In like a lion and out like a lamb. No, I’m not talking about the month of April, but last Saturday’s annual Lattes with Lambs event at the Foundation. After a blustery week, and a wet and cold start to the morning, the clouds parted and left us with a truly beautiful afternoon to enjoy all of the food and fun happening on the farm.
With cheese making demonstrations, taste testing courtesy of P.A. Bowen Farmstead, and a shake-your-own butter activity, the “Dairy Area” gave everyone a chance to learn hands-on how dairy products go from cow-to-culture. The sheep-to-shawl activities (as well as demonstrations done by The Spinning Loft), which included wool washing, carding, dyeing, and felting, demonstrated how wool straight from the sheep is transformed into your favorite yarns and sweaters.
And let’s not forget the main event: the chance to meet some of the new lambs and calves born on the farm this spring. Visitors got behind the scene tours of the barn and barnyard, experienced life as a free-range chicken from inside the mobile chicken coop, and celebrated Nigel the lamb’s first birthday with a special alfalfa cake made just for him.
Thank you to all who attended this event to help support the Foundation’s Heritage Breed Livestock Preservation program. Your support helps us increase the numbers of these critically endangered breeds, while raising awareness about the importance of biodiversity in livestock.
Check out some of our favorite photos from the event below:
Farmer Ann demonstrates sheep shearing techniques for a crowd of on-lookers. All of the wool sheared from the sheep each spring is processed into yarn and sold at the Visitor Center to support the heritage livestock program.
Shemika turns visitors into the farm animal of their choice at the face painting booth.
Nigel enjoys his birthday cake made from alfalfa.
Visitors take a cruise around the site on the hay shuttle.
Break time for some Panera soup and Starbucks Lattes!
What is rotational grazing, and why do we do it here at the Foundation? These kids and visitors learn by pretending they are cows in “The Hungry Games.”
Cheese sampling courtesy of P.A. Bowen Farmstead.
Cheese making demonstrations show how to make your own mozzarella right at home.
Check out more great photos from the event on Instagram #lattes4lambs. Have some photos you want to share? Feel free to send them to us at outreach@accokeek.org, or tag us on Instagram (accokeek_foundation) or Facebook (www.facebook.com/AccokeekFoundation).
We want to extend a huge thank you to all of those who helped make this event a success. To the volunteers who helped staff the activities; to Starbucks, Dunkin’ Donuts, and Miller Farms for donating coffee and donuts; to Farmer Ann for the sheep shearing demonstrations; to The Spinning Loft for wool and fiber demonstrations; to P.A. Bowen Farmstead for the cheese tasting; and to the National Park Service.
All photos in this blog entry taken by volunteer Ron Liljedahl.