There is a moment every year when the calendar of our farm stops following the months and starts following the flock. It happened again at the end of May, when we sheared the sheep: the day that closes one cycle and immediately opens another, one that will see the wool collected in the fields become the garments you wear over the next few months.
Those who have never experienced a farm up close often imagine shearing as a quick, almost mechanical act.
In our reality, it is quite the opposite: it is teamwork that requires skilled hands, patience, and respect for every single animal.
Our sheep are sheared once a year, in late spring, when the heat begins to make itself felt and their heavy fleece risks becoming more of a burden than protection.
Shearing them at the right time means, first and foremost, taking care of their well-being: an animal relieved of the weight of its winter wool faces the summer more healthily, breathes better, and moves more freely through the pastures.
But shearing is only the beginning of the summer work, certainly not the end.
From the end of May onward, our family's attention shifted to the daily management of the flock during the hottest months of the year.
The sheep are moved to cooler pastures during the central hours of the day, when the sun is strongest, and brought back into the shade or shelters as soon as the temperature requires it.
Fresh, constantly available water becomes an absolute priority: we check the water troughs several times a day, because a dehydrated animal is a stressed animal, and prolonged stress can also be seen in the quality of the fiber it will produce the following year.
Then there is the less talked-about but fundamental matter of summer veterinary care: checks on the freshly shorn skin, which is more exposed and delicate during the first few weeks; parasite prevention, since summer provides ideal conditions for them to proliferate; and attention to the animals' nails and hooves as they move through the more rugged pastures of Central Italy, where we raise our flock.
These are actions repeated every day, almost invisible to those looking in from the outside, but for us they represent the most authentic part of our work: caring for the animals even before thinking about the yarn we will obtain from them.
And this is precisely where the circle of our short supply chain is completed.
The fleece collected at the end of May is not "just" wool to sell: it is the first, true step in traceability, something we care about more than anything else.
After carefully selecting the finest fibers, we sent the first samples to Italian laboratories specializing in washing, carding, and spinning, the same artisanal processes that have transformed raw fleece into yarn ready to be knitted for centuries. These weeks, we are eagerly awaiting the results: the fineness of the fiber, its yield after washing, and the quality of the yarn that will emerge from this first experimental batch.
We are experiencing this wait with the same care with which we followed the flock throughout the summer, because for us at Lanaioli, a short supply chain is not a communications slogan: it is a daily choice made up of concrete actions, checks, and decisions taken while looking into the eyes of the animals we raise, rather than simply reading a certificate.
We want anyone who chooses one of our garments to know where it truly comes from: a family farm in Central Italy, a flock in which we know every single animal, and work that places animal welfare before production yield.
In the coming months, we will tell you what emerged from these first samples: whether the yarn produced will have the characteristics we hope for, and how the journey toward creating the next short-supply-chain wool garments will continue. For now, summer on the farm continues this way: with shade and fresh water for the flock, daily checks, and the far-from-passive anticipation of seeing the first ball of yarn emerge from this story.
Keep following us: the road from the countryside to the ball of yarn is long, but it is precisely this length, made up of time and care, that makes the difference between just any yarn and our short-supply-chain merino wool.
