Date: July 23rd 2010

Hey yall : ) Whew ... all I can say about this summer, this year... is "Wow.. What a ride!!!" It surely does seem like things are moving at the speed of light for the business and the farm this year, so I thought I would just take a moment and catch y'all up on stuff.
You may have heard that we are closing the store on Backstreet. Quite honestly, I am feeling more and more tugged in 3 directions.. family, shop and farm, since our lease is running out, this seems like as good a time as any to streamline things just a tad!
Here is the plan: We plan to leave an outlet in town so that you can run in and grab yarns, needles, tools and such. This will be located within Mountain Home Utopia ( where Skyland Books used to be on Jefferson Ave) We will have some classes there as well as our sit and knits and such. None of that will change : ) I know many of you have been concerned about losing the sense of community that makes Spin A Yarn a special place.. I believe we can keep that! I know that yall are what makes us special and so long as we don't lose you.. we won't lose community!
I reckon y'all have probably noticed that pavement is not my natural habitat... I tend to be nervous as a long tailed cat in a room full of rocking chairs in town..And quite frankly, I want to be farming! So, the second part of our plan is to move a branch of the store to the farm .. now now, I hear y'all gasping .. but truly it's just 4 miles from the redlight in town to Foxfire Holler... now that's not so bad, is it ? At first we will be located in a building next to the house, then hopefully by next summer we will have the homeplace renovated and ready to house the business. Since I will be spending more hours farming, we can raise more products, and hopefully market to a wider audience. You will also be able to call me with an order for meats and other produce and I will deliver it to your home! We will be doing produce deliveries in the area, as well as having the products available here just like always. I am also discussing an outlet for our products out at The Bar
n on 221 in Fleetwood. We are very excited about that, so stay tuned!
Part three of our plan is Agritourism,and education.. We are going to be holding workshops ( 1 day, 3 day, 1 week.. weaving, spinning, living off the land...the sky's the limit here) This winter we are going to erect some small, primitive cabins that will house folks who want to come and stay and take classes... I love letting folks come out and see the animals, it's such a nice feeling to see a child hold a chick for the first time... to plant a seed.. to learn where their food comes from! Hopefully next season we will be hosting open house days on the farm a couple times a month, complete with activities and learning experiences for kids of any age!
This year we are trying our hand at raising free range chickens and turkeys for market. So far it's going really well ! We harvested several yesterday in a trial run, and were extremely pleased with the results!
Another new addition are our hogs... Tamworths are an old, heirloom breed that are wonderfully awesome to raise! Blossom and Bubba are producing beautiful offspring... we are well pleased !

In a couple other bits of news ... The High Country Farm Tour is coming up ! this is a yearly event put on by Blue Ridge Women in Agriculture, and is an awesome chance for you to tour many of the farms that you visit at the Ashe and Watauga Farmers markets every week! And this year.. tada ! Guess who's on the tour ? Foxfire Holler is ! We are very excited ( and nervous) about doing this, but I had a moment of insanity and applied .. and they accepted ...and now I am sure it is going to be a totally awesome weekend .. Saturday and Sunday from 2-6 both days...I am as yet unsure of what you will see at other farms, but we will have hands on fiber activities, and lots of demonstrators. Tickets and info will be available in the shop... I think last year it was $20 a carload to tour all the farms all weekend ... not a bad deal at all !
I am in need of volunteers for either or both days... if you are willing to sit on the porch and demonstrate your art for a couple of hours ... or work with younguns dying, felting weaving or spinning... or walk folks around the farm... Well that would be awesome.. I would love you forever and dance at your wedding! And in case you didn't know, that is also the weekend of the 40th annual Rotary Club Fiddlers Convention ( www.ashefiddlers.com) so don't forget to go out and listen to some great music at Ashe Park on Friday and Saturday !
We have planned our grand opening ( grand moving?) for the place in town for August 21st... we are going to celebrate with a yarn tasting : ) We would be so happy if you would plan to join us ! More details on that to follow :) I will try to keep the website and facebook updated with info on that : )
Just one more thing ( I promise! ) I am now taking preorders for turkey for the holidays ; ) Let me know if you want one and approximately what weight and I will put you on the list!

Love to you all ! Nancy and the family at Foxfire Holler Farm