Sunday Oct. 18th... Yesterday was a Good and Bad Day at the Festival......

We went to the sheep and wool festival yesterday in Rhinebeck and had a pretty good time, but due to my stupid knees and legs, missed a large portion of it, because we had to walk so slowly. We saw many, many displays of wool and alpaca products, including the raw fiber and processed roving and matting's for sale. We obviously need a drum carder for the alpaca fiber and once we have one, I can readily prepare our fiber from Luke, Iggy, Bollero and the fiber from all six of the angora bunnies for Vick to start spinning into yarn...a complete process right here on the farm. Anyway, we saw drum carders, carding paddles, picks, combs and a multitude of tools and supplies for the fiber processing which is becoming more and more popular. Seems many people are trying to get back where we once were; as self sufficient and productive Americans. We're finally getting smarter (some of us anyway) by trying to produce our own fiber yarns for clothing, food and such, so we are not so dependent on other countries or other people. There is a lot to be said for those who have a food producing farm and the tools and knowhow to produce materials needed to live and survive and many people are moving in that direction again. Judging by the stupid, seemingly irresponsible decisions of our governmental leaders these days, this kind of self sufficiency is at least a little comforting and the more and more independent we become, the more comfortable it is. Our forefather's were fully capable of putting food on their table and clothing on their family's backs with very minimal dependency on others for any of the raw materials it took to accomplish this. We did see a few caged Angora rabbits and a few other breeds with long fiber, suitable for spinning, but due to a sharp sciatica type pain which developed in the back of my thigh, we had to walk (or limp) slowly and we missed a good portion of the displays on the far side of the vendors, where the inside displays were. These things seem to happen at the worst times, when a lot of walking is required and we've waited so long for the scheduled events to finally roll around. Now we will have to wait until next year to see it all. The entrance fee is a staggering twelve bucks apiece, which would make it almost fifty bucks if we went again today to see what we missed yesterday. That's a little steep if you ask me. Perhaps they could give a reduced entrance fee for a second day returning person, you know, present yesterday's ticket stub and be re-admitted for something like five bucks the second day. That would help immensely, and encourage returning for the second day, both allowing people to see everything and boosting both the fairground and vendors incomes.

To see a little bit of the festivities click on the link below... http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=xkYF__jiyT0

It is supposed to rain today, so I don't know what we will attempt to accomplish. We still have the loft lighting to install and a few receptacles up there. The other chicken and duck barn still needs the winterizing vinyl installed too, but I would guess that we will pick up our purlin's which are cut and ready at the sawmill and then if we can at all, work on the road side of the gift shop board siding. Tomorrow, we will order the roofing and related trim pieces. We want to be sure it is under roof as soon as possible so we can start working inside without worrying about rain or snow. Busy, Busy, Busy... that's Vicki and I...