HAMILTON, Ohio – At Hill Heritage Farm and ShayDay Fiber Arts, Shay and Jamie Hill have a flock of fiber sheep and alpacas, plus assorted other critters. They raise and shear the sheep and alpacas, carefully process the fiber, and turn it into works of art. And they help others to do that.

“We are a little more than a hobby farm,” Shay said. “It is not a hobby for us. It is a life and a lifestyle. We are Homegrown and Handmade. That is our motto. Even though we are only 8 acres, we are start-to-finish.”

The Heritage part of the farm name comes from their backgrounds. Shay’s family is from Appalachia, Jamie’s from Pennsylvania. They were all farmers and homesteaders.

“We went back to our roots,” Shay said. “Jamie is a carpenter. We can do anything. There is nothing we cannot achieve with our hands and our hearts. That is how I have been raised.”

There is nothing she can’t do, she reiterated, so she learned how to shear the alpacas. They are big animals and it can be challenging but she learned the techniques and special skills. While there are shearers who travel the country visiting big farms, Shay and her son, Jaydin, travel and service small farms.

“My son and I go out all week long during this time of year, when it is time to take the wool off, and we shear them,” Shay said. “So, what do you do with all that fiber? Spinning. I love weaving, and I am a spinner.”

One wall of their barn-converted-to-a-house is lined with spinning wheels. Every year, she teaches a class to Miami University students. It’s a knitting club; they came one year for a field trip and were hooked.

“I am their Fiber Mom, and we have adopted them as they have adopted us,” she explained. “They come once a year for the whole day. They choose their topic, not that we stick to it. This year, they chose spinning, so their main topic was to learn how to dropspin.”

A dropspindle is a tool used for spinning fibers into yarn. Jamie makes them, but with 23 students coming and not enough time, they had to source some from a local company. Once the students mastered dropspindling, no small feat, they moved on to spinning wheels.

Last year the students’ topic was dyeing. Shay uses acid or natural dyes. She has a dye garden, and grows plants that can be used to dye naturally like indigo, several berries, and spinach, which she said dyes beautifully.

Next week, Shay will travel to Lexington to teach a class on washing, sorting and drying the fiber properly, all of which takes skill. She also teaches felting classes.

“I was a nurse, but the love of this and these animals, it is a ‘sheep hole’ I have gone down, and I truly enjoy it,” Shay said. “When you do this, it is easier to go to work.”

All those sheep and alpacas, along with the animals they shear for other farms, created a surplus of fiber. Last year, Jamie found a solution for that.

“We had a lot of waste wool around the farm, and we have always tried to find ways to use it,” Jamie said. “We finally discovered that you can pelletize it. So, we decided to turn one of the barns into a pellet mill. Now we have zero waste.”

The fibers from older animals whose fleece can’t be turned into quality yarns, and any other excess they have, they now pelletize. The pellets can be used as a fertilizer in the garden or for house plants, Jamie said. It is a natural source of nitrogen that breaks down, provides nitrogen, absorbs moisture, and then slowly releases that moisture back into the soil. It also helps to aerate the soil.

“You can put it on top like a mulch and let it soak down through, or you can put it underneath, and the roots will go down to it,” Jamie explained. “It is also a slug repellent, so if you use it as a mulch on top, the slugs won’t crawl over it to get to the plants.”

They market the pellets, Shay’s fiber creations, and other local artists’ products at a shop on their farm, open by appointment. They also host several farm days each year.

“We invite other home-grown people,” Shay said. “It is kind of like a little community, and they can come and share their talent. We try to support each other.

“I do everything I can to avoid box stores,” she said. “I do everything I can to reuse, recycle, shop local, to support my community even when it may cost more. I personally scavenge and look for things that have history, have meaning, and were made for the hands to the heart. That is what we do.”

Not that what they do is cheap, she said. She could shop at box stores; she could feed her animals lower-quality food, but her job as a shepherd is to give them good care. Shay and Jamie admit that people who homestead work harder than people with a 9-to-5 job. Their family has not had a vacation in a long time.

“I really would love a vacation, but it is not worth it to me, because this is the life we have chosen.”

For information, visit hillheritagefarm.com.