Sheep Shearing
EDITOR'S NOTE: Sorry for missing the usually Wednesday post. I had technical difficulties with pictures caused by Flickr updating their software and UI. Grr....
This past weekend we went to a sheep shearing put on my the Mass Audubon Society. It was a really amazing experience because, in part, it was done the true old fashioned way--with scissors, not electric clippers. Isaac had a blast.
When he was positively covered in icing and chocolate cake, we were looking at all the wears folks had set up for sale--wool this and wool that. They even had some alpaca wool, which is much finer and more expensive than sheep wool. Mr. Chocolate Fingers was fanscinated by a particular alpaca scarf and got very close to touching it. The lady manning the area was about to swoop in when I did. It was a lucky save as Mr. Chocolate Fingers was about wipe his hands on a $400 scarf.
This past weekend we went to a sheep shearing put on my the Mass Audubon Society. It was a really amazing experience because, in part, it was done the true old fashioned way--with scissors, not electric clippers. Isaac had a blast.
This was an operation, as the Mass Audubon Society is among the best funded and best organized outdoor groups in the entire world. There were folks directing traffic, folks selling food, folks doing crowd control, and the place was gorgeous even on a dreary early spring day (hey, this is New England and spring doesn't really start until May or until Patriot's Day, if the Red Sox don't have to wear hoodies under their jerseys).
The guy that was shearing the sheep was basically paid by Audubon to live on the property and manage the farm, a pretty sweet gig if you want to unplug for the hub bub of modern life. He was using handpowered scissors because there was no eletricity to the barn. The process looked brutal, both on his back and on the sheep. A few times Isaac asked if the sheep was okay and we had to assure him it was like when he got his hair cut. Here is the sheep, mid shear, looking at I-man:
He was never actually convinced until, when finished with his trim, the sheep popped up off the ground and sauntered back to his pen, all on his own power.
He was never actually convinced until, when finished with his trim, the sheep popped up off the ground and sauntered back to his pen, all on his own power.
After that we went outside and saw some 10 day old lambs, which were, at that point, nothing but cotton balls with legs.
Chased indoors by rain and 35 degree weather, we saw how fleece was converted into wool and how you felt wool (felted wool is the material you find on things like traditional pea coats). Isaac was a little hungry, and it was fun to support the cause, so we bought him a cupcake which he ate in approximately three massive bites. I write "bites" but it was more like shoves, as he opened his mouth and pushed the cupcake in.
Chased indoors by rain and 35 degree weather, we saw how fleece was converted into wool and how you felt wool (felted wool is the material you find on things like traditional pea coats). Isaac was a little hungry, and it was fun to support the cause, so we bought him a cupcake which he ate in approximately three massive bites. I write "bites" but it was more like shoves, as he opened his mouth and pushed the cupcake in.
When he was positively covered in icing and chocolate cake, we were looking at all the wears folks had set up for sale--wool this and wool that. They even had some alpaca wool, which is much finer and more expensive than sheep wool. Mr. Chocolate Fingers was fanscinated by a particular alpaca scarf and got very close to touching it. The lady manning the area was about to swoop in when I did. It was a lucky save as Mr. Chocolate Fingers was about wipe his hands on a $400 scarf.
We went back outside one more time, hoping the weather would let us explore the massive property. Unfortunately it didn't. We hopped in Suby and drove home. I would note the only way we could find our Suby among the crowd of similar cars was based on our license plate and the fact that we parked in an unusual place. The parking area looked like a Subaru dealership.
All in all it was a very good time.