I managed to find one and started breeding them, selling many puppies to Italians but also to foreigners, and specifically to a family from Florida who rented my farmhouse for many many seasons, and became close friends/family. Over the years they eventually brought 4 back to the USA with them after their vacation, including my very last puppy, ULTIMO.

Six months ago Helen called me to tell me that Ultimo had died, at age 13, and that the whole family planned to come back to Radda to toss his ashes over the valley….just three days before their arrival, the local post office - new driver, big truck - tried to deliver the box and got stuck on my road trying to turn around at the gate. By the time I maaged to pull him out of the dirtch he had gotten stuck in, he was in tears

We had a lovely day together - many memories and some tears, too but Leo and Ultimo are now resting overlooking their favorite home, and it’s so joyful to know that we are all connected in this way

August has been a complicated and frustrating month for us; this coming week we will bring you all up to date with goings-on here on the farm, products, new adventures, and more.

In particular, my neighbors Martin Saywell and his wife Marie Claude host a lovely evening of classical music played by the Conservatory in Siena, at their summer home: Church of San Salvatore adjacent to the old Castello di Albola .

This is a wonderful group of enthusiastic, talented musicians who perform in a stunningly beautiful chapel, complete with painted ceilings, perched on one of those iconic Tuscan hills surrounded by an evergreen forest, vineyards, and olive trees.

Definitely an evening to remember so if you can make it, you will not be disappointed. Here are some shots from the most recent concert, the next one is Friday, August 7 at 1830 …maybe we will meet up there!

For more info: <mcwarnotte@btinternet.com>

Two weeks later TROUBLE (don’t need to explain that!) had a teeny baby she didn’t know what to do with, and I found her wet and cold in the woods - looking more like a drowned rat than a baby goat.

The drill when this happens is to dry her off with a towel, then a hair dryer, and then under a heat lamp until the next morning if they survive: the baby’s core temperature has to increase before they can assimilate any food . That said, once upon a A bottle-fed baby bonds quickly to whoever happens to be providing the bottle, and basically loses interest in the other goats, so joining the herd sometimes becomes problematic. Fortunately (or not, depending on your point of view), 2 weeks later another mother goat (her name is TROUBLE - no need totime when I couldn’t afford a heat lamp, I would wrap the dried off baby in a towel and put her in the oven of my wood-burning stove (the temperature of a warming oven) with the oven door open - it worked every time!!

The next day we started bottle feeding her - first colostrum, then goat’s milk, and now cow’s milk…down from every 4 hours to morning and evening, since they are now grazing like adults

So now we have a bonded pair, who get into trouble together and sleep curled up like two big ‘commas’ - and will slowly be introduced to the herd, starting with some youngsters their age…

And while this part of the farm moves forward, we have seen a return of FIREFLIES: my daughter’s birthday is June 19 and we always celebrated by catching fireflies that night, but something truly magical happended last year when I brought the goats in from pasture very late - at least 9 pm. Our property borders on a small creek (that flows into the Arno, all the way to Florence). As I closed the gate after the last goats and walked back across the dry stream bed, I caught my breath as the night was lit up by emergency vehicles blinking their lights. I thought, first, the fire department, and then the Forestale, and then the police, but I suddenly realized it was a huge cloud of fireflies, at least one story high, lighting up the path back to my pickup. Never before nor after Have I ever experienced something that magical !

So, after combing 100+ goats and surviving (I now have new timeline: BC before combing, and AC after combing) - will bring you up to date on our newly arrived scarves and shawls, knitting kits, socks and more!!

As we’ve mentioned in previous posts, cashmere is harvested in the spring, as the goats shed their winter insulation! Although we actually started combing here at the end of February, most of our 100+ goats seem to shed all at the same time, and no matter how many combers we have, it’s almost impossible to harvest it all!

So many people have offered to help and shown up here on our farm, so thank you all for stepping up - by the end of next week we will have officially ended this year’s harvest.

One of our favorite girls: ISABELLINA, before and after

Now that the harvest is over, we prepare the fiber samples for the laboratory, and the bulkmof the cashmere harvested will be processed.

NEXT STEP: KNITTING WITH OUR YARN:

100% UNDYED ITALIAN CASHMERE RAISED AND HARVESTED IN TUSCANY

So, now we have gone through the lengthy, complicated transformation of the dehaired cashmere into the yarn we will be using for our finished products.

I decided, after raising our goats for several years, that the naturally occuring shades of cream through brown and grey are so exquisite that I wouldn’t dye any of the gorgeous colors that are available. There are some absolutely stunning dyed yarns on the market, but I really feel the true essence of this magical fiber is to leave it how the goats actually grow it, and allow the nuances of UNDYED CASHMERE interact with hand-knitting.

