The day started out dark and cold.
We were planning on being out of bed by 6:30 in order to be out the door by 7:30, but the dogs decided I had slept enough by 5:15.
It was an icky winter day, even by PNW standards. Cold, rainy, windy. But regardless, I awoke a happy girl, knowing that today we would be going to Stanwood to learn farm stuff.
And learn we did! About organic soil improvement, pasture weeds, fencing, sheep shearing on a stand, fruit tree pruning, and producing/processing/marketing quality fleece.
And I have pictures!
Here is our lucky contestant for the “sheep shearing on a stand” demo by Eileen Hordyk of Sand Hill Sheep and Wool:
He was a very cooperative fellow, especially for this being his first time through the shearing experience. Isn’t he handsome critter? Here he is about half-way through the process:
What is really neat about the concept of shearing on a stand is that you can get all the prime fleece off and out of the way first, and then go back and clean up the legs, belly and anything else you’d otherwise have to skirt out later. And it also keeps you from having to flip a sheep on it’s butt and roll it around while you’re clipping- another big plus in my book.
Here is the young gentleman with his entire lamb fleece removed:
And here is the half of his fleece that I gleefully bought from Eileen:
Between that and the cool books the man got me (including Three Bags Full, by Leonie Swann), this just might qualify as the best birthday yet.