oil feeling. (Approximately 0.3% of the population has a true allergy to lanolin. They should avoid our wool products.)
The concerned visitor, most often a woman with sensitive skin, then might be willing to handle our washed and carded wool. It isn’t prickly. It is soft and retains some lanolin. The reaction is one of surprise, but still big caution. One lady tested it on her wrist and in her elbow, then tucked a piece into her bra. She reported rediscovering it awhile later, forgotten. She revised her conviction that she is allergic to wool.
Virtually all commercial processing of wool uses sulphuric acid and other chemicals. That technique strips all the lanolin and vitality out of the wool fibre, leaving it dry and brittle. A broken wool fibre has two small barbs that prick. All wool fibres are composed of scales with pointed ends. If these are brittle, lacking their natural lanolin, they will be far more prickly, causing an ‘itchy’ reaction.
The absence of chemicals and our process of using only soap to wash leaves each wool fibre soft and vibrant and flexible. We preserve the integrity of the wool which leaves the yarn and the blankets full of air and resilience.
Take a look. Give them a try.
]]>The fund honours the memory of Chaney Wenjack, who died while trying to find his way home. Topsy designed a sock scarf similar to the ones worn by Gord Downie in his 2016 series of concerts across Canada. $15 from each sale – $10 from the purchaser and $5 from Topsy Farms – is donated to the fund. We pay most of the shipping costs; coupon word GORD.
We have paid for services from native healers in the traditional way, with a gift of a blanket and tobacco. We provided bouquets for a big wedding, requesting a donation to a First Nations healing group in B.C. in return. Our throws and lap robes have also been used at the South-west Ontario Aboriginal Health Access Centre, Chippawa.
A neighbour on Amherst Island was taught traditional leather hand stitching and beading by her grandmother on the reserve. Using our crafting shearling sheepskins, she has created magnificent mukluks and gauntlets for members of her family. She uses hides, prepared by people on the reserve in Deseronto.
For many years, Topsy has gathered and donated fresh food produce from Amherst Island gardeners to the hungry in Kingston, through the Partners in Mission Food Bank then more recently, through Loving Spoonful. Once our donation included elderberries, delivered to the Friendship Centre in Kingston. A maker of traditional medicines was delighted to receive them and to use them. That started a relationship with medicine makers from the reserve in Deseronto.
Learning from native gardeners over eons, we plant a Three Sisters garden, using traditional corn and beans, though our own squash and pumpkin. The corn, provides height and structure for the Rattlesnake beans, which climb the stalks, and replenish the soil with much-needed nitrogen. We plant the squash and pumpkins in alternate hills to the other two foods, cover ground, controlling weeds and providing shade to the roots, helping moisture retention. These foods complement each other, providing a balanced diet we consume all winter.
Here are two examples using pure wool yarn from Topsy:
Kate Munn created the Margaret’s Gift sweater for Canada’s 150th, using all natural pure wool yarn from Topsy Farms. There is a wonderful story behind this sweater design, described here.
The Ontario Science Centre is producing a coverlet using an historic Jacquard loom once owned by John Campbell. (photo) Volunteers are weaving one of John Campbell’s patterns that has not been woven for over 100 years on his loom that dates back to the 1840’s. The warp is of white cotton; the weft is a combination of white cotton and Topsy Farms red yarn. The overlet weaving progress may be viewed all summer at the Science Centre in Toronto.
Wool and sheepskin, weaving and spinning for beauty and practical comfort and warmth have been used since people walked upright. Do discover their joys for yourself.
]]>People say disparagingly that someone “follows like sheep”. At times that is appropriate. Usually a wise old ewe takes the lead when we move the flock. She follows those who have earned her trust – the shepherd and often the guardian dog too. An individual sheep has no defense against predators except being one of a group, lacking speed, teeth or claws. “Safety in numbers” is wise for the flock.
But they make choices. Ewes will separate to lamb on pasture here at Topsy Farms, finding a sheltered spot, to birth their babes and to bond.
“Black Sheep” is a term used to refer to a problem or difficult person. Why does our society feel unable to accommodate and celebrate differences? We don’t presently have black sheep in our flock, as the shorn fleece must be kept carefully separate when processing. At the moment, there is a high demand for black (or brown or coloured) fleeces in North America – they are too scarce. We could use more Black Sheep in all senses of the phrase.
Recent studies in Britain make interesting reading: http://www.telegraph.co.uk/news/science/science-news/8335465/Sheep-are-far-smarter-than-previously-thought.html
The bible parables of the 99 and 1 have true meaning. A good shepherd knows individuals within his flock. Our shepherd Christopher, kept an eye on each of the nearly 1400 lambs born this spring, and ‘rescued’ those needing extra help.
