Inselschaf

IMPORTANT DIKE MAINTENANCE BY JOHN AND HIS SHEEP ON FÖHR!

Through mährle, the wool from our farm is a contribution of lived northern german ecology.

Moin, I am John. My Föhr sheep are real “seed cabs”. With up to twenty-five thousand (!) seeds of all kinds in their wool, they ensure plant species diversity on our island. During grazing, these seeds get lost and are trampled down by the so-called “golden tread”. This is exactly why our sheep pastures are so rich in species without losing the solid, closed scar. Stigma? Yes, these dense swards are, among other things, enormously important for coastal protection (and thus for all of us here on Föhr) and are especially necessary on dikes.

At the same time, it protects native vegetation from being displaced by Jacob’s ragwort. If gaps develop in the grass without grazing, this herb can settle and is approached by bees. However, its nectar contains toxic substances, making the honey inedible for humans and animals.

This means that good grazing by our sheep protects our ecosystem very effectively from invasive plant species and allows other species to benefit as well.

For example, our Föhr sheep are very picky eaters and won’t even touch certain plants (such as thistles or flutter rushes). These plants in turn serve as an optimal food source for insects, which in turn form the menu for native bird species. A real cycle! In addition, grazing provides the preferred habitat for various meadow bird species in the first place.

At grazed ditch edges or drinking hollows they can most easily and safely teach their offspring to drink and raise them. With the steady decrease in grazed areas and the increase in “renaturalized areas,” meadow birds can now be seen as early as spring. The problem is that they prefer to breed on roads rather than in dangerous, overgrown meadows. That is, if they still occur there at all.

By purchasing our island sheep wool, you are making an ecological and social contribution. Skins and wool products in general are natural products! For centuries they have protected against heat as well as cold, are antistatic, poorly combustible and to a certain extent self-cleaning! But above all, they are biologically valuable in production and naturally degradable after use. Our sheep live with their offspring on the North Sea island of Föhr. The lambs have short transport routes, are slaughtered in the region and sold as food. From selected animals the skins, cleaned by rainwater, are tanned in German tanneries. Our partnership with mährle, especially through Dagmar, allows our farm to get a fair price for the new wool for the first time (after twenty-three years!).

And this benefits not only us, but also our sheep and our entire home – the island of Föhr.

— John Petersen

CHARACTERISTICS OF OUR „INSELSCHAF“