Hunt Country Yarns

06/13/2026

It is with great sadness that we share the passing of Mary Streaker, one of the founders of the Maryland Sheep & Wool Festival. Mary passed away yesterday, just two months shy of her 95th birthday.
Mary's influence on our Festival, the Howard County Fairgrounds, and countless individuals cannot be overstated. She was a teacher, mentor, artist, leader, volunteer, and friend whose passion for education, creativity, and community helped shape the Festival we know today.
Many of us were fortunate to know Mary personally. Even in recent years, she continued to attend Festival meetings when she was able, reconnecting with the volunteers and friends who had worked alongside her for decades. Her wisdom, enthusiasm, and deep commitment to preserving and celebrating the fiber arts inspired generations of volunteers, exhibitors, artists, and fairgoers.
Mary's legacy lives on through the Home Arts Department, the Fine Arts and Photo Competitions, and the many traditions she helped establish and nurture. The Maryland Sheep & Wool Festival exists today in part because of the vision, dedication, and countless hours of service that Mary and her fellow founders invested so many years ago.
On behalf of the Maryland Sheep & Wool Festival community, we extend our heartfelt condolences to Mary's family, friends, students, and all who were touched by her remarkable life. We are grateful for her contributions, her friendship, and the enduring example she set for all of us.
Mary will be deeply missed and fondly remembered.
Visitation will be held at Haight Funeral Home, Sykesville, Maryland, on June 17 from 2:00–4:00 p.m. and 6:00–8:00 p.m. Funeral services will be held on June 18 at 10:00 a.m., followed by a Celebration of Life luncheon at 12:30 p.m. in the Howard County Fairgrounds Dining Hall.

06/11/2026

🧶🧶🧶

06/11/2026

https://airmail.news/issues/2026-5-9/anni-albers

Drawing from decades of conversations and archival research, Nicholas Fox Weber’s new biography restores Albers to her rightful place as one of the most influential innovators in modern textile art.

06/02/2026

06/01/2026

https://m.facebook.com/story.php?story_fbid=1437930318362466&id=100064365352440

05/28/2026

Deploying a 400-pound, long-necked camelid from the Andes to protect domestic sheep might sound like a bizarre farming experiment, but North American ranchers discovered it is one of the most effective non-lethal weapons against coyotes.

The strategy relies on a highly specific quirk of psychology:

For a guard llama to work, it has to be completely lonely.

If a rancher puts two or more llamas into a pasture, they will naturally form their own clique, ignoring the sheep entirely. But when a single, gelded male or female llama is introduced to a flock, its powerful herd instinct forces it to adapt. Seeing no other options, the llama adopts the sheep as its new family. Within just a week of introduction, a lone llama begins patrolling the perimeter, keeping a constant eye on the horizon.

This partnership is highly effective because llamas possess an innate, deep-seated hatred for canids. Biologists believe this is an evolutionary holdover from their ancestors defending against wild dogs in South America. When a coyote approaches a pasture, a llama does not flee like a sheep. Instead, it sounds a bizarre alarm call that ranchers describe as sounding like a rusty metal hinge, alerting the entire flock.

If the coyote keeps coming, the llama charges. They use their height and weight to posture aggressively, placing themselves directly between the predator and the sheep, and they are fully capable of chasing, spitting, striking, and stomping a coyote to death.

The data backs up the strategy. Landmark studies by Iowa State University wildlife biologists found that introducing a guard llama dropped average sheep losses from twenty-six animals per year down to just eight. More than half of the surveyed ranchers reported that their predator losses dropped to zero percent once the llama took over the watch.

Llamas offer distinct advantages over traditional livestock guardian dogs. They eat the exact same grass and hay as the sheep, eliminating the need for separate, specialized feeding. They also easily live for fifteen to twenty years, do not bark constantly, and will not dig under fences or wander away from the property.

There are practical limitations to this security system. A single llama is generally most effective in flat, open fenced pastures under 300 acres where it can maintain a clear line of sight. In dense brush or steep terrain, sheep tend to scatter, allowing coyotes to slip past undetected. Furthermore, while a llama can easily handle a single coyote or feral dog, a large pack can overwhelm them, and they are generally powerless against larger North American apex predators like black bears or mountain lions.

For the average pasture operation dealing with local coyotes, the system is a massive success. It provides an economical, non-lethal solution that keeps wildlife biologists and livestock producers equally satisfied, proving that one isolated llama can transform an entire flock of defenseless prey into an intensely guarded fortress.

Source: Franklin, W. L., & Powell, K. J. (1994). Guard Llamas: A Part of Integrated Sheep Protection. Iowa State University Extension

05/02/2026

04/27/2026

Saturday 5/2/26 please come join TahNibaa Naataanii, a Navajo weaver from New Mexico representing the Many Hogan and Coyote Pass Clans. She will share her inspirations as a fiber artist and why she continues this way of life as a weaver, spinner, and Navajo Churro rancher. Don't miss TahNibaa's lecture at 1:30 in the 4-H Building. Doors open at 1:00. Tickets are $5 cash, payable at the door on a first-come, first-served basis.
The is one week away!