For those of you who knit or who know anything at all about yarn, you already know that there are dozens of yarns available to suit everything taste and whim; we have decided to keep it simple - laceweight yarn in two undyed colors, cream and beige….classic, timeless and luxurious. We had a lovely event this past weekend to introduce some knitters form Florence to our farm and products, and it was such a glorious way to start off this new adventure. This year we will have various events also for knitters, and we’re in the process of slowly adding some scrumptious knitting kits that you can easily order online - keep an eye out for patterns here!

Just to remind you, that we continue to offer our regular Experiences from now through October: Farm Experiences, and look forward to having our knitters visit too!

And, for the knitter in your life, we are also looking for TEST KNITTERS - pls spread the word!! And while you are at it, come by and get some GOAT THERAPY too: Goat Therapy

This week we started the intense 60 days or so of actually combing our goats in preparation for making yarn, and then onto the finished product.

Consider it takes from 1 to 3 hours to harvest one goat’s cashmere, you can understand that it is not something you do in a week - we have a hundred or so goats to comb this year, and little or no help. I try to do 2-3 goats everyday, taking into consideration that life (and rain!) also happens along the way, and it’s pretty unrealistic to try for more:

First, you have to CATCH the goat (don’t underestimate this part !!)

Then, you carefully comb, untangle, trim off knots or thistles, and each animal reacts differently - some will take only half an hour and others, much more…every once in a while I’ve got a wild one, and those will test anyone’s patience.

By mid-April we should have finished this year’s harvest, then each sample is picked over to remove seeds, twigs, etc, sealed in an airtight bag and weighed…I’ve found that storing all the cashmere in vacuum bags is the safest way to store; once this part is complete, we send to our first mill for:

Dehairing: separating the hair (outer coat) from the cashmere (undercoat) - since we love the natural colors, at this point we separate the light/medium/ dark, so that we will have different colored yarns, without dying.

Carding: aligning the cashmere fibers in one direction in preparation for spinning

Spinning: and at this point you need to know what you will be creating as a finished product, since the choice of the yarn makes the difference in what you can make as a finished product!

Knitting: this year we have LOTS of yarn for new knitters (and wonderful opportunities to visit our farm alone or with other knitters), and some gorgeous KIT patterns ready to sell using our 100% undyed Cashmere!

Weaving: 2026 will be challenging - my principal weaver has closed (as have many of our small artisans), and it is becoming increasingly difficult to find artisans who can do the quality of work we try to offer. All of our products are produced in Italy, and I personally know every one of my producers.

Support your local producers - from farmers, to artisans to small shops - a vibrant local economy is a healthy one, and to tell the truth:

ITALIANS DO IT BETTER!

And not to forget! You can join us though mid-April for GOAT CAMP (Goat Combing), and spend a day with us in the countryside; check out this link for a description: GOAT CAMP

A presto!!!

Nora

Each goat is selected individually,, depending on whether or not they are shedding (some shed earlier in the season and some later, but all of the goats will loose their cashmere undercoat at this time of the year). We capture each goat so they are not running in every direction, and begin to methodically comb out the undercoat, with, yes, a COMB!

We do not SHEAR our goats (some larger herds do), we do not tie their feet together and lie them on the ground (like a lot of Mongolian and Chinese herders do) . We gently comb each goat and collect the fiber in a separate bag for each goat, while preparing a fiber sample to be sent to a fiber lab for analysis.

While we have every goat under control, so to speak, we do what I call an annual check-up and assessment: worming, if necessary, vaccinating, trimming their hooves, removing any long, knotted hair left over after combing, etc. At the end of each day we weigh every goat’s bag, and enter the results into our data base. Once we have combed all of our goats, we also prepare the fiber samples to be sent to the lab, where they will be evaluated under an electron microscope, and on the basis of these results, that individual will or will not be entered into our new Cashmere Goat Registry.

This coming week we will post STEP TWO, and in case you are not already signed up - we offer you a chance to partecipate in this season’s combing!

Would you also like more details about any of the following: why do we comb, and not shear? Why all the detail about fiber testing? What kind of combs do we use? Why do we comb the goat while they are standing up instead of on the ground? Let us know!

