June 25, 2025 • 30 mins
In this episode of the SweetGeorgia Show, Felicia Lo speaks with Victor and Amber Mazza, founders of Gealach Fola Acres, about their transition from military service to becoming first-generation farmers and textile producers. They share their experiences in the Navy, their deep passion for fibre arts, and the challenges they face within the local textile industry. The conversation touches on their vision for the farm and mill, including their plans for fibre production and building community through the creation of a local tartan. They also talk about acquiring and restoring mill equipment, emphasizing sustainability and the importance of supporting local farmers.
Takeaways:
- Victor and Amber are first-generation farmers who founded Gealach Fola Acres in 2022.
- They met while serving in the US Navy in Japan.
- Amber has a long-standing passion for textiles, starting with crochet at a young age.
- Victor has always dreamed of a self-sufficient homestead for fibre and food.
- The couple aims to process local wool and bast fibres at their mill.
- They are addressing the challenges faced by small farmers in the local textile industry.
- The acquisition of mill equipment was a significant milestone for their business.
- They designed a community tartan to unify the local heritage and families.
- Their farm spans 81 acres, mostly wooded, with plans for fibre trials and production.
- They actively engage with the community through events and social media.
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Transcript
Episode Transcript
Available transcripts are automatically generated. Complete accuracy is not guaranteed.
Unknown (00:00):
Thank you.
Speaker 02 (00:06):
Welcome to the show, Victor and Amber.
I'm really, really excited tochat with you both today.
We learned about you a coupleof months ago as we were kind of
like looking on the internetbecause we was looking for
information about tartanweaving.
And I was preparing a class forthe School of Sweet Georgia
about tartan weaving anddiscovered that you guys had
designed your own tartan.
And then that sort of led toother articles that I'd read
(00:29):
about how you had also started amill and a farm.
And so your mill and your farmis called Gealafola Acres.
Is that right?
Yes.
Fantastic.
And it looks like you foundedthe farm back in 2022 and you're
both first generation farmers.
Is that right?
Speaker 03 (00:50):
Yes.
Speaker 02 (00:51):
Fantastic.
Can you tell me a little bitabout what your life was like
before 2022?
Like what sort of was yourstory before leading up to
starting this mill and thisfarm?
Speaker 03 (01:04):
Yeah, I would say that we had kind of a long and
multifaceted life experiencebefore that because we were both
in the military, U.S.
military, both in the Navy.
That's how we met.
So we were both stationedoverseas in Japan.
Yeah, we were four deployed.
So we met there.
I guess that's kind of like thebeginning of our story, I think
almost about nine years ago,together at least.
Speaker 02 (01:25):
Okay, nine years ago, you guys met in Japan.
Whereabouts in Japan?
Yokosuka.
Which area is that?
It's like an hour and a halfsouth of Tokyo.
by train.
Okay, fantastic.
Did you both learn how to speakJapanese too?
Speaker 03 (01:39):
Yeah, I used to be actually quite fluent.
I still collaborate because weboth work outside of the farm as
well.
I'm actually an enterpriseservices engineer.
I actually still work with someof my Japanese colleagues for a
similar job function.
Speaker 02 (01:57):
Tell me a little bit about sort of like you were
deployed overseas, you were inJapan, you both worked for the
Navy, you were both in the Navy,and then you met there about
nine years ago.
And then what sort of sparkedyour interest in wanting to
start a farm and a mill?
Like, do you have anyexperience in this?
Do you have any background inany of it?
(02:18):
Or how did this come about?
Speaker 03 (02:21):
Well, so for me, I never really considered having a
farm to be honest, but I didalways love textile.
So my grandmother actuallytaught me how to crochet when I
was eight.
I learned how to do Irish lacein particular.
That's like what I startedwith.
I actually wasn't allowed tolearn on like normal size yarn.
(02:41):
I had to learn how to do lace.
And it was something that Iactually really like still.
And it kind of became a rabbithole for knitting.
I think maybe four years ago, Istarted that.
And five or six, we startedspinning and weaving.
And at the same time that I waslearning how to crochet, she
(03:06):
actually taught me how to makegarments as well.
So I've been making garmentsfor maybe 22 years now.
And so I just had a fascinationand a love and an obsession
with all things fiber.
So that's where I think thefiber portion of it kind of came
from.
Victor, I'll let you speak toit more, but he always told me
he wanted a sheep farm.
Speaker 00 (03:27):
So I had always wanted to have a small homestead
that was completelyself-sufficient for fiber and
food and a couple of otherproducts as well.
That way I could have as closeto independent from the
fluctuations of the market asyou could get was my goal.
Unknown (03:44):
Yeah.
Speaker 00 (03:44):
And then I've been weaving for four or five years
and spinning about the same timeand trying to get into that
aspect of it.
And I've been working onpattern drafting and garment
making for about the same time.
That way we can reach a pointwhere eventually we're going to
be able to go all the way fromgrass to finished garment.
And that's kind of one of thethings that we're really driving
(04:05):
towards here on the farm.
is the ability to go thatentire chain, that entire
process without it ever leavingthe farm.
Speaker 02 (04:16):
That's incredible.
Grass to garment.
I love this concept.
Can you tell me a little bitabout where your mill is?
I don't think we brought thatup.
Where's the mill located?
Right
Speaker 00 (04:28):
now, it's a huge pile of parts.
We just finished moving it uphere earlier this year.
So the entire barn is stackedabout five feet tall with parts
piles from all the equipment.
Eventually it's going to behere on the farm.
We're actually going to bebuilding it closer down towards
the road.
That way it's closer toservices.
(04:48):
It's closer to the, there's afire hydrant right there.
You know, the practical aspectsof having a textile mill and
trying to provide security forbuilding and access for
facilities, emergency response,parking, stuff like that right
off the road.
But that's where it's going toeventually be is just kind of
down in the front yard.
Speaker 02 (05:08):
Fantastic.
And this is located in Maine,in Searsport, Maine.
Yep.
Yes.
What sort of drew you to Maine?
Are you both from Maineoriginally or no?
Speaker 03 (05:20):
We had never been to Maine, either of us ever in our
whole lives.
When we moved here and weactually bought our house sight
unseen, I think a little overthree years ago now.
Yeah.
But basically, I'm originallyfrom California.
And when I got out of themilitary is when the fires,
they've always been bad, like mywhole life, but they were
(05:41):
getting worse and worse.
And so when I got out, I waskind of like, I would like to
live somewhere with more water.
And his dad was in the Navy.
So he grew up moving everythree years his whole life,
basically.
So...
