mama farm wool
2024
Ponchos by
ISABELLA
Since I was a little girl, I have loved animals. When I became old I realized my dream and started a farm. At 60 years old, after a career as a model and actress, I went back to University and took a Master degree on Ethology (Animal Behavior) and Conservation. At University, I discovered that many breeds of farm animals are endangered because industrialization tends to lead to monoculture. Therefore, at Mama Farm we only have rare, endangered breeds of farm animals to promote biodiversity.
All small artisanal farms like Mama Farm are wonderful, but financially it is hard to sustain them. I have established the Mama Farm Foundation to open up channels of support for the farm’s financial sustainability for the long term. I am not going to be around forever and so I am planning for the future. I based these ponchos on an antique one that I bought many years ago in Peru. My ponchos are made with wool from our endangered sheep at Mama Farm. These ponchos are the first fundraiser for the Mama Farm Foundation. The money made from these ponchos will support Mama Farm’s operations and mission.
Thank you to the following people who helped to shear and process the wool to create the raw materials to make the ponchos:
1.Shearer, Tabbdthia Houbold, @longislandyarnandfarm
2.Processing wool into yarn, Mary Jeanne Packer, Battenkill Fibers
3.Weavers, Isa Rodriques & Emma Redmond 505textiles.com
4.Assembled and sewn by Isabella Rossellini
Thank you also to the following organizations and people:
Mama Farm’s mission to promote conservation and biodiversity extends to our herd of sheep, all of which are heritage (endangered) breeds. Our sheep are the foundation for our educational programming about wool creation from sheep-to-spool, which is available to the public, students and fashion universities. We also offer knitting workshops and create our own wool collections. This page contains information about all of our wool projects and offerings starting with the most recent. This page is updated annually. You can also find out more about our knitting classes and workshops by following us on Instagram @mamafarm
This Peruvian antique poncho inspired the design for Isabella’s poncho collection
Presenting Isabella’s Poncho Collection
“Kahlo” Photo by Caroline Owens
KAHLO PONCHO
This poncho is made with the wool from Kahlo. I named her after Frida Kahlo, one of my favorite painters. She is a Lincoln Longwool Sheep. Her breed is listed as Threatened by the The Livestock Conservancy and their future is uncertain. The red satin border that decorated this poncho is from a vintage Christian LaCroix shawl from my modeling days. $1500
Isabella in the Kahlo Poncho
Isabella in Duse/Bees Poncho
DUSE/BEES PONCHO
This poncho is made with the wool from Duse. I named this sheep after Eleonora Duse, the actress who with Sarah Bernhard commanded the stages all over the world in the beginning of the 20th century. My grandmother talked to me about Duse. She preferred her naturalistic style of acting over Bernhard theatricality. The sheep Duse is a Jacob breed listed as Threatened by the Livestock Conservancy. This breed is so ancient that it is mentioned in the Bible. Although Duse has only two horns, some individuals of this breed can have up to 4 horns!!! I decorated this poncho with embroidered bees because at my farm we also have hives and produce honey. $1500
Pink Poncho
This poncho is made with wool from Duse and Garbo, named after two legendary actresses of the 20th century Eleonora Duse and Greta Garbo. Their breed, Jacob, is among the most ancient and listed as threatened by the Livestock Conservancy. The interior lining is a Ikat (a special dyeing technique that makes the design look blurry) made of silk and cotton. My friend Nazzy Beglari, who makes the most wonderful kaftans, gifted this Ikat fabric to me for this project. I wore one of Nazzy’s creations at the Cannes film festival for the premier of “La Chimera” directed by Alice Rohrwacher (whose father is also a beekeeper!). Bees are like aliens …sufficient to say male bees have a grandfather but no father. I made a short film about them for my series Green Porno (Criterion Channel). $1500
Garbo
Photo: Drew Wiedemann
FOULARD PONCHO
This poncho is made with wool woven by hand to look like burlap and it is lined with silk foulards (some from Hermes) that I loved but never used. The wool is from our Lincoln Longwool Sheep, Kahlo and O’Keefe. I named them after some of my favorite painters, Frida Kahlo and Georgia O’Keefe. Lincoln Longwools are listed as Threatened by the Livestock Conservancy. Their long locks can grow to at least 10 inches long. Their beautiful locks inspired my designer friend, Aisling Camps, to create a vest that I wore for the campaign for the Mama Farm x Moda Operandi x Aisling Camps collection in 2023. $1500
Sheep butt before shearing
Sheep butt after shearing
SPIDER PONCHO
This poncho is a blend from two different kinds of wool from two different breeds of sheep we have on Mama Farm, Lincoln Longwool and Jacob sheep. The sheep are named Kahlo & O’Keefe (Lincoln Longwools) and Duse & Garbo (Jacob sheep). It is decorated with embroidery representing spiders which are not domesticated yet are everywhere at Mama Farm. Apparently the silk from spiders is of superior quality to that of the silk worms, but spiders cannot be farmed (raised to live together) because they are cannibals and would eat each other! Wild animals that could be domesticated have to have certain characteristics, chief among them all they have to be very social and like to live in groups. $1500
2023
In August 2023, Mama Farm launched its first farm-to-fashion capsule collection in partnership with Moda Operandi & Aisling Camps. The capsule collection showcased the many different applications, colors and textures that heritage breed wools can offer. Additionally, to mirror Mama Farm’s commitment to sustainability, the wool did not leave NY State in order to be processed and turned from sheared fleeces to garments. The wool was sheared on Mama Farm, processed in Upstate NY (Battenkill Fibers) and woven by hand in Brooklyn, NY by Aisling Camps. Please click through our slideshow below to see photos from the campaign, photographed by Dan Martensen.
As we established our flock of heritage breed sheep at Mama Farm, we offered hands-on educational programming about the wool creation process, from sheep-to-spool. This included shearing demonstrations, beginner to advanced level knitting workshops, and partnerships with local schools and prominent universities such as RISD, Pratt & Parsons School of Design. The partnerships with local schools and Universities is ongoing and our goal is to help teach young designers about farm-to-fashion principles and the ripple effects of their sourcing decisions. If you are interested in joining one of our knitting circles or wool workshops, please follow us on Instagram (@mamafarm) for class related announcements.
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address
269 South Country Road Brookhaven NY 11719