source: Farm and Food Report
When school groups come for a visit at Sheila Sperling-Law's Prairie Wool Farms in the Bear Hills south of Biggar, they can count on a lot more than just a tour:
"We run 50 ewes; a llama to keep the coyotes away; an alpaca that looks lovingly at the llama; we have two rams and 54 lambs that we raise for meat, hides and wool," Sperling-Law says. "For younger children, we have a felt project. We put layers of carded wool inside a plastic bag with warm soapy water and they rub it from the outside, flat on a table. The combination of friction, temperature and pressure makes the fibres stick together."
Sperling-Law explains how, after 15minutes, the fibres have become a layer of felt.
"The felt sheet is rinsed out under cold water; we fill up syringes with different kinds of Kool-Aid type beverages or Easter egg dyes; the kids inject the colours into the felt in patterns of their choice. The felt is then placed back into the bags, which are boiled for 20 minutes to allow for the colour to set in. In the end, they take home a very unique reminder of the moments they spent with us."
Experiential learning programs and activities have always been at the centre of this occupational therapist's approach to agritourism.
"My husband and I have been working on this vacation farm project for six years now. I traded a quarter of cultivated land for a piece my father owned with too many hills for his taste. It came with a stone house and yard that hadn't been occupied since 1944. We acquired another house that we moved here from 11 miles away -- with a coffee house/bed and breakfast concept in mind."
The mortar on the stone house had become too unstable, so Sperling-Law and her husband decided to dismantle it and build a new cordwood stackwall house instead. Fred Law got to work on the new structure made from recycled cedar and telephone posts. It is basically two separate walls made of eight-inch long logs laid side by side in mortar, but separated by a two-inch wide layer of vermiculite and concrete for extra insulation. The original fieldstones are being laid along the walls to reinforce them and give the building a certain additional character.
"Once Fred finishes the house in 2006, we'll move in and open the bed and breakfast as planned in the place we live in now. The vacation farm concept is very dear to our hearts. With others in the area, we have recently launched the Bear Hills and Prairie Trails Tourism Association to further develop our region's tourism potential. But even as it is, we have plenty to offer."
When guests come to Prairie Wool Farms, they are taken around the yard and to the lambing barn. The last week of April, May and June are the best times to come because of the new lambs.
"We then go to the wool shop and show them how we wash, pick, blend and spin the wool. We blend our wool with bison, alpaca, llama and silk. People have actually asked us to spin their dog's hair, too. We also started to experiment with natural plant-derived dyes made from marigold flower, alfalfa, clover, rhubarb, lichens and black-eyed Susan."
Sperling-Law finds most of what she needs in her own backyard. It is one of the things she learned since she registered in a Master Spinner Certificate Program. She and her husband are just full of ideas, like the willow maize project they have been working on for some time.
"We have lots of reasons for people to come," she says. "We have cut and dried willows and woven them into a fence in the shape of interconnecting rooms, each with a theme. There is a rose room; a lily room and a native grasses room. In a way, what we do here is the continuation of a journey back home to Paradise."
You see, Sperling-Law had been living away in Alberta and British Columbia for 20 years, until she came back to the Bear Hills region with Fred, an Alberta native who has made the leap of faith -- as she describes it -- and moved to beautiful Saskatchewan with her.
For more information, contact:
Sheila Sperling-Law
Prairie Wool Farms
(306) 882-4542
When school groups come for a visit at Sheila Sperling-Law's Prairie Wool Farms in the Bear Hills south of Biggar, they can count on a lot more than just a tour:
"We run 50 ewes; a llama to keep the coyotes away; an alpaca that looks lovingly at the llama; we have two rams and 54 lambs that we raise for meat, hides and wool," Sperling-Law says. "For younger children, we have a felt project. We put layers of carded wool inside a plastic bag with warm soapy water and they rub it from the outside, flat on a table. The combination of friction, temperature and pressure makes the fibres stick together."
Sperling-Law explains how, after 15minutes, the fibres have become a layer of felt.
"The felt sheet is rinsed out under cold water; we fill up syringes with different kinds of Kool-Aid type beverages or Easter egg dyes; the kids inject the colours into the felt in patterns of their choice. The felt is then placed back into the bags, which are boiled for 20 minutes to allow for the colour to set in. In the end, they take home a very unique reminder of the moments they spent with us."
Experiential learning programs and activities have always been at the centre of this occupational therapist's approach to agritourism.
"My husband and I have been working on this vacation farm project for six years now. I traded a quarter of cultivated land for a piece my father owned with too many hills for his taste. It came with a stone house and yard that hadn't been occupied since 1944. We acquired another house that we moved here from 11 miles away -- with a coffee house/bed and breakfast concept in mind."
The mortar on the stone house had become too unstable, so Sperling-Law and her husband decided to dismantle it and build a new cordwood stackwall house instead. Fred Law got to work on the new structure made from recycled cedar and telephone posts. It is basically two separate walls made of eight-inch long logs laid side by side in mortar, but separated by a two-inch wide layer of vermiculite and concrete for extra insulation. The original fieldstones are being laid along the walls to reinforce them and give the building a certain additional character.
"Once Fred finishes the house in 2006, we'll move in and open the bed and breakfast as planned in the place we live in now. The vacation farm concept is very dear to our hearts. With others in the area, we have recently launched the Bear Hills and Prairie Trails Tourism Association to further develop our region's tourism potential. But even as it is, we have plenty to offer."
When guests come to Prairie Wool Farms, they are taken around the yard and to the lambing barn. The last week of April, May and June are the best times to come because of the new lambs.
"We then go to the wool shop and show them how we wash, pick, blend and spin the wool. We blend our wool with bison, alpaca, llama and silk. People have actually asked us to spin their dog's hair, too. We also started to experiment with natural plant-derived dyes made from marigold flower, alfalfa, clover, rhubarb, lichens and black-eyed Susan."
Sperling-Law finds most of what she needs in her own backyard. It is one of the things she learned since she registered in a Master Spinner Certificate Program. She and her husband are just full of ideas, like the willow maize project they have been working on for some time.
"We have lots of reasons for people to come," she says. "We have cut and dried willows and woven them into a fence in the shape of interconnecting rooms, each with a theme. There is a rose room; a lily room and a native grasses room. In a way, what we do here is the continuation of a journey back home to Paradise."
You see, Sperling-Law had been living away in Alberta and British Columbia for 20 years, until she came back to the Bear Hills region with Fred, an Alberta native who has made the leap of faith -- as she describes it -- and moved to beautiful Saskatchewan with her.
For more information, contact:
Sheila Sperling-Law
Prairie Wool Farms
(306) 882-4542
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