THE GOAT FARM

When I first got into sheep I had no idea what to do with the wool when the shearer came out and left me with piles upon piles of fleece. I knew I could send the wool out to to be processed and spun into yarn, but I wanted to see what else I could do with the wool not wanting it to go to waste. That’s when I found out that wool can be used in your garden.

Using wool in your garden has so many benefits. If you’re like me and absolutely hate weeding, wool can be a great way to combat that. Wool creates a physical barrier that smothers the weeds. It keeps sunlight from reaching the soil, inhibiting the weeds ability to germinate. Another benefit of applying wool in a garden is that it breaks down slower than wood chips. Wood chips are great because they also create that physical barrier to inhibit weed growth but they break down somewhat quickly whereas wool doesn’t.

Wool keeps moisture in the soil. This is especially useful for July/August when we often have droughts here. Using wool can keep you from having to water your garden as often. Moisture stays in the soil where the plants can utilize it and it doesn’t evaporate nearly as fast when there is a barrier of wool.

There are many nutrients that are essential for plants to thrive. Nitrogen is one of them and wool is a great source of slow release Nitrogen for your plants. As the wool slowly breaks down it will continuously release Nitrogen into the soil.

Spinning wool into yarn is one of the most common applications of wool, but wool is also commonly used for felting. There are 2 types of felting, wet felting and needle felting. Wet felting is when wool is dipped into hot water, agitated and then dipped into cold water to get the scales on the wool fibers to mat together. Wet felting is used to create many things including rugs, tents and clothing and this process has been used for hundreds of years. The other type of felting, needle felting or dry felting is when you use a barbed needle to agitate the wool into matting together. This is commonly used to create mittens, hat and home decor items.

Regardless of what you do with your wool, there are many options to choose from than yarn. If you’d like to get your hands on some wool for your garden, check out our farm stand or email thegoatfarmnh@gmail.com!