Washington County Fiber Tour

Today Maddie and Brian agreed to go along on a couple of stops on the Washington County Fiber Tour. First we went to Alpacas of Haven Hill and met the alpacas. They have 19 on their farm along with horses and dogs. They also have a cute little shop where they sell items made from their alpaca's fleece.

Brothers! They just got done hitting each other about the neck and decided to look innocent. 

I could not resist this guy with his teeth. 

The girls! They liked to pose for the camera.

Our next stop was St.Mary's on the Hill Cashmere Goats. Not only did we meet the nuns but we also met another group of 4H kids. 

This made Maddie's day! 

Another one I couldn't resist! Snoozing upside down. Its hard work entertaining all those people when you are only a few weeks old.

This guy refused to look at us.

This one put up with Brian and I for a minute then went over to nuzzle and lick Maddie to get her attention. 

This little guy worked really hard and finally got into the feed box.

Our last stop was the Battenkill Carding and Spinning Mill. I didn't take any photos but the machines were really neat! We got to see the process of taking a fleece, cleaning it, carding it, spinning it and making it into yarn. It was a lot of fun. Even Maddie and Brian had fun and we might do more next year!

District Public Presentations

Today was the big day for District Public Presentations. This included about 6 counties and many kids! Maddie not only presented but also was a room host. Her duties for that included greeting the presenters, making sure they got set up OK and introducing them to the audience. She did great not only as a presenter but as the room host too!

introductions

Setting up and presenting

Here is the video of her presentation! Enjoy!!

Yarn Along Outside!

I wish I had time to knit outside today but the day care kids will not allow that! It was a beautiful day though and I couldn't resist taking the pictures outside next to a pumpkin that has sprouted itself in our yard! Squirrels + leftover Halloween pumpkins=pumpkin sprouts I guess!

I am working on my Little House shawl and loving it.

I just finished The Evolution of Calpurnia Tate and am now reading The Curious World of Calpurnia Tate at Maddie's request. They are wonderful stories and make me think of Maddie all the way through.

What are you knitting and reading? Anything sprout in your lawn unexpectedly?

Linking with Ginny at Small Things.

Lovely Sunday

Ahhh..the weather is beautiful outside! On top of that we managed to get all the chores done yesterday! So off we went to the Indian Kill this afternoon for a hike. Maddie took her camera and got some good shots too! Brian also explained to Maddie how to stop and take a heading with the compass so she would have some of that under her belt before Forestry Camp next month. We spotted skunk cabbage, coltsfoot, a large plot of Japanese Knot Weed (an invasive plant), nuthatches and chipmunks. Maddie and Brian thought they spotted a kingfisher but I happened to be taking a photo of the coltsfoot and missed it!

coltsfoot

skunk cabbage

skunk cabbage

taking a heading! 

Hiking Sticks...4H Style! .

Tonight we met with our 4H group to make hiking sticks. The kids were really excited and had a great time. One of our parents offered to cut saplings for the kids to use and I brought things to decorate them. The nice part is the kids can keep working on them as much as they like and will be able to enter them in the fair this summer.

I love how all the sticks came out different. There are different woods, different heights, different decorations. Lots of fun! Now we must plan a hike!

Finally....SNOW!

Yesterday we were finally, very late, hit with a snowstorm. It started in the night and kept up all day long. We ended up with about 5" with the airport reporting 6.4". Its not much really but since we didn't have snow most of the winter it was a bit surprising. Maddie and the kids were very excited though because it meant they could use the sleds! So we spent about an hour outside this morning just going up and down the hill and up and down the hill and......

A junco in the apple tree during the storm. The birds were very put out with Mother Nature!

All the bird tracks....

Up....

and down.....

and up again

Poor sprouts!

Then we came inside so Maddie and I could make a meat pasty from her book on the Industrial Revolution. So I taught Maddie how to make Mamaw Mary's pie dough recipe. While she worked on that I made a filling of onion, carrots, ground beef and peas. They were very yummy and well received by everyone! 

The snow has now mostly melted, at least on our sunny side of the street! The kids will be out of luck tomorrow with the sleds but at least we had one round!!