Good news, Jim McRae, our sheep shearer from Vermont, is coming by Saturday morning, around the time of the Open House on Saturday (ll a.m. to 4 p.m.). We’ll have to figure out the logistics, as Maria will be in her studio selling art, but it would be a neat thing for many people to see, especially those who don’t live around here, where it happens quite a bit.

McRae is a master shearer, and also a well-known border collie trainer, he loves working with Red, let’s see what he makes out of Fate. I think he met her in the Spring once. Shearing is an amazing thing to see, it is a precious craft, there are fewer and fewer people who do it.

It’s an amazing thing to see Jim handle the sheep so skillfully, and preserve their wool so Maria can take it to the mill and sell it as yarn. We are excited that some of the people coming to the Open House will get to see it. We’ll bring some people out into the pasture (I hope they don’t wear shoes they love) and they can get right close to the shearing. Red will keep things in order, I’m not sure if Fate is ready for this yet.