Pinwheel Farm

08/17/2024

Gorgeous morning! Come on down to the Lawrence Farmers Market!

I did a dye day yesterday, so there's fresh silk scarves in abundance. AND new natural dyed silk product--hair scrunchies!

08/12/2024

Anyone want this beautiful Turkey Tail?

08/03/2024

Come on down to the Downtown Lawrence Farmers Market! 2 more hours of LOCAL shopping!

07/24/2024

KC area friends, especially knitting/fiber friends and farming friends:

Tomorrow, July 25, from about 2:30 to a little after 5, I would like to have a support person join me in attending a critical public hearing to support Urbavore Urban Farm. Check out their page to see what's at stake...it's a huge government overreach that if allowed, sets a dire precedent of a municipality being able to block your access to your home and business that was constructed with all necessary approvals and permits.

The side challenge--my personal challenge--is that KCMO prohibits knitting needles in City Hall. I tried to attend the last hearing, on July 10, and was not allowed to bring my knitting. I have a disability that makes it extremely difficult to attend large or stressful gatherings without handwork. I was so stressed by the disjoint of being told by people wearing lanyards and carrying keys that my knitting needles were a weapon (while every woman knows to carry her keys between her fingers in the parking garage as a weapon) while their accessories were not, that all I could do was sit in the foyer and try to knit myself back to calmness while sending prayers upstairs to my friends.

I have written to the Civil Rights Specialist to get an up date on her efforts to figure out a way to accommodate my accommodation, but I may not get the information I need in time to be fully prepared with an alternate accommodation that will serve me as well, and will be allowed.

I may need someone to take disallowed things back to my car for me (I am experiencing a bout of foot pain that is exacerbated by excessive walking). And I will need moral support to face Security again. Worse comes to worse, we may end up knitting in the foyer.

Please reach out via P.M. ASAP.

07/20/2024

What a pleasant day at the Downtown Lawrence Farmers Market! Come on down!

Start planning/ordering/purchasing warm wooly items now! Get ahead of the autumn rush!

07/18/2024

It's Thursday, and it's not scorching! Therefore, I'm at Cottin's Hardware Farmers Market until 6;30, with eggs, lamb, machine washable sheepskins, and wool products!

Lots of new wool colors workingg their way through my process right now...pick your colors for custom work!

07/16/2024

SO glad I am routinely masking indoors in public spaces!

I had the chance of a lifetime to spend Sunday at Convergence...the Handweaver's Guild of America annual conference. I went just to go through the vendor area (market research for my wool business) and the juried exhibits. Amazing and wonderful and inspiring!

Now I keep getting updates from the conference about the number of confirmed COVID cases among attendees, and which areas/events contained people who may have been contagious. I REALLY appreciate this information, and I'm thankful that I DIDN'T take classes since those are the main "hot spots" and were in smaller areas with closer personal contact. But it's sobering. I will keep masking. I hope you will, too.

07/06/2024

You won't experience much nicer Market weather in July than today! Just the right cool breeze!

Sold out of eggs yesterday, so decided to fill the empty table space with freshly dyed wool! Available for your spinning or crafting pleasure, or look forward to seeing these colors on my yarn and handknit table!

07/03/2024

This beauty was very focused on the soggy path of mud and spilled feed left by the chicken tractor.

07/02/2024

Someone I know was looking for Button Bush. Found a big bush in bloom, with ripening seeds, and some smaller ones.

The leaves really stand out amongst the Poison Ivy and annuals because they are so dark and glossy. Never noticed that before.

06/29/2024

"APPLES!!!!" said the customer.

Her friend said, " You JUST said you had everything for your juice except apples, and there they are!"

Indeed. One day only. Fresh, hyper local unsprayed apples from a tree I planted 29 years ago.

06/29/2024

Downtown Lawrence Farmers Market...head 9n over! Here until 11:30.

Can't make it? Call or pm for meet-up or delivery.

06/29/2024

What's even more rare than fresh apples right off the tree in JUNE? Almost no insect or bird damage! What's even better? This tree has NEVER been sprayed!

This is Pristine...a Cedar Apple Rust resistant variety that I planted 29 years ago. She ripens super early...usually in July...but earliest ever this year. They are small, tender skins, not a storage apple.

I have 34 pounds. Message me to reserve yours, or be the early bird at the Downtown Lawrence Farmers Market tomorrow.

06/27/2024

All the Pinwheel Farm goodies at Cottin's Hardware Farmers Market until 6:30 today.

Why buy a machine washable sheepskin in the summer? Because you might miss out in the fall when everyone wants one!

And the COMFORT BENEFITS...the white ones stay SO COOL in the sun, unlike the seat in your parked car. They let air circulate under you...keeps you cooler, and no sticking to the seat.

06/22/2024

What a great morning at the Downtown Lawrence Farmers Market! Enough clouds and a gentle breeze! Come on down before it gets hot!

Dryer balls are back in stock, finally! 100% local, 100% wool from the sheep that I raise, natural color of the animal or dyed with natural dyes. Guaranteed against everything except dogs and lawnmowers.

06/15/2024

Downright pleasant at the Downtown Lawrence Farmers Market this morning! I have a good stock of eggs, lamb, mutton-and-pork summer sausage, handspun yarn, handknit items, wool for spinning, and more!

05/30/2024

Come on down to Cottin's Hardware Farmers Market and join the party! Vendors, live band, Free State Brewery, CHESS, and a food truck!

05/25/2024

At the Downtown Lawrence Farmers Market until 11:30 today! New batch of machine washable sheepskins!

05/18/2024

Come on down to Lawrence Farmers Market! Open every Saturday into November, from 7:30 to 11:30.

05/16/2024

At Cottin's Hardware Farmers Market until 630.

