Heatherhope Farm went to Kline Creek Farm on the weekend of April 20 and 21, 2013.
The Lord was good. A week earlier John was sick and the weather was atrocious. But John’s coughing was gone and his voice was back. Connie too was in good health. And the rain and wind stopped and the temperature rose just enough to make it a glorious weekend.
There were wool carders, spinners and weavers in the visitors’ center and professional and amateur shearers removing the fleeces from the Southdown sheep of the historic 1890’s farm. But John and Connie from Heatherhope, along with Cap, Abbie, Nell and Betty from our kennels were showing how sheep are handled on farms around the world with great working dogs.
We don’t know yet how many people came through. In the past there have been up to four or five thousand. But all of them were grateful and complimentary about the work of the dogs and what they learned.
Carl Holls, a photographer living in Wheaton, posted a lovely photo of John, some of our sheep, and Nell, and the comments show that some people thought we brought a little bit of Britain and Ireland to the burbs of Chicago. Find Carl’s shot here: http://www.flickr.com/photos/
Here is a link to a blog spot that has text and photos about the weekend’s activities: http://wheaton.patch.com/blog_posts/a-review-of-kline-creek-farms-sheep-shearing-event-on-april-21st-2013
