Wild about fiber, be it from musk ox, yak or cashmere goat
By Holly S. Anderson
Camden Bureau Chief
UNION, Maine :
When Linda Cortright arrived in Maine 10 years ago, her simple plan
was to raise a small herd of cashmere goats on land in Union.

Ten years later, and with a three-year job at Rockland's Island Institute added to her resume, Cortright has embarked on a career that allows her to share not only her farming experience, but also her stories about yaks, llamas, musk ox and angora rabbits with fiber enthusiasts around the world.

Cortright is the editor and publisher of Wild Fibers magazine. While there is nothing magical about her journey to get to that position, the magazine's page count is only outpaced by its growing readership, both testaments that Wild Fibers is successfully filling a niche in the market.

When she bought her first herd of cashmere goats, Cortright quickly learned that there wasn't a resource to tell her the best way to raise her charges. What should she do when a goat got sick? Where could she sell the goats' fiber? How could she fence them in?

With two ounces of machine-spun grade cashmere fiber selling for $55, Cortright reasoned that the first thing to learn would be where to sell the fiber.

"I thought there was some big secret to being a farmer," Cortright said. "But I learned there are no secrets; you just have to do it."

If Cortright hadn't jumped into farming with both feet and muddled her way through, she probably wouldn't have been doing what she was last week: affectionately scratching the back of the oldest nanny of her herd, Echo, and thinking about the deadline for the next issue of Wild Fibers, looming next week.

Cortright is almost a one-woman show. It's hard to tell where home and office end; a quick look into the guest bathroom reveals that it doubles as Wild Fibers' shipping and receiving headquarters.

There are three computer monitors lit up on the wall-length desk, and when things get really busy, Cortright said, a fourth one is fired up. She designs and lays out the magazine and also writes many of the stories. She works with photographer Don Moore, and also with a host of contributing photographers, editors, copy editors and designers. The magazine lists a subscription manager, but when a phone call from someone seeking a copy of the magazine interrupted last week's interview, Cortright excused herself and jotted down the caller's address, adding assurances that a copy would soon be in the mail.

Cortright's herd of goats has grown from four to 14, while Wild Fibers' circulation is now at 5,000. The magazine's size has also increased since the beginning and is poised to increase another 16 pages in the coming months. A quarterly, the magazine is read in the United States and in Tasmania, Africa, Ireland and beyond.

The magazine is formatted to appeal to people who have an appreciation for wild fibers, bringing information about all the animals together in one resource. Cortright said that while 52 percent of her readers are not fiber farmers, she knows of some that have become shepherds because of the magazine.

Cortright credits her three years spent at the Island Institute in Rockland with shaping her ideas for Wild Fibers. The magazine is a combination of practical how-to and commentary on some of the provocative aspects of wild fiber farming, with smatterings of heartwarming and funny stories in between. Cortright has published seven editions since debuting in January 2004.

"My time at the Island Institute was incredibly pivotal because of their outstanding publication - The Island Journal and because of Peter Ralston's vision and influence," Cortright said. "Being there brought home for me the whole concept of sustainability from the islander's perspective, and it's something that's important for farmers too."

Cortright believes fiber farming is an important and growing agricultural business. Its ability to be low impact and small scale makes this kind of farming appealing to shepherds raising a wide variety of animals.

"The climate is perfect in Maine for goats and alpacas and llamas, and it doesn't take much to become a shepherd," Cortright said. Producing value-added products, she said, such as spun yarn, knit clothing and felt hats is another avenue farmers take to go the next step and have a viable business while remaining small scale.

C

In 2007, the USDA plans to include separate categories on its farm questionnaire for llamas and alpacas in order to begin collecting statistical data. Cashmere goats were first shipped to the United States from Australia in 1988. Alpacas arrived four years earlier, in 1984.

Cortright said Maine is the second largest cashmere producing state in the United States, with Black Locust Farm in Washington and Spring Tide Farm in Bremen the largest Maine producers.

"Ten years ago there were fewer than 10 alpaca farms in Maine and now there are more than 50," she said.

Wild Fibers introduces people to fiber-producing animals they might not know about, such as buffalo, yak and musk ox. Readers learn about the fibers and the animals' characteristics, and also about where to obtain the fiber.

"Not every story is about selling fiber," Cortright said. "The magazine�s mission is to explore and educate the great diversity of fiber farms and artists in the United States and around the world. Fiber farming is incredibly valuable and we need to not only recognize it, but also sustain it."

Reprinted with permission Village Soup Times