In this episode, Clara talks with Canadian wool advocate, fiber farmer, and mill owner Anna Hunter of Long Way Homestead. Until a few years ago, Anna was happily ensconced in East Vancouver running a yarn store. But in 2015, the country beckoned. She and her husband Luke moved to Eastern Manitoba to start a family and a farm. When she discovered th…

It takes a special kind of person to choose a life with sheep. It's not easy. It's not glamorous. It's not the kind of career path that comes with stock options or a private jet. It comes with something even better: Sheep. Spend any significant amount of time with sheep and you're bound to form friendships, attachments, connections. In this episode…

In honor of this being New York Sheep and Wool Festival weekend in Rhinebeck, New York, this episode's voice in wool is Clara herself. So make yourself a cup of tea and enjoy story time as she reads the New York Sheep and Wool Festival chapter from her New York Times bestseller, Knitlandia: A Knitter Sees the World. This is a special Voices in Wool…

What could washing your breakfast dishes and preventing wildfires possibly have in common? Marie Hoff may be able to help with that question. In 2013, she took on a small flock of ouessant sheep and launched Cappella Grazing in Sonoma County. Her clients were mainly vineyards, orchards, farms, and private land owners who wanted a quieter, more effi…

In 2020, the American wool industry lost an extremely important link in its production chain when the Yocom-McColl wool testing lab closed. That lab had been in operation for more than 50 years. And by the time it closed, it was our only remaining commercial wool testing lab in the country. Why does this matter? Because any kind of trade, whether i…

Today's voice in wool never set out to be a voice in wool. In fact, he doesn't say a word about wool at all. His interest—and quite an infectious one at that—is in the sheep themselves, how they move and navigate both the natural terrain and one another. In this episode, Clara talks with Lior Patel, a 42-year-old professional drone photographer fro…

Swiss sheep aren't known for their wool. But they still play a vital role in the Alpine ecosystem: that of agile and incredibly efficient lawnmowers. Which is exactly why Claire Jeannerat and her husband Damien began farming in 2014. From their farm in Crans Montana, they raise rare and indigenous breeds of sheep and goats that are highly adapted t…