When we got out, we were kindof like, where are we going to
go?
So we actually tried NorthCarolina for a while.
(06:02):
Another place I'd never beenwhen I moved there.
It was too hot.
I don't like it so hot.
I prefer like if it never gotover 65, I'd be pretty happy.
So we were there for a coupleof years.
And then basically I was like,this isn't really working for
me.
So what we did is we actuallydid research on every single
(06:25):
state in the country.
about the taxes the laws thethings we cared about quality of
life like different amenitieswe cared about like being close
to the ocean and and outdoorsthings um and maine was the
winner out of all like theweighted categories and so we
just bought a house and movedhere
Speaker 02 (06:44):
amazing bought it sight unseen and just like
picked the spot based oncharacteristics of the state
that's That's great.
I love that you did all thatresearch about it.
So tell me about the farm.
How big is it?
What kind of animals are yousort of raising here?
What sort of encompasses all ofyour activities on the farm
(07:04):
here?
Speaker 03 (07:05):
Yeah, so we have about 81 acres.
It's mostly wooded, though.
So I think only about five ofit is cleared.
Our first year, we actually dida fiber trial with five
different types of sheep.
And we had alpaca and angoragoats from O'Hare and angora
rabbits as well.
So we did kind of like a fibertrial to see which ones we liked
the most.
And ultimately we had a coupleof like really top ones, but the
(07:30):
ultimate winner for me wasdefinitely the Angora goats
because I just am obsessed withmohair.
So I think it's reallybeautiful.
I love the luster in particularof mohair that like wool just
doesn't have.
I think alpaca was a closesecond and we do plan on,
hopefully getting more alpaca inthe future.
But I think really our biggestproducts from producing a fiber
(07:57):
perspective on the farm will bemohair on a relatively small
scale.
And then we're actually themost interested in bast fibers.
So we've been growing linen forthe last couple of years, flax
for linen, rather.
And so we plan on curating ourmill and our production on site
mostly for linen production andthen also on the wool side of
(08:22):
the house doing customprocessing for all the local
farmers and anyone who wants tosend their wool in to get it
turned into yarn.
Yeah,
Speaker 02 (08:31):
I love mohair and I love the idea that you're also
going to be working with fiberfrom the local farmers as well.
In Maine, are there not likemore spinning mills and there's
a lot more industry there, isthere not?
Speaker 01 (09:00):
Mm-hmm.
Mm-hmm.
Speaker 02 (09:49):
So for, say, for the farms that have 30 or 40 in
their flock, and then they'resending it to a small processor
to try to get it processed intoyarn or fiber, if there's no one
to take over that overflow,then what would happen to all
(10:10):
that fiber?
What happens to the wool?
It gets composted
Speaker 00 (10:13):
mostly.
The national wool prices at thewool pole are cheaper now.
than the cost to ship the wool.
So if you're sending it to likea regional pool that just buys
the raw wool, you're actuallylosing money on postage.
So a lot of the times it getscomposted, gets used for garden
beds, mulch under grape vinesand trees and things like that.
(10:33):
And then people also do likesmall scale hand spinning, hand
processing of their own fleeces.
But most of these people whoare farming work other jobs too.
And you only have so many hoursin the day.
So they don't get to processthe whole of the fleeces from
their herd.
They only get to process apercentage of it.
(10:55):
Yeah.
If they can't get it to a mill.
Speaker 02 (10:59):
Absolutely.
So then you're kind of likefitting in in the middle,
hopefully, and then like helpingwith the smaller producers.
And then, you know, for thepeople who have more fiber than
a smaller mill could handle,then you're sort of in the
middle taking care of some ofthese farms and these folks,
right?
Speaker 00 (11:13):
That's the goal, yes.
Speaker 02 (11:15):
Fantastic.
Do you need different equipmentto handle sort of the wool
versus handling the flax toprocess all of this?
Speaker 03 (11:23):
Sort of.
Yes and no.
Definitely yes.
And also kind of no.
So the spinner that we got isantique, but was still being
operated.
And so it doesn't have anyother than the motor has no
electronics at all.
And it was designed in a timewhen the gearing ratios would
allow you to do a lot differentlength of fiber.
(11:45):
So we don't know the exact yearof it.
There are some patents on itfrom the fifties, but if you, I
have a manual, I think it's from1917 for the company that
produced it.
And a lot of the parts areactually the same as the ones on
our machine.
Cause even the, there aren'teven springs, it's actually 50
pound counterweights.
(12:05):
So it's like heritage typeequipment.
So, but what that means is, Itwas designed to be able to be
more broad because as technologyadvances, things become more
and more specialized, right?
Just like jobs and doctors andthings like that.
So this one is actually muchmore versatile because of the
mechanical nature of it.
(12:25):
As far as the preparation fromfiber or from fleece or from
flax, there are different typesof equipment that you need, but
most of it involves...
aligning the fibers and thenspinning from roving, right?
(12:47):
It's just the stuff before thealignment of the fiber that's
different really.
Speaker 02 (12:53):
Okay.
Okay.
Now I did have a question aboutthe mill equipment that you're
describing, the spinningequipment that you're describing
right now.
Is this the equipment that youbrought over from Jagerspun or
is it different?
Speaker 03 (13:08):
It's from Jaegerspun, yeah.
Speaker 00 (13:09):
So the spinner is one of the pieces of equipment
that we brought over fromJaegerspun, and it is, parts of
the machine match the 1917manuals, and then parts of it
have the newer patents as well,where stuff has been added onto
it over the years.
But it's really a great pieceof equipment.
Like Amber was saying, it's allmechanical.
There's no computers, there'sno anything else.
(13:31):
But that allows it to adjustsubstantially, yes.
Speaker 02 (13:35):
Can you describe a little bit of that process?
Because I don't think everybodyknows that you sort of, you
absorbed a lot of thisequipment, right?
Can you talk a little bit aboutthat story?
Speaker 03 (13:45):
Yeah, definitely.
So basically after our fibertrial and everything else, it
became apparent very rapidlythat, especially with a job, but
even without a job, we wouldnever be able to spin all the
fiber we produced manually,right?
With our spinning wheels, likeit's just not going to happen.
And we're friends with a lot ofother farmers because we're
(14:07):
part of the farming community.
And, you know, everyone has thesame sorts of challenges where
they can't really spin all oftheir fiber.
A lot of it just getscomposted.
We're all kind of upset aboutit because it's a beautiful
product that we're passionateabout and we love.
And at the end of the day, it'sgetting still a valuable use,
right?
