Urban Farmer, Police Wife, Mother, Potter, Fiber Artist...Living in the Mountainwest

I graduated from Westminster College with a dual degree in Art and Mathematics. I have taught pottery and worked as a potter for over 15 years. My functional clay work is heavily influenced by Utah's beautiful landscape, and I use local clays for much of my work. I lived and worked on the Navajo Reservation outside of Blanding, Utah as part of a pottery internship, learning the traditional Navajo pottery way, and also how to bead and weave. I fell in love with Navajo-Churro sheep while living on the Reservation. I've participated in multiple national gallery shows in the past 17 years, and taught pottery for many years at the Pioneer Craft House in Salt Lake City. I'm also a full-time statistician. Sixteen years ago, our little family started with a tiny apartment garden and the vision of a simpler life. Two acres in suburbia, an 11-year old son, a 100-year old house, some deeply troubled roosters, heritage turkeys, endangered chickens, a couple of goats, some gorgeous dairy cows and a flock of Navajo-Churro Sheep later, we are fully embracing the simple life. We actively breed many endangered livestock breeds and are members of the American Livestock Breeds Conservancy (ALBC). We homestead in the heart of the Wasatch Mountains. The views are beautiful and the challenges never-ending. Currently, we raise almost all of our own food, including meat.

Jan 8, 2013

Wool and Kiln Filler...

We see the bulk of our wool growth in the coldest part of winter, proving that there is a reason for everything, even the gray and seemingly-endless procession of icy days. (Winter is the weather equivalent of a tape worm or the mosquito in terms of cosmic reason and meaning...)


All of our fleeces are shaping up nicely - with a diverse group of colors: black, silver, tan, white, chocolate, and red. The girls are growing good, long-stapled, soft wool that is staying very clean.

All of the sheep are so fluffy and warm looking that I sometimes just want to hug them. Especially when it is arctic outside and my hands are very, very cold.

They don't look receptive, do they?


More self-sufficient eating here this weekend, working through Spring's beef and chicken. For a treat, we had apples stored from Fall harvest in the orchard with raw milk butter from our girls & honey from our hives.



In the studio, I'm ready to fire a full load of mugs, tea bowls, and regular bowls (including some newly styled yarn bowls) this next weekend. Now, I am working on "kiln filler" to take up all the space in between that needs small things to help make each firing more economical.

"Vignette" pendants - and plain, raised edge pendants to fill with recycled glass.


And garden stakes in fun colored clays, since they will be mostly unglazed....



How are you keeping warm so far this January?

7 comments:

Linda Starr said...

love the color of the sheep, they are extremely full and I never knew their coats grew that long; can't wait to see the recycled glass, do you slow cool them?

January 08, 2013
Lori Buff said...

I think the sheep look great in their home grown sweaters. Are they not very affectionate?

January 08, 2013
Gary's third pottery blog said...

my grey Irish sweater that I am wearing looks a lot like your sheep!

January 08, 2013
Sandy miller said...

Sheep hugging is always in fashion! I am carrying, stacking and chopping wood to stay warm. Feet propped by the wood stove while I sort through seed catalogs. This week our temps go up and the snow pack should be melting........ January thaw for us!

January 08, 2013
cookingwithgas said...

we had a glorious day here yesterday- 50's a walk on the trails was in order.

January 09, 2013
Rian said...

I'm with Lori here, "Can you hug your sheep?" They don't *look* like they'd care for it, but looks can be deceiving... ;)

January 09, 2013
Meadowlark said...

Looking forward to seeing the pendants filled with recycled glass.

Stay warm, chica!

January 09, 2013

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