A Fiber Life | ordinary moments on the fiber farm

Taking you along with me on our farm, introducing you to our lovely animals, and bringing you into our lives has been nothing but a pleasure. However, just as the seasons change, so do our priorities. While our farm, fiber, and furry friends will continue on, our special podcast is coming to a close. This episode is a look at how Greg and I came to the decision to say 'goodbye', and how...

Let's be real—do you struggle with making decisions? Do you agonize over the next step, spending so much time weighing risks and doing research that you end up stuck and wanting to quit? Since moving to the farm, we've had our fair share of flops—some of them quite funny. We're sharing a few of those stories with you. Plus, we'll talk about the forest thinning project that Greg...

You know how frustrating it can be when you’re exhausted and you finally get to lay your head on the pillow at night and then that thought comes in, “I didn’t get anything done today.”? It’s an awful feeling. And then the next thought is, and “When I wake up, I’m going to have to repeat all those things again.” It’s not very satisfying and it can be totally overwhelming. Well, I’m going to tell yo...

Every couple needs a "we" or a third thing—a focal point that exists not solely within one individual but rather something shared between them. Something cherished mutually, binding them together. There is an article by American poet Donald Hall, that left a lasting impression on me. The article is called “The Third Thing.” In it, Hall and his wife Jane Kenyon, also a poet, moved to a ru...

This season, we've set out to capture and celebrate ordinary moments in our lives on the farm.  Because even the little things like the basics and the mundane are important.  They can be lessons on how to live well and,  in their simplicity or maybe because of it, they can form significant touchstones in our lives. In this episode, I’m going to tell you all about our little frog family.  And...

It turns out that we humans are terrible at estimating the value of the present. There is a study I just read by Harvard researchers. They found that as time goes on, we regret how easily we let moments go.  So, maybe the question, “What’s next?”  doesn’t need to be answered by moving or with a new big adventure or project.  What if we decided to stop underestimating the value of the present in ou...

This is the last episode of season 2. In this episode, I dive into the question, why do I write this podcast? What does reflection of this kind mean to me and others? And when the magic seems dimmed, how can we get it back? I talk to Laura Davis, author, writing teacher and retreat leader about the act of writing and its healing potential especially when it’s shared with others. Greg and I reflect...

Humans are no different than guanacos or sheep or any other animal that finds comfort in the presence of others. We rely on each other for help and support, warmth and protection. But as humans, sometimes it’s difficult to ask for help and support. In this episode, we dive into the question: “Why is it so hard to connect with others and create a sense of community?” I share the beginnings of what...

Sometimes the best things in life are about the process, not the product. Working with your hands vs. working with your mind. In this episode, I sit down with several spinners to understand their motivation and love for the art. In this episode, I’m telling you about how I ditched a product-led, checklist kind of life, and learned to engage more with the everyday process of living. I talk with oth...

We’ve lost 6 animals in the last 3 years on our farm: five guanacos and one goat. Now, as a therapist, I’ve sat with so many dear clients in the grips of death and tragedy and the pain that floods in when we lose loved ones. And I’ve faced my fair share of grief personally. But when my goat Milo died, I was hit like a brick.  You’d think that my familiarity with grief and loss would help me when M...

Have you ever thought about what you’ll leave behind when your time on this planet is up? An amazing accomplishment of mine had me recently experiencing an existential dilemma. Searching for answers about where all of my prized fiber and tools will go when I’m gone, I turned to my daughter Ruth, and good friend Ann. We also try to figure out if you can ever have too many crafting supplies. In the...

Our goats, Daisy & Milo, taught us how to love better. In this episode, I tell you the story of how I found them and share a little bit about their breed (Pygora) and why they are so special. My husband, Greg and I will delight in our love for them. And I will tell you how I intentionally engage with their open-heartedness for my own well-being–especially when dealing with one particularly dif...

