As a part-time and unofficial marketing consultant for Full Moon Fiber Art, I am happy to report that Maria sold out of her yarn skeins, dryer balls, and bags of roving. When we went to the Vermont Knitting Mill to pick up the yard made from our sheep’s wool two weeks ago, Maria and I were both surprised and a bit unnerved: It was the most wool we had ever gotten from our sheep and the most significant order she had ever received and paid for from the mill.

We both stood in shock as we looked at the wool in bags all over the floor.

Maria turned a bit pale and wondered out loud if she could sell all that wool, more than we imagined getting or had ever sold. It’s a big deal for Maria. The knitting mills are expensive, and Maria had nearly $2,000 to earn back. She was nervous for an hour or so and then decided to figure out how to sell her wool, which has become increasingly popular recently.

Maria doesn’t make much money from her wool; she is always reluctant to raise prices. She works hard and all of the time.

She rose, not galloped, to the moment. She pulled it off, working long hours every day. She worked her ass off.

The sheep, the wool, and the work are all things she loves and lives for; it is a massive part of our lives that helps us understand what we are doing here while also confronting the realities of the modern world – we work hard every day to pay our bills. That was our choice, and we will stick with it. How fortunate that each of us has a lover and companion who believes in the other. We are constantly working to support each other, not compete or tear the other down.

Selling the wool is not simple. It involves hours of checking texts and e-mails, waiting for payment, packaging the wool well, and contacting the post office repeatedly when things are late and lost, as sometimes happens. Everybody has their wool and dryer balls and skeins—good on you, Maria, and congratulations.

She went to work. She took some videos, and photos and wrote about the wool and took photos and wrote about the sheep. She was going through e-mail and responding to it well into the night. She was hauling sold wool to the post office every day.

We did two videos together. That was about the only help I could provide. She went to work washing and shaping her dryer balls. Two weeks later, the wool is sold, packaged, shipped and recorded. So were the roving and the dryer balls.   She went to the post office too many times to count.

She told me this morning she just realized she had one skein left, a natural one. She was exhausted but also proud and happy. It was adorable to see her success.

My skein of yarn is a testament to our love and life together. We give thanks for this every day.

I picked up the last skein yarn – I would put it up on my blog for sake – and held it to my face. It was soft, beautiful and natural. She said it looked as if I would like to keep the skein. She said I had helped a lot and deserved a reward.

I shook my head at first. I don’t stitch or knit or yarn; what would I do with a beautiful skein like that?

But then it hit me. I was very much impressed by the way Maria handled her surprise at seeing all that wool. No panic or whining – she had a lot of money on the line; she just got creative and determined, and today, all of it is sold or on the way. And I loved the feeling and smell of the skein. I wanted it. She graciously insisted that I take it.

I”m keeping my skein in my office, a testament to Maria’s creativity, courage, and mastery of her work. Every time I look at it, which will be every day, I will think of the creatives in the world, the determined and courageous people who don’t follow the herd and enslave themselves to people who care nothing for them and steal their creativity and distort it.

The wool reminds me of the beautiful life we have built on the farm. Hard work does pay off. Her blog photos and writing are precious to many people. So is her wool.

She is tough, and she is creative, and she is very hard-working. My first ever skein of wool will inspire me to be the same, to create and thank and work hard until  I drop.