Education. One first grader at a time!

You can teach a student a lesson for a day; but if you can teach him to learn by creating curiosity, he will continue the learning process as long as he lives.
Clay P. Bedford

A month or two ago I visited my friend Natalia's first grade class in Bennington, Vermont as a guest speaker. The first question the students had was if I brought a llama or sheep with me. I explained that getting a llama in my Honda Civic may be a little difficult, but I did have a lot to show them and a few fun games to play. 

First we went though some pictures on my Pad of llama, alpaca, sheep, angora rabbits and angora goats (where you get mohair.) I explained to them that fibered animals help keep us warm in the winter and then had them name everything that kept them warm. It was like little lights went off in their minds and they started to put two and two together- they wear wool and so do animals. "Why do we shear the animals in the spring and not the winter?" I asked. They were so excited to say how the animals need their winter clothes too. 

 We also played a little game called guess what type of fiber was in the box. First I explained that wool and mohair have lanolin in it and that wool had a natural curl/crimp to it like some of their hair did and llama and alpaca did not have any lanolin. We went around the class with one box at a time. I told them not to say anything until everyone was done and then they were able to yell out what they thought was the answer. They all did really well with their guess and plus they loved that they were able to yell and not raise their hands. I was impressed how focused they were and how they were little sponges absorbing everything I was explaining. I handed out a little bit of fiber to all of them to take home.

Next we used the hand carders. We talked about how they had to comb their hair and how sometimes we have to comb the fiber too to be able to spin it. Each of the kids got a chance at carding. I held one and they held the other. The kids got a kick out of this. Of course the boys were pulling theirs so hard and throwing themselves all over the room. It became a game of who could throw themselves father but at least they were having fun with fiber. The little girl below really impressed me. She asked if we could mix all of her fibers together! It was so exciting to see a little fiber artist standing in frot of me. 

Finally, working together I taught the kids how to spin. One student held the fiber while the other one twisted it. They were so excited and one kid said he was going to take it home to give to his grandma because she knit. I swear this was one of the most rewarding experiences I've ever had. Plus I got them to sit still for 45 min!! I mean if that's not impressive I don't know what is. Thank you Mrs. Klien's first grade class for having me and making me want to educate that much more! 

Creativity is inventing, experimenting, growing, taking risks, breaking rules, making mistakes, and having fun.

Mary Lou Cook

My steps to felting soaps

For my sister-in-laws bridal shower I decided to make felted soap and package it with my friends natural beeswax candles (http://www.cambridgecandles.com/) for the gifts. I know there are a lot of people out there that make felted soap but I wanted to share a little bit about how I was taught and how I made these. 

I start out with Falkland wool roving. The soap was a lavender sage organic soap so I wanted to dye the roving to match. 

First I soaked the roving in hot water with citric acid crystals and synthrapol. You can also just use citric acid and vinegar (personally I like the smell of lemon juice the best.) This soak will help the fiber absorb and set the dye so it holds and doesn't fade or bleed. 

I mixed two Pro Chemical dyes up in plastic squirt bottles and put to the side.

Next I laid out the wet roving on plastic. 

I then used the squirt bottles to place the dye where I wanted it. This is the creative part! 

After I was happy with the colors I placed the wool in the crock pot that has been heated up (on high) with hot water and lemon juice in it. 

After the water runs clear in the crock pot, I took the roving out and placed it in warm water to rinse. I know its tempting but don't touch the roving or it will felt. 

After I let it soak in the water for about 20 min I set it aside to dry for the night. 

Next is the soap felting process. 

First start by pulling apart your roving and making piles of the fiber. I make it just a little wider then the soap and longer enough so the soap can be wrapped and have a little extra. 

Make about 4 to 5 layers depending on the fiber and how dense it is. With the first layer I aways go vertical then I switch the fibers to go horizontal (shorter) as seen in the picture. 

Next lay down your soap  (the soap should be little wet with some bubbles first.) Keep a little fiber on the bottom like the picture illustrates.

Next, wrap your soap up making sure you cover the sides as you do it. 

Then just go slow and use hot water then cold water. Do not try to felt it too fast or you will get ridges. Also be careful of the corners because if you do not have enough fiber they will poke through. 

 Start by slowly and softly moving the soap in both hands, as the felting progresses, apply more pressure.

The hot water opens the follicles of the fiber up and the cold closes them. The soap acts as an irritant to the fiber. You will notice that when you use cold your fiber will become hard.  I always end with the cold water. 

I think felted soaps make a great, unique gift! 

How to seperate lanolin from wool

While washing a Border Leicester fleece yesterday with my friend Sue she asked "how do we separate the lanolin to use in bath and beauty products..." Good question Sue! I had no idea besides that it came off in the washing process. So today I researched it! I found a few good websites with directions. 

http://www.wikihow.com/Extract-Lanolin-from-Sheep's-Wool

http://www.pbs.org/weta/roughscience/series3/shakers/handcream.html#lanolin4

For those who are unfamiliar, lanolin is also refereed to as wool wax or wool grease. It is a yellow waxy substance secreted by the sebaceous glands of wool-bearing animals. Lanolin is used in most of the beauty products we use daily. 

