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In the meantime: national sheep breeds.
While I don't finish the marathon that this small study about the wool from portuguese sheep breeds as turned into, here's a little video on the subject.
The first experiments
Although I'm buried in work and do not have the time to write all the posts I need to write, I had to come here and share Guida Fonseca's first experiments with some of the wools she discovered through our ongoing small Portuguese Wools study, in her own work.
Being Merino in Portugal
The merino confusion began with our work on portuguese wools, when terms we had been using for some time got mixed up with new terms we were learning. Merino, Merino Alentejano, Merina Branca, Merina Preta, Merina da Beira Baixa, merino extra, merino fino, merino médio e merino forte. What do they mean, and how do they relate to each other?
Portuguese Wool national classification system
One thing that is good to know, is the classification system that is being used in our country. These two tables aren't the easiest thing to find (this book is from 1947), but I was lucky enough to find it in a bookshop right here in Porto, at the moment I started looking for it.
Portuguese Wool - the locks
In the meantime, the processing and analysis of the portuguese wools keep going, down in Viana do Alentejo, in Guida's and Isabel's hands. Here, I'll share some images of the work in progress that I'm following from a distance
Fleeces and more fleeces of portuguese wool
We started by opening all the packages that had been arriving for the last weeks, to analyse and separate all the wools. From the Trás-os-Montes Churras to the Algarve Churra, from the several merinos, the Saloias and Bordaleiras, it was a real pleasure to get to see and touch all these wools for the first time.
Portuguese wool from north to south
These are only a few of the packages that have been arriving to Serralves, from all over the country, filled with raw wool from all our sheep breeds. Since late April that we have been working hard at making the necessary contacts to be able to have all this material gathered, and start what, along with the development of the three textile fiber cycles, I also proposed to do this year for the Saber Fazer em Serralves program: a little book dedicated to analyzing and comparing all the wools produced by our local sheep breeds.