Alpaca farm visit day

11:30am-1:30pm (2hrs)

Of the 5 participating farms, I managed to visit 2 for the national alpaca farm visit day. My first stop was Hum Sweet Hum, with Cindy Myers. Cindy gave her visitors apple slices and baby carrots to feed to the alpacas, who were generally very friendly and used to being handled. She told me alpacas have no front top teeth, only a hard pallet, so they chew with their back teeth so need smaller pieces of hard things – no whole apples or big carrots. Cindy works full time with her alpacas, filling her house with fiber and clicker-training the animals to bow, kiss, and jump through hula-hoops. The second farm was Aragon Alpacas with Ann and Mike Dockendorf. Ann is a spinner, knitter, felter, and works as a digital designer I believe. The barn gets cleaned every day, and once a week, Ann has an intern who comes and helps her out on the farm for the day.  

Shady Oaks Sheep Sheering

11:30am-1:30pm (2hrs)

I asked if I could come out to visit th11:30-1:30 (2hrs)11:30-1:30 (2hrs)11:30-1:30 (2hrs)e farm, and the next thing I knew, I was heading out to Shady Oaks farm to help with the sheep sheering. Other shepherdesses and neighbor women came out for the event, as well as one hired sheep sheering man from New Zealand. The group was spending the day going from farm to farm to get all the sheep sheered. When I arrived, the farm was busy preparing. The sheerer set up lights, a platform, the special sheers on a stand, and a swing to lean over while sheering. I helped the owner of the farm heard all the sheep into a small pen while other women prepared a mesh table and bags for the fleeces. The sheering began with a sheep that was being kept separate from the others as she was sick and rather pregnant. The women tried using a harness with the intention of being as stress free as possible, but in the end simply put their hands on her neck and gently lead her out. I swept the sheering platform (a piece of plywood), and the sheerer took control of the ewe. Using his legs, he held and turned the animal while sheering, starting with the belly and legs and working his way around the body. The first bit of fleece from the belly and legs, I swept away and threw in the garbage. Once the sheering was complete, the animal was lead back to her pen, getting hooves trimmed and antibiotics applied before being returned. On a clip board, her name was checked off, along with notes made about how many babies it looks like she was carrying and her due date. Meanwhile, the other women came in and carefully rolled up the fleece, took it to the mesh table to spread out and pick out the worst bits, then rolled again and put in a plastic bag with the name of the sheep. I quickly swept up the area as the next sheep was handed over to be sheered. The naked sheep seemed happy to be released into a bigger pen, free of their bulky coats. I was particularly amazed by how calm (most of) the sheep were throughout the whole process and how one man was able to control and hold them while sheering.  

Andrea Zittel

6pm-7pm (1hr)


Andrea Zittel presents herself as an artist, though she could also be thought of as a designer. The auditorium was packed, with people sitting in the isles and on the stairs. I was surprised by how much I was inspired by her and how much I identified with her. Zittel designs and builds living structures, furniture and clothing primarily. She experimented with making herself one garment per season and wearing it every day for the entire season - an idea that started out with wearing the same dress to work every day for a year. Her boss commented at the end of the year, "did you wear that same dress yesterday?" but otherwise never noticed. Expanding off of this, Zittel first tried making dresses out of whole rectangles of material, then knitting or crocheting from single continuous threads, then eventually began hand felting fiber directly to her body.