 Lanolin has a waterproofing property that aids sheep in shedding water from their coats. It also has anti-fungal and antibacterial properties that protect the sheep's skin from infection.

I find that you can see the lanolin best on a white fleeced animal but you can sure feel it in most wools! 

Step one- Fill a large pot with hot water (pot should be large enough to fit your wool) 

Step two- Put the raw wool in a laundry bag and place in pot

Step three- Add salt (1-3 tablespoons) 

Step four- Bring water to a steady boil for a few hours. Do not leave wool unattended. Add water as needed.

Step five- Remove wool from water and place in a container to dry. (Water is very hot so do this with gloves and tongs) 

Step six- Continue to boil water until it all evaporates. What is left is the lanolin! 

Step seven- Pour the leftover lanolin though cheese cloth or muslin. This will remove dirt and debris. 

Step eight- Allow lanolin to cool then jar! 

Your done! 

I am very excited to start collecting my own lanolin since I don't like anything to go to waste! I even use the skirted fiber for mulch in my garden and the birds love it! 

This is a picture of the Border Leicester we worked on all clean:

Why we do what we do

This is why we do what we do!

Check out this video and how amazing it is!

http://vimeo.com/27328081

Trump the Angora Rabbit

Meet Trump

Trump belongs to my good friend Sue Polley and her daughter Karen. 

He is a rescue angora rabbit and is blind in one eye. He has amazing fiber! 


Sue his owner tells me Trump is a very mellow bunny. He lives under (in a separate cage) of Jack who is Erin's (her other daughter's) Mini Satin. They do not get along, but that is not on Trump's part. Every time they put them together Jack would "hump" Trump's face. Poor little guy! She think he would get along with others. He is not bothered by their dogs or the chickens when he is out and about.
Also he was used to breed. She was told when She adopted him that he as blinded during a breeding accident. The girl bunny apparently did not like what he was trying to do and scratched him in the eye and that is how he ended up blind.

I used my Fancy Kitty medium cloth drum carder to first make the batts. 

I blended about 50% merino with the angora. I didn't have a lot so I wanted to make it stretch as much as I could. I think next time I will bump down the amount of merino because I believe it over powered the angora. Next time I am planning on doing 25-30% merino. 

I love the way the two fibers look together. It reminds me of smoke or marble. 

I am really happy with this yarn. Its average 7wpi which makes it a bulky yarn. It is approx 134 yards. I don't know what I will make with it yet.

 Any suggestions? 

Busy as a Bee

The bees are busy as ever and I feel as though I am too!! Our bees are amazing and have been making great progress. 

This is me planting strawberries for the bees. I didn't take the deer into consideration before doing so and now they have eaten all the leaves :(  Hopefully deer don't like the taste of strawberries themselves but i doubt that. 

 I am falling more and more in love with our beehive. I find them so amazing. Our queen is a great queen, as soon as we got her in the hive she made herself at home and started laying eggs. We should have some new bees soon! It takes the workers (females) 21 days to hatch and a drone (male) around 23 days. I got a little taste of their honey and its amazing! We may cultivate a little in the fall but we want the bees to keep most of it for their first winter. 

These are just a few pictures of Nick and I in our hive! 

Just thought I should throw in a picture of my craziness too! Oh apartment living! 

You want me to do what???

Like I said in my "about me", my blog will include some of my experience farming. If you have a weak stomach you may not want to look at this blog post. Tabbethia teaches a class for Laguardia College at Cornell Cooperative Extension Farm in Suffolk County. The class is a vet tech program. Tabbethia helps out with the large farm animal section. Two Saturday's ago, I didn't wake up thinking I would be doing what I did that day but that's all part of the job I guess. Tabbethia asked me if I would like to join the class. She would be doing a shearing (which I never find old to watch) and they were doing something with cows. Oh and she got me there because she said there would be baby chickens and triplet baby goats, my weakness is baby animals! 

When I showed up, there were three female cows. The class was shown how to administrate shots and how to put medication into a cow using a stomach tube. I had no idea what I had gotten myself into until the large gloves and huge bottle of lube came out. Now if anyone knows Tabbethia they know that she would get a great kick out of making me do what I did next!!

This is a palpation of a cow rectum. I know you are going to say why would anyone ever want to do that? Well this is why:

Uses of Rectal Palpation

1) artificial insemination

2) non-surgical recovery of embryos for subsequent embryo transfer

3) pregnancy diagnosis

4) postpartum reproductive exam to determine suitability of the animal for breeding and to estimate whether the cow is cyclic.

5) clinical diagnosis of cystic ovarian disease and uterine infections.

One of the cows was pregnant and I was able to feel the calf though the rectal wall. I didn't get to examine her but the students that did said it was amazing and they could feel features like the face and nostrils off the baby calf.

Who would of thought, an FIT grad doing a palpation?  You never really know where your life will turn but I say just go with it!