March 28, 2022

Mesta Meadows Farm hosts Fiber Festival

Fibers, Fun and Food. Ed and Terri Crowley hosted their annual Fiber Festival at Mesta Meadows farms on March 26-27. Guests could pet Highland cows, Pyrenean Mountain dogs, Rambouillet sheep and goats the Crowley's own. Multiple vendors were on site for the fiber event including KISS Looms, Green Dirt Farm, and 1 Up Catering food truck. Visitors could also view sheep shearing demonstrations throughout the day on Saturday to learn about fiber microns of wool.

Ed Crowley, owner of Mesta Meadows, greets Sampson, one of the many Great Pyrenees dogs the Crowley's own that protect their sheep.

A small selection of the yarn sold by Yarn Adventure from inside Katy's yarn truck.

Josh Chenoweth and Eliza Spertus from Green Dirt Farm, from Weston, MO, sold sheep cheese and provided visitors with information on how the cheese they sell is produced.

1 Up, based out of Cape Girardeau, sold food to the guests who attended the fiber festival over the weekend. The owners, Minakata Moresto and Nick Carreras produce a variety of street food at different events around Cape. 

The Crowley's recently sheared Rambouillet sheep rest on the hillside at Mesta Meadows. The Crowley's own around 80 acres outside Marble Hill, Mo where they raise sheep and produce an estimated 300 pounds of wool each year.

Bonnie the sheep and her newborn unnamed lamb are kept inside for safety and warmth at Mesta Meadows. A sheep can produce up to 8-9 pounds of wool per year once they are fully grown. The Crowley's livestock produce a super fine wool charted at 19.5 microns and sell the wool mostly over Etsy, with their farthest customer being in Ireland. 

The Crowley's goats Nikki and Stevie greeted guests who attended Mesta Meadow's Fiber Festival and enjoyed visitor's petting them throughout the day. 

Millie the Highland cow was the star of the fiber event and visitors took pictures with the Scottish breed of cow. Highland cattle are bred to withstand the harsh temperatures of Scotland and are known to have a docile temperament. 

Brooke and Ian Angle, two of the many guests the Crowley's hosted at the Fiber Festival, pet Millie the cow on Sunday.

Terri Crowley skirts, or removes debris, from the wool sheared from sheep from Saturday. A sample from each sheep sheared is sent to Texas to be measured micron levels. A human hair is charted at 60 microns and anything below 22 microns is considered to be super fine.

KISS Looms, for Keep it Simple Silly, was one of the many vendors at the fiber event. The organization is based out of Murphysboro, Il and creates and looms and teaches members of their club how to create different styles of looms.

Katy Turbeville of Yarn Adventure sold yarn and other items out of her store-on-wheels to guests at Mesta Meadow's Fiber Festival over the weekend. Yarn Adventures is based out of Eureka, AR and covers an area of 700 miles outside Eureka.

Receive Daily Headlines FREESign up today!

Fibers, Fun and Food. Ed and Terri Crowley hosted their annual Fiber Festival at Mesta Meadows farms on March 26-27. Guests could pet Highland cows, Pyrenean Mountain dogs, Rambouillet sheep and goats the Crowley's own. Multiple vendors were on site for the fiber event including KISS Looms, Green Dirt Farm, and 1 Up Catering food truck. Visitors could also view sheep shearing demonstrations throughout the day on Saturday to learn about fiber microns of wool.

Story Tags

Local News

Connect with the Southeast Missourian Newsroom:

For corrections to this story or other insights for the editor, click here. To submit a letter to the editor, click here. To learn about the Southeast Missourian’s AI Policy, click here.

Receive Daily Headlines FREESign up today!

Shopping

Links

Submission Forms

Sitemap Terms Privacy