Sheep shearing day
MSSM students from southern Maine soak up farm life
Pam and Wayne Sweetser’s Raymond Brook Farm in Presque Isle was a busy place last Saturday, as the spring ritual of harvesting fiber from their mixed flock of heritage sheep was finishing up.
On hand to observe and get a sense of what a working farm is like were four students from the Maine School of Science and Mathematics, where Pam Sweetser teaches history part-time.
Sweetser, who taught English and history at Hampden Academy for 30 years, started raising sheep in the late 2000s, after moving back to Presque Isle. “We decided we’d make a go of it.”
While her husband Wayne’s family traditionally grew potatoes and grains on the land, they started a small “sheep to shawl” business producing wool from heritage breeds like the Leicester longwool, California variegated mutant and Scottish blackface. They also raise horses — a love of Pam Sweetser’s since she was a child growing up in Presque Isle — and cows for grassfed beef.
MSSM students Paisley Keene, Luisa Hutzler, Allison Johnson and Aiden Sites helped clean the hooves of Sweetser’s horses, saw them riding and then came to watch some shearing, led by experts Peggy and George Allen of the Wool Haven Homestead in Caribou.
Shearing is the first of a five-step process before the hair can be turned into wool products. The Sweetsers, Allens and other fiber crafters in Aroostook County also meet regularly for group spinning sessions, and Sweetser sells wool, yarn and other farm goods under the name Snow Country Creations.
The four students, who are all from southern Maine, said they’ve grown curious about farming while living in Limestone and that they’ve been curious to see their teacher’s agricultural work in action.
“I think she’s really awesome and empowering and wanted to see what she does in her off-time,” said Allison Johnson, a junior. “It’s really cool to see her living her dream.”