Because mulch and compost isimportant, but it's not the same
(14:30):
when you have that like fiberlove, right?
Yeah.
So, anyway, I got a quote.
I think it might have been ayear or more ago now from
Belfast Mini Mills.
They make like the mini, likesmaller cottage industry type
(14:50):
spinning equipment.
That's what most of the millshere that are servicing the
small farms use.
And for the whole setup, it waslike over a quarter of a
million dollars.
Mm-hmm.
And that's not the kind ofcapital we could ever have, um,
for that kind of a venture.
And so anyway, it really likekind of hurt me in my heart
(15:14):
because I was like, ah, thisdream is very out of reach.
It's probably never going tohappen.
Um, and then when I found outthat Jaeger's bun was going out
of business, um, First, I waskind of just sad, like the rest
of the community, because theyprovided a lot of great yarn.
We bought a lot of their yarnfor weaving, right?
Historically.
(15:34):
And so I didn't really thinkabout the equipment until like
January-ish.
Speaker 00 (15:41):
And then she was up at night thinking about how she
really wanted to have thishappen.
And she thought aboutJaegerspun and how they'd gone
out and was like, I'm going tocall them and see what they're
doing with their equipment.
So she, she called Jaegerspunand Jaegerspun's like, well, we
sold the equipment with thebuilding to the person who
bought it.
And we don't know who you wouldtalk to, but here's their phone
(16:02):
number.
And so Amber called them andthe lady that she talked to was
like, well, that's a goodquestion.
I don't know.
Here's the president of thecompany's phone number.
Please email him and ask.
So that's, that's what she didis she emailed him and was like,
Just like, what are you doingwith the equipment?
Do you have any plans for it?
And he's like, well, if youwant to come look at it, please
(16:24):
do.
And she asked him, well, do youhave any idea what you might
want for it?
That way we can figure out ifit's even worth us going down
there and looking at it.
And we were told that if wecould get it out of the
building, we could have it.
So we basically had to pay thetransport cost, which was still
a lot of money.
um we spent probably 30 000transporting it in u-haul trucks
(16:48):
um but it uh took me a littleover five weeks to take it apart
um we moved a hundred maybe 105000 pounds of equipment from uh
down at the mill in sanford uphere to the farm so it was a
(17:08):
long five weeks but
Speaker 02 (17:12):
But to get the equipment without having to pay
additional for the equipment,just the transportation costs,
that's
Speaker 00 (17:18):
incredible.
It is.
Chinberg Properties was thedeveloper, and they were
incredibly generous with it, andthey were incredibly helpful
the whole way through theprocess.
Even at the end there, we hadsome beams that were not going
to go down the stairs or in thefreight elevator because they
were 15 feet long and 1,000pounds apiece.
And so what they ended up doingis they actually ended up
(17:41):
opening one of the walls andcraning them out for us down to
the truck.
That way we could actually takethe whole machines.
And that's the kind of stuffthat they were doing the whole
time we were there.
Anytime I needed an extra setof hands or something, the guy
who was on site was more thanhappy to help.
Can't say enough good thingsabout their generosity and their
willingness to help get theequipment back into a productive
(18:02):
state.
The president of the companywas actually very clear that
it's one of the things thatthat's their preference to do
when they get old equipment isto find someone who's going to
use it, going to refurbish it,going to return it back to the
local economy as somethingthat's going to move the area
forward.
Because if they couldn't findsomebody who was going to do
that, then the equipment wasjust going to go straight into a
(18:24):
landfill, which would have beenreally sad on a lot of levels,
but also incredibly expensive.
because you have to pay basedon weight and based on the cubic
volume of space that it takesup when it goes into a dump.
And that would have been reallypainful.
From the perspective of, Imean, 105,000 pounds of steel is
(18:44):
going to take up some space.
Speaker 02 (18:46):
No, I was just saying that that's incredible
that the people who bought thebuilding were able to basically
give you the equipment that wasinside and that it would have
cost more to get rid of theequipment than to keep it.
And I think...
I have a couple of girlfriendsand I who we talk about, like we
(19:06):
have this little fantasy aboutdriving around Canada and
rescuing all of the looms thatpeople don't want and bringing
them back and then restoringthem.
But this is like way biggerthan picking up a weaving loom.
This is picking up an entirespinning mill and bringing it
home and then putting it backtogether again, restoring it.
How have you learned how to usethis equipment?
(19:26):
Where did you learn?
Where did you learn the processof working all of the
equipment?
Were you able to contact theYaggerspun folks?
Speaker 00 (19:34):
So I got some help from a couple of people who had
worked there for a while.
A lot of it is my background.
I did industrial constructionbefore I joined the Navy, and
then I did engineering work forthe Navy.
And the Navy does not believein throwing away working
equipment.
So a lot of it is olderhigh-end equipment that has just
(19:58):
been kept in top shape for avery long time.
And so I was able to use thatexperience to kind of figure out
where things went and howthings worked.
And then one of the guys whohad worked there for almost, I
wanna say 40 years almost, Mikewas extremely helpful in helping
me figure out the couple ofspots I got stuck on.
And he just really was,incredible one is I would get
(20:22):
stuck and I'd take a picture ofit and text it to him and be
like, what do you do here?
And he would be like, oh, youneed to move this pin that
you're never going to findunless you know it's there kind
of thing.
But so I got help from them onthat and then the background
experience.
And then maybe what, threeweeks in, maybe four, we
(20:42):
actually found a vendor on eBaywho had the manual for the
machine.
And he actually had the manualsfor all of the equipment in the
building at a very reasonableprice.
So we contacted him and got allthe manuals.
And then I was breeding them inthe hotel at night when I
couldn't turn wrenches anymorefor the day and then going back
in the morning and turningwrenches more.
Speaker 03 (21:02):
There was also a tech library at the mill that
has like all the diagrams andparts and how they go together
with the assemblies too.
We also got those.
Speaker 02 (21:11):
It's amazing.
Now, I know that people aregoing to ask because...
There's a lot of weavers wholove, love, love the Jager Spun
Zephyr yarn, myself included.
I have a whole bunch of mystash.
I love it.
I'm afraid to use it now.
I think that people arewondering if you will spin those
sort of classic Jager Spunyarns still.
Speaker 00 (21:33):
The biggest trick with Zephyr is the silk content.
A large part of what we'redoing is focused on this
continent, especially the localregion, and trying to, like, get
the resources that are alreadyhere.
If we can find a local or evena regionally local or honestly
(21:54):
anywhere in the general vicinitylocal person who is going to
produce silk, we would beinterested in running the silk
wool blend, but we do not as afarm have the capacity to really
put the kind of hours in youwould need to run a silk farm.
