Those lazy, crazy, woolly days of summer

Bikini days are here now…for some of us. But when those northeast winds kick up a sand storm, get off the beach and think wool. Yes, wool—fresh off the Sheep Farm at North Country Knits, in Belleplain.
Many visitors have their sites set squarely south when they pass the Sheep Farm sign posted along Route 47—just a few bucolic miles from the beach. But foul weather of-fers a great opportunity to retrace your steps. Cape May County’s quiet side offers verdant pastures, landscapes of lush pine-lands and Jersey Fresh farms at work. And the Sheep Farm, a half-mile off Route 47 at 550 Hands Mill Road is one of them.
“We’re not like a petting zoo,” owner Lynne LoPresti says. “We are a working sheep farm.” And while the sheep create a pastoral atmosphere, it is best to let them do their work…if you can call it that.
The farm’s woolly residents basically eat a lot of grass and hay, hang out with the resi-dent llama, and make an occasional media cameo, as they did this March when they appeared on the cover of On Deck to usher in spring. Other than that, their days are their own. Aside from the annual military-style haircut, being a sheep is good work if you can get it.
The harvest of wool from the spring shear-ing provides raw materials for much of what LoPresti sells in her shop all year, including handmade sweaters, socks and mittens, jew-elry and novelties. Knitting enthusiasts “flock” to the shop for its colorful selection of yarn, and raw wool is available for “spin-it-yourselfers.”
Retail therapy is the perfect solution to uncooperative weather, and this out-of-the-way spot can offer a brief vacation from your vacation if you are looking for a day off the beaten track. Just be sure to call before you make the trip, however. The shop operates on country time—“by chance or by appoint-ment.” North Country Knits, 551 Hands Mill Road (just off Route 47), Belleplain, 609-861-0328.