Felting Field Trip

Today I hosted a field trip of 4-Hers led by Carol of Joshua Farm Shetlands. They came to talk about Jacob sheep, pasture management and the fiber business and to do a felting project.  The morning started in the pasture. Most people that come to see the farm want to spend time with sheep, but it is very important to understand that we should think of ourselves as "grass farmers" first. I couldn't possibly have the number of sheep that I do without irrigated pasture and intensive grazing management.We discussed sheep, facilities and ended the livestock part of the tour by looking at the Dead Zone (I just thought of that name). There are ram skulls in that fence in various stages of decomposition. As we explained to the kids, we want to sell every part of the animal we can.  We came back to the shop for lunch and then a felting workshop. The idea was to felt a sheep.  Some of the sheep had morphed significantly into other life forms: Snail. Duck.Aren't these cool? Before they left the 4-H group was gracious enough to help my son out with his photography assignment. He is supposed to submit an interpretation of Social Awareness and decided to stage a family picnic in which it is obvious that everyone is more involved in their electronic devices than each other.

No one seemed to mind the time for this, but the girls crowded around the iPad kept asking for the password.