Lynda Drury

Vancouver Island Fibreshed has been quiet but is not defunct. We lost one of the main people due to burnout and I am rallying a new crew to get more people onboard. Stay tuned!

Raven, I find your posts so useful and have copied much of the information to add to the report on Vancouver Island fleece.

The core spun wool is a wonderful product that could be a really hot item with crafters, slipper makers, dryer ball industry, decor designers and other manufacturers.

We have just opened discussions with brands looking for natural and ethically produced fibres. The first discussion was enlightening as well as being another chicken and egg story. Brands don't know what fleece farmers are producing, so they don't think about investing. Farmers don't upgrade fleece quality as there is no perceived market. I really agree with Pieter the shearer, the perceptions are getting in the way. However, it is a lot to ask farmers to invest more unless there is a market. If farmers know that there is a market, that will give them the green light to produce more fleece. Then they will want to understand more about quality production. That is what we are hoping to do, connect some of those dots. All of this information is leading to ideas, the people who want to see change and lots of possibilities.

Are you ok with me copying your photos to post on VI Fibreshed to show people the core spun wool? I will totally understand if you prefer not. Thanks for all your amazing work on this.

Yes, Vancouver Island Fibreshed website is up and running. We went live yesterday to get the approval from Investment Agriculture Foundation and so that we could test the links. But it appears word is out so please forgive us if there are missing bits and links that don't work yet. I hope that you will enjoy the site and contribute to it. We need your input.

Just posted your campaign on Vancouver Island Fibreshed's page. I hope that drives some support your way. I am assuming you know about the small batch linen processors that Tap Root Fibre Lab are producing. It would be so good to get one here within the fibreshed. There may be money for that. Love to connect with you when you are not crazy busy with your campaign. info@vancouverislandfibreshed.ca Oh and our website will be live within a week! We can help to promote your book there too. All the best with your campaign. Lynda

Very happy to find this thread and to let you know that Vancouver Island Fibreshed is taking shape with over 70 members, funds from Investment Agriculture foundation and additional funds for the Go Fund Me campaign. Now we are in the process of getting a simple website up so that we are more accessible. We are also producing a newsletter to keep people informed. We are involved in outreach and talking with sheep, alpaca and llama farmers to find out from them what is needed to improve fleece quality. We are also focusing on the end user, to establish more market connections and how to best link the farmers with the end users. This is a huge project and we are welcoming those who can provide links to farmers, makers and end users to contact us. We are so glad to be affiliates of Fibershed and therefore participating in their presentations and learning from the masters on how to do this effectively.

I see some of you have concerns about our integrity. Amy Crook and myself, Lynda Drury are both professionals who are also fibre worshipers. We were invited to put forward a proposal and were vetted and granted the funds. We are completely transparent. We have as our non profit partner, the Comox Valley Women's Institute, an age old farming icon. We used the face book page because it provided us with a free place to get started. Stay posted on our face book page. We have a domain name and next month will have a some content on the website. But please realize that this is a vast project with many aspects and give us time to create a solid foundation and build with the communities who are interested in creating a fibreshed.