Field Trip: How to Make a Farm Yarn? Go Straight to the Pasture.

On a warm spring Sunday, I headed to rural Ohio for a farm field trip with local yarn store owner and farm-yarn evangelist Andrea Panzica. Andrea was looking forward to a reunion with shepherds Don and Linda Reichert, and we would be picking up a 100-pound truckload of fleece for Andrea’s newest yarn line. Andrea first connected with the Reicherts through their fiber, but they soon became treasured friends. In addition to raising their own flock near Wooster, Ohio, the Reicherts organized the Great Lakes Fiber Show for many years. The event grew into one of the largest fiber events in the region, supporting a vibrant community of makers.

Making Connections

Andrea’s relationship with the Reicherts began when she wanted to create her own locally sourced yarn to sell at 614 Knit Studio, her shop in Columbus, Ohio. Logically, Andrea headed to the Ohio State Fair, where she made a beeline for the sheep barn and bought that year’s ribbon-winning fleeces. She also attended the Great Lakes Fiber Show and scooped up the Best of Show fleeces. As it turned out, the meticulously skirted wool Andrea bought at both festivals came from the same source: Don and Linda Reichert. Andrea learned that the Reicherts were also legendary repeat prize winners at the Maryland Sheep & Wool Festival, where their Corriedale and Border Leicester fleeces were beloved by handspinners. The Reicherts’ farm was only a 90-minute drive from Andrea’s home, so she reached out to the couple to schedule a visit—which turned into multiple visits and generated a growing friendship.

Get a closer look! Click any image to open it in full-screen mode and read more about Andrea’s fleece haul.

Andrea’s frequent visits to the farm acquainted her with both sheep and shepherds. She learned of the challenge small farms have in clearing out their wool clip each year. When she decided to create a new yarn, she went straight to the Reicherts for 100 pounds of fleece. The result, which Andrea named Pride of Ohio, was a wonderfully lustrous sportweight yarn in two natural colors from Don and Linda’s Corriedale and Border Leicester sheep. A small amount was also blended with alpaca to create an Aran-weight three-ply yarn.

Sheep grazing at Don and Linda Reichert’s farm in Wooster, Ohio

Don and Linda Reichert started raising sheep on their five-acre farm as part of a 4-H project with their children in the early 1980s. Meat and wool were equally important to the family—that is, until Linda became immersed in handspinning. The more Linda spun, the more the Reicherts specialized in producing the finest fleeces. By the mid-1980s, the Reicherts were running the Great Lakes Fiber Show. The event began as a few vendor tables alongside a well-established sheep show, and it grew into a large regional festival with 100 vendors, workshops, competitions, and more. They retired from the show in 2016, but the event continues to connect fiber producers with knitters, spinners, and more.

Get a closer look! Click any image to open it in full-screen mode and learn more about the Reicherts’ sheep.

Don and Linda continue to produce prizewinning fleeces year after year from the Corriedales they raise, which are mostly white. As time passed and their family grew, the shepherding gene passed over the Reicherts’ daughters but landed squarely on their grandchildren. Their granddaughter