Saturday, April 17, 2010

Amazing Alpacas


Our Brownie troop visited the PorterBray Pines Alpaca Ranch yesterday! This was a part of an overall lesson in fiber - last month they learned to sew by making a little felt beanbag, and on it they learned to sew on a button. Life skill.

Many of the girls, being city girls, hadn't given much thought as to where that thread or yarn comes from, so a trip to the alpacas was in order. Carey was our link to PorterBray Pines, and I had seen them twice at our local Renaissance festival. We had a lovely time!

Alpacas are rather shy, and third grade girls are rather noisy, so it took a few minutes for them to warm to each other, but once the carrots came out, fast friends were made (as long as there were carrots in the bags anyway).


The girls were enchanted with their sweet faces and gentle personalities. We even saw Marina, the 5 month old baby!

We got to see a bag of fleece from the recent shearing, and then our good friend Janice treated the girls to a spinning demonstration, to see that fiber turned to yarn.

The girls were fascinated at the spinning and had lots of questions for Janice. I think one Brownie is asking her mom for a spinning wheel soon if she hasn't already!
Thank you Janice and PorterBray Pines!

2 comments:

Anonymous said...

The alpacas were beyond adorable. Thanks again for inviting me to share in the fun.
Janice

Anonymous said...

We just found your blog and read about your adventure here with our alpacas. You did a great job on the blog and we were very happy to have you and the girls here for a visit. And we sure enjoyed the cookies!
Julie and Barb