The station I was asked to put together at the farm fair is called the Ewe to You booth.  We have 15 minutes to cram a lot of information into those kids.  I made a poster with pictures of several different breeds of sheep on it so they can see the size range and the color range.  I also have a lamb meat cut poster so they can see the cuts of meat that come from a lamb.  One kid said, "Oh, I love pork chops!"  We had a short discussion that pork comes from pigs!  :-)The following is what I try to say in about 7 and a half minutes. 

Welcome to the Ewe to You booth of the Farm Fair!  Does anyone know why this booth is called the Ewe to You booth?  A ewe is a female sheep.  A male sheep is called a ram and a baby sheep, like we have in the corner, is called a lamb.  A group of sheep is called a flock unless it’s over 2000, then it’s called a band! 

Sheep are very versatile animals.  They provide wool and sheep skin rugs as well as meat.  Did you know they also provide milk?  Most people don’t drink sheep’s milk, but there is as much milk produced around the world as dairy cattle.  You may have eaten cheese made from sheep’s milk called Feta. It can also be made of goat’s milk.  Sheep and goats are different in that sheep have wool, goats have hair.  Sheep say baa, goats say maa.

Sheep are ruminants, just like cows, goats and deer.  That means they have 4 stomachs in one to digest grass and hay and convert it into meat and wool.  (When I got to this part I explained how they burp part of their meal back up to enjoy it a second time.  They call it chewing their cud.  One little boy looked at me and said, "I sure couldn't do that with my lasagna!"  I never laughed so hard!)

There are more than 20 different breeds of sheep in the US, as you can see on the poster.  Some breeds of sheep are better for meat production and other sheep are better for wool production.  Sometimes they cross two or more breeds and get a good combination of both meat and wool in one sheep.  In fact, that’s how a lot of the sheep in the pictures originated.  Sheep come in all sizes and many different natural colors.  Adult sheep can weigh anywhere from 50 pounds to over 300, depending on the breed and if it’s a ewe or a ram.  Rams weigh more than ewes.  You might only think of sheep being white, but there are also black sheep, brown sheep, gray sheep and many combinations of those colors!

All of this wool came from different, naturally colored sheep!  You can dye wool with plants and other dyes to make bright colors.  You can even dye it with Kool Aid!

Sheep are sheared in the spring.  It’s like getting a hair cut once a year and it doesn’t hurt the sheep at all.  It actually probably feels really good to them, especially when the summer sun starts to heat up, like taking off your winter coat!  A shearer sets the sheep up on its bottom and begins clipping the wool off of the sheep in long strokes with clippers.  It comes off in one big piece called a fleece.  We have 290,000 sheep in the state of Montana.  Can anyone guess how many pounds of wool those sheep produced last year?  2.4 million!

People who have lots and lots of sheep sell their wool to big mills. It’s made into sweaters, clothing & blankets.  People who only raise a few sheep sometimes spin their own wool on a spinning wheel, like Mrs. (my helper) is over there. It should first be washed and carded, although some people spin it straight from the sheep.  That is called spinning in the grease.  They call it that because wool contains natural oil called lanolin.  It is used in hand creams and lotions.  When you are shearing or working with wool, the lanolin comes off on your hands and makes them very soft.

After the wool is spun, it becomes yarn!  You can knit it, crochet it, felt it or even weave it into lots of interesting things like you see here.  Baseballs and our first American flag are made of wool.   My sweater was made from wool and so was the first American flag.  Baseballs are made of wool too!   Do any of you have anything made from wool?

From there I hand it over to the spinner in the group.  The kids have been given a lock of wool as they walk in.  She then shows them how to spin it in their hands to make it a strong fiber.  This year she demonstrated the drop spindle, spinning wheel, walking wheel and had a loom.  If there was enough time, the kids could work the loom.

Generally they blow the horn and it scares us half to death.  The kids are on their way and another group comes in.

Bum lambs '07.  These two happened to both be white.  Mary's wheels are set up next to the lambs by the entry gate.

