Pinwheel Farm raises sustainably-grown vegetables, sheep, and poultry. We also gather a rich variety of resources from our land to share with friends, including wood, mushrooms, dried flowers, beneficial insects, grape vines, moss, etc. Lots of value-added products can be made from the farm’s agricultural products: yarn, hand-knit items, felt dryer balls, wool craft kits, machine washable sheep skins, soap, etc. Check the farm’s Facebook page for more information! Don’t hesitate to call or email Natalya with questions!
You can find Pinwheel Farm products at the farm, by appointment only, or at various local Farmers Markets and special events.
FIND ME AT THESE FARMERS MARKETS:
Farmers Markets are our main retail outlets for our products. We love Markets! We get to meet our customers, see their smiles, answer their questions, educate them about what we do, how we do it, and why. Kiddos give us pictures and rocks; folks send videos of us to faraway loved ones; we make new friends and reconnect with old ones.
“Doing” Farmers Markets is a unique lifestyle. It means being very busy at the times when other folks are out being social and having fun. Friday nights we are feverishly harvesting, processing, packing, loading. Saturday mornings we are up at the crack of down (or earlier). By Saturday night we have seen hundreds (if not thousands) of people and been on our feet all day…we may not feel like partying. But invite us anyhow! We still want to connect with our friends in ways other than Market!
Downtown Lawrence Farmers Market — weekly during market season (second Saturday in April through last Saturday before Thanksgiving) until Oct. 19, plus Nov. 9 and 16. Spinning demonstrations, information, etc. Bring a fiber project for coaching, or just hang out at the booth!
We may or may not be at the Downtown Lawrence Farmers Market Holiday Sale this year, but we ALWAYS encourage our customers to shop there! If Pinwheel Farm doesn’t have its own booth, we will have some of our smaller items such as dryer balls, dish sponges, and hair scrunchies available at other vendors’ booth. Follow us on Facebook for details!
Brookside Indoor Winter Farmers Market — Selected Saturdays, December through March. Natural dyed wool and silk products, spinning demonstrations, and more.
Check the Brookside Farmers Market website for location, dates, and times; follow us on Facebook to find out if we’ll be there. We do not sell our food products at Brookside.
Cottin’s Farmers Market — October – April indoors, 4 pm to 6 pm; May – September in the back parking lot, 4 pm to 6:30 pm. Thanksgiving week market will be Tuesday November 26th.
Pinwheel will do our best to be at Cottin’s Farmers Market during weeks we won’t be at the Downtown Lawrence Farmers Market. These two markets are currently the only off-farm sales locations for our edible products (meat, eggs, occasionally vegetables). Due to lack of space, no spinning demonstrations at the the indoor market, but I can still consult on small projects.
SPECIAL EVENTS (Fall/Winter 2024-25):
Special events help us reach out to more people to promote Pinwheel Farm, our unique products and projects, and our Farmers Markets. Usually special events mean missing a Farmer’s Market…we’re still figuring out how to be two places at once. Remember, before or after a special event that you can’t attend, you can find me at Cottins or at the farm by appointment, or online by Facebook or email, or by voice phone call.
- Kill Creek Farm Fall Festival: October 26 Darrell Zimmerman, who established Kill Creek Farm as an educational and event venue many years ago, has been a family friend for more than 30 years. Many different activities for kids.
- Historic Taylor Barn Sale: Nov. 1 & 3 Host Debi Anderson Taylor and I met in a college class in Wamego a reeeeeeally long time ago…so fun to reconnect in Lawrence. This event just gets better every year, with something for everyone.
- Fiber Flurry, Sikes Venue, Leonardville, KS: Nov. 2 A small new fiber festival with big plans! We’re excited to be a part of it. I will be teaching a class on Natural dyed silk scarves, as well as vending with a focus on both fiber and finished products.
- Pendleton’s Country Market Open House, Nov. 23-24 and Nov. 30-Dec.1 John and Karen Pendleton have been Pinwheel Farm’s mentors since the beginning, and one way of giving back is participating in and promoting their Kaw Valley Farm Tour and Holiday Open House events, selling Pinwheel Farm products and demonstrating spinning.
- Kaw Valley Seed Fair: Feb. 15, 2025, Douglas Co Fairgrounds It’s like a who’s-who and family reunion of all the best farming, gardening, and generally earth-centered folks, businesses and organizations in the Lawrence Area, in the middle of February when we need some hope that spring WILL come. Don’t miss it! Pinwheel Farm traditionally has elderberry cuttings, Forgotten Lily bulbs, and other unique items, as well as our usual lamb, eggs, and wool products.
- Sheep Shearing Open Farm Day at Pinwheel Farm: TBD March 2025 Come watch and even help as the sheep are shorn by our professional sheep shearer, Danny Smith. He’ll coach you in shearing one yourself, if you want. He also offers free haircuts for children but no one has ever taken him up on that…. If the weather is nice, it’s a fun day; but we usually shear even if it isn’t. We sell selected fleeces straight from the sheep, as well as having our regular market products available.
- Lambing Bootcamp at Pinwheel Farm: TBD March/April 2025 Hands-on learning for routine management of lambing season, diagnosing and dealing with common problems, and the fundamentals of sheep care, handling, nutrition, and life cycle. Scheduling is tricky, because we can’t plan when the ewes will lamb. At a minimum, you will see and handle cute lambs, and learn to strip a ewe’s teats, tube feed a lamb, and try your hand at ear tagging if you like. Let us know if you are interested, and we’ll keep in touch to schedule one or more sessions to meet your interests. A tetanus vaccination is mandatory for this activity. Highly recommended if you are thinking of getting sheep (goats are similar). Lambing Bootcamp graduates may be invited to help out sometimes if the lead shepherd needs a break or a helping hand.
- Kansas City Food Circle Expo (Johnson County Community College): Early April This is kind of a KC-area “spring transplant” version of the Kaw Valley Seed Fair–a once-a-year gathering of vendors, reunions with customers after the winter, and general fun and education focused on healthy local food (and fiber, and other natural products). Usually Pinwheel has some early foraged foods available, such as nettle greens, as well as our sheep products. Usually the first weekend in April.