Other than that, importing silkis going to get I mean, it's
(22:16):
already expensive, but it'sgoing to get more expensive as
things progress.
And there's a lot of demand forsilk generally.
So it's going to be verydifficult for us to do like
Zephyr in particular.
What we will probably beoffering instead of a silk wool
blend is like a mohair woolblend or an alpaca wool blend,
and maybe even a linen woolblend and a mohair linen blend.
(22:39):
So not necessarily Zephyr, andits its current incarnation is
50 silk just because that wouldbe a huge undertaking to run a
silk farm especially here in
Speaker 01 (22:51):
maine
Speaker 02 (22:53):
I think that all of this is actually really
interesting to hear because it'skind of like the evolution of
what this sort of antiqueequipment can produce.
And so with new ideas and withnew passion and like all this
energy, and then plus you haveso much experience in the
background and you're bothspinners, you're both weavers,
just all of this culmination increating something new for the
(23:16):
community so that weavers willmaybe have a different kind of
yarn to weave with, you know, inthe coming years and things
like that.
I think that that's somethingthat's really exciting to look
forward to.
Very cool what you guys aredoing here.
Now, if people are wonderinghow they can help you or support
you, support the farm, likewhere can they go to find more
information about all of this?
(23:38):
Where can people come and findyou?
Speaker 03 (23:42):
Yeah, there are a couple of places.
So firstly, we do have awebsite and I actually just
launched our store.
I have to add more things toit.
But in addition to themachinery, we also got about
4,000 pounds of merino roving.
Um, and so what we're doingwith that is we're selling it to
try and raise funds to put inthe building.
(24:04):
Um, we also did get some yarn.
I say some yarn with somehesitation because it's actually
quite a lot of yarn from thefactory that was either totally
completed or it was, um, like inprogress and mostly singles,
right?
But I think we got like, Idon't know how many pounds, 700?
Speaker 00 (24:29):
Probably 1,200 pounds of yarn.
Speaker 03 (24:33):
Of yarn.
And it's all primarily white.
And so what I'm doing or whatwe're doing, because we're both
doing it together, is we'reactually botanically dyeing all
of the yarn that we got.
And we're selling that as well.
And we're going to be at FiberFrolic and some of the local
festivals, but primarily it'llbe through our website.
(24:54):
And then before we had moretime to invest into kind of
trying to get everything fromthe mill put together and
packaged because it's kiddingseason.
I have all these baby goatsrunning around.
We also did start a GoFundMebecause people actually were
really excited and reaching outto us on Ravelry and asking us
to make a Ravelry group, whichwe also did.
(25:15):
We have one for our farm.
where I've kind of like beenblogging and like documenting a
little bit of everything.
And we did start a GoFundMe aswell.
Speaker 02 (25:26):
Fantastic.
So we will link to all of thoseand we'll let people know about
all of those as well.
Now, going back to my veryfirst question that I had at the
beginning, which is about thetartan that you designed.
Can you tell me a little bitabout the process of how you
designed this and what it wasfor and the meaning behind all
of this?
This is a very cool project.
Speaker 00 (25:46):
So we did our own tartan when we got married,
combining her heritage and myheritage and blending it into
one family tartan for us.
And that's kind of where itcame into play initially in our
lives.
And then one of the thingsthat, one of the reasons we did
(26:07):
the Searsport tartan is weactually really love it here for
starters.
And it's kind of a gift to thecommunity.
because of the heritage of thetown so at one point if you were
a blue water ship captain inamerica you had a 10 chance of
living here in sears port it's alittle higher than that
actually but out of the almost300 captains that there were in
(26:29):
america 33 of them lived righthere in this town um so there
was a huge shipbuilding heritageand a huge naval well not naval
a huge merchant marine heritageum And so what we did is we
looked at the historical recordsof the town working with the
Historic Preservation Commissionhere in town.
(26:49):
And we have a historic societyas well.
And then the Penobscot MarineMuseum.
And then we worked with thePenobscot Marine Museum and we
looked at old maps of when thetown was founded and kind of
pulled all of the names fromthere that were connected to the
shipbuilding community and theship captain community.
(27:09):
and went through and foundeverybody who had Scottish and
Irish heritage and went throughthe registry of tartans in
Scotland and actually pulled allof the tartans for everybody
who would have been a part ofthe town when it was founded and
went through and blended themall to create the Searsport
tartan.
So it's actually almost amarriage of the founding
(27:33):
families of the town who werepart of that seaborne heritage.
um that we've compiled andturned into a tartan and it's
been registered with the theregistry in scotland as the
official town tartan now um sothat's kind of how the project
came into being is we wanted toto give this thing to the town
that would be used to kind ofunify the whole community
(27:57):
because even if you don't havethe traditional heritage and a
clan tartan of your own now thistown and kind of what it's
grown into has a tartan and soby being kind of a part of the
fabric of the town and thenletting everyone have that it
kind of helps unite thecommunity or at least that's
that's what we really hoped forwhen we did it was to provide
(28:19):
that sense of family in thecommunity
Speaker 02 (28:23):
that's an incredible gift an incredible gift to your
community um yeah i mean likein in learning more about tartan
these past uh those past coupleof years and things like that
just uh Discovering how muchpeople identify with, you know,
it's funny because it's likeit's colors and it's stripes and
it's pattern and it's assembledtogether, but something about
it makes people feel so proud tobe able to have this thing that
(28:48):
ties them all together.
So I think it's amazing thatyou've created this thing that's
blended all these familiestogether, blended together the
history and the heritage of yourchosen place.
It's great.
Unknown (29:00):
Yeah.
Speaker 02 (29:01):
So thank you both for joining me today for this
conversation.
It's been really, reallyinteresting learning more about
your farm and your mill and allyour plans.
I think it's just, it is reallyvery, just amazing.
admirable to see all of theenergy and all the enthusiasm
that you have for startingsomething new, for creating
something new from the groundup.
(29:21):
And that you're learning all ofthese things and then using all
this experience and a lot ofthis passion to create something
new.
So I'm very, very excited tosee where this all goes in the
coming years.
If people want to come and findyou, where is the best place
that they can go and follow allthe things that you're working
on?
Should it be Ravelry or yourwebsite or social media?
(29:42):
Yeah.
