A January Hello from Thistle & Stone Farm

Happy New Year to you. I hope your January is arriving gently with a little quiet and a little light. I've always loved this part of the year - when things feel slower, more honest, and full of small, good intentions rather than loud resolutions.

This year, my plans are simple: keep making real things, keep tending what's growing, and keep letting this small, meaningful work take its own steady shape.

Sheep update from the Fields.

Ollie on his lead

We are eagerly waiting to see if Sparkles and Opal will lamb this spring - fingers crossed and hearts hopeful.

Ollie and George are fully settled in with three Harlequin girls, though they are still very much my little bottle-baby boys. They come running when I arrive, tails wagging, convinced I've brought something wonderful. George is doing really well on his lead and learning to walk with me, which feels like a small but meaningful milestone.

Introducing Quiet Lemon

Quiet Lemon is a new loaf for January, and it's quickly become one of my favorites. It's soft, not sweet, made with olive oil and just enough lemon to feel like winter light through a window. Gentle, bright and comforting - perfect with tea, good butter, or a quiet afternoon alongside a bowl of soup. Order through my website or you can always contact me directly.

An Art Update From the Studio

I've been experimenting with a new series of fiber landscapes made from wool of my own sheep. There's something deeply meaningful about turning their wool into landscapes - letting the land, the animals, and the work speak to each other.

This piece is quiet and wintry and luminous in its own soft way, and it's reminded me how much I love exploring light, color and place.

At the same time, I've found myself picking up the paintbrush again, inspired by a mentoring opportunity and by the simple truth that nothing gives me more joy than inviting someone else into the act of creating. New paintings to be arriving soon!

A Wool Woman Update

Just when I thought the book was finished - with a final draft date of December 18 - I realized something important: the story isn't quite done yet.

There is a feeling about arriving that still needs to be written about. Thought about. Lived with a little longer. The ending wants more truth, more spaciousness, more honestly than I first gave it.

And yet, the editing process has begun. I'm now in that deep, slow stage of shaping, refining, listening to what the book itself is asking to become. It feels less like finishing something and more like walking the last stretch of a path with more attention.

When A Story Becomes Visible

Over the past month, I've been working on shaping the visual world of The Wool Woman - not just as a book, but as a lived, breathing story. That work has been beautifully captured through a photoshoot with Heidi Lewis of Heidi Lewis Photography, whose images you'll now start seeing woven throughout my website.

Heidi didn't just take pictures - she saw the story. She understood the quiet, the strength, the land, the making and the layers of becoming. Together, we created images that aren't about posing, but about presence - a woman, a landscape, a life and the work of hands.

As these photographs are added to the site, you'll see the world of the Wool Woman becoming more visible - more tangible - and more itself. I'm deeply grateful for Heidi's eye and her ability to translate story into image. For a closer look into Heidi's work please visit her website: www.heidilewisphotography.com

As always, thank you for being here and for following along with this slow, thoughtful, handmade life. Wishing you a gentle January.

With warmth,

Julie

Thistle and Stone Farm

www.thistleandstonefarm.com