Artisan’s multi-functional wares reflect her deeply DIY lifestyle
Photo by Matt Rose
“Shearing sheep is like wrestling a 120- to 200-pound toddler, while cutting its hair that grows all over its body,” reports Jessica Lynn Sanchez, owner/operator of Rusted Earth Farm near Sandy Mush, North Carolina, a scenic rural area in northwestern Buncombe County.
Caring for a herd of about 30 sheep (plus a llama) can be tough. Sanchez had no prior experience with farming or raising livestock before establishing Rusted Earth Farm, but it definitely isn’t her first rodeo: For a year she worked as a wrangler on a Montana ranch, riding unbroken horses in order to tame them.
“I’ve been stepped on, kicked, bucked off, and knocked out,” says Sanchez, who also set out on that wrangling adventure with no experience. “I kind of talked my way into it,” she confesses. “But I think the man who hired me was impressed that I had worked with wild animals in Africa. I tracked rhinos, elephants, and lions. I love lions! I’m kind of obsessed with them, which is funny, since now I raise sheep.”
Sanchez, who studied architecture and wildlife biology in college, tracked the animals to monitor their health and protect them — basically the same thing she’s doing now. “These sheep are an endangered heritage breed called Navajo-Churro,” she explains, “and they have a lot of hardship in their history.”
Churro were the first breed of domesticated sheep in the United States, brought over by the Spanish conquistadors. They were adopted by the Navajo, who acquired them in trade, and for whom they became an invaluable resource. But there were only 400 of them left in the 1970s, before conservation efforts boosted the population to around 4,500. They are still considered threatened, and Sanchez wants to celebrate them while ensuring their longevity.
“I try to do everything true to the history of this breed,” she says, “which is why I use a traditional Navajo loom.” She made it herself, using a dismantled wooden pallet and self-taught woodworking skills. While doing so, she gained hands-on insight into how a loom works — and the basics of weaving.
Once it was finished, she was then a self-taught weaver. “I warped up and wove a piece right away.”
So she recycled another pallet into a larger loom. With it, and tips learned from expert weavers in the area, she started weaving Navajo-style woolen rugs. “But I couldn’t bring myself to walk on them,” Sanchez recalls, “so they ended up hanging on the wall.”
All the fiber for her wall art and yarn comes from her animals. She dyes wool using black walnuts, avocado pits, onion skins, plant-based indigo, and lichen. Even the wall mounts are made from wood harvested on her farm.
Sanchez is also a skillful potter, a trade she was taught as a teenager. Her thimble-sized “pinch spoons” are an elegant solution for recipes that call for just a pinch, and her coffee mugs reflect the scenery at Rusted Earth Farm.
She often adds a little spout to her bowls. “The spout is handy for resting an upright spoon, and also for pouring.” Her garlic grinder looks like a saucer, but has a decorative abrasive surface in the center. “You rub a clove across it and it really liquefies it. Then you can pour olive oil into it right there. It has a spout, too, for pouring.
“I like to make functional pottery that can serve more than one purpose.”
Photo by Matt Rose
Jessica Lynn Sanchez of Rusted Earth Farm will take part in the Come to Leicester Studio Tour happening Saturday, Aug. 17 and Sunday, Aug. 18, 10am-6pm; she’ll exhibit her pieces at Addison Farms Vineyard (4005 New Leicester Hwy.). For an updated tour map, see cometoleicester.org. Sanchez sells work at Ware (51 College St., #1A, Asheville, wareavl.com) and on her website: www.rustedearth.co. Also on Facebook (Rusted Earth Farm) and Instagram (@rustedearth.co).