Loom on the left and our display of finished goods, from lotions and balms to sheep skins.

Nancy's Sweater, scarf and purse & hat to the right of the table.

Nancy teaching the kids on Thursday.

Mary & the kids by her great wheel.  She's showing them the drop spindle.

Easy Homemade Ice Cream

One of the stations at the farm fair is the ice cream station.  It's the noisiest station too!  The kids have a great time rolling the cans back and forth across a flatbed trailer to turn their cream and sugar into ice cream.  It only takes 15 minutes and you've got delicious, homemade ice cream.  The first picture shows the kids rolling their cans across, the second picture is the recipe and how it works.  This would be great for a family reunion or picnic this summer!

You need two coffee cans, a big one and a small one.  Besides the ingredients shown below, you also need ice and rock salt.  Keep in mind that the recipe provided is for SEVERAL cans. 

Recipe, instructions & the how and why!

Here's a little girl milking a cow for the first time.  Last year as I was watching the kids milk the cow, one little girl, after milking the cow said, "It feels just like my Grandma's hands!"  I thought that was so cute.  I don't know how Grandma might feel about that comment, however! 

Oh the joys of blogging!  I sat here at the computer for the better part of an hour and a half last night with a big, long blog update.  Then I hit the wrong button and it all disappeared.  Here's another attempt.

Last Monday morning my part Saanen goat had twin boys.  They are the cutest little things and buckskin colored.  Then Tuesday came and Sweet Pea, my Nubian cross had twin boys.  They both look just like her.  Tuesday evening we went out to dinner to celebrate my husband's birhtday and my daughter graduating from college.  Upon returning home I discovered another set of twin goat kids in the upper pasture.  This time Honeycomb had 2 girls!  I was relieved that they all kided and I didn't have to worry about coming home to check on them since Wednesday and Thursday I needed to be at the local Farm Fair.

Here's all 6 babies.  Sweet Pea's on the left, Honeycomb's on the right and Maa Maa's in front.

As I mentioned, our daughter just graduated from Montana State University this past week.  She turned her last paper in on Tuesday.  She graduated in Business Management.  We are very proud of her.  She was also given her 2 year review at the bank she works at and received a promotion and a raise.  Yesterday she got to work and they had a surprise party for her with cake, punch, balloons and a small gift.  She was overwhelmed.

Wednesday and Thursday was spent at a neighboring ranch teaching over 650 area 4th graders all about sheep and wool.  I put together the Ewe to You booth and have volunteered for the last 3 years.  I have others who help me and I couldn't do it alone.  The weather this year was HOT!  I just about melted on Wednesday.

This farm fair is designed to teach kids where their food and water comes from.  Gallatin Valley was founded in agriculture, but that's not so anymore.  It's important that kids know water doesn't just come out of a bottle or a tap and where their milk actually comes from.  There are 16 stations for the kids and each 15 minutes they go on to another station.  Here's a picture of one of the two barns we are set up in.

The different stations are, hogs, forestry, goats, milk cows, beef cows, chickens, horses, water, sheep, potatoes, noxious weeds, soil, ice cream, wheat & grains, crops and draft horses.  The kids get to ride the horse-drawn wagons out to see how the center pivot irrigation system works.

Look at those Bridger Mountains in the background! 

From there the kids are dropped off at another barn for lunch.

You can see why Montana is called Big Sky Country!

The lunch is free and consists of cheese burgers & chips,  carrot sticks, milk, a cookie and an apple.  It is all donated and this whole thing is put on by the Gallatin Valley Ag Committee and sponsored by the area Chambers of Commerce.

Enjoying lunch on straw bales in the equipment barn below.

After the farm fair was over, I got to bring the pig home.  I had made arrangements with the pig farmer to buy the pig as a birthday gift for my husband.  It was a couple of days late, but that was ok.  I had told him his present was on order and might be late.  Here's a picture of him!  He looks like a calico cat.