Freelton Fibre Mill: Processing fibre

The road into Ute’s mill and farm is lined with beautiful trees on either side. At the end of the road, you are greeted by her two dogs and if you are lucky, her pet pig Bernie. As we head into her mill we start chatting about her background, running her mill and all of the projects she has on the go. It is quickly clear that in all her work, Ute has a high attention to detail and does not shy away from a challenge.

Written and Photographed by Emily Neill

Where did you grow up?

I was raised in Bavaria/Germany between Munich and Salzburg, but went to school in Munich.

 You raised goats for many years, what caused you to switch to fibre animals?

Getting older and realizing there is a limit what I can do caused me to switch. Milking goats twice a day takes a lot of commitment keeping me tied down to the farm a lot. I couldn’t go out for dinner and no matter how I felt (sick or not), I had to go out there to milk the goats. Besides that, the laws for food are very tough. It was a constant battle with inspectors because they didn’t understand farming or organic at all. Compared to goats, fibre animals are not restricted to be fed at a certain time and besides shearing there is not much stress.

Along with raising animals, you process fibre. Can you tell us a little bit about how yarn is processed?

1. Weigh the fibre and decide what kind of yarn you would like to produce.

2. Wash the fibre, making sure it’s really clean so it doesn’t cause trouble during processing.

3. Spread the fibre on the drying rack to dry.

4. Send it through a machine called a picker to loosen it up. (Photo below)

5. If desired by the customer separate the guard hair from the undercoat with the fibre separator. This is basically necessary with llama, alpaca (older or less quality animals), cashmere etc.

6. Card the fibre into rovings.

7. Send the roving through the draw frame 2 – 3 x sometimes more often, to eliminate unevenness for spinning. This is especially necessary for fine yarn.

8. Spin the roving into a single ply yarn also know as a single. (photo below)

9. Ply singles together into a 2-ply or 3-ply yarn and balance it.

10. Send the yarn through the cone winder, which transfers the yarn from the bobbin onto a cone.

11. Send the yarn through the steamer to set the twist.

12. Send the yarn through the skein winder and tie it.

13. Twist the yarn into skeins and label.

With both animals and a processing facility your days must be busy. What does a standard day look like for you?

As I work by myself, I have to organize my day very well. There is no standing or sitting around, therefore the first 2-3 hours are my own quality time. I walk my dogs, feed Bernie my pet pig, milk my one Nubian goat, open up the doors for everybody and then I have breakfast and check my emails, taking my time. After that I go into the mill and keep going with what I haven’t finished the day before or I start a new order.  Shortly before it gets dark I feed everybody and give them water (when it’s hot this happens of course several times in between) I clean out the litter boxes of my cats and make sure everybody is happy and not complaining anymore. Lastly I walk the dogs and make sure Bernie is in bed. I close all the doors and wish everybody a good sleep. In the summer this is usually about bedtime for myself. In the winter I often go back out into the fibre mill after dinner and keep working until it’s time to quit.

As a fibre farmer and processor, what are some of the obstacles you face? 

Not enough time for everything. I had to learn to set priorities and these are not always understandable for other people, but they are based on what I can manage within 24 hours a day and what’s important for me. I am a perfectionist and the older I get the more I understand I never will reach that goal, but always will do my best. I have to be careful not to drain myself too much and set my times for relaxation. My animals rely on me and my health.

What do you hope the future of fibre farming and processing looks like in Ontario?

I hope that people will understand more that farming is neither riding a tractor all day long with the sunshine in your face, nor low quality work because you make your hands and cloths dirty. It is probably the best way to keep healthy. I am talking about smaller farms of course and not these big ones. People should realize their power, they decide who is surviving in this tight market. If people wouldn’t buy cheap and low quality food and cloths, these companies wouldn’t have a leg to stand on. When we buy all imported cheap stuff, yes we help people in third world countries to survive, but we also get more and more dependent on huge corporations. In other words we need to keep going with this local trend in respect to farming and processing,  it will make everybody including our environment healthier.
Visit Ute’s website to see some of her hand knit products and learn more about her fibre processing services.

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