Through Chris at Joybilee Farm and the Fibershed blog I have learned about Fibersheds – or should I say Fibresheds in Canada.
A fabulous idea! Since I moved to Salt Spring Island, I have been thinking about ideas like this – with all the sheep here (and alpacas, llamas, etc.), spinners, weavers, dyers, clothing makers as well as the Gulf Islands Spinning Mill there is a great potential. Add to that everyone within a 150 mile (more or less) radius and there is a lot of products and a lot of talent! The idea of a Fibreshed has brought it all together for me.
The 150 miles would include everything from Salt Spring Island almost to Penticton, Vancouver, Hope, Merritt, the Whistler area, most of Vancouver Island (perhaps all if we extend it north a bit), down to Seattle and Tacoma, the Olympic Peninsula…wow!
Wouldn’t it be great to bring that all together and create a collaborative group to share, learn and produce local products? How about connecting that with the Transition Town movement and Transition Salt Spring? Transition Victoria and others?

Here are those Salt Spring sheep again….

Interested in joining me to explore this idea? I’m going to set up an email list and start putting ideas together. Please contact me with your ideas and let me know if you want to be on the list. Chris (at Joybilee Farm) is also setting up a Fibreshed in the Grand Forks area (southern interior of BC) and surrounds, so you can also contact her here.
Happy Weaving (and spinning, dying, knitting, sewing, shearing, …..)
Terri
My website: www.saorisaltspring.com