Speaker 03 (29:42):
yeah yeah so our website and Ravelry and we have
an Instagram and a Facebook aswell so and if you just look up
our farm name um I don't know ofanother farm named quite like
ours so it
Speaker 02 (29:55):
should come right up fantastic and can people come
and visit you in in real lifepeople can come and see the farm
and
Speaker 03 (30:03):
yeah we have a contact us form on our website
and we do sometimes scheduletours And we're also going to be
at a lot of events.
So we'll be at Fiber Frolicthis year.
I'm also going to go to news.
So we're going to be at acouple, that's New England
Weaver Seminar.
We probably know, but just incase anyone else doesn't know.
So yeah, please feel free toreach out.
Speaker 02 (30:26):
Fantastic.
Thank you so much.
Thanks to both of you forjoining me today.
Thank you.
Speaker 00 (30:32):
Thank you.
Thanks for having us.
Thank you.
Speaker 02 (00:06):
Welcome to the show, Victor and Amber.
I'm really, really excited tochat with you both today.
We learned about you a coupleof months ago as we were kind of
like looking on the internetbecause we was looking for
information about tartanweaving.
And I was preparing a class forthe School of Sweet Georgia
about tartan weaving anddiscovered that you guys had
designed your own tartan.
And then that sort of led toother articles that I'd read
(00:29):
about how you had also started amill and a farm.
And so your mill and your farmis called Gealafola Acres.
Is that right?
Yes.
Fantastic.
And it looks like you foundedthe farm back in 2022 and you're
both first generation farmers.
Is that right?
Speaker 03 (00:50):
Yes.
Speaker 02 (00:51):
Fantastic.
Can you tell me a little bitabout what your life was like
before 2022?
Like what sort of was yourstory before leading up to
starting this mill and thisfarm?
Speaker 03 (01:04):
Yeah, I would say that we had kind of a long and
multifaceted life experiencebefore that because we were both
in the military, U.S.
military, both in the Navy.
That's how we met.
So we were both stationedoverseas in Japan.
Yeah, we were four deployed.
So we met there.
I guess that's kind of like thebeginning of our story, I think
almost about nine years ago,together at least.
Speaker 02 (01:25):
Okay, nine years ago, you guys met in Japan.
Whereabouts in Japan?
Yokosuka.
Which area is that?
It's like an hour and a halfsouth of Tokyo.
by train.
Okay, fantastic.
Did you both learn how to speakJapanese too?
Speaker 03 (01:39):
Yeah, I used to be actually quite fluent.
I still collaborate because weboth work outside of the farm as
well.
I'm actually an enterpriseservices engineer.
I actually still work with someof my Japanese colleagues for a
similar job function.
Speaker 02 (01:57):
Tell me a little bit about sort of like you were
deployed overseas, you were inJapan, you both worked for the
Navy, you were both in the Navy,and then you met there about
nine years ago.
And then what sort of sparkedyour interest in wanting to
start a farm and a mill?
Like, do you have anyexperience in this?
Do you have any background inany of it?
(02:18):
Or how did this come about?
Speaker 03 (02:21):
Well, so for me, I never really considered having a
farm to be honest, but I didalways love textile.
So my grandmother actuallytaught me how to crochet when I
was eight.
I learned how to do Irish lacein particular.
That's like what I startedwith.
I actually wasn't allowed tolearn on like normal size yarn.
(02:41):
I had to learn how to do lace.
And it was something that Iactually really like still.
And it kind of became a rabbithole for knitting.
I think maybe four years ago, Istarted that.
And five or six, we startedspinning and weaving.
And at the same time that I waslearning how to crochet, she
(03:06):
actually taught me how to makegarments as well.
So I've been making garmentsfor maybe 22 years now.
And so I just had a fascinationand a love and an obsession
with all things fiber.
So that's where I think thefiber portion of it kind of came
from.
Victor, I'll let you speak toit more, but he always told me
he wanted a sheep farm.
Speaker 00 (03:27):
So I had always wanted to have a small homestead
that was completelyself-sufficient for fiber and
food and a couple of otherproducts as well.
That way I could have as closeto independent from the
fluctuations of the market asyou could get was my goal.
Unknown (03:44):
Yeah.
Speaker 00 (03:44):
And then I've been weaving for four or five years
and spinning about the same timeand trying to get into that
aspect of it.
And I've been working onpattern drafting and garment
making for about the same time.
That way we can reach a pointwhere eventually we're going to
be able to go all the way fromgrass to finished garment.
And that's kind of one of thethings that we're really driving
(04:05):
towards here on the farm.
is the ability to go thatentire chain, that entire
process without it ever leavingthe farm.
Speaker 02 (04:16):
That's incredible.
Grass to garment.
I love this concept.
Can you tell me a little bitabout where your mill is?
I don't think we brought thatup.
Where's the mill located?
Right
Speaker 00 (04:28):
now, it's a huge pile of parts.
We just finished moving it uphere earlier this year.
So the entire barn is stackedabout five feet tall with parts
piles from all the equipment.
Eventually it's going to behere on the farm.
We're actually going to bebuilding it closer down towards
the road.
That way it's closer toservices.
(04:48):
It's closer to the, there's afire hydrant right there.
You know, the practical aspectsof having a textile mill and
trying to provide security forbuilding and access for
facilities, emergency response,parking, stuff like that right
off the road.
But that's where it's going toeventually be is just kind of
down in the front yard.
Speaker 02 (05:08):
Fantastic.
And this is located in Maine,in Searsport, Maine.
Yep.
Yes.
What sort of drew you to Maine?
Are you both from Maineoriginally or no?
Speaker 03 (05:20):
We had never been to Maine, either of us ever in our
whole lives.
When we moved here and weactually bought our house sight
unseen, I think a little overthree years ago now.
Yeah.
But basically, I'm originallyfrom California.
And when I got out of themilitary is when the fires,
they've always been bad, like mywhole life, but they were
(05:41):
getting worse and worse.
And so when I got out, I waskind of like, I would like to
live somewhere with more water.
And his dad was in the Navy.
So he grew up moving everythree years his whole life,
basically.
So...
When we got out, we were kindof like, where are we going to
go?
So we actually tried NorthCarolina for a while.
(06:02):
Another place I'd never beenwhen I moved there.
It was too hot.
I don't like it so hot.
I prefer like if it never gotover 65, I'd be pretty happy.
So we were there for a coupleof years.
And then basically I was like,this isn't really working for
me.
So what we did is we actuallydid research on every single
(06:25):
state in the country.
about the taxes the laws thethings we cared about quality of
life like different amenitieswe cared about like being close
to the ocean and and outdoorsthings um and maine was the
winner out of all like theweighted categories and so we
just bought a house and movedhere
Speaker 02 (06:44):
amazing bought it sight unseen and just like
picked the spot based oncharacteristics of the state
that's That's great.
