Thursday morning I took the kids on a field trip. Every time someone in town learned that Lauren had Angora goats, the first thing they would say is something like, "Oh have you heard of Mrs. S... ? She raises and breeds prize Angora goats. She's a really nice lady. You need to meet her." So yesterday I finally got around to giving her a call. She is currently shearing and was happy to have us spend the morning with her. So off we went bright and early to Kai Ranch.
We had difficulty finding her place. the roads were not really marked, but we knew we were close when we ran out of pavement. I was half-way expecting a nice sign, fancy barn, etc. but it was just an ordinary field with hand-made fences and old barns. We were greeted with a smile while Mrs. S did her morning feeding and showed us around. While she trimmed hooves and sheared two of the goats, we had a chance to get to know each other, share goat stories and learn. She told us stories of getting started, of losing goats to predators, of Pyranees guard dogs, of keeping the fleece free of sand burrs and many other things. Then she took us to her studio to show us where she spins and dyes the fiber and creates her fiber art. A few of the things that she taught us are that it is easier to lead a goat by the hair on its neck than his horns, that it saves time to skirt (pick through) the fleece just before shearing rather than afterwards and that it is easier to first corrall the goats and then pull out the ones that are needed. We learned so much from her and are so thankful for her graciousness in having us.
