Graze Yarn - An Interview with Jenya Schneider of Cuyama Lamb

We’re releasing a new yarn named Graze! Listen to an interview with Jenya Schneider, the co-owner and operator of Cuyama Lamb. She and her team raised the sheep whose wool is used to make Graze. Located in Santa Barbara, California, her sheep’s role is to graze along the hillside to help with wildfire mitigation - an effort we are very happy to support.

SHOW NOTES

Cuyama Lamb is a six member team including Jenya, Jack, Anthony, Cristian, Alex, and Dani. They currently have a 1000 head of sheep, 3 herding dogs Willie, Rocco, and Tres, and 5 guardian dogs Lucy, Yoreh, Bruno, Aya and Lutu. Follow Cuyama Lamb on Instagram to learn more about their daily activities.

Emily Tzeng of Local Color Farm and Fiber Studio is the person who contacted us to be part of this collaboration. She has a wonderful farm.

We asked Jenya for a few recommendations…

For literature that has shaped her current ecological and agricultural thinking:+ Tending the Wild by M. Kat Anderson–integral in decolonizing my perceptions of "conservation" and ecological stewardship+ The Unlikely Peace at Cuchumaquic by Martín Prechtel+ A Growing Culture - a website which publishes essays about food sovereignty.

Places / programs about how people can learn to care for animals:

+ Quivira Coalition – find an apprenticeship with a holistic livestock operation aligned with your interests+ New Cowgirl Camp – hosted by Beth Robinette and Alex Machado. An excellent entry point for aspiring cowgirls and gender nonconforming cow-wranglers (and sheep and goat herders too).+ Aldersprings Ranch – summer apprenticeships working cattle on horseback

The name of the family she works with in Ventura:“We are working in collaboration with Porfirio Gutierrez, and incredible Zapotec weaver based in Ventura. His website is https://porfiriogutierrez.com/ and IG handle is @porfirio_gutierrez_studio. He is working with our wool (the same yarn that you are working with) to make blankets and ponchos. His work is rooted in his family and culture's textile traditions while also utilizing novel techniques to explore ideas of migration, indigeneity, and so much more.”

We hope you will knit with Graze! Thank you so much for following along. 

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Transcript available on our blog.

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