At the farm, we work with those lambs that need to be bottle fed because of birth trauma, or being the smallest of multiple births of 3 or 4. Their needs and abilities are very individual.
Their instinct says go under a warm body seeking a fleshy nipple. Instead they must learn to accept and seek a hard black rubber nipple. Their senses of touch and hearing are acute at birth but their eyes are not yet strong. They have to learn to accept and welcome people, to stand and learn to suck and to eat our reconstituted formula that doesn’t taste like mama’s milk. They need to cuddle other lambs for body warmth, lacking mama. All this must happen within about 24 hours from birth. Sheep are smart, and the lambs almost all survive.
Their personalities and quirks develop early as they develop. All sheep are NOT alike, including in their capacity to learn more than the necessary basics.
They communicate very clearly to those who learn to listen. They have a variety of oral sounds. We enjoy hearing the nickering soft mama nurturing murmurs to new lambs. As with people, the subtleties of the sounds vary with individuals, expressing feelings of constipation, boredom, eagerness, curiosity, or uneasiness.
Body language is clear too. New lambs, hungry and cold are desperately droopy, often past shivering or sucking or sometimes even swallowing. A few drops of warm ewe’s milk massaged down a throat will elicit a swallow and soft sound. A hungry lamb, just brought from a mama who can’t cope, will chew on a rubber nipple or sit with it in his mouth, passively resisting – wrong feel, wrong taste. But squeezing a few drops of warmth will often ‘prime the pump’ and hunger takes over and we hear the “I’m going to survive” drive of eager sucking. They even have to learn to coordinate their tongue action. Sheep are smart – it seldom takes long.
Older fosters readily learn to wear a harness and will walk on a leash with a visitor. It is an adaptation of the skill of following mama in the fields.
Book a time to visit us by sending an email to info@topsyfarms.com or calling 613 389-3444/888 287-3157. When you come to visit the Wool Shed, that carries all our wool and sheepskin products and more, this should make the trip even more interesting.
Our sheep are well loved – not just for their brains.
]]>We applied for Green Tourism Canada Certification this winter.
A branch of Green Tourism International, Green Tourism Canada promotes ecotourism by :
• Encouraging tourist-oriented organizations to examine and improve their carbon footprint.
• Helping eco-minded travelers locate and choose their destinations.
The Canadian organization, http://www.greentourismcanada.ca/, is determined to create a sustainable industry that welcomes visitors across the country.
Topsy Farms worked with Green Tourism Canada for a few months, supplying initial data, participating in telephone interviews, then providing documentary and photographic proof of claims.
There were 5 required criteria:
• Sustainability commitment
• Risk management standards especially regarding disposal of toxic substances
• That we know and evaluate our energy consumption, waste disposal, water use, and money spending patterns
• That we establish a Green Policy regarding environmental, economic and social issues
• Creation of a Green Management file, documenting problems and solutions
There are 140 possible measurements of strengths and problems, but the evaluator applied only about 60 appropriate ones to Topsy Farms. We were scored 0 – 5 on each to be evaluated for Green Canada Tourism certification.
WHEW !
The interviewer was supportive and encouraging. The 5 to 6 hours of interviews by phone were both stimulating and exhausting, with a free flow of information both ways.
The staff at Green Tourism Canada was impressed by many things already happening at Topsy Farms:
We learned a great deal about ourselves as well as developing ideas for improvement.
We were fascinated by the exercise of drawing a geographical chart, showing where our money was spent in 2016. The pie chart summarizes our proud results. Topsy paid 72% of last year’s goods and services within Ontario, mainly locally. Only 5% was spent outside Canada and we hope to reduce that!
We received a report suggesting areas of vulnerability, making practical recommendations, and stimulating new ideas.
We are proud to announce…
It is the highest possible standard that a tourism business can receive regarding ecological sustainability.
We are deeply gratified that our efforts, our values have been acknowledged.Our wool products are the most sustainable, environmentally friendly anywhere.
We can also clearly see new ways to improve our practices to be even more ecologically friendly.
Do walk or cycle this pathway with us.
]]>The farm we bought in 1971 is located on the west end of Amherst Island in Lake Ontario. The shallow, drought-prone soil is best used for forage. We keep the sod cover intact, not ploughing, using the sun and moisture-retaining soil to turn the natural grass and legume forage into meat. The farm is wooded with mixed trees, naturally self-planting.
WATER:
We’ve deepened low-lying areas, making ponds for the sheep flock in many of the fields.
Living on an Island, we have easy access to a great volume of water.
We either pump water from the lake or a deep well, through the people and animals, then back into the soil.
