The Sunday Steep #8: The blessings of being a beginner

And the other things I learned at the sheep show (A.I. does not always have to do with computers.)

Hi friends,

I’m writing this Sunday afternoon, while recovering from the North American Sheep Hill Show in Escanaba, MI, where for three days I ran a vendor booth for my brick-and-mortar tea and craft shop.

I felt out of my element, to say the very least. Not only have I never run a vendor booth at an event like this, I also don’t know a lot about sheep except what I’ve learned from popular culture: James Herriot books, which I read obsessively as a teen and still re-read every year or so; the movie “Babe”, and more recently, the screwball documentary (who knew there was such a genre? - but trust me, it’s both a documentary and screwball) Clarkson’s Farm.

Anyway, the information I’d amassed about sheep over the years summed up to the following: they are fluffy, they require herding, they can go astray and fall into crevasses, they sometimes experience trouble getting their babies into the world.

I had a lot to learn, evidently, and I learned a lot by osmosis, surrounded by people who live, breathe, and eat (literally) sheep - and specifically U.K. Hill sheep, a class of hardy heritage breeds well-suited to harsh weather and short growing seasons (a good fit for the Upper Peninsula of Michigan!)

I listened in on presentations and conversations about the merits of one breed over another and strategies on everything from feeding to breeding. A very nice lady farmer, one booth over from mine, sat under a sign that read SEMEN FOR SALE. (“A.I.” means something very different among this set than it does in the rest of the internet world, friends.)

Since many of the judges and presenters were from Great Britain, I heard a variety of delightful U.K. accents, from a refined English lilt to a thick Scottish burr. I also learned a lot about how to run a successful booth at a fair or festival without burying yourself under merchandise and boxes in the process. (Suffice it to say that next time, I’ll bring less stuff and pack it more strategically.)

And, I got to get up close and personal with some extremely adorable sheep.

Being a newbie isn’t my favorite feeling. I like to be in charge, in control, and in-the-know, and during my time at the sheep show I experienced many moments of discomfort by being so out of my element. In some circumstances, I might have tried to fake it and pretend I knew more than I did, but in a room full of people with real cred talking about something I knew almost nothing about but would genuinely like to understand better, it would have just been pointless. Instead, I found that the best way to deal was just to proactively own my ignorance.

“I’ve never done this before,” I found myself saying over and over to people who then bent over backward to help me feel more comfortable and (at least a little bit) more enlightened. Putting aside my desire to look like I knew what I was doing actually gave me a chance to learn from people who actually did know what they were doing. Their cool confidence helped me feel more confident too, and I came away knowing a little more than I did before - two good reasons to allow myself to adopt a beginner’s posture more often than I necessarily want to.

Maybe the next time I’m feeling a little out of my element, I”ll just skip right over the posturing and tell the person next to me “I don’t really know what I’m doing.” It could mean the difference between struggling self-consciously and allowing myself to experience the generosity of people happy to share what they know.

In my cup…

I’ve been drinking a lot of Black Lavender from Smith Tea this week. It’s bright and subtly floral, and while I’m typically a loose-leaf girl, Smith does such a nice job with their bagged teas (and the packaging!) that they often become my travel go-to.

In my hands…

I haven’t really knitted since I was a teenager, but I bought some delicious hand-dyed yarn for my shop from a small operation in Minnesota, Hummingbird Yarn Co. And after spending three days surrounded by wool in various stages of being spun, woven, knitted, crocheted and felted, my interest in yarn is once again piqued.

We head back downstate tomorrow, and I think I really have to bring some yarn with me. Which color would you pick and what kind of (beginner-friendly!) project would you make?

That’s all for this week, friends - I’m pooped, but look forward to being back with you next Sunday - hopefully a little earlier in the day again.

In the meantime, Part 2 of my conversation with Shannon Hayes went live on The Tea’s Made podcast earlier this week. Give it a listen and let me know what you think!