Spring/Summer 2025 Program
The Vancouver Island Fibreshed (VIF) is setting up regional Shearing Support Teams (north, mid, and lower VI and Gulf Islands) to work with sheep farms in their area. We hope to build relationships between farmers and consumers, assisting farmers on shearing day to bring value to their fleeces. Please note, at this time we will only be working with sheep/wool farmers but hope to expand this program to other fibre farmers in the future.
The shearing support teams will skirt fleeces, evaluate them for fibre quality, label, and provide farmers with a list and/or spreadsheet containing: fleece description, animal name, fleece weight and staple length, fleece quality, and probable fibre use. We will start small this year and can’t guarantee team availability for all requests.
For more information, please see our letter to farmers and our letter to volunteers (linked here). If you are interested in participating in the program, you’ll find links to sign up in those letters.
We do ask that all participants be 2025 members of the Fibreshed ($25 annual membership). Our pilot program farmers have been very positive in their feedback, appreciating the help and also learning more about what makes a marketable fleece.