LAND:
Our woodlot is about 100 acres – more than enough to supply firewood and some fence posts without ever cutting a live tree. We burn fallen and dead trees in the wood furnace, the primary source of heat in our house.
We’ve made some lumber from standing dead timber, using a rented portable small saw mill on the farm. Even the off-cuts aren’t wasted – we use them for the structures of our compost piles.
We harvest wild mushrooms, nuts, nettles and other wild edibles. We tend our own bees on our land, ensuring they aren’t within range of pesticides so we consume and sell our own honey. Each house grows most of its own fresh food, and we consume mainly our own meat chickens and lamb or young mutton. We also eat venison, taken by license on our own property.
We’ve inherited and enhanced good fence rows – trees and bushes that separate fields. We planted a hedge of spruces (those most likely to survive here) that provides winter windbreak and summer shade.
All our properties have fruit trees, and some deciduous trees that we’ve planted. Our grandsons are involved in the gathering, making, and consuming quantities of pears and pear and apple sauce, and elderberries from our prolific bush, frozen, then eaten all winter.
SOIL:
We trim pastures rather than spraying for weed control. We do not plow.
Our farm has improved soil quality over the years by unrolling hay bales on the fields – “sheet composting” – which spreads the manure naturally. This technique feeds the soil’s earthworms and microorganisms. We also gather and compost manure from barnyards, then spread it on the fields.
REUSE, RECYCLE:
We mulch under bushes and near our Wool Shop with belly wool – a waste byproduct of shearing. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=z3v0WTZLrpk Some garden areas are mulched by unrolling old hay bales, no longer desirable for the sheep. This provides a very effective thick ground cover, adding nutrients for the soil as it breaks down and aiding moisture retention.
We recycle extensively, from batteries to bale wrap to used motor oil. We scavenge old tractors for parts. We even reuse the string wrapped around each bundle of yarn we receive.
The shearing area on the second floor of the barn was built of wood salvaged when we were asked to demolish an old Island grain elevator. Seven miles of wood went far.
We make products from our yarn; the leftover bits form the core of dryer balls, the small tads cut off are added to the nesting materials, combined with belly wool, for birds in spring. Everything is used.
Raising sheep was a logical decision, given the shallow soil. Originally chosen as a source of meat sales, family food and revenue, we couldn’t make a living for 2 families. The lamb, yearling, and mutton are in high demand, but the prices aren't. We turned the health necessity of annual shearing into revenue by having the raw wool processed in PEI. We now provide almost 1/3 of the farm income through sales of pure wool blankets, yarn, sheepskins, and other wool products. Our honey bees thrive in the pollen-producing environment, giving tasty, healthy honey.
Our desire is to improve the farm’s finances to enable the next generation to take the farm over and to have a good life.
]]>Over 200 blankets take up lots of room, not to mention the pure wool woven throws and lap robes.
A year’s supply of pure wool bedding, comforters, mattress pads and pillows fluff up greatly.
32 colours of yarn (at last count) in varying quantities fill bin after bin stacked 3 high.
Sheepskins and lambskins, with their lovely loft, don’t just fit in a corner. They take up space too.
And there are many other wool-related items we stash on the usually empty shearing floor, near the boxes of raw honey.
We discover a few unlooked-for treasures. We struggle to find places to store things temporarily where we can access them on demand (and remember where we put them).
We invite the public to come to visit and enjoy the spectacle of the annual ‘haircut’ for the sheep – a necessary health intervention. One day in March and two in April, should be enough for over 1000 ewes and rams. The barn will be full of its intended occupants.
How wonderful a cycle, with the sheep, the wool and the wool products, all finding their home with us. That tempting empty space will be refilled with our wool products, created from the fleeces just shorn.
]]>• Wool breathes. It traps lots of air, so it is actually cooler in summer as well as warmer in winter. It helps the body temperature stay at a comfort level, unlike fibrefill or other artificial petroleum industry by-products.
• Washed wool fibres have a tremendous resilience – a ‘boingability’ to coin a phrase. It naturally rebounds to its own shape, so it doesn’t need constant fluffing.
• The lanolin in wool actually repels dust mites, unlike feathers.
• Wool pillows are hypoallergenic.
• Sheep fleece is also fireproof. It will not burn. Hopefully that will never be important to our pillow customers.
Our wool pillows are also washable. No need for dry cleaning.
It is vital for body comfort to choose a pillow that is the right density. When lying on your side, your neck should be supported sufficiently so that your head neither sags down nor is pushed up.
Choose between a standard or firm wool pillow, depending mainly on the size of your shoulder.
Wool pillows also come in 2 dimensions, both standard and Queen size.
A choice for all!
