Today 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.
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. 
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.
Somehow the alpaca h
ad 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.
After the field tour, the humans and other animals moseyed back toward the fiber 
processing 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? 