There's a national award process going on right now called Shine A Light,
intended to "recognize small businesses for persevering in tough
economic times with their concentration on community involvement."
Readers who are so inclined can vote on the finalists
for this award beginning 9/24/09 (the date of this post) and ending on
11/16/09 at 11:59 (I assume p.m.) EST.
The three finalists were selected by Diane Von Furstenberg, JJ Ramberg, and Ellen DeGeneres
(interesting collection of judges!). The finalists are Beacon Paint and
Hardware of NYC, a strongly generous and neighborhood-oriented business
that's been on the same street for 109 years; Sacred Wind
Communications of Albuquerque, NM, which brings telecommunications to
the Navajo nation; and Happy Baby Organic Baby Foods of Brooklyn, NY,
which promotes awareness and use of organic foods for babies.
On the project's site, click the orange "view the nominations"
button to find details on the finalists. Heads-up: Despite the high-profile
sponsorship, the website design leaves something to be desired in
readability and is challenging to navigate. Since the finalists were
posted early this morning, I have unfortunately not been able to locate and directly access information
on all of the other nominated businesses. I think those original pages still exist. The navigation has just become obscure.
Moving on to our primary topic of interest, which I'm going to give its own post in a short while. . . .
Martha's Vineyard Fiber Farm
One of the businesses nominated is Martha's Vineyard Fiber Farm (MVFF), in Massachusetts. Here's the nomination link I picked up for the farm on the award site yesterday. Because MVFF is not one of the three in the last set (although it came close), and also because the whole idea of a competition for community-oriented activities seems odd to me, I'm inclined to transform the original, official "award" process into an unofficial "aware" process and spread the word in ways that will shine a different type of light on this truly exceptional endeavor, which speaks to community in the fiber world in many innovative ways.
More in just a bit, after I finish writing it up.
Note: MVFF has Angora goats (producers of mohair), and Cormo, Cotswold, and Babydoll Southdown sheep. That's a Cormo up there. Based on the image title, I think this is Cosmo the Cormo. Thanks to Susan Gibbs for saying it's okay to use the images in this post and the next one.
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Photo © Martha's Vineyard Fiber Farm. Used by permission.
Ah, you beat me to it. I planned to let you know the contest results. All the shareholders/fans of MVFF are terribly disappointed. See http://www.ravelry.com/groups/mvff-csa-groupies where we all talk to eachother. 635 members now! But seeing Susan Gibbs noted on your blog takes a bit of the sting out. I knew you’d appreciate her endeavors.
I’ll see if I can get my hands on a skein or two of yarn for you – the feel of the kid mohair/cormo blend is amazing as is the all cormo yarn. Soft Soft Soft!
Deb, Thank you so much for sharing MVFF with your readers. I am so impressed with what she is doing I will contact her about purchasing yarn. I love to know where my yarn came from – to know the sheep and know their names and have pictures makes it even more special.
Lindy in AZ
I have more to say about MVFF and Susan Gibbs. She’s obviously a woman with intelligence, nerve, and heart. Need to see if I can get the other post up before I leave in the morning for a working weekend–I have not been able to locate any wifi hotspots within 20 miles of where I’ll be. . . .
Thanks for letting me know! I am thrilled with this concept and the way Susan is carrying it out. Having an idea is one thing. Pulling it off is another entirely. She’s doing it all.
I think our local bison providers (meat and fibre) are looking at that sort of model: this year was very hard for them, as we had minimal moisture in May and June (usually our wettest months) and their haying was non-existent. Sadly, they have had to sell off their Scottish Highland cattle, and a large part of the breeding bison herd.