Fibre comes from the living and where there is life there is its opposite – that and Magpie’s.
When a ewe dies the wool produced is gone with that loss of life. It’s a particularly big loss to the shepherd when the fibre produced is unique or highly favoured. The handful of Corriedale ewes that piqued my fibre interest are well aged ewes now. Three of them have died. Annie, Sable and Endeavour are still here, grazing their way through old age. Several of their offspring reside in this flock.
Wool is touted as being a natural, sustainable resource which it most definitely can be, however some awareness is warranted around the oft used S-word. Sustainable is to reach for balance so as to avoid depletion of natural resources (parsed from a dictionary definition). It does not mean a life is never-ending; it does not mean we get to skip over death. Death allows for that very necessary balance to exist in the first place.
There is wool that becomes the fibre of our making because there is an animal who grows it and (hopefully) a shepherd who cares about the resources it took to do so. The animal and the shepherd will not avoid depletion but if we’re thoughtful of our choices we will see the continuation of the nature they contributed to while they were living.
I shared the Felted Flock photo and update on Instagram last Sunday and it resonated deeply with several people. I thought to include it here as the beginning of a longer conversation around death of animals and our perception of death in general. If it stirs you to be part of the conversation, please know your comments are welcome here.