Our customers certainly agree:
Lisa: “I was looking have more natural products in my everyday life esp. while sleeping and to help with eczema problems around the ears. I am allergic to (chemically processed) wool but in my research, wool without pesticides and more natural wool would not affect me so I gave it a try. These worked great! My eczema was gone because the wool was breathable and it was very comfortable. I use the wool wash that I bought as well since there was a bit of a smell when the products arrive. But after washing it, it was fine. I’m glad I took the risk and bought these. Will buy more products from Topsy Farms down the road. Thanks so much for offering such quality products!”
Jen: “You can feel the difference from the standard, some nights you just need that little extra bit of fluff! Best pillows ever, so comfortable. Amazing service as well.”
Honey-Lee: “I have been using a Topsy Farms standard wool pillow for 2 years now. It is the best pillow I’ve used after many years of trying and discarding various types. It is a great all-round pillow for someone who rotates from side to back through the night. It does not get too hot in summer and to refresh it, I will either put it in the dryer for a bit in winter or lay it on my lavender plants in summer. Wool also is a more humane filling. Down pillows are most often made using down that is live-plucked from geese and ducks, causing them great distress, and let’s not even talk about synthetic! I would highly recommend bedding from Topsy Farm, which by the way is just across the lake from my house, so very local.”
Àngela: “So happy with our pillows! We’ve had them for about 6 weeks now and love them. We have them on each bed and we sleep so well. My 6 year old has asthma and allergies and simply changing his pillow has made a huge difference. We will certainly be investing in more wool bedding soon. Also, the customer service has been kind and wonderful. I look forward to trying to make time to visit Sally and the farm with my family.”
Ruth: “Have struggled with pillows and this wool pillow is ideal! Fantastic. Soft enough and yet firm enough for support. No more allergy headaches either.”
Mona: “I bought these pillows and my kids absolutely love them! They felt the difference from down/synthetic pillows and only want to use the wool ones now. Very happy with this product!”
Greg: “This pillow is exactly as described, a simple wool filled pillow with cotton covering. None of the frills that I find too many pillows today suffer from, just a soft wool pillow that helps me get to sleep at night.”
Jen: “Can’t decide which pillow I like best so I have a standard and a firm and I switch them up depending. LOVE them both!!!!”
Bethany: “I love my new pillow! So soft, yet still supportive (I got the regular fill). I could smell the faint scent of animal, but I like it, it’s natural. It feels good to know that I’m resting on and breathing something that is healthy. I look forward to being able to order more of these pillows and other bedding. I think one of my little dogs wants to sleep on this pillow, as well. I may need to order another one sooner than expected.”
Asel: “I bought two of these pillows. They are wonderful. The big thing for me that they are hypoallergenic.”
Mayo: “I gave my daughter the gift of a wool pillow from Topsy. I offered to do the same for her husband, who was not at all interested. He was skeptical that a wool pillow would be comfortable, cool in summer, etc. Within a few weeks he was ‘stealing’ her pillow! I remedied the situation by getting him one of his own. Now there’s pillow peace.”
Sweet dreams.
]]>
One of our lamb customers presented us with this fine recipe, great for winter comfort.
2 meaty lamb shanks or necks
8 to 10 whole cardamon seeds
1 tbsp summer savoury
About 10 litres of cold water
2 medium Vidalia onions, diced
1 medium red onion, diced
About 4 cups of cubed potatoes
6 to 8 cups cubed carrots
6 stalks celery, diced
2 cups pearled barley
Your own broth or 950 ml Campbell’s Beef Broth
¼ tsp celery salt
2 tsp seasoning salt
Fresh ground pepper
In a large covered stock pot, place the first four ingredients and bring to a good simmer for about three hours. You want the broth to be as rich as possible, and you want the meat to fall off the bones.
Remove all of the solids from the broth using a skimmer, strainer, whatever, and put these on a raised cookie sheet or roasting pan, etc to cool.
Add more water if you wish at this point. I do. Add the remaining ingredients to the broth, bring to a boil (stirring frequently), then back to a simmer, covered, for at least half an hour. In the meantime, remove the meat from the bones, cut it into small pieces about 1 cm cubed or so, and discard the bones and cardamon seeds. Add the meat back into the pot and let the whole soup simmer for another twenty to thirty minutes. The barley can stick to the pot, especially if your stock pot does not have a good thick bottom, so be mindful to stir the pot frequently after adding the barley.
Notes to Chef: all measurements HIGHLY approximate. If you spell cardamon with an M at the end please feel free to use that alternate spelling. And if you like turnip, which I consider a disgusting excuse for a vegetable, by all means throw some in and ruin your pot of soup. The traditional recipe does call for turnip, but what do those folks know!!! Enjoy!”
