From the Pastures: Farm tour passport

The Wisconsin Sheep and Wool Festival was a lot of fun this year. Great to see old friends and to meet new ones. Just a note to follow up on the items I discussed in last month’s column. The wool coasters were well received. Several people were interested and mentioned they would be great because wool absorbs any condensation from the outside of the glass. Also, a lot of people commented on the Barbie pink yarn and thought it was great for kids. It is always nice to receive positive feedback on items I make from my sheep’s wool.

A couple weeks ago we participated in the Boone County Farm Stroll. The event is organized by the local Illinois Extension office and includes several small farms in the area. Participants are given a map of the locations with descriptions of the farms. They also receive a passport where they can add stickers from each farm they visit. When they have visited as many as they want, they leave the passport and are entered into a drawing for prizes.

We were happy to welcome over 130 visitors throughout the day. We gave tours of the mill and explained how yarn is made from wool. We discussed caring for sheep and the benefits of wool. There were a lot of families with children. Everyone enjoyed learning about sheep and wool.

As the weather cools off, I am starting to work on getting the barn ready for the winter. As always there are a couple projects that we were going to get to, but there is always next spring to fix that fence — LOL. Have a safe harvest season.