In rural Upper Canada, livestock such as sheep were important for many families. Sheep were relatively easy to care for, grazing in pastures in the summer and hay in the winter. Sheep were beneficial in many ways. There wool could be used to create clothing and textiles, sheep not needed for herd development could be sold or used as meat, and the manure was vital in maintaining soil for crops. Sheep were also used by farmers in an informal barter economy, being exchanged and used for credit, or sold.

In the mid-1860s people in Upper Canada were sheering their sheep by hand in early spring. The wool was then processed manually or taken to be processed in a woollen mill, both are methods that can be seen at Upper Canada Village by visiting Asselstine Mill and McDiarmid House.

Schedule of Events:

How does wool go from keeping a sheep warm to making wool sweaters? Drop in at the Main Barn on Loucks Farm to see and learn about sheep shearing as the farm staff shear the Village flock by hand. Then, visit the McDiarmid Home and Asselstine’s water-powered Woollen Factory to learn more about the washing of fleece, carding, spinning and weaving by hand and using the latest 1860s machinery.

Friday-Saturday 10:00am- 3:00pm (Loucks Barn)

• Sheep Shearing: Watch how sheep are sheered by hand

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Friday-Saturday 10:30am- 3:30pm (Robertson House Yard)

• Mohawk Handwork: Regalia, Featherwork, and Beadwork, etc.

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Friday All Day (Loucks Barn Yard)

• Great Wheel Demonstration and Display on Horton Row. Also known as a walking wheel, spinners are required to walk while using this wheel.

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Friday-Saturday All Day (McDiarmid House & Woollen Mill)

• Weaving, Spinning: Watch how wool was spun and woven by hand at McDiarmid House compared to the factory setting of the Woollen Mill.

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Saturday Only 11:00am, 1:00pm, 3:00pm (McDiarmid House)

• Waulking Demonstration: Watch the Twistle Guild of Glengarry as they finish fulling woollen cloth in a centuries old tradition, using Gaelic folksongs to set the pace.

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