I love that you did all thatresearch about it.
So tell me about the farm.
How big is it?
What kind of animals are yousort of raising here?
What sort of encompasses all ofyour activities on the farm
(07:04):
here?
Speaker 03 (07:05):
Yeah, so we have about 81 acres.
It's mostly wooded, though.
So I think only about five ofit is cleared.
Our first year, we actually dida fiber trial with five
different types of sheep.
And we had alpaca and angoragoats from O'Hare and angora
rabbits as well.
So we did kind of like a fibertrial to see which ones we liked
the most.
And ultimately we had a coupleof like really top ones, but the
(07:30):
ultimate winner for me wasdefinitely the Angora goats
because I just am obsessed withmohair.
So I think it's reallybeautiful.
I love the luster in particularof mohair that like wool just
doesn't have.
I think alpaca was a closesecond and we do plan on,
hopefully getting more alpaca inthe future.
But I think really our biggestproducts from producing a fiber
(07:57):
perspective on the farm will bemohair on a relatively small
scale.
And then we're actually themost interested in bast fibers.
So we've been growing linen forthe last couple of years, flax
for linen, rather.
And so we plan on curating ourmill and our production on site
mostly for linen production andthen also on the wool side of
(08:22):
the house doing customprocessing for all the local
farmers and anyone who wants tosend their wool in to get it
turned into yarn.
Yeah,
Speaker 02 (08:31):
I love mohair and I love the idea that you're also
going to be working with fiberfrom the local farmers as well.
In Maine, are there not likemore spinning mills and there's
a lot more industry there, isthere not?
Speaker 01 (09:00):
Mm-hmm.
Mm-hmm.
Speaker 02 (09:49):
So for, say, for the farms that have 30 or 40 in
their flock, and then they'resending it to a small processor
to try to get it processed intoyarn or fiber, if there's no one
to take over that overflow,then what would happen to all
(10:10):
that fiber?
What happens to the wool?
It gets composted
Speaker 00 (10:13):
mostly.
The national wool prices at thewool pole are cheaper now.
than the cost to ship the wool.
So if you're sending it to likea regional pool that just buys
the raw wool, you're actuallylosing money on postage.
So a lot of the times it getscomposted, gets used for garden
beds, mulch under grape vinesand trees and things like that.
(10:33):
And then people also do likesmall scale hand spinning, hand
processing of their own fleeces.
But most of these people whoare farming work other jobs too.
And you only have so many hoursin the day.
So they don't get to processthe whole of the fleeces from
their herd.
They only get to process apercentage of it.
(10:55):
Yeah.
If they can't get it to a mill.
Speaker 02 (10:59):
Absolutely.
So then you're kind of likefitting in in the middle,
hopefully, and then like helpingwith the smaller producers.
And then, you know, for thepeople who have more fiber than
a smaller mill could handle,then you're sort of in the
middle taking care of some ofthese farms and these folks,
right?
Speaker 00 (11:13):
That's the goal, yes.
Speaker 02 (11:15):
Fantastic.
Do you need different equipmentto handle sort of the wool
versus handling the flax toprocess all of this?
Speaker 03 (11:23):
Sort of.
Yes and no.
Definitely yes.
And also kind of no.
So the spinner that we got isantique, but was still being
operated.
And so it doesn't have anyother than the motor has no
electronics at all.
And it was designed in a timewhen the gearing ratios would
allow you to do a lot differentlength of fiber.
(11:45):
So we don't know the exact yearof it.
There are some patents on itfrom the fifties, but if you, I
have a manual, I think it's from1917 for the company that
produced it.
And a lot of the parts areactually the same as the ones on
our machine.
Cause even the, there aren'teven springs, it's actually 50
pound counterweights.
(12:05):
So it's like heritage typeequipment.
So, but what that means is, Itwas designed to be able to be
more broad because as technologyadvances, things become more
and more specialized, right?
Just like jobs and doctors andthings like that.
So this one is actually muchmore versatile because of the
mechanical nature of it.
(12:25):
As far as the preparation fromfiber or from fleece or from
flax, there are different typesof equipment that you need, but
most of it involves...
aligning the fibers and thenspinning from roving, right?
(12:47):
It's just the stuff before thealignment of the fiber that's
different really.
Speaker 02 (12:53):
Okay.
Okay.
Now I did have a question aboutthe mill equipment that you're
describing, the spinningequipment that you're describing
right now.
Is this the equipment that youbrought over from Jagerspun or
is it different?
Speaker 03 (13:08):
It's from Jaegerspun, yeah.
Speaker 00 (13:09):
So the spinner is one of the pieces of equipment
that we brought over fromJaegerspun, and it is, parts of
the machine match the 1917manuals, and then parts of it
have the newer patents as well,where stuff has been added onto
it over the years.
But it's really a great pieceof equipment.
Like Amber was saying, it's allmechanical.
There's no computers, there'sno anything else.
(13:31):
But that allows it to adjustsubstantially, yes.
Speaker 02 (13:35):
Can you describe a little bit of that process?
Because I don't think everybodyknows that you sort of, you
absorbed a lot of thisequipment, right?
Can you talk a little bit aboutthat story?
Speaker 03 (13:45):
Yeah, definitely.
So basically after our fibertrial and everything else, it
became apparent very rapidlythat, especially with a job, but
even without a job, we wouldnever be able to spin all the
fiber we produced manually,right?
With our spinning wheels, likeit's just not going to happen.
And we're friends with a lot ofother farmers because we're
(14:07):
part of the farming community.
And, you know, everyone has thesame sorts of challenges where
they can't really spin all oftheir fiber.
A lot of it just getscomposted.
We're all kind of upset aboutit because it's a beautiful
product that we're passionateabout and we love.
And at the end of the day, it'sgetting still a valuable use,
right?
Because mulch and compost isimportant, but it's not the same
(14:30):
when you have that like fiberlove, right?
Yeah.
So, anyway, I got a quote.
I think it might have been ayear or more ago now from
Belfast Mini Mills.
They make like the mini, likesmaller cottage industry type
(14:50):
spinning equipment.
That's what most of the millshere that are servicing the
small farms use.
And for the whole setup, it waslike over a quarter of a
million dollars.
Mm-hmm.
And that's not the kind ofcapital we could ever have, um,
for that kind of a venture.
And so anyway, it really likekind of hurt me in my heart
(15:14):
because I was like, ah, thisdream is very out of reach.
It's probably never going tohappen.
