Farmers pool shearings to make new ‘Rhody Warm’ blankets
Barbara Thompson and her husband, Marcus, raise a herd of about 50 sheep on Seldom Seen Farm in Glocester. After their biannual shearings, the couple used to sell the wool to a pool in Massachusetts. That was before wool prices fell from about $1 per pound to 40 cents.
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As New England’s woolen mills have shut down, the market for wool has shrunk dramatically, making it hard to sell what little is still produced. With shearing costs ranging from $5 to $9 per sheep, the Thompsons opted to use their wool as mulch for blueberry plants.
But now they’re putting it to a better use: They and about 50 other Rhode Island sheep farmers are pooling their wool to make blankets to sell to the public. The plan is to bring the blankets to market by the holidays, using the brand Rhody Warm – inspired by the local dairy co-op’s brand Rhody Fresh.
The idea came from a partnership between the Rhode Island Sheep Cooperative and the Rhode Island Resource Conservation and Development Area Council, a nonprofit group that also promotes rural economic development in the state.
Chris Modisette, coordinator for the council, said sheep farmers had approached the group in 2005, because “they were having difficulty selling their wool.” With a little help, he said, the new co-op could become a source of income for them.
The sheep cooperative collected 1,400 pounds of wool last month to be cleaned at a mill in Minnesota, Modisette said. Once it is cleaned, it will be shipped to Millbury, Mass., for spinning into yarn; then to South Grafton, Mass., for weaving; then to Riverpoint Lace Works in West Warwick for finishing.
Heather Minto, manager of Watson Farm in Jamestown, is already making blankets with the wool from her 40 sheep, and making a profit, she said. For the past three years, she’s sent the wool to a mill in Canada for processing. The blankets sell for $80 to $200 at the farm and at farmers’ markets.
“People love it,” Minto said. “With the price of oil higher and higher, people aren’t able to turn their thermostats up.”
The co-op got a boost recently from the U.S. Department of Agriculture, which provided a $20,000 rural development grant for Modisette’s group to provide technical assistance with the collection of wool, and the processing, spinning, weaving, and marketing of the blankets.
Modisette said the grant also allowed the nonprofit to hire textile consultant Strickland Wheelock, who helped the co-op find the few remaining textile mills that do the type of cleaning, spinning, and weaving that are needed.
The nonprofit agreed to pay initial costs of the process, and then once a business plan is developed it will give the plan to the co-op for continuation. Marketing plans – including a Web site – are still being created.
Wheelock predicted the wool collected from Rhode Island sheep farmers could generate about 100 queen-sized blankets. The blankets’ design will depend on the amount of light and dark yarn created. It will be most likely a gray plaid pattern with no artificial coloring added.
“We’re hoping it will take off,” said Minto, also a member of the co-op. “We hope it will be a really neat product.”