Buy pasture-raised meat year round. Topsy offers fresh frozen lamb by order from November through early March, providing delivery options once a year to Ottawa and Toronto, and to Guelph. Customers order yearling for late June (grass-fed, about 1 1/4 years old, so no longer lamb). Mutton can be ordered at certain times of the year; young for home eating, or older for nutritious food for dogs. Halal requests are welcomed.
Subscribe to Interest in Lamb Meat on any page of our website for direct mailing information, seasonally.
]]>The post Chemical Free Homemade Dog Food appeared first on Topsy Farms, Canadian Made Wool Products.
]]>We’ve started making chemical free homemade dog food for our hard-working dogs. Five guardian dogs live outdoors year-round, working hardest at nights to patrol and protect our flock of sheep. During cold winters, dogs need extra nutrients and digestible fats.
Research on-line gives a scary range of opinions, recipes and advice about making homemade dog food. It’s clear that making homemade dog food takes time, learning and love for the animals in your care.
It is most important to know, when making chemical free homemade dog food, that the meat comes from healthy animals and not those laden with antibiotics and other medicines.
Our dogs eat older mutton and we offer it for sale to dog lovers. Dog owners can order this chemical free meat for healthier and happier dogs, ground and packaged in quantities that fit their needs. It is available at various times during the year. Add your name to this list and we’ll let you know exactly when.
That comment has been a universal response from customers (true for people and pets!)
One daschund owner was a farmer and knows the chemical overload that can be in commercial foods. His beloved Dominic lived 8 years in a Topsy sheepskin-padded wheelchair, staying active and well on a mainly cooked diet that has included our mutton for years. He says his dogs are “sleek, shiny coated, well-muscled and slender”.
“We buy from Topsy Farms because we know the animals are well-treated and live a healthy pasture life; the meat is not chemical-laden.
Their 4 rescue dogs (and a steadily increasing number of cats) are thriving in their new home and with their improved diet of chemical free homemade dog food. The family uses no commercial dog food, serving mainly raw meat, vegetables and supplements. Their meat is chopped or ground then frozen.
“Emotional trauma symptoms are reduced, infections and minor ailments disappear, and aches and pains are decreased” says this proud dog rescuer and family chef. She buys a whole mutton at a time, ground, frozen and packaged in 1 lb packs, for convenience.
Also for sale this summer will be fat from our grass-fed, market yearlings. This will contain no residue from grains. It has a high percentage of Omega fats – ideal for consumption. Topsy will be using it for our dogs in winter. When feeding our dogs at Topsy Farms, we enrich kibble with our own mutton and mix in homegrown vegetables and other nutrients.
For those who love their family pets, making homemade dog food – or at least supplementing it well – makes perfect sense. Topsy Farms mutton and yearling fat is a valuable addition.
Let us tell you when it’s on sale. Sign up for this dog-lover version of our electronic newsletter. Or email sally@topsyfarms.com and mention your interest in mutton and or dog food.
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]]>The post Family-built Wool Shed appeared first on Topsy Farms, Canadian Made Wool Products.
]]>Our family-built Wool Shed is complete and open for visitors. Success!
This example shines, in an increasingly ‘big box’, mass-produced world. Rural communities are eroding, farms disappearing.
They loaned money, muscle, expertise and moral support. Customers have written of their joy in our products from many countries and every province in Canada, loving the authenticity of who we are; what we do.
Completing the project by our deadline was a near thing. Our old Wool Shed was doomed by road-widening bulldozers; our efforts to build the new one challenged by the need to also be lambing, haying, doing sheep work; careful budgeting and challenges of ferry and Amherst Island logistics.
Once Noel McCormick, Island artist-with-a-backhoe, poured the concrete pads we dived in.
Jake evolved the basic design, working with Home Hardware, our building supplier. He worked longer hours in the fields with Christopher, freeing the other two men. Just before opening he designed and built a gorgeous setting for our sign, using a giant stump and careful dry wall work.
Will and Kyle worked long hours with Island foreman Rob, doing all the building and basic electrical work, with help from Carl. The skylights took a lot of extra time to install well, but their light is wonderful. Perry gave us hours of labour.
Peggy did the design and planning of the interior, purchasing, and coordinating with Rob, and finalized display and layout.
Ian paid the bills, helped co-ordinate with permits and worried a lot.
Sally recorded the action, fed exhausted workers, did landscaping and PR and kept craft items replenished, with the help of 10 piece workers.
Leah established order in the office, paying bills, helping Ian with shipping & receiving and sorting inventory. She and her mom worked wonders with Peggy on display and layout.
