Little Bit Acres Farm

Once again, change takes place.  A new door has opened for me, and I am stepping through that door.  Watch close, life moves on. Patricia

Our Business

I will now have the time to pursue my passions: Spinning yarn,  weaving,  fiber shows and teaching fiber crafts. Also, my husband and I will now be working together to change the direction of the farm to a much more satisfying end.

 Better times are coming!

Who We Are

Inspired by the Southern American Indian culture...sheep, goats, shearing, spinning, dying, weaving. All completed with the simplest of tools.  Beautiful weavings, artwork.  All in a days work.  Simplicity at its best... all accomplished in a harsh, rough environment, the people just trying to survive.

And here we are, my husband and I in our little world of animals and fiber.  A little bit of heaven.  A year after we arrived in Mississippi, we purchased a small place to build our little farm to raise and shear the sheep I had dreamed of owning for years..  We built up a wonderful hand spinning flock of different breeds and types of sheep.  Wonderful sheep with a variety of fibers: short, long, white, colored, long locks, tight crimp, a hand spinners delight.  What an experience. I loved them all.  But in working with the sheep and caring for them, I learned that I am not a shepardess. I wasn't happy with the sheep.  I am a goat girl! Now that was a surprise.  We had milk goats back home and I really loved their independent and sassy ways.  Sheep just didn't have the inquisitive, should I say, nosy attitude that goats have. I really missed that.  After a couple of years dealing with the sheep, we switched to fiber goats.  I am so much happier to be taking care of goats rather than sheep.  I guess we have to experience  some things before we really know our own minds. 

I started with white angora goats and soon learned about the pygora goat.  What a wonderful breed. Three different fiber types: A: long and silky, B: fluffy and light and C: short, soft matt.  I started breeding my angora buck to pygmy does.  I now have two main lines that I have bred.   One line, Type B, colored brown/tan/black, and a line of type A in white.  I no longer have the wonderful buck, Absylon (silky, white locks), who began our type A white line, but his genetics are strong and I can still see his wonderful fiber, personality and characteristics in his line. I brought in a black Navajo type angora buck, Chaco, from Arizona, and he has given us the wonderful type B brown, line.  In fall of 2010, I brought in a registered colored angora buck, brown with tight curls. He was bred to three girls from both lines with great success. 

I have used registered bucks, but my does and resulting kids are not registered.  I breed for fiber, confirmation and health.  Registries are very important, but I would be restricted in my quest for the soft and colorful fiber that I dream of if I delt only with the registered animal.  My animals are friendly and on the small side, this makes them very easy to care for.  They are not bred to be a commercial fiber animal but for wonderfull fiber and great dispositions.  I will have select goats for sale through out the year for hand spinners that would love to own their own fiber and have a great friend.  

The Pygora goat is known for the amount of guard hair in its fiber.  Pygora should be dehaired, preferably by a mechanical dehairer.  This causes at least 50% loss of good fiber, but it can't be helped.  My main goal in breeding these goats is to decrease the amount of hair in both the typa A and the Type B fibers.  I am very pleased with the results so far.

I also have the French Angora Rabbit.  I prefer the French angora for their wonderful guard hair that makes the yarns bloom and adds to the ease of their care.  No cross breeding here!

 Nothing on the farm could be accomplished without my wonderful supporting husband.  He has helped and supported me in my endeavors along the way.  I could not have done any of this without him.