Applemere Heritage Farm is a family farm located in Duncan on Vancouver Island. They are dedicated to raising heritage breeds of both livestock and produce. Their showcase stock are Cotswold sheep, which are world famous for their lustrous long wool. Cotswold…
Inish Eile (Irish for “other island”) is a small farm located on Pender Island. The farmer, Martha, keeps a flock of purebred Cotswold sheep — a rare long-wool breed that produces amazingly lustrous fleeces in both white and other colours.…
Gun Barrel Canyon Farm in the Nanaimo area was started in 1984 when Mark and Deb moved onto a bare piece of clear-cut land. They started with horses, slowly adding alpacas and finally sheep (and several “livestock guardian” dachshunds!) The…
Earlier in the year, I was approached by Deb of Gun Barrel Canyon Farm (Nanaimo) with a request to weave a bed blanket using wool from her animals. Deb has several breeds of sheep on her farm and has been…
Sorting Table for Skirting Fleeces Once the shearer finishes shearing, the fleece is gathered together and taken to the sorting table (also known as a skirting table). Often, the fleece is thrown onto the table such…
We are happy to have been featured in an article in the January 2026 CV Collective magazine: Three Bags Full: Friends don’t let Friends’ Fleeces go to waste, written by Marie Maccagno.
Local fibres, local dyes, local labour. The fibres we choose for our projects are important. But so are the dyes! And colour can tell such stories – of who we are, of where we live. Here, a member of the…
Continuing on from our Winter 2024 challenges of repurposing existing textiles and planning our dye gardens, we now have some new challenges for Spring. We’d love you to take on these challenges to learn new skills and become more comfortable…
Fleece and Fibre: Textile Producers of Vancouver Island and the Gulf Islands, Francine McCabe’s recently published book, has been well received. We’re so excited to have this tangible resource and celebration of the bounty we have here in our Fibreshed!…
Gabriola Fibreshed Working Group Report We have had a busy fall, working on our own various projects, traveling, and planning for a big event in the New Year. We gathered once to brake and hackle our flax. Oops! Turns out…