reader letters: A Plea
A plea from an Australian wool farmer thank you Caity for sending in this letter.
Dear Kath and all at Whip Up,
I know this is not the sort of thing you normally promote on your wonderful, informative site, but there are so many crafters out there who use wool, I’m hoping you’ll consider this brilliant link.
The Kiely family, of New South Wales, grow super fine merino sheep – for fleece, not meat. And they’re doing it really tough in the worst drought in a thousand years. So they’ve hit on a brilliant idea – you can adopt one of their sheep for AU$35 (about US$27), which will keep them hand fed for the next 100 days (hopefully long enough for drought breaking rains to fall). You get to name your sheep and can even send emails to be read to the flock!
We crafters use a lot of wool – I use wool batts for all my quilts, and I know there are knitters galore out there – this is our little chance to give some hope back to a struggling industry. I really hope you will consider this link. I have no affiliations (except for being an ex-farm girl myself) and I reckon these are good people with a sustainable philosophy, which ties into what we’re all trying to achieve with our craft.
Thanks,
Caity
and Denise from knitchat writes in with this link to knitters build a house, a charity she has set up to get a house built for the Earl family, victims of Katrina, before the FEMA trailer they have called home is taken, leaving them homeless.
December 13th, 2006 at 7:14 am
oh I hope this isn’t a con, I couldn’t resist and got an old whether for my Dad for Christmas, he will think it is a hoot! I wish them all the best. Thanks for posting.
December 13th, 2006 at 12:40 pm
I have forwarded this along to my local spinning and knitting clubs and I hope that others might do the same.
It would be great if other clubs the world over would support this family. As we get so much joy from Merino fleece. It only seems right to give back to the poor little mites who live to grow wool for us to play with. For clubs it would only take a couple of dollars per person.
A suggestion…send around the hat at the Christmas party…
P.S. I have no affiliation and cannot vouch for this project in anyway but generally believe in the goodness of people (and sheep!).
December 13th, 2006 at 3:27 pm
I doubt its a scam. it was reported in two of Australia’s respected newspapers.
http://www.news.com.au/dailytelegraph/story/0,22049,20877084-5006009,00.html
http://www.smh.com.au/news/technology/wool-you-adopt-me/2006/12/07/1165081066290.html
December 13th, 2006 at 6:55 pm
Does anyone know if the people asking for money practice mulesing? I would hate to send money in good faith and then find out they practice this barbarity. I think mulesing is illegal in NZ, but couldn’t find any information when I googled.
December 14th, 2006 at 7:38 am
Jude, I was wondering the same. so I read deep into the blog and they state that they run a humane farm. Also, they practice pasture management that allows for diverse grasses et al, as well as wallabies and kangaroos. This is impressive to me.
It looks like there may be more farmers taking up this idea, and rightly so, but one will have to look into whether or not other farmers who are offering the same kinds of programs are practicing mulesing.
My husband says to me, “you aren’t going to adopt a sheep, are you?” with a smile on his face. We already have 12 sheep here at home!
December 15th, 2006 at 1:33 am
I really liked the idea of this, too. Regarding Mulesing, if you read all the way to the bottom of the blog he does have Mulesing done. He said he can’t be there when it is done. From what I’ve read online, Mulesing is being phased out and may be illegal by 2010 (this is from wikipedia). It is currently illegal in Britain.
December 15th, 2006 at 12:58 pm
I can’t believe that I found this posted here – as I check this site every so often. I went this farm last weekend as I met them through friends. What a small world. I’ve got pictures on my blog!! http://get-popped.blogspot.com
December 18th, 2006 at 5:12 am
I hate to put a damper on this, but even though this family raises sheep primarily for wool, they do eventually go to slaughter. Sheep farmers can’t afford to keep thousands of sheep until they die of old age!
The family does come off as nice, but they are running a business…not a rescue. There’s a huge difference.
I’m sure no one wants to see these sheep suffer but these donations are not “saving” these animals. Instead the money is going towards prolonging their lives so they can be bred to produce even more sheep who will be used for human purposes and then be killed when no longer useful.
I truly don’t mean to be argumentative, but I just wanted to put the other side of the story out there.