Um, and then when I found outthat Jaeger's bun was going out
of business, um, First, I waskind of just sad, like the rest
of the community, because theyprovided a lot of great yarn.
We bought a lot of their yarnfor weaving, right?
Historically.
(15:34):
And so I didn't really thinkabout the equipment until like
January-ish.
Speaker 00 (15:41):
And then she was up at night thinking about how she
really wanted to have thishappen.
And she thought aboutJaegerspun and how they'd gone
out and was like, I'm going tocall them and see what they're
doing with their equipment.
So she, she called Jaegerspunand Jaegerspun's like, well, we
sold the equipment with thebuilding to the person who
bought it.
And we don't know who you wouldtalk to, but here's their phone
(16:02):
number.
And so Amber called them andthe lady that she talked to was
like, well, that's a goodquestion.
I don't know.
Here's the president of thecompany's phone number.
Please email him and ask.
So that's, that's what she didis she emailed him and was like,
Just like, what are you doingwith the equipment?
Do you have any plans for it?
And he's like, well, if youwant to come look at it, please
(16:24):
do.
And she asked him, well, do youhave any idea what you might
want for it?
That way we can figure out ifit's even worth us going down
there and looking at it.
And we were told that if wecould get it out of the
building, we could have it.
So we basically had to pay thetransport cost, which was still
a lot of money.
um we spent probably 30 000transporting it in u-haul trucks
(16:48):
um but it uh took me a littleover five weeks to take it apart
um we moved a hundred maybe 105000 pounds of equipment from uh
down at the mill in sanford uphere to the farm so it was a
(17:08):
long five weeks but
Speaker 02 (17:12):
But to get the equipment without having to pay
additional for the equipment,just the transportation costs,
that's
Speaker 00 (17:18):
incredible.
It is.
Chinberg Properties was thedeveloper, and they were
incredibly generous with it, andthey were incredibly helpful
the whole way through theprocess.
Even at the end there, we hadsome beams that were not going
to go down the stairs or in thefreight elevator because they
were 15 feet long and 1,000pounds apiece.
And so what they ended up doingis they actually ended up
(17:41):
opening one of the walls andcraning them out for us down to
the truck.
That way we could actually takethe whole machines.
And that's the kind of stuffthat they were doing the whole
time we were there.
Anytime I needed an extra setof hands or something, the guy
who was on site was more thanhappy to help.
Can't say enough good thingsabout their generosity and their
willingness to help get theequipment back into a productive
(18:02):
state.
The president of the companywas actually very clear that
it's one of the things thatthat's their preference to do
when they get old equipment isto find someone who's going to
use it, going to refurbish it,going to return it back to the
local economy as somethingthat's going to move the area
forward.
Because if they couldn't findsomebody who was going to do
that, then the equipment wasjust going to go straight into a
(18:24):
landfill, which would have beenreally sad on a lot of levels,
but also incredibly expensive.
because you have to pay basedon weight and based on the cubic
volume of space that it takesup when it goes into a dump.
And that would have been reallypainful.
From the perspective of, Imean, 105,000 pounds of steel is
(18:44):
going to take up some space.
Speaker 02 (18:46):
No, I was just saying that that's incredible
that the people who bought thebuilding were able to basically
give you the equipment that wasinside and that it would have
cost more to get rid of theequipment than to keep it.
And I think...
I have a couple of girlfriendsand I who we talk about, like we
(19:06):
have this little fantasy aboutdriving around Canada and
rescuing all of the looms thatpeople don't want and bringing
them back and then restoringthem.
But this is like way biggerthan picking up a weaving loom.
This is picking up an entirespinning mill and bringing it
home and then putting it backtogether again, restoring it.
How have you learned how to usethis equipment?
(19:26):
Where did you learn?
Where did you learn the processof working all of the
equipment?
Were you able to contact theYaggerspun folks?
Speaker 00 (19:34):
So I got some help from a couple of people who had
worked there for a while.
A lot of it is my background.
I did industrial constructionbefore I joined the Navy, and
then I did engineering work forthe Navy.
And the Navy does not believein throwing away working
equipment.
So a lot of it is olderhigh-end equipment that has just
(19:58):
been kept in top shape for avery long time.
And so I was able to use thatexperience to kind of figure out
where things went and howthings worked.
And then one of the guys whohad worked there for almost, I
wanna say 40 years almost, Mikewas extremely helpful in helping
me figure out the couple ofspots I got stuck on.
And he just really was,incredible one is I would get
(20:22):
stuck and I'd take a picture ofit and text it to him and be
like, what do you do here?
And he would be like, oh, youneed to move this pin that
you're never going to findunless you know it's there kind
of thing.
But so I got help from them onthat and then the background
experience.
And then maybe what, threeweeks in, maybe four, we
(20:42):
actually found a vendor on eBaywho had the manual for the
machine.
And he actually had the manualsfor all of the equipment in the
building at a very reasonableprice.
So we contacted him and got allthe manuals.
And then I was breeding them inthe hotel at night when I
couldn't turn wrenches anymorefor the day and then going back
in the morning and turningwrenches more.
Speaker 03 (21:02):
There was also a tech library at the mill that
has like all the diagrams andparts and how they go together
with the assemblies too.
We also got those.
Speaker 02 (21:11):
It's amazing.
Now, I know that people aregoing to ask because...
There's a lot of weavers wholove, love, love the Jager Spun
Zephyr yarn, myself included.
I have a whole bunch of mystash.
I love it.
I'm afraid to use it now.
I think that people arewondering if you will spin those
sort of classic Jager Spunyarns still.
Speaker 00 (21:33):
The biggest trick with Zephyr is the silk content.
A large part of what we'redoing is focused on this
continent, especially the localregion, and trying to, like, get
the resources that are alreadyhere.
If we can find a local or evena regionally local or honestly
(21:54):
anywhere in the general vicinitylocal person who is going to
produce silk, we would beinterested in running the silk
wool blend, but we do not as afarm have the capacity to really
put the kind of hours in youwould need to run a silk farm.
Other than that, importing silkis going to get I mean, it's
(22:16):
already expensive, but it'sgoing to get more expensive as
things progress.
And there's a lot of demand forsilk generally.
So it's going to be verydifficult for us to do like
Zephyr in particular.
What we will probably beoffering instead of a silk wool
blend is like a mohair woolblend or an alpaca wool blend,
and maybe even a linen woolblend and a mohair linen blend.