Ali finished interior display units and ceiling boards with environmentally friendly materials, and joined sheep drives and barn work.
Noel successfully managed to expose, support, lift then drag our century-old Ice House/Milk House to its new location behind the new Wool Shed. It will serve as shipping and receiving, replacing our living and dining room floors and table. This will be its 7th or 8th incarnation.
We hooked up the inspected, approved structure and electricity Friday night, before the Saturday official opening (no stress involved!). We were a part of the Amherst Island Christmas shopping event in our family-built Wool Shed.
The grandsons were involved that day also, with Nathan and Mike helping people find items they sought, chatting about the products and the farm, and taking cash.
Customers left with bags full of yarn; armloads of blankets and throws; wool comforters and sheepskins; hand-made gifts chosen. A portion of the flock watched, serenely.
A 70th birthday dinner for Sally that evening became a true family celebration of all we had accomplished on our family-built Wool Shed – together.
Thanks to each person who has helped make this small shop on a farm, on a dead-end dirt road on an Island become an example of what we can all do in our home communities, working as a team. Buy local, wherever you live.
Please come visit.
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]]>The post Crafting Shearling Sheepskins appeared first on Topsy Farms, Canadian Made Wool Products.
]]>All shearling sheepskins are chosen for the highest density of wool; the thickest loft, then trimmed to the desired length of staple, from 8 mm to 25 mm, standing up like a dense ‘brushcut’. They come in 3 forms:
The most common uses are for beds for dogs and cats, from tiny wee pups that are carried in a handbag to very big dogs. Sometimes the owner entices the pet to their new Crafting Shearling Sheepskin to protect the new sheepskin purchased for themselves.
The longer staple Crafting skins are sometimes cut into two seat pads. They are comfortable – excellent for preventing or reducing friction sores for people, and they look lovely. Jennifer wrote: “the skins arrived today. They are more gorgeous than I imagined! I need to sharpen my scissors and calm down before cutting!” She made 6 wooden chair pads from 3 skins.
An increasing number of our customers make baby booties, with 16 mm sheepskin soles. We make them too, using every scrap of the supple resilient Crafting Shearling Sheepskins.
The tops of crutches or seat belts or any places that rub or chaff can be padded with cut shearling sheepskin pieces.
We have two customers who are using Crafting Shearling Sheepskins to express their love of horses. One has designed a saddle warmer. She cut a skin carefully to pattern, stitched it, and now uses it regularly.
Another home business supplies carefully hand-built and designed horse tack. The owner is working on a prototype for Velcro-attached, sheepskin-covered cheek pads for bridles and other spots that might rub. She is delighted with her first experiments.
Shearling sheepskins – medical, naturally coloured and for crafting – are available at the Wool Shed on Amherst Island, where we pay the 13% sales tax, or from our on-line store.
What creative uses might you discover?
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]]>The post Tear Down Our Wool Shed Store ? appeared first on Topsy Farms, Canadian Made Wool Products.
]]>The Township told Topsy Farms we had to tear down our Wool Shed store to widen the road. What a shock!
Our Wool Shed at Topsy Farms is housed in a former small milk house/ice house, built about 90 years ago on the edge of the narrow road, on the edge of the lake, handy for the horse and wagon. After electricity came to the Island, that small building was used for storage, for making candles, for a farm workshop, then for a teenager’s band. It then evolved into a store outlet for wool blankets, throws, lap robes, and cotton-encased wool bedding; sheepskin products; yarn; roving; raw honey and lamb cuts. The Wool Shed is also a destination for people who come for farm events, enjoying shearing and helping to foster baby lambs.
The blocks of ice for refrigeration came from the lake, but it continued its slow steady erosion of the limestone shoreline and cliffs, chewing at the rocks until a person can stand in a cave under parts of the road.
Loyalist Township is working to make the north-west corner of Amherst Island safe, by redirecting, shoring up, ditching and widening – a massive undertaking.
Farmers must be as flexible as a tree, bending with the winds of change. We need to perceive modernization as beneficial, even while the road crew are cutting down our venerable trees that are too close to the road. Our family must flow like the water, moving smoothly around unmanageable barriers; persisting at reducing others.
We are turning the cut trees into lumber and firewood and mounds of organic wood mulch.
Our extended family have prepared a concrete pad. We hope that Noel, an artist with a backhoe, will be able to lift our former store (milk house/ice house) and move it beside the new building. It will be a storage area, linked to the shop. Success will depend upon the unknown base of the aged structure.
Our 3 generation family at Topsy Farms sees this upheaval as a challenge and opportunity to spruce up, rebuild, and otherwise improve our space.