Sign up here for GOAT CAMP (March 15 through April 15, 2026):

https://www.chianticashmere.com/en/FARM-EXPERIENCES/GOAT-CAMP/

For those of us who raise Cashmere Goats, it means a lot more, and is basically the start of this season’s harvest. Most people don’t know - and surprisingly people who process and sell cashmere - that cashmere is actually the UNDERCOAT of cashmere goats, which is shed starting on the winter solstice (give or take a day or two) . Once the goat loses that year’s fiber, it won’t start regrowing until the next summer solstice, which means it will grow for 6 months and then shed again in the spring, and so on.

Pictured: a long-haired black goat shedding her off-white cashmere

This is why we offer our followers (be they fiber people or not) the opportunity to sign up for GOAT CAMP: every day during the month of April, you can join us here on our farm and comb your OWN goat, and you’ll spend a full day learning, laughing and understanding just how fascinating Cashmere goats are: infinitely clever, curious and funny! Once you’ve learned exactly how the process works you will truly appreciate how very amazing they actually are!

Come and get some “GOAT THERAPY” and click on the following link: bit.ly/GOATCAMP

I am particularly honored that we are starting out with a stellar group of people serious about genetics, reproductive science and ethical and environmental objectives.

I would especially thank Pam Haendle (Hermit Pond Farm, USA) from the American Cashmere Goat Association who spent many hours explaining and illustrating the American Registry, which was a template for what we have created here.

The following people attended this first meeting and hopefully will follow our journey over the next few years to ensure growth and improvement of our Italian Cashmere population, and act as an incentive to attract other cashmere breeders.

REPRESENTATIVES OF THE UNIVERSITA DI CAMERINO

Marco Antonini Several decades of experience with fiber animals (cashmere, alpaca, merinos) in Europe, Mongolia and South America

Stefano Pallotti Veterinarian and PhD in biogenetics, with special emphasis on cashmere goats; has been collecting data on our herd over the last few years and will continue to interpret our fiber data

Maurizio Gubiotti Responsible for the fiber lab at the Univeristy, where all of our samples are evaluated; will be responsible for the physical evaluation of different herds beginning this spring

DIRECTOR OF ASSONAPA (National Pastoral Association)

Silverio Grande In charge of the National Association responsible for the registration of Italian Sheep and Goat Breeds, and the organ through which we obtain official recognition of our breed standard

ALLEVATORI

Martina Tomas Belluno, Veneto. Raises Cashmere goats, saffron, and produces hand knitted accessories made from Cashmere and local sheep wool

Ivo Romanelli Mezalot Pordenone, Friuli. Raises cashmere goats and produces hand woven, custom-made Cashmere jackets

Marco Lorenzato Vicenza, Veneto

Luigi Selleri Rimini Emilia Romagna. Raises Cashmere goats and produces hand knitted accessories

Liberi Agricoltori Siena

The Agricultural Union that I personally work with here in Tuscany

Furio Venarucci Director

Federica Lotti Assistent

I WILL BE POSTING OVER THE NEXT FEW WEEK UPDATES ABOUT THIS INITIATIVE, and info regarding our new yarns. 2025 has been a very difficult year for all of us, and we’re having to feel our way forward, re-thinking our finished products, colossal shipping issues, etc.

Looking forward to keeping you all in the loop!!

Nora

Small producers are suffering worldwide to compete with mega companies; please remember that buying from your local community you are helping to maintain local economies, and the people that are part of them!

Click here to choose a Gift Certificate (no shipping and no waiting!), for either a product or a Farm Experience of your choice:

https://shop.chianticashmere.com/collections/all

and Thank you, thank you, for the support you have all shown us over the years, HAPPY HOLIDAYS, and stay tuned for a little surprise about our baby goats!!!

Nora

In the shop, I still have a cast iron Attwwod stove that is 50 years old, and was my only source of heat in the farmhouse for years and years

Either way, it’s alway nice to cuddle under a Cashmere Blanket - there’s nothing warmer and lighter than cashmere, and a cashmere blanket is FOR LIFE!

Available in three different versions, ready to ship for a REALLY special gift! Cashmere Blanket

THIS YEAR PLEASE SHOP LOCALLY, SUPPORT YOUR NEIGHBORHOOD GROCERY SHOP, YOUR CLOSEST FARMER, YOUR ARTISAN WHO WILL USE THIS INCOME TO SUPPORT HER FAMILY AND LOCAL ECONOMY…know who you are dealing with and how they are producing what you purchase.

GRAZIE!!

Being the hillbilly that I am, I have to admit that I really enjoy stacking firewood! Very few outdoor activities can give you so much gratification as stacking a neat pile of perfectly cut, dry, seasoned firewood. A close second to combing a year’s worth of luscius cashmere from a cashmere goat )see link How many of you are with me??

