Sheep Shearing

We recently had the opportunity to attend the annual "From Sheep to Shawl" event at the Atlanta History Center. We watched a ram being sheared, and then we were able to see demonstrations of carding, spinning, dying, and weaving. It came at a great time as we had just finished reading "Mountain Born". Ok, I have to say, out of all the read-alouds we've done this year, this was by FAR my least favorite and the hardest to get through. However, that being said, I am really glad we did it. While we were reading it, we were learning about Jesus being our shepherd, and the book did a wonderful job of painting the picture of what a shepherd actually is and does. It's amazing to think of Jesus taking care of us like that. So, once again, in what was supposed to be a lesson for my kids....mom learned a lot as well! It was a good reminder that even during this time of waiting....He is still leading us and keeping us from the wrong path. SO....back to the shearing. That was very interesting to watch. They sit the sheep up on their backsides, so all their legs are sticking straight out (unfortunately this angle also provided a fabulous chance for an anatomy lesson for my son..."Mom, what is THAT???"). Anyway.....they begin shearing at the shoulder, and if they know what they're doing, the wool comes off in one big piece.



The sheep are amazingly calm and still through the whole process. The blacksmith told us that sitting them back like that, kind of paralyzes them a little bit so they don't try to move. The ram that we saw sheared produces enough wool each year to make 5 sweaters! It was a ton of wool! We finished our time there with a walk through the garden at the history center. We had been through it in the winter, but it was gorgeous this time of year. It was a beautiful day (I'm pretty sure that was the weekend our family in the NW had several inches of snow!!) and we had a great time together!