We officially kicked off 2011's Cooperative Summer School with a trip to an Alpaca Farm. Attendance was light which allowed each kid to get plenty of time and attention in the Alpaca yard as well as through the tour of the mill. These animals are impossibly soft and sweet, giving kisses in abundance to trip organizer Lorien.
The kids even got to see a real live (unscheduled) rattlesnake, a big old guy who was unceremoniously dispatched by the farmer.
This was a bit unsettling for some of our group, but considering how dangerous these snakes are and how very bold this one happened to be, he needed to be removed from the farm wildlife.
After a trip to see the bucks and the nursery (fun fact, the gestation period for an alpaca is 11.5 months. Also, a "pregnancy test" consists of putting the female and buck together and seeing if she spits at him. If she does, she's totally knocked up) we got to tour the mill, seeing what happens to all that soft hair once it's removed from the alpaca.
After all that learning, it was time for a craft. Each child was giving a ball, some roving and a needle and then used said needle to poke the roving onto the ball.
By this point everyone was hot, hungry and tired and so we called it a day.
Overall, a fantastic start to our summer fun and learning. For the full set of photos, please check out the slide show below.
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