I went to the Harvest Days and Fiber Festival at the historical Cannonsburgh Village in Murfreesboro Tennessee a few weeks ago. I have been impatiently awaiting the arrival of my developed film. I have just been busting at the seams to share the experience with you. Unfortunately the pics didn't do the fun any justice.
Most of the visit I eagerly watched on with my mouth open. What a talented bunch of people!
I watched the entire fiber making process....
Here is a sheep... It looks kind of scary though.
A sheep being sheered...
Anyways, the wool was washed, dyed and then carded... There were endless tables of colors. It was like walking through a rainbow!
Then there was a nice lady doing a spinning demo. Actually there were a ton of people doing spinning Demos. I watched all of them in awe... it really is amazing to watch.
I think I need some sheep! Don't you think I need some sheep!?!?!
Next, I walked over the Museum...
Sorry, I only got the one photo inside before my flash buggered up and the rest of the pics were all dark. This log was used for curing meats... That must have been a big tree.
The museum was full of old farm equipment, old doctors tools, and military gear etc.Outside of the museum I struck up a conversation with a really nice lady who was weaving. I became so involved with our talk (imagine that) that the kids ended up patiently sitting on the front porch of the museum and watched a pottery demonstration.... They had their mouths open in awe too... I wonder where they get that from? All the kids loved this guy. He had a very soothing Mr. Rogers tone to him...
I walked over to the old church and peeked my head in the door. I didn't want to walk in though... it was a real nice church... ya know I would have hated for lightening to strike... Look at the stain glass, beautiful!
Next thing I knew the littlest one had to use the restroom, but this place wasn't what he had in mind...
Then we walked over to the old school where I got some ideas... Guess what I want to make now?
If you thought those four horned sheep were scary ladies, wait to you see what we found next! "DON'T GET TOO CLOSE SISSY"!
Just kidding! Hey if I had one of those I would have known my BlackBerry was in the wash way before it hit the spin cycle.
There was so much more that I didn't take pictures of, like the soap making booths... It was such a shame too because those were really interesting. I met a another really nice lady from Hidden Springs Farms. She had the most beautiful goats milk soap display. Then there were baskets full of dried fruits and veggies and there was the art gallery too... I guess I was just so busy taking in the atmosphere that I forgot to take more pics.
Before the end of our day we took a tour of the old grain mill...
It was the perfect end to a beautiful day with my family.
You probably won't believe this, but I swear that I was thinking that the whole process of sheering the sheep, washing, dying, and spinning the wool reminded me of an interesting Mr. Rogers episode from when I was a kid (like the episode where he takes his viewers to a crayon factory!). Then you mentioned the potter's soothing Mr. Rogers tone! Weird! Anyway, what a fabulous post! The stained glass windows are beautiful!
ReplyDeleteI love places like that...Looked very interesting...my kinda fun!
ReplyDeleteYou definately need sheep! Wool is the greatest fiber in the world...........I would rather have wool than Gortex any day. your pal the Envirocapitalist
ReplyDeleteLooks like a great day's out.
ReplyDeleteIt's important to keep those 'old' techniques alive.
Kim,
ReplyDeleteMust be the kindred spirits talking'! :)
tberry,
Next time your east well go sheep shopping!
Gabe,
I am just going to copy,paste and forward that to my husband, followed by..." See honey my readers even think I need sheep! :) I agree about the wool My toes love wool socks!
Martijn,
Agreed. Now I just have got to see if I can remember how to do them all! ;)
WOW this looks like fun! My new yarn buddies and I need a fix at something like this. We have to get our kids in the right places to just take off for an adventure real soon!!
ReplyDeleteSo awesome! It's nice to know that those 'old timey' skills have been preserved and that there really are people who still know how to do them.
ReplyDeleteYou totally need sheep! Or, you could get a couple of pygora goats ... and you already have goats, so there'd be no argument, right?
Karen- Grab the girls and lets go!
ReplyDeleteWendy- It was a lot of fun. I actually had my eye on the icelandic sheep for there multipurpose (meat, fiber, milk- cheeses) but those pygoras sure are cute!!!!
All that wool...my Dad got so twitchy! He is a knitter and just loves wool and colours!
ReplyDeleteCharming photos. The real America! LOL, I thought the photo at the top was a demon.
ReplyDeleteNice shots - good story telling. Pretty much my favorite thing is to get behind the scenes of an art show or intallation or creative process. Finding out how the art was made and what it all means - from the artist or the next best thing (documentary, etc.) Looks like you were able to get really into the process. its fascinating i think. even the history of wool/fabric.
ReplyDeletethere is a tv series which is on dvd as well called Art21 on PBS. you might like it - it gets right into the artists studio
Sophie,
ReplyDeleteYou should really get your daddy a spinning wheel! He would love it!
Australian Ben <- ;) = Thanks. Yeah he was pretty scary. I don't know if I could sleep at nights knowing I had one of those in my barn.
Ben,
It was a blast. All the demonstrators were really nice people too. I'll google the PBS show. I watch PBS quite a bit, maybe I will run across it soon. :)
Looks like lots of fun. I would have loved to see the soap displays. I should have come along after all, huh? : )
ReplyDelete~Andrea~
Andrea- The Fiber fest comes around every year ya know. We would have a blast! ;)
ReplyDeleteAw yes, we need sheep!!! My sister (a knitter) keeps telling me to get some alpacas, LOL.
ReplyDeleteI LOVE this festival Leigh... I would have lost track of time had I been able to go to something like this (and my hubby would have been bored to TEARS, fershur) and I'm totally jealous that you got to go. No really, I'm happy and thrilled that you shared it with all of us.
I love knowing how the pioneers did many of the things we have automated today. It really puts things into perspective when you see how long a task might take back then, compared to now, huh?
Oz,
ReplyDeleteThe festival comes around every year (hint hint) :). It was really cool I know you would love it! Lets get sheep! :)