Category: Arizona sheep history

The Beginnings of Sheep Week

At reception desk Friendship Village
Waiting for the Ribbon Cutting

The event began with the winner of the sheep decorating contest. But first all the sheep:

After much discussion by the judges we choose: sheep #2 above. The theme was Arizona and while everyone’s sheep looked great we felt that fit the overall theme. Congratulations Nancy.

Nancy receiving a bottle of “Sheep Thrills” wine from the author. The wine is from Italy!

Thank you to everyone who came out for the event. You didn’t have far to go with it in your community!

I’ll post in the next couple of days more pictures from this event.

Friendship Village – Sheep Week

It has been several months since I last posted here. My sincere apologies but life took a drastic turn for me and I am just getting back to writing. This project which I about to write about has kept me busy and I still dabble researching the sheep industry here and there across the state, but just not as much time to do as before.

But let me tell you about an event that I am really excited to be involved with and one that I hope brings others to appreciate the history of sheep and their contribution to Arizona’s early economy.

A retirement village in Tempe approached me last January to help organize/coordinate activities for a week long event in September about sheep in Arizona. Over the last eight months a community of ladies from the village and I have determined those activities. A variety of activities were discussed and given a “hoofs” up or down.

The kickoff event is September 5th. On this day there will be several events. The first event centers on judging of plywood sheep that members in the community decorated. I have arranged for four ladies whose families were in the sheep business to be judges for the wooden sheep decoration contest. Those judges are Kathy Aleman, Janice Ryan Bryson, Melanie Aja Lanford and Betty Thude. The author, that’s me, will be the tie breaker. The judges:

Kathy married into a sheep family. One of the important facts about this sheep family is Frances Aleman who started the Make It With Wool Contest back in the late 1940’s and is still going on today. More will be written about this in association with the fashion show.

Janice Ryan Bryson’s grandfather and father had sheep at what became known and is still called today, Ryan Ranch near Heber.

Melanie Aja Lanford hails from the Aja-Echeverria sheep families that came very early to Arizona. She still raises a small herd of hairless sheep, St. Croix, for their meat. Her family raised Rambouillet and Suffolk.

Betty Thude can date her sheep family back to the 1940s when her father started his first sheep flock running them both in the area of Williams and the Mogollon Rim area. In fact he purchased the Ryan Ranch! Small world? No, not really as there were not that many sheep owners in the state. It was common practice to buy land or a flock when one sheep owner wanted to leave the business!

Pictures will follow of the sheep after the judging but I’ll tweak your interest with one.

Another event that day is the opening ceremony for the art produced by residents in Friendship Village. I can’t wait to see all the items that have been painted, molded, sculptured or woven/cross stitched or other art forms.

And then to top it off is Happy Hour where there is supposed to be lamb sliders (sliders using lamb meat) and a beer made especially for the occasion. More on this in tomorrow’s blog.

I will be writing about each of the events as they happen. The other events happen the week of September 23rd. I will post more all through the month leading up to that week. This week will be the opening ceremony/judging and basic information. I will post pictures also.

Sheep and Beer

One day after our monthly committee meeting a few of the members trailed me over to graze at the StarFire Restaurant and Rooftop Brewery. We had been herded this way before. On that occasion, I had lamb soup but there was no lamb on the menu that day. But I digress but not much since this is about food!

As we were sitting there waiting for our waitress or maybe our waiter, (clearly not germane to the topic; well …, ok, I digress again) we were greeted by a staff member (he probably had a title which eludes me) who began to tell us about some of his food items being prepared and about the “sheep beer” that would be paired with the dishes. Sort of like two baby lambs tethered together to have the stronger one take care of the weaker one! (I think ewe can guess which is the stronger one!)

It was such an enlightening whimsical conversation with him! And he then sent out this email to those who needed to know for the events. I’ll just let his words tell the rest of the story.

Howdy everyone!

I herd from some of our awesome residents this morning about the up-coming Sheep events in September all across the campus. They shared some more details regarding a StarFire event planned for September 5th, and they are hoping to have some amazing lamb dishes and a beer (or two) that pair well!

