Pine Needle Farm Cashmeres came about when I acquired 3 dairy goats, and then 4 cashmere goats in 2001. Friday July 13th was the day I brought them home and started this wild and crazy adventure. 13 has always been my lucky number. As I was sitting out on the rock in their new pen, I was thinking to myself, “what have I gotten myself into this time?” Turns out it was the best thing ever, in my opinion. Not so much in my husband’s opinion though. Over the years the herd size has grown to almost 90, shrunk clear down to 11, and now is holding pretty steady at around 30 goats, give or take a few, on a yearly basis. That seems to be the number I can handle easily on a daily basis.
I learned to spin in 2001, had already been crocheting for quite a few years, and then about 4 years ago I learned to weave. I felt like I had “come home” when I started weaving. It is so magical what comes off the loom. Amazing what happens when one threads the heddles in a certain pattern, then pushes on the treadles on the floor loom, or pulls the levers on the table loom, or moves the rigid heddle on the rigid heddle loom up and down. So now I spin the yarn from my cashmere goats, weave it into luxurious scarves, shawls, or crochet it into other items, then share it all with you! You can purchase the handmade items and know exactly where it comes from, an off-grid 20-acre homestead on the side of a mountain in NW Montana. You can also visit and camp out here if you’d like to see the goats and learn all about cashmere. We have two campsites listed on Hipcamp that are available from May through October. Use this place as a base camp to explore the surrounding areas. We are an hour and half from Glacier National Park, and there are also lots of other wonders to explore around this corner of the world.