Amanda and I met Eugene at the Union Square Greenmarket in NYC. He's dedicated to his sheep and yarn. Here are a few excerpts from Baa, his Catskill Merino Newsletter, Vol. 2 No. 35.

"The wool grown by Catskill Merino sheep is the finest Saxon Merino wool in the Northeast, if not North America...In 1991 I went to New South Wales and Victoria and brought back to New York five world class Saxon rams to breed to my coarser wooled American Merino ewes. After nine generations of Saxons born here, you can experience the history of their pure breeding in the softness and delicate handle of the wool as you run the yarn through your fingers."

The skinny on the sheep.

"The sheep are pasture-raised from April through October, when not on pasture they are fed hay and whole grains, never low-cost composite--and possibly contaminated--pelleted feeds made from food industry byproducts...My rams were quarantined in Honolulu and certified disease-free by USDA vets; my ewes come from a desert flock in Nevada, where natural selection over 150 years produced healthy and hardy sheep that are not dependent on pharmaceuticals....In 1991 my flock was closed: no new sheep have entered the property since, meaning the sheep have not been exposed to new, contagious, disease vectors."

The dyeing of the wool gets equal attention by Eugene resulting in a yarn that I could not resist purchasing.

Included are a couple of photos of Eugene and the yarn. I wish that I had been able to photograph the sheep as well. Alas.

Happy knitting.