• Skip to primary navigation
  • Skip to main content
  • Skip to primary sidebar

The Glen Park Association

Up-to-the-minute news from Glen Park

  • Home
  • Glen Park Association
    • About the Glen Park Association
    • Join the GPA
    • GPA Board Contacts
    • GPA Meeting Minutes
    • Bylaws
    • Neighborhood boundaries
  • News Stories
    • Glen Park News
    • Editor’s Picks
  • Greenway
    • About
    • Greenway Plan
  • GPA Grants Program
  • Crime & Safety
  • Contact
    • Contact
    • Volunteer Sign Ups
    • Event Submission
    • Author Submissions

Local Author on Sheep, Wool and Life

November 14, 2018 by Bonnee Waldstein

Raw Material: Working Wool in the West (Oregon State University Press) has a scheduled publishing date of Oct. 4. Wilkes will give a reading and book signing on Sunday, Nov. 18 at 2 p.m. at Bird and Beckett Books, where the book will be for sale.

Glen Park resident Stephany Wilkes, vice president of the Glen Park Association, has managed to pull off a coup: taking a niche, arcane subject and writing a page-turner of a book about it.

Wilkes, now 41, is one of those people who end up doing things that weren’t on their original life trajectory. She didn’t grow up on a farm—she was born and raised in Detroit—and didn’t even have any pets: “Absolutely none!”

There was, though, one connection to wool: Her hobby was knitting, taught to her by her grandmother.

Her initial life path was charted early. When she was 4, her grandfather, who’d been a programmer for the Department of Defense, started to teach her programming. By the time she was 18, she worked full-time in tech. She had three jobs in college while taking a full credit load, then earned her Ph.D. in information technology.

In the run-up to the housing crash, Wilkes worked for hedge funds in Chicago, and was dismayed by observing so much financial fraud. In 2007 she and her husband Ian moved to San Francisco.

“The tech sector was horrible in Silicon Valley, the sexism was horrible,” Wilkes said. Pay disparities between men and women for equal work were the norm. “I was super-miserable. I had to get out of that world.”

It took until 2015 for Wilkes finally to leave. But in 2012, she went to a wool symposium, where she heard about a shortage of sheep shearers. So she enrolled in the UC Hopland Research and Extension Center, where she learned the skill.

By the following year, Wilkes was shearing sheep as a side gig. There was high demand; the shearers are a close community, and she got referrals easily.

This year was her sixth season, which ran from January through July; she traveled all over the West shearing sheep. She generally does about 2,000 animals a season; others do up to 30,000.

Wilkes says she loves being outdoors, engaging in physical activity and getting away from people. Sometimes it’s lonely working in a barn by herself. Other times she’s on a big job, with a crew of five or six together for a week, traveling and some bringing their kids along.

It’s backbreaking work, and dirty. The sheep weigh much more than she does, and handling them is strenuous. “Only your fellow shearer can know how really hard it is, driving long distances to strange places in the middle of nowhere.”

A really good day of shearing goes something like this: “Everything is set up well, I sleep in a bit, the weather is decent, the wool is just peeling off, and I didn’t get too beaten up. A smooth, fun day.”

She tries to have a working vacation every year, going to a job in some remote place and seeing something new. Her current favorite spot is Creede, Colo., located in a valley on the Continental Divide.

Closer to home, the counties of the Bay Area are her territory. She even has a couple of gigs in San Francisco, at the Waldorf and Montessori schools, where the students enjoy taking care of a few sheep on school grounds.

When she gets in a bind, like the car breaking down, Wilkes can rely on her CB radio and her fellow shearers. She was once stuck for two days in eight feet of snow in the Sierra when her chains broke. She keeps a sleeping bag and enough food and water for a week in her car, and does back-country camping in remote areas.

Most of all, Wilkes says, “Camaraderie transcends everything. I can call on any shearer, anytime, and they’ll come and get me.”

In her book, Wilkes candidly admits her fears, shortcomings, and naivete about her new life. She also writes about the nitty gritty of surviving without job security and benefits.

Yet to her, the opportunity to work in an environmentally sustainable way is paramount.

