Field Trip to Fancy Fibers Farm

FancyFibersFarmJuly2010_009Today my local knitting group In Stitches in McKinney took a field trip to Fancy Fibers Farm near, fittingly, Farmersville, TX. Mary Berry, a fiber enthusiast gone wild, gave our group of kids and adults a guided tour of the pastures and their fuzzy inhabitants, a collection of sheep, goats, alpaca, guard dogs, and (token non-fuzzies) chickens.

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Mary must have deep stores of patience, as her talk was punctuated by correcting errant quadruped and little-kid behavior. It’s a pity kids don’t come with horn handles like the goats do, hee hee.  FancyFibersFarmJuly2010_010

On the other hand kids don’t leap as high, hooves flying.

If only we had touch cameras, I could share the soft cuddlyness of this baby Nigora named Han Solo. Only five weeks old…aww.FancyFibersFarmJuly2010_017

Somehow the alpaca hFancyFibersFarmJuly2010_019ad been a major draw for me, never having met an alpaca, but the goats and sheep were friendlier and more pettable. These guys were skittish and reputed to spit – no thanks! They sure are interesting to look at, though.

 

 

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Hmm, does this shot remind anyone else of the final scene in Close Encounters?

 

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After the field tour, the humans and other animals moseyed back toward the fiber FancyFibersFarmJuly2010_036FancyFibersFarmJuly2010_044FancyFibersFarmJuly2010_042processing building, where we saw angora rabbits, English bunnies, some German ones I think, plus two mouser cats and oh yes, wool, roving, devices for getting pasture pieces out of wool, a spinning wheel, dyes, a weaving loom, and more. Mary does it all, from lanolin-greasy wool to gorgeous yarns. Once a month she invites people in to dye yarn or roving too, with her instruction. The experience gave us knitters a new appreciation for expensive, hand-dyed, hand-spun yarn. Wow, so much work, but it’s surely Mary’s passion. Thanks to Mary for the tour and to Sarah Dedman for organizing this fun day!

P.S. I even bought farm fresh eggs! Who wants a blue/green omelette? FancyFibersFarmEggsJuly2010_002


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