Getting back to business, we’re shipping Christmas orders weekdays and have some new articles, as well as discounted products …as below:

These are just a couple of WARM accessories we have marked down;

CASHMERE BEANIE bit.ly/3ZLGGvq - REDUCED 20%

CHIANTIGLOVES: bit.ly/486EY9E REDUCED 30%

CASHMERE UNISEX SCARVES:

https://shop.chianticashmere.com/products/unisex REDUCED 25%

CASHMERE/SILK SHAWLS - TWO FOR THE PRICE OF ONE!!

https://shop.chianticashmere.com/collections/all

Just a few suggestions….tomorro we’ll explain just how we go from the raw (unprocessed) fiber to the finished product!!

GLOVES, FINGERLESS GLOVES, MITTENS: https://bit.ly/CHIANTIGLOVES

HANDKNITTED BEANIES AND HATS: https://bit.ly/3ZLGGvq

Keep tuned - tomorrow will will post some new products ready for immediate shipment!

We love our goats but even more we love to teach YOU about how gorgeous, useful, and…exasperating…they are! And how they interact with our environment to do magical things, while producing Italian Cashmere!

From Easter thru the end of November we try to offer out-of-the-ordinary experiences for people who are interested in animals, sustainble agriculture, coexistencewith predators, and prioritize support of local artisans. Help us comb our cashmere goats in the spring, hike with us through the valley for a wine tasting at a local, family run neighbor’s winery, or just get to know our goats and have a leisure lunch of local products,

Any excuse is a good excuse to stop by and join us for a leisurely day away from the city, and in 2025 we will have a couple of surprises for you…

But in the meantime, let’s get serious about some scrumptuos Christmas goodies for you and your family: all produced by local artisans, in Tuscany. because ITALIANS DO IT BETTER !

Check back tomorrow for new articles, end-of-season offers, and gift sertificates

This past summer was so interesting - lots of ex-guests, ex-clients, relations we had never met, FB friends who we finally met in person! Some of them from 30 years ago!

As you all must know, the summer weather was really tough on us all - three digit temperatures, which sapped every ones’ energy. We are so lucky to be where we are - 300+ west-facing meters overlooking our gorgeous Volpaia valley, so there is alway a breeze, and evenings cool down considerably at night. Humans can adjust their outdoor activities accordingly to miss the hottest hours of the day, and our cashmere goats are totally okay with extreme temperatures, but our guard dogs felt it the most, and suffered terribly with their heavy waterpoof coats.

We have finally had a couple of -0° nights so we should be okay from now on, and the dogs especially are loving the lower temperatures - chasing each other and rolling in the long grass…lots of rain in the spring means we still have lots of grazing available

Our winter schedule means a well-earned slow-down: time to catch up with mails, orders, maintenetance and repairs, and more importantly, dinners with friends….and slow coffee in the morning taking in the view

Now that we have emerged from the depths of the Tuscan countryside, we’ll give you a quick look at how our past season unfolded, and of course send you some Christmas ideas before it’s too late!! Stay tuned!

Nora

Combing is a very intense, hands-on time for us, since we only have a very brief window of time to harvest this season’s cashmere. As luck would have it, I was contacted by a WONDERFUL American girl who was travelling around the world working on livestock farms to learn and experience farmlife, but especially SUSTAINABLE farming, which is what we practice and promote Chianti Cashmere

Sophie was undoubtedly the best ‘helper’ we’ve ever had - she came straight from 3 months working on a sheep farm in New Zealand, and jumped in with both feet! Together we captured, combed, wormed, vaccinated and trimmed toes of nearly 100 goats. combing cashmere goatsShe also entered all the important data we collect during combing into our data base, prepared fiber samples to send to the fiber lab who analizes our cashmere, and when push came to shove (literally) she helped me pull a dead, breach baby goat at the end of the day (farmlife gives you all you can handle, believe me!!)so, ….kudos to Sophia!

If she survived Chianti Cashmere she’ll do just fine!!!

Spring also means the start of our tourist season, so we have been hosting lots of travellers for ShepherdforaDay, Lunch under the Pergola, and FARM EXPERIENCES - Chianti Cashmere for families and groups who are interested in our FarmExperiences. This season has been exceptional for the fact that we have had LOTS of visitors from 10/20/30 years ago!

More on that in my next post !!

Stay tuned for what has happend since the end of May!! And see here what we have going over the summer months: Activities.