05/13/2024

Just a reminder to friends of the farm that I'm running a GoFundMe to help pay for Briar's dental work for a mostly-missing canine and another broken one. I was not expecting that diagnosis when she went in for her annual shots last week.

I'm Briar's owner, Natalya. Or rather, I am privileged to be owned by this dog. As you can see,… Natalya Lowther needs your support for Help Briar smile again

05/09/2024

Progress on gravity-powered water distribution at the farm. 500 gallon central tank is about 200' away. Wasn't sure the flex fabric hose would work, but it does.

05/09/2024

Mother's Day this weekend, graduations left and right...so many occasions to celebrate special people! Plan ahead and shop local!

I will be at Cottin's Farmers Market from 4 to 6:30 this afternoon. Lots of ideas for a special Mother's Day...machine washable sheepskins, handwoven wool rag tote bags, handspun/handknit items, natural dyed silk scarves, and more. PLUS lamb, mutton/pork summer sausage, fresh eggs, and more.

05/07/2024

Recognize this sweet snoot? Usually when you visit the farm, it has a stick in it, and Briar is focusing every fiber of her being into getting you to throw the stick, even while I am standing there telling you to please absolutely do not throw the stick or anything else.

The minute my back is turned, you throw the stick anyway, because the Border Collie has hypnotized you, and you care more about her immediate pleasure than her longterm well-being. I get it. She's fun to watch. But...it's harmful to her.

So I am going to ask you, if you have ever thrown the stick after I said not to, to chip in for her upcoming oral surgery to remove the remains of two canine teeth and clean everything else. One is missing and infected, and one is broken. Vet took one look at her mouth and said "Likes her sticks, doesn't she?"

I am already paying big dental bills for myself. That's on me. I made those choices. But her dental is directly related to years of y'all doing exactly what I told you not to do.

I'll set up a GoFundMe later soon. FYI, It will cost more than my own gold crown.

05/04/2024

Double-up Protein Bucks are here! Only at the Downtown Lawrence Farmers Market 1st and 3rd Saturdays...get regular SNAP tokens (up to $25) with your EBT card, and you'll ALSO get a $1 RED token to spend on local protein: meat, eggs, and more! PLUS, you'll also get a $1 PURPLE token good for fresh veggies.

05/04/2024

Here's the plan. Go to Market with all the usual stuff (lamb, summer sausage, eggs, sheep skins, woven rag market bags, nettles, lambsquarters, garlic chives, all the other wool products...pics from Cottin's Thursday market) and see what happens.

Not all vendors depend on Market to pay the bills, but I do. Not going is rarely an option for me...and I already had to miss one market for the KSEC public hearing. If you want to stay dry and still buy local, call me for local delivery.

Hope to see you today!

05/02/2024

Come on down to Cottin's Hardware! Free State beer, Old Time music, lamb meat and summer sausage, wool products, honey, veggies, jams and jellies, live plants, eggs, BBQ sauce, and more!

04/25/2024

At Cottin's Hardware Indoor Farmers Market until 6! Lamb, nettles,wool products, machine washable sheepskins.

04/25/2024

PSA: Look before reaching.

I have found these girls under a tarp on a fence, under a rug hung out to air, inside a gate tube, etc., in the last couple days. I have also found "starter homes" with eggs. If they are in areas of common human activity, destroy nest now while there's just one guardian mama. Tell them to build up high in trees away from your house.

They are diligent hunters of caterpillars such as cabbage loopers, but guard their eventual colony nests like a swarm of mama bears with wings.

04/22/2024

"Correlation is not causation"

There is a meme going with a picture of President Biden that links increased costs at the grocery store to the years of his presidency.

In fact, the cause, in a nutshell, is a) climate change and b) international demand.

Going down the list by numbers, here's the real story from the agricultural side:

1. Cocoa and 7. Chocolate: climate change. The end of cacao production in major areas has been predicted for years. https://www.economist.com/graphic-detail/2024/02/28/why-chocolate-is-becoming-much-more-expensive

2. Orange juice: climate change, invasive insects. Freezes and extreme hurricanes in Florida.

3. Olive oil: California groves decimated by drought; war and drought in Europe and Middle East.

4. Sugar: Drought in India and Thailand reducing world supplies.

5. Fruit snacks: Sugar prices + fruit prices

6. Cooking oil: Weather disasters, increased global demand for fried foods, use in manufactured non-food goods instead of fossil-based ingredients. Loss of production in Ukraine due to war.

7. 1. Cocoa + 4. Sugar

8. Applesauce: Cost to grow up 73% from 2020 to 2023, downward trend in acreage, climate change affecting all fruit crops.

9. Beef: Extreme weather and fires; labor shortages due to pandemic; increased feed costs

10. Mayonnaise: 3. + 6. + 12.

11. Loaf of bread: Loss of wheat production in Ukraine due to war. Aftereffects of supply chain issues due to pandemic.

12. Eggs: HPAI (highly pathogenic avian influenza) is continuing to wipe out millions of birds at large production facilities, it’s just “old news” so no one is paying attention.

13. Milk: Declining number of dairies, expensive feed grains, global demand. Many US dairies bought by foreign countries and shipping milk to those countries (Middle east, China, etc.)

14. Cereal: Corporate greed + increased demand and decreased production for grains worldwide.

15. Butter: Byproduct of 13.

If you want prices to go down, stop taking good farm ground out of production for housing, industry, roads, solar installations, etc. Stop using fossil fuels OR biofuels...just reduce your entire energy consumption. And start supporting immigration policies to get immigrant workers back in our fields. Thank those immigrants for doing work you wouldn't!

Sales are down as chocolatiers raise prices. Now the industry is facing a reckoning