“Sheep get a bad rap,” she says. They’re different from other livestock that are transported hundreds of miles to feedlots. Flocks of sheep grazing the land emit a tiny fraction of the methane that animals on factory farms produce.

“When I was out working, I was meeting people who were doing the most important work there is, intentionally or not.” As she explains it, they’re taking CO2 out of the atmosphere, using carbon farming methods established by the National Resources Conservation Services. Sheep are a part of the cycle that removes CO2 from of the air, decreasing greenhouse gases.

Plants suck CO2 from the atmosphere, and it goes into the soil. Treating the soil with compost helps the process along, and actually increases the soil’s ability to capture carbon for a hundred years. This can help defer global warming. The rich pasture requires little or no tillage.  It acts as a windbreak and stops soil from blowing away.

Grazing is important ecologically. As animals move from place to place, their manure feeds nutrients into the soil and their hooves stomp the nutrients further in. That means fertilizers aren’t needed. In arid climates, the soil gets compacted and animal hooves break up the crust, allowing native grasses to put roots into soil.

Grazing keeps all these systems in check. Sheep help it along more than heavier animals because they don’t compact the soil as much. Grazing sheep eat the stored carbon, sequestering it, so that the wool and the garment made from it is “carbon sink,” or carbon negative. Less CO2 is released, which is positive for the climate.

With the number and severity of recent wildfires, Wilkes contends, we should have grazing everywhere to reduce the fuel for the massive conflagrations.

At the consumer level, sheep are a bonanza. People appreciate their meat and cheese. Wilkes wishes people cared as much about where their clothing comes from.

Today most clothes are made from fabrics that are oil-based, extractive and synthetic, made in the lab, using chemicals and toxic dyes. Wool and other natural fibers produced with sustainable methods, in contrast, help keep the environment in balance.

Wilkes laments an historic lack of infrastructure for processing California wool and the economics that conspire against a healthy wool-processing industry. That means our wool is mostly shipped out of state or overseas for processing into clothing before returning here or heading elsewhere.

When she’s not sheering sheep, Wilkes still works on sheep and wool—lectures, fiber workshops, freelance writing, ghostwriting for business executives—and hoof trimming.

She’s also president of an agricultural co-op, the Fibershed Marketplace (www.fibershed.com), an Etsy-like, certified organic platform for farmers. Right now, there are a few dozen members. They’ll be selling wares that have been produced with documented carbon farming practices, natural dyeing, and with local labor and textiles. She hopes that people will be willing to pay more for things that are good for the climate.

In the off season, Wilkes does Pilates and a lot of exercising at the gym. Though she’d like to drink beer and knit, she needs to build up her strength to be ready for the next season. Those sheep don’t shear themselves.

Filed Under: Bird and Beckett, Events

Primary Sidebar

IMPORTANT UPCOMING DATES

Upper Noe Neighbors Community Meeting Wednesday, May 21, 7 p.m.
Upper Noe Recreation Center auditorium
295 Day Street
Agenda


San Francisco Department of Public Works logoDPW Love Our City
District 8 Cleanup Day
Saturday, June 7, 9 a.m. to afternoon
Learn more and sign up here


 

Logo Center for Creative Exploration

The Center for Creative Exploration
Explore all the Colors of the Rainbow
one-day workshop
Saturday, June 7, 10 a.m. to 4 p.m.
300 Chenery Street
Learn more and link to registration here


Weeding Party
June 21, 10 a.m. to noon
100 block of Arlington at Charles
Join neighbors on the North end of the Cut to keep down the weeds and beautify top to bottom. Tools, lunch and good company provided.


Monthly cleanup on the Greenway
First Saturday of the Month (usually)
Click here to learn more


Friends of Glen Canyon’s
Glen Canyon Habitat Restoration
Every third Saturday 9:30 a.m to noon
Sign up here

Subscribe to this Newsletter

Sign Up for Glen Park Association News Updates:

* indicates required

Check It Out at the Glen Park Library

Click the above button or here to see all upcoming Glen Park Branch Library events. Subscribe to our monthly newsletter to get events highlights in your inbox.

