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| Waiting to be sheared. |
If, like me, you enjoyed the movie "Babe" you would probably like the annual Sheep-Shearing festival at historic Gore Place, the home of the 8th governor of Massachusetts, Christopher Gore (1758-1827), and his wife Rebecca, who was largely responsible for the design and planning of their mansion.
The well-attended festival featured vendors of art, fiber and food, costumed interpreters, music and dance performances, herding dog demonstrations and, of course, the shearing of the resident flock of merino sheep. Although I currently have a yarn-buying moratorium, of the many yarn and roving vendors on site I was particularly taken with the offerings of Sonder yarns and River Valley Farm - lovely textures and colors. Both of these vendors plan to attend the upcoming 2017 Fiber Festival in western Massachusetts.
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| Welcome! |
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| Carding and spinning demo. |
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| Yarn and other items for sale. |
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| Hooking a rug. |
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| "Try before you buy" loom opportunity. |
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| Alpacas - very soft. |
But of course the main attraction is the shearing of the sheep - accomplished with manual, not electric, sheep shears. Adult sheep are on one side of the holding area, with older lambs across the way. Hence, lots of bleating and baa-ing as ewes and lambs anxiously called to each other.
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| Foreground - ewes and rams; older lambs in the distance. |
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| Skilled shearer at work. |
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| Handling sheep and shears, in front of an audience. |
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| Two lambs too young to be separated from Mom. |