We’ll be inviting everyone to a party this fall to celebrate the new/old Wool Shed.
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]]>The post Raw Wool Hits the Road appeared first on Topsy Farms, Canadian Made Wool Products.
]]>Raw wool transforms into wondrous things:
Our shearing story describes how it gets from the sheep to the big burlap bags for storage.
The bags weigh about 150 lbs when well packed, and are stored in the shearing area, upstairs in the barn. Three or four men load them onto a farm wagon hitched to a tractor. (No large tractor-trailers can cross on our ferry, so we haul them to the mainland).
This year we had over 5600 lbs of clean wool. Our sheep are pasture raised, so they grow more, longer-stapled wool to stay warm, and it’s cleaner as they don’t hang around in barns. The sheep are mainly North-Country Cheviot and Suffolk so the staple for weavers is similar to Corriedale.
We co-ordinate with the tractor trailer driver for timing. He’ll leave an empty, clean trailer for us to fill. (We’ve had adventures in the past with unwashed potato or cattle trucks heading back east, or drivers who gave us 15 minutes notice when we’re two hours away). We plan for a time when we aren’t taking too much space from our neighbours going to the mainland.
We haul the raw wool bags off the wagons and into the tractor trailer box. Ian loves the sight of those doors closing and calling the driver for pickup.
The mill uses only soap, no harsh chemicals so we are confident that the products that are produced for us, from our wool and others, will be the softest most hypoallergenic quality available.
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]]>The post Therapy Lambs appeared first on Topsy Farms, Canadian Made Wool Products.
]]>This year Topsy Farms invited the public to bottle-feed and cuddle our baby lambs that needed help. (They were the smallest from 3 or even 4 lambs born to 1 ewe.) People came, spread the word, and we were booked, 11 hours per day for more than 3 weeks.
We knew our own time spent feeding, cuddling the most needy lambs of about 1400 born, was peaceful, calming, quality time.
Sure, it is a joy for young families to introduce tots to a tiny, needy animal, to help them learn about the natural world.
Yes, it was a balm for a teacher under stress to sit quietly with her ‘virtually’ adopted lamb, and stroke and hum and rock gently, and bring her overloaded mind and heart to a more quiet level, able to cope once again.
Then we had a family with a girl who turned vegetarian very young, clearly having an unusually link with animals. The lambs flocked to her wonderful energies and reinforced her love. Her autistic sister responded really well to the action.
A woman came in a wheelchair, not yet at peace with her immobilized state. She poured out her frustration and grief quietly, cuddling the therapy lamb which fell sound asleep in her arms. Her body didn’t change, but her mind was less fraught.
Paula Chisholm, in the midst of chemo therapy treatments for a very tough cancer, spent over an hour in meditative link with the wee woolly animal snuggling up to her neck. She wrote us to describe the huge healing impact on her heart and soul. “[…] I relaxed so much and allowed myself just to be in the moment. I truly believe that animals give the best therapy…they don’t expect anything from you but to be loved. Cuddling and playing with them allowed me to forget everything else going on in my life…it gave me a positive purpose and I left your farm feeling so happy and relaxed.” And who knows – maybe it helped her body too?
Niall Hartnett, blind from birth, came to visit on a rainy day. He sat quietly in a chair in the 3-room ‘playpen’, his sensitive hands softly exploring the lamb. The tiny animal responded, feeling safe.
A few Syrian families came to visit, still struggling to adjust to their new world, to the absence of violence, to the low-key warm welcome in Canada and at Topsy Farms. The strained faces relaxed into laughter and joy.
One child who came has a rare illness that prevents her from playing with other children or groups of people. Her family carefully booked a time when she could be alone with the lambs. She has only recently been able to hear, thus speak, but after a few minutes, she was chattering away with the lambs, touching and exploring. Her mother and caregiver were thrilled that she had a ‘normal’ happy hour, playing like any child, anywhere.
A family with an older child who was severely autistic now have a young daughter with the same challenges. The older boy was helped when two of our lambs moved to his farm. Frustration and anger melted away. Two new, sturdy, affectionate lambs moved there last year, and again this healing happened. Their interaction is helping the five year old begin to use language and to socialize more freely.
Topsy thought that people were rescuing lambs but it turned out that the therapy lambs were rescuing us.
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]]>The post KIDS PARTY – ANIMALS AND ACTION appeared first on Topsy Farms, Canadian Made Wool Products.
]]>Small animals to cuddle! Space to play! Boat ride! Picnic! How can you beat that?
Enjoy an outdoor venue at Topsy Farms in spring. Children can visit shearing in March or April (specific days only) or play with baby lambs, romping and bottle-feeding the weakest babies rescued from the fields in May and early June.