Glen Park Rec Center

Glen Canyon Park sign
Click here for latest
Glen Park Rec Center
class schedule


Saturdays 3-4:45 p.m.
Questions? Call 415-239-4007


GP Movie Night Schedule

Renew Your Glen Park Association Membership for 2025

Join the Glen Park Association and help promote our community’s interests. Together, we can secure improvement funds, publicize neighborhood concerns and strive to speak as one voice on neighborhood and city issues.

Membership in the Glen Park Association is only $10 annually and can be purchased online.

Glen Park Association Advertising Sponsors

JE_Digital Small Space Ad
Diamond Heights Digital Ad
GPA Ad- Perez Construction ad 6.27.22 v Glen Park
moroco
Center for Creative Exploration - adult
JE_Digital Small Space Ad
Diamond Heights Digital Ad
GPA Ad- Perez Construction ad 6.27.22 v Glen Park
moroco
Center for Creative Exploration - adult
previous arrow
next arrow
Shadow

Current Weather & Air Quality

Glen Park featured on…

FacebookSF ChronInstagramTwitter

Join the Glen Park Association on Facebook

Comments Box SVG iconsUsed for the like, share, comment, and reaction icons
Glen Park Association is at San Francisco Public Library Glen Park Branch.
2 days ago
Glen Park Association

Photos and Fun courtesy of the Glen Park Library!
It was a great turnout at the Glen Park Library Open House on Saturday May 17th!

Thank you to all who attended and a big thank you to Glen Park Branch Library Manager Darren Heiber and his staff for a fantastic day!! 🙌🏽

San Francisco Public Library Arion Press | Artist Books Museum of Craft and Design Rafael Mandelman 🏳️‍🌈 #glenparklibrary #arionpress #museumofcraftanddesign #glenparksf #sanfrancisco #InCommunity
... See MoreSee Less

Photos and Fun courtesy of the Glen Park Library! 
It was a great turnout at the Glen Park Library Open House on Saturday May 17th!

Thank you to all who attended and a big thank you to Glen Park Branch Library Manager Darren Heiber and his staff for a fantastic day!! 🙌🏽

@sfpubliclibrary @arionpress @museumofcraftanddesign @rafaelmandelmand8 #glenparklibrary #arionpress #museumofcraftanddesign #glenparksf #sanfrancisco #incommunity
View on Facebook
· Share
Share on Facebook Share on Twitter Share on Linked In Share by Email
View Comments
  • likes 0
  • Shares: 0
  • Comments: 0

0 CommentsComment on Facebook

Glen Park Association is at Glen Park Recreation Center.
2 days ago
Glen Park Association

Qi Gong & Tai Chi Thursdays at the Glen Park Rec Center!

Thursdays 2:00PM - 2:45PM
Room #1
Led by led by Ashima Sarin

Beginners and All Levels of Mobility Are Welcome! It’s FREE and drop-in!

(There will be no class the second half of June and July)

📍Glen Park Rec Center, 70 Elk Street

QUESTIONS? CALL 415-239-4007
... See MoreSee Less

Qi Gong & Tai Chi Thursdays at the Glen Park Rec Center!

Thursdays  2:00PM - 2:45PM 
Room #1
Led by led by Ashima Sarin

Beginners and All Levels of Mobility Are Welcome! It’s FREE and drop-in! 

(There will be no class the second half of June and July)

📍Glen Park Rec Center, 70 Elk Street 

QUESTIONS? CALL 415-239-4007
View on Facebook
· Share
Share on Facebook Share on Twitter Share on Linked In Share by Email
View Comments
  • likes 4
  • Shares: 0
  • Comments: 0

0 CommentsComment on Facebook

Blog Roll

Coyote Yipps
Friends of Upper Noe Recreation Center
Glen Park Neighborhoods History Project
Open SF History
Sunnyside Conservatory
Sunnyside History
Sunnyside Neighborhood Association
Tramps of San Francisco
Upper Noe Neighbors

Copyright © 2025 · Metro Pro on Genesis Framework · WordPress · Log in