-
Oct 14, 2007 5:01 pm US/Central
-
Digg |
Facebook |
E-mail
|
Print
Finding Minnesota: Angora Goats Live In 'Harmony'
HARMONY, Minn. (WCCO) ―
In the Amish country of Harmony Minn., where time has stood still for about a century or so, people still get around using horse-drawn carts on dirt roads and farmers still till the soil with horse-drawn plows. It is a low-tech and simple life that binds this community to their land and to their God.
In this town lives Ada Austin, a sweet little lady who has been raising Angora goats for 20 years and was selling the valuable mohair until the market tanked. At one time, there were 200 goats and three women weaving full time. However, there was no demand for the mohair.
Then it occurred to Austin that she should hire stay-at-home and single mothers to shear, clean, spin and knit the luxurious fiber into beautiful handmade products.
"Anytime that any lady is too proud for welfare, I want to step up to the plate and help her anyway I can," Austin said. "She helps me and I help her."
Not long after the homiest of home-grown enterprises turned out nearly ever kind of item -- from rugs to sweaters to socks. Soon, Ada Austin's ranch went retail.
Van loads of Amish tours stop at Austin's farm to admire the goats in the field and the women's handiwork in the store. Angora goats put out enough mohair to keep the register ringing; it grows from 6 to 10 inches in just six months.
Austin calls it her labor of love -- tending to the docile animals and mothers in need at the same time.
(© MMVIII, CBS Broadcasting Inc. All Rights Reserved.)