On weekdays from May 16 – June 3 every year, small groups are welcome to organize a party to help nurture our most vulnerable lambs, rescued from the fields. (Weekends are for families to visit lambs; too busy for parties). We have indoor and outdoor spaces so rain or shine your families and friends can have a good time.
Our new Adopt a Lamb program has already provided unusual birthday gifts. That present includes a photo of the lamb, a choice of its name, and information about the lamb’s needs and future.
We hosted a birthday party for 2 year old twins during shearing. A small day care, a group of home-school families, and Derby Girl families have come for picnics and play.
The twins family said:”The entire team at Topsy Turvey was wonderful from start to finish. Planning our daughters second birthday celebration was easy and execution was seamless. An afternoon on the farm was a wonderful way for us to include all ages of family and friends and learn while we were there too! Everyone had a great time seeing the sheep, learning about shearing, riding the ferry, and enjoying snacks and outdoor fun!”
Medically-challenged individuals with families can be welcomed.
If you want your kids to have their party on Topsy’s Sheep Farm, we request:
• a high proportion of adults to children
• a maximum of 10 children to ensure quality hands-on experience
• casual country clothes and thinking
• you bring and take all food and beverages and serving requirements. (A neighbour on Amherst Island take orders for cakes; enquire of us.)
fee to be discussed.
The ferry leaves once an hour on the HALF hour and costs $9/vehicle. You’ll leave the farm a little after the half hour to catch the return ferry ON THE HOUR.
Our Wool Shed will be open while you are here, with all these products and many additional hand-crafted items for adults and children.
Guaranteed your special people will have a joyful experience they’ll remember.
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]]>The post Wool Throws and Lap Robes appeared first on Topsy Farms, Canadian Made Wool Products.
]]>Lap Robes and Throws and our other wool bedding are made from a combination of the 6000 lbs of wool annually shorn from our sheep combined with others, then processed gently to retain natural lanolin. That means they are soft to the touch, not prickly, and have all the wonderful characteristics of wool – hypoallergenic; naturally fire resistant; resilient, cool in summer and warm in winter and importantly, entirely washable.
The Throws are half the size of a Queen blanket; measuring 6’ 6” by 4’ 4”, close to the size of a single bed blanket. They are now available only in the popular checkerboard patterns, which combine two or more colours in both the warp and the weft, both natural and dyed tones. They are perfect for curling up with on a couch or in recliner, long enough to wrap around shoulders. The man modelling in this photo with his little girl is over 6 feet tall.
The Wool Lap Robes are 4’ x 5’ in dimensions. They are available in natural white with colour bands and also in our tweed colours, with the natural white yarn in the warp, woven with your choice of colour in the weft. They are wonderful and cosy, perfect to keep a lap warm; decorative for any setting. They also work well to keep toes warm, when placed on the foot of a bed.
The tradition of processing wool gently, without harsh chemicals, has been maintained by the woollen mill in the Maritimes. Most of their looms are old too, and the Lap Robes haven’t been available for awhile. Thankfully, this Woollen Mill, once water-run, has again made them available to Topsy Farms and to you.
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]]>The post Visit Amherst Island appeared first on Topsy Farms, Canadian Made Wool Products.
]]>A 2 – 3 hour drive from Ottawa or Toronto will bring you to our ferry. See contact us for detailed directions. Our ferry leaves the mainland on the half hour from 6:30 am to 1:30 am. For more information click here.
For information for sailors, there are government-maintained docks and excellent harbours for mooring your boat. (Topsy Farms will rent one bike free from our Stella Bike rental store for groups coming to visit us.).
The Lodge, Foot Flat Farms and the B&B, Poplar Dell (613 389-2012) rent rooms or cabins. Contact us for further listings. Also search https://www.airbnb.ca/s/Amherst-Island–ON/homes
Your hosts will offer some meal options or you can choose housekeeping and bring your own food, supplementing from Island gardens and kitchens. The community-run diner, The Back Kitchen, offers great meals.The Allen Farm has all their own fresh produce in season; eggs year ’round; beef, chicken and pork; and maple syrup they’ve tapped, available at a farm stand by the ferry. The Women’s Institute has a bake sale Fridays of each long weekend. Terry McGinn from Maplemarsh Farm and Barb Reid have baking and produce in season at the weekly Saturday market. McGinn’s Amherst Island General Store offers, drinks, snacks, breakfast and lunch sandwiches.
You’ll enjoy the fact that there are far more sheep and cattle than people; that there are many services and a great deal of mutual-aid caring on our Island; that you can trust our ferry crew to guide you. Most of all, that when you visit Amherst Island we all wave at each other, confidently expecting you will wave back.
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