Follow us on FB and IG CHIANTI CSHMERE GOATCHIANTI CASHMERE FARM

We’re just going to give a little jump-start on what we’ll be doing this season, before we start combing season (or Goat Camp, if you want to join us)

NOTE: the answer to the quiz in last month’s post (what do you think the true meaning of BELLWETHER is?) is pretty interesting! In goat-speak, we call a castrated male goat a WETHER (not to be confused with weather, or whether!). He is usually the one with the biggest bell, and will lead the rest of the herd. Thus, a BELLWETHER state (when we are talking about elections) is the one that ‘leads the way’ for the election. Did you know that?

To help you plan this season’s visits, take a look at our little brochure below, which gives you quick look at what you can expect this summer when you stop by to visit! Click below to open

Chianti Cashmere Brochure (1)

2.21MB ∙ PDF file

Download

Download

Looking forward to your visits! Starting this month, we are hand-combing all of our Goats - come and partecipate in our yearly GOAT CAMP FarmExperiences - a hands-on, out-of-the-ordinary Tuscan experience!

To see details of our farm Farm Experiences, and products, see here: www.chianticashmere.com

We’re just going to give a little jump-start on what we’ll be doing this season, before we start combing season (or Goat Camp, if you want to join us)

Read more

Those of us who live here year-round take advantage of the winter months to slow down, catch up with all those friends we were too busy to see during the busy tourist season, and finish all the odd jobs we put off during the summer season.

Taking the goats out to pasture (ShepherdforaDay), in this season reminds me of why I love to live here - what to many people might appear to be a drab, monochromatic landscape, is anything but: new grass poking through the winter cover, the subtle colors of the dormant trees in mid distance - parchment-colored poplar trees, russet-colored hazelnut, almost-green willow, grey pussytail - all on the verge of exploding into myriad shades of green as the season warms and the leaf buds open.

But there is one date that is very important for us: January 21, the winter solstice! Yes, the days start to lengthen (yay - don’t need a flashlight to bring the goats in at night!!), but for Cashmere peeps, this is probably the most important date of the year.

This is the date that the cashmere fiber that the goats have been growing since the end of the summer, starts to shed - which means our busiest season is here ! Goat combing: we know when we start but don’t know when we’ll finish. Sign up to comb a goat yourself! GOAT CAMP Goat camp from March thru mid-May.

Spring also means the beginning of our tourist season, and we are looking forward to meeting our new guests and seeing our friends from previous years - we are so honored to have met so many wonderful people who come to see us on their Tuscan adventure.

Here is a reminder of what experiences we can offer you; click below:

FARM EXPERIENCES Farm Experiences; Visit and Meet&Greet Visit and Meet&Greet; Lunch under the Pergola Lunch under the pergola; Goat Camp Goat Camp

We also have a couple of surprises for you, regarding some new projects and products we will be offering, to be revealed at the end of this month - stay tuned for our next post!

And, last but not least - this time of year most of us are obsessed by the upcoming USA elections - please remember to vote ***(our girls here on their way to register):

***a little quiz for you, on the subject of VOTING: you will hear a lot of mention of BELL WETHER. Do you know where this expression comes from? You’ll be surprised ! Check our next post for the correct answer!!

Get your questions ready for next month’s GOAT COMBING and processing iunto the finished products - we will show you the whole process from the goat to the finished garment!

A presto!

Nora

We opt to take the goats out to pasture on the good days - if you look closely, there is still a lot going on in the winter countryside - lots of trees have lost their leaves, but many more have not, and there is a bountiful harvest of leaves, grasses, berries, seeds and vines - not only for the goats to eat - but also to collect for indoor decorations, bouquets, pressed flowers and leaves, and eco-printing! Even in this off season, you can still join us as a SHEPHERDFORADAY, if the weather cooperates

And of course, the ACORNS! Did you know that goats love acorns (as much as pigs do), and they are a valuble source calories and fiber during the cold months - we have actually planted several oak trees for the goats that produce giant acorns like these:

Add to that, a couple of truckloads of tree prunings that our friendly gardener brought this morning, and it’s been a true ANTIPASTO TOSCANO for the goaties today!

On a more festive note - we are shipping gifts on a daily basis, including products that have not been available until this year - many more if you can come to shop on our farm: OPEN THURSDAY, FRIDAY, SATURDAY AND SUNDAY from 16:00 to 19:00 thru January 7! Here are just a few of the things ou will find in out gift shop: Shoponline

So, if you are in Tuscany and haven’t been able to find many activities in the countryside, reserve a visit and take a glimpse of what we do! website

Looking forward to meeting new friends and catching up with the old!!

Yours,

Nora