Fear is a fickle thing. We all feel it. It's part of the human experience. Yet many of us are also told to "fake it till you make it." Therapist turned Fiber Farmer, Lisa Mitchell lived by this motto for years. But, once she started raising wild animals she realized "faking it 'til you make it" doesn't work with fear. In episode one, of Season Two, Lisa and her h...

What's the story behind the wrench in your junk drawer? It probably has a story. When was it purchased? Who used it first? What problems did it solve? In this episode, host, Lisa Mitchell, shares her thoughts about handmade tools. Greg and Lisa share their favorite handcrafted tools. And Lisa talks with Ed Jenkins, a very popular spindle maker. He tells you the secret of why spinners line up...

In our second season of A Fiber Life, “Homegrown and Handcrafted,” we are going to transport you to a life of making from nature. We are going to introduce you to our baby goats, talk about the tools that we use,  and chat with many of the maker friends we’ve had the privilege of meeting along the way. From spinning guanaco fiber into yarn,  splitting and stacking wood, and growing our own food an...

Pride is a tricky thing for many of us. We’ve been taught to dismiss compliments to keep us from attracting too much attention or getting a big head. We’ve been warned that focussing too much on accomplishments can suck the meaning out of living.  But there are times in life when we do something really great. In this episode, we are going to tell you about what goes into shearing our guanacos. Aft...

Facing death, losing loved ones, it’s a universal experience. But it can challenge you to the core. In the gut wrenching sadness, death can make you question everything about your life and your choices. In this episode, Lisa and Greg’s son, Mitch, joins them as they open up about  two beautiful guanacos that they held in their last hours. They pay respects to those beautiful boys by letting you in...

This episode is about waiting for the birth of our guanacos. It’s my hope that this episode helps you see waiting as a normal part of life, in this case, a whole new life. Because as you may already know, every one of us is waiting for something. Life is filled with waiting. I don’t know anyone who likes to wait. And, everyone copes with waiting differently.  It’s also impossible to end waiting. ...

Breeding animals is like sowing seeds. They are both acts of hope.   And when you perform acts of hope, you are not only doing something for your future, but you are enriching your present. This episode is a love story within a love story.  Lisa and Greg will explain how and why they established a breeding program at their farm. You’ll learn great gossipy tidbits about guanaco seduction and hear f...

Trust builds connection, and over time, connection builds bonds. So, how you show up–every day, over time, matters. It’s a practice. It doesn’t happen because you just want it to, it happens because you are consistent and trustworthy. My friend Shelley, who is a wonderful therapist, boils it down to this. She says, “You can either nurture a relationship or chip a relationship. There’s no in-betwee...

As it turns out the key to being a successful farmer is having a crap management plan. (Yes, this episode is about poop.) Learning about “waste management” taught us about the importance of managing all the crap in our lives. The more pressure we put on ourselves to get better and be better, the more striving we do, the longer our to-do lists become, and all the things we have to manage start to a...

If you are going to change your life, you are going to encounter obstacles. And some of those obstacles might even be dangerous. Welcome to A Fiber Life.  In episode two,  Lisa and Greg get real about the darker parts of their journey. The parts that should have made them quit. From shoveling loads of hard-packed poop, the death of their mentor, difficulties with the guanacos themselves that left...

There are these moments in life, let’s call them ‘YES moments’. They happen when we stumble across a really good thing and say ‘YES’. Welcome to A Fiber Life. In episode one, owners of Aliento Luxury Fiber Farm, Lisa and Greg, share the story about how they quit their busy, successful and stressful jobs, moved to an island, and started their lives over as fiber farmers. They share how they began r...

In 2018 we did a crazy thing…..we quit our stressful-suburban lives and bought a farm on an island in the Pacific NorthWest. Then, we bought a small herd of exotic animals called Guanacos. Now we raise them for their special fiber. If you have ever had the impulse to change everything about your life and do something completely different or if you are a fiber artist or an animal lover who wants to...