Category: 4H

Woodworking Project: Pin Looms

On By stefrobrtsIn 4H, barclay, WoodworkingLeave a comment

I do not know much about weaving, but my friends in 4H do, and when one of them said they needed some pin looms for the kids to use to learn weaving in the new Fiber Arts Workshop they were organizing, I thought that sounded like a job for my new workshop. And also an excuse to go buy a drill press.

Going with pictures online, and the plans on this website http://adventuresinpinloomweaving.com/2018/08/02/pin-loom-templates/

I set out to make 15 5.5 inch pin looms. I started out by taking 1 x 2s and ripping them in half on the table saw, then I cut them on the miter saw, using a stop block to make them all axactly the same, and cut the 60 sides I would need.

I glued them together using this neat frame clamp, but I had to bring them inside and do it on the dining room table, because it was too cold out in the garage for the glue to set. Then I drilled a hole in each corner and glued in an oak pin, to help hold them together if the kids dropped them, which is sure to happen. I sanded it all smooth so hopefully nobody gets any slivers. To sand them, I created another little jig on my bench that I could set them on to help hold them still while I sanded without risking having the sander whip them out of my hand, or sanding my fingers.

Then, using a guide clamped on my drill press table I used the template from the website, printed on heavy cardstock, to drill the holes in the correct positions, and the guide on the table ensured they were all in a neat line on each side. Then I just had to gently tap in about a million wire brads. The pre-drilled holes made them go in nice and straight without splitting the wood. The benchtop jig was again handy for keeping the frame still while I tapped away.

And in no time, it was done:

I was happy to be able to do this for the 4H club. I think its such a great program and helps the kids learn all kinds of life skills in addition to the animal care and craft skills, while having fun and making friends, of course. And I know the club would be hard pressed to have paid for these looms at a retail price, especially since they didn’t get to do their Christmas Tree Sale because of Covid this year. They cost me less than $20 and a bit of time, and I got to use ALL my woodshop tools, including the table saw for the first time(!) and I got practice using stop blocks and guides, I got practice creating a thing and then figuring out to make 14 more of them in the easiest way possible, and I got the satisfaction of a job well done.

Also, the last time I worked in my woodshop was when Barclay was sick, I finished staining and finishing the Garden Bench. He liked to come hang out with me in the garage and sleep on the floor because it was cool, even before he got sick. I didn’t really feel like getting back out there without my buddy. Then Christmas came and Dave was using the shop for his toy business, so there was no hurry. This was a nice little project to do to warm back up to it all.

I couldn’t have done this without the Weekend Woodworker course teaching me to think about jigs and stop blocks and things like that. I have owned my miter saw for about 20 years, building stuff on stage and around the farm, and not even once did I ever thinking of using a stop block! So the course has already made me a better woodworker, and I’ve only done three projects! I can’t wait to proceed to the next one!

Kids, Llamas, Alpacas, and Dogs

On By stefrobrtsIn 4H, barclay, jack, llamas, navi, pets2 Comments
I had a fun day today, with a 4H meeting first thing in the morning. We had it at one of our 4H family’s farms, where they have alpacas. Because they recently got in a group of young alpacas they were trying to place in good 4H homes, we got to see kids working with a variety of young animals that were new to all this, which of course made for an interesting morning!
Some were resistant to this ‘jumping over stuff’ idea…
Some did not like the idea of walking on strange surfaces…
And some of them just plain didn’t want to cooperate – even though this llama in particular had years of experience!
Some kids were having much better luck with the obstacles.
Practice and persistence pays off! These kids have a show coming up, so hopefully this little refresher got their animals in the mood to cooperate next weekend!
I took my new camera to the 4H meeting, along with my longest zoom lens (200mm) because that gave me a lot of reach. I was wandering around the field where we were working, and if I saw anything interesting about to happen, I was always close enough to zoom in and get it. Another thing I like about this camera is it takes multiple pictures in quick succession without having to go into a special mode. That definitely helped me get the shot I was looking for more than once.
At home I put one of my shorter lenses (the 28-80) on for taking pictures in the yard with the dogs, because they were seldom more than an arms-length away.
I love this shot of Barclay, but because I was zoomed in, the depth of field is shallow – the result being his nose is in focus, but his eyes are soft! I’d rather have it the other way around! The best solution would have been less zoom, and move closer – but he moves around so much I had to snap it when I could – oh well! So close…
A little bone-chewing action – with the green grass and blue sky.
Then Navi took the bone. I love the way they chew on bones, they’re so concentrated like nothing else exists.
I was so glad I got this shot of Navi! She is such a goofball, but sometimes she’ll hear something and just STOP with this rediculously serious look on her face! She looks so concerned!
 Jack
 I tried to finish off with a nice portrait of Barclay and Navi sitting in the dandelions, but before I could hit the shutter Navi had to sproing away to go do something else! Well, actually, that pretty much captures their personality perfectly!
By the time I was done I’d shot about 150 pictures today. Thank God for digital cameras! This explains why I couldn’t get into photography as a kid when all we had was film!
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4H meeting at my house

On By stefrobrtsIn 4H, farm, llamas1 Comment

Martha and our guest speaker worked with the kids to help them address showing/handling issues with their llamas.

We had a 4H Llama meeting at our house today. I really enjoy hosting the meetings, because it’s fun to see everybody, and I don’t even have to leave the house! The dogs usually get to play with some kids, and it’s always exciting to see what happens. Today we