Here is a list of some classic lamb dishes with potential beers that can fit the pairing. Let me know if these pairings help shepherd in some creative juices, or if we should further ruminate on the details!

.) Shepherd’s Pie with a toasty/bready English Brown Ale; comforting and classic!

.) Chimichurri lamb sliders with floral/spicy Saison

.) Lamb barbacoa tacos with citrusy bitter IPA

 There is a *BIT* of history with Sheep and beer (well, most technically goats and beer). In German, the word for “billy goat” is Bock, which is also a well-known lager beer style. Bocks come in a couple different styles, ranging from golden and crisp to amber and malty-sweet. 

My goal is to brew a Helles Bock to have available the entire month of September, and then do one more beer for the StarFire event. (That’s a total of two sheep beers, just so nobody feels like they got fleeced)

Let me know if anyone of ewe have ideas!

(And if you are already sick of all my ovine puns, you haven’t seen mutton yet!)

Scott Plachecki

Advanced Cicerone®

More will be reported after the event on Thursday. I’m sure “we haven’t seen mutton yet!”

Until Thursday! And just once in awhile one must have fun with stories!

Last Flag Wool and Fiber 2024

Here are the last of the pictures for the Wool Festival. Thank you all who were participants – vendors, demonstrators, volunteers and the public who came to support this event.

Up first – the many colors of wool in its various stages:

Some of the activities:

Children making whatever creative idea they wanted out of wool felt.
The shoppers!
Very early Saturday morning!

The demonstrations: Up first Navajo Hand Spinning and Carding with Tahnibaa Naataanii

Hope to see you at next Flag Wool and Fiber Festival 2025!

May 1924 Sheep Sightings

News about the Arizona sheep industry was pretty dull during the month of May 1924. The events up to the middle of the month can be summarized as:

One new sheep brand was applied for by Reid Cashion L & C Co, Ashfork.

Several sheep men were fined for grazing sheep on Forest Reserves within the state. Their fine was $25 dollars or $458.40 in today’s dollars.

Sheep had mostly left their winter grazing land, the Salt River Valley, and headed to cooler northern environments. Grasses were reported on the range to be “pretty fair.” Several different sheep men were mentioned – Fermin Echeverria, Howard Sheep Co., Colin Campbell and sons.

An ad appeared suggesting the benefit of raising sheep.

An article on 21 May 1924 in the Arizona Republic gave wool prices for the western wool states.   Prices across the area ranged from as low as $ 0.32 to a high of $ 0.47 per pound or $ 5.87 to $8.62 repsectfully in today’s dollars. The article also said that wool was moving slow. Most of Arizona’s wool had been consigned to the Boston Market and only about half had been paid for. So getting into the sheep business may not have been lucrative at this time.

The biggest problem plaguing the sheep industry was the foot and mouth disease but because of the radical procedure put in place, no reports of it had been found in Arizona. Travel between California and Arizona had been restricted for both livestock and people. The tourist industry was hard hit economically in the state but all considered that a minor inconvenience to what could happen to the livestock and farm products, a major economic component of the state’s economy, if the dreaded disease was found in Arizona.

And that is the sheep news for the majority of May 1924. I will report on the rest of the month soon as I still need to finish my research.

I leave you thinking of a ewe and her lamb born in April:

Flag Wool and Fiber Festival

Just a reminder that this year’s Flag Wool and Fiber Festival will be Saturday and Sunday June 1st and 2nd at the Arizona Historical Society Pioneer Museum 2340 N. Fort Valley Rd., Flagstaff.

Hours for Saturday – 9 am to 5 pm and Sunday – 9 am to 3 pm.

If you have never been to the Festival, there is something for everyone. Check out their website: flagwool.com for information on vendors, demonstrations and lectures, livestock exhibits, workshops, shearing and food.

Hope to see you there. It is always a great time. I volunteer one of the two days, usually Sunday so I can shop on Saturday. So come by the information booth and say “hi” to the Arizona Sheep Historian.

Sheep at the festival 2023! Getting ready to be sheared!