(22:39):
So not necessarily Zephyr, andits its current incarnation is
50 silk just because that wouldbe a huge undertaking to run a
silk farm especially here in
Speaker 01 (22:51):
maine
Speaker 02 (22:53):
I think that all of this is actually really
interesting to hear because it'skind of like the evolution of
what this sort of antiqueequipment can produce.
And so with new ideas and withnew passion and like all this
energy, and then plus you haveso much experience in the
background and you're bothspinners, you're both weavers,
just all of this culmination increating something new for the
(23:16):
community so that weavers willmaybe have a different kind of
yarn to weave with, you know, inthe coming years and things
like that.
I think that that's somethingthat's really exciting to look
forward to.
Very cool what you guys aredoing here.
Now, if people are wonderinghow they can help you or support
you, support the farm, likewhere can they go to find more
information about all of this?
(23:38):
Where can people come and findyou?
Speaker 03 (23:42):
Yeah, there are a couple of places.
So firstly, we do have awebsite and I actually just
launched our store.
I have to add more things toit.
But in addition to themachinery, we also got about
4,000 pounds of merino roving.
Um, and so what we're doingwith that is we're selling it to
try and raise funds to put inthe building.
(24:04):
Um, we also did get some yarn.
I say some yarn with somehesitation because it's actually
quite a lot of yarn from thefactory that was either totally
completed or it was, um, like inprogress and mostly singles,
right?
But I think we got like, Idon't know how many pounds, 700?
Speaker 00 (24:29):
Probably 1,200 pounds of yarn.
Speaker 03 (24:33):
Of yarn.
And it's all primarily white.
And so what I'm doing or whatwe're doing, because we're both
doing it together, is we'reactually botanically dyeing all
of the yarn that we got.
And we're selling that as well.
And we're going to be at FiberFrolic and some of the local
festivals, but primarily it'llbe through our website.
(24:54):
And then before we had moretime to invest into kind of
trying to get everything fromthe mill put together and
packaged because it's kiddingseason.
I have all these baby goatsrunning around.
We also did start a GoFundMebecause people actually were
really excited and reaching outto us on Ravelry and asking us
to make a Ravelry group, whichwe also did.
(25:15):
We have one for our farm.
where I've kind of like beenblogging and like documenting a
little bit of everything.
And we did start a GoFundMe aswell.
Speaker 02 (25:26):
Fantastic.
So we will link to all of thoseand we'll let people know about
all of those as well.
Now, going back to my veryfirst question that I had at the
beginning, which is about thetartan that you designed.
Can you tell me a little bitabout the process of how you
designed this and what it wasfor and the meaning behind all
of this?
This is a very cool project.
Speaker 00 (25:46):
So we did our own tartan when we got married,
combining her heritage and myheritage and blending it into
one family tartan for us.
And that's kind of where itcame into play initially in our
lives.
And then one of the thingsthat, one of the reasons we did
(26:07):
the Searsport tartan is weactually really love it here for
starters.
And it's kind of a gift to thecommunity.
because of the heritage of thetown so at one point if you were
a blue water ship captain inamerica you had a 10 chance of
living here in sears port it's alittle higher than that
actually but out of the almost300 captains that there were in
(26:29):
america 33 of them lived righthere in this town um so there
was a huge shipbuilding heritageand a huge naval well not naval
a huge merchant marine heritageum And so what we did is we
looked at the historical recordsof the town working with the
Historic Preservation Commissionhere in town.
(26:49):
And we have a historic societyas well.
And then the Penobscot MarineMuseum.
And then we worked with thePenobscot Marine Museum and we
looked at old maps of when thetown was founded and kind of
pulled all of the names fromthere that were connected to the
shipbuilding community and theship captain community.
(27:09):
and went through and foundeverybody who had Scottish and
Irish heritage and went throughthe registry of tartans in
Scotland and actually pulled allof the tartans for everybody
who would have been a part ofthe town when it was founded and
went through and blended themall to create the Searsport
tartan.
So it's actually almost amarriage of the founding
(27:33):
families of the town who werepart of that seaborne heritage.
um that we've compiled andturned into a tartan and it's
been registered with the theregistry in scotland as the
official town tartan now um sothat's kind of how the project
came into being is we wanted toto give this thing to the town
that would be used to kind ofunify the whole community
(27:57):
because even if you don't havethe traditional heritage and a
clan tartan of your own now thistown and kind of what it's
grown into has a tartan and soby being kind of a part of the
fabric of the town and thenletting everyone have that it
kind of helps unite thecommunity or at least that's
that's what we really hoped forwhen we did it was to provide
(28:19):
that sense of family in thecommunity
Speaker 02 (28:23):
that's an incredible gift an incredible gift to your
community um yeah i mean likein in learning more about tartan
these past uh those past coupleof years and things like that
just uh Discovering how muchpeople identify with, you know,
it's funny because it's likeit's colors and it's stripes and
it's pattern and it's assembledtogether, but something about
it makes people feel so proud tobe able to have this thing that
(28:48):
ties them all together.
So I think it's amazing thatyou've created this thing that's
blended all these familiestogether, blended together the
history and the heritage of yourchosen place.
It's great.
Unknown (29:00):
Yeah.
Speaker 02 (29:01):
So thank you both for joining me today for this
conversation.
It's been really, reallyinteresting learning more about
your farm and your mill and allyour plans.
I think it's just, it is reallyvery, just amazing.
admirable to see all of theenergy and all the enthusiasm
that you have for startingsomething new, for creating
something new from the groundup.
(29:21):
And that you're learning all ofthese things and then using all
this experience and a lot ofthis passion to create something
new.
So I'm very, very excited tosee where this all goes in the
coming years.
If people want to come and findyou, where is the best place
that they can go and follow allthe things that you're working
on?
Should it be Ravelry or yourwebsite or social media?
(29:42):
Yeah.
Speaker 03 (29:42):
yeah yeah so our website and Ravelry and we have
an Instagram and a Facebook aswell so and if you just look up
our farm name um I don't know ofanother farm named quite like
ours so it
Speaker 02 (29:55):
should come right up fantastic and can people come
and visit you in in real lifepeople can come and see the farm
and
Speaker 03 (30:03):
yeah we have a contact us form on our website
and we do sometimes scheduletours And we're also going to be
at a lot of events.
So we'll be at Fiber Frolicthis year.
I'm also going to go to news.
So we're going to be at acouple, that's New England
Weaver Seminar.
We probably know, but just incase anyone else doesn't know.
So yeah, please feel free toreach out.
Speaker 02 (30:26):
Fantastic.
Thank you so much.
Thanks to both of you forjoining me today.
Thank you.
Speaker 00 (30:32):
Thank you.
Thanks for having us.
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