As the weather in the North warms, the shepherds who we work with are beginning to shear their flocks. We are focusing July’s workshops around wool, and specifically how wool has become a by-product of the meat industry.

Wool is natural, renewable and biodegradable, it offers a number of environmental advantages and has proved itself to be measurably better than synthetic alternatives; yet sheep farmers get very little for it. The cost of shearing can often be more than the value of the fleece. It seems bizarre that we have selectively bred sheep for their wool since 6000 B.C.E, for it to become a waste product.

On Sunday the 11th of July, we have a series of events focusing around wool.
In the morning we will be running a workshop on how to create sheep’s wool garden felt mulch on @_thelanding_ perfect for ‘No Dig’ enthusiasts.
And in the afternoon we have a felt bowl making workshop hosted by Joanne Wood, a hill farmer and shepherd based in Chinley, Derbyshire.

These workshops aim to promote the Campaign For Wool and Fair Price For Farmers and to encourage creating direct relationships between farmers and makers, sharing skills and utilising waste by-products of the agricultural industry.

Throughout the residencies we aim to open up debates around the relationships between food and the environment, economic and social concerns, as well as notions of both cooking and eating as performative acts through a series of interactive creative workshops.

Each workshop will explore how artistic strategies can be used to address wide-ranging issues relating to food, agriculture and the environment.

Tickets are available now through the link in our bio 🐑

Curing a Leicester Longwool skin, for my ongoing project You Can Lead a Horse To Water, that explores minimise agricultural by-products.

Being of little value, only 0.045% of sheepskins are tanned each year, the rest are burned or buried.
For sheep farmers, the loss in the value of wool has left them with little alternative but to increase their flock for meat production, meaning that land can often suffer from overgrazing.

The revival of the wool industry/ diversifying has an essential role to play in a sustainable farming future.

To me, it seems bizarre that we have selectively bred sheep for their wool since 6000 B.C.E, for it now to become a waste product.