Spicy lamb

The Spicy Lamb Farm in the Cuyahoga Valley National Park was our family destination today for their annual "lambing days".  The farm includes 10-acres devoted to raising Dorset sheep, processing wool, and growing organic fruit and herbs.

They also spin the sheep wool into yarn that they sell to visitors. I saw one woman walking out with an amazing wool blanket.  Yes, I am a little jealous that I didn't spend more time inside checking out the items they had for sale!

Each year for two weekends in the spring, the Spicy Lamb invites people to visit the farm to hold lambs, chicks, ducklings, and rabbits.  Being "city folk", this sounded like a good opportunity that we normally would not have.  Grace's friend Camryn stopped by to play about an hour before we were planning to leave so we invited her to go with us.  Both girls were very brave and seemed to have a great time.

The little lambs were roaming free on the farm and you had to chase and catch them if you wanted to hold one.  I am sure this is stressful for the little guys....good thing the farm only does this two weekends each year!

It was amazing to me that the farm owners let the visitors (and there were hundreds of them!) hold and touch their animals without any restrictions.  They warned you to use hand sanitizer after handling the birds and that the rabbits have sharp nails like a cat, but other than that, you were free to roam and touch.

In the fields they had a few horses and a llama, but they were not close enough to pet.  Good thing, since I know llamas spit!

I really enjoyed watching the Border Collies herd the sheep in a big enclosed area.  The owners were training them to do this and it was an impressive show to see how well they did it, how the sheep instinctively grouped together, and subsequently were forced into an enclosed pen.

This sign on the barn door made me smile....

...since it is the slogan they use in Las Vegas.  This farm is SO far removed from Vegas, yet, somehow the slogan works here, too.