Derrick Spangler was shearing sheep at Tuckahoe Plantation Sunday afternoon.

Eighty of them.

He took a break after the first 29. Just 51 more to go.

“It’s like the equivalent of running three marathons,” said Spangler, who makes his living traveling all over the U.S. shearing sheep, llamas and alpacas.

The occasion was the (for most of them) twice yearly shearing of the flock of Simply Abundant Farm, owned by Emily Lenschow.

Lenschow said she has about 125 sheep and most of them are at Tuckahoe Plantation, with the remainder at her farm in Henrico County.

The farm also raises and sells pasture raised lamb, rabbits and poultry and eggs.

Wool, white and natural colored Cotswold, Border Leicester, Bluefaced Leicester and Cheviot from the shearing was available for sale, and spinning demonstrations showed how it is made into yarn.

Lenschow, 26, who grew up in Maryland, said she has had sheep since 1996. She won the Shepherd Lead’s award at the Maryland State Fair in 2002 in which she modeled an outfit made with wool from one of her sheep.

Her mom Mary Lenschow manned the station leading into the sheep shearing demonstration area, collecting the $5 fee. Mary, a former HR professional, said she moved from Maryland down to Henrico to be near her daughter and now teaches school in Varina.

She said that her daughter Emily, in addition to running the farm, is a recent graduate of University of Richmond Law School and has passed the bar examination.

Saturday a carnival-like atmosphere prevailed at Tuckahoe, as visitors watched the sheep being sheared, and sampled lamb chili and hand-pressed apple cider.

Border Collie “Case” helped Emily herd the sheep, dashing rapidly about at her command to herd the sheep in the desired direction.

Guided tours of Tuckahoe Plantation were another attraction.

It was the first time Simply Abundant Farm had opened its shearing day to the public, said Lenschow.

Photo by Ken Odor
Wool from the shearing process piles up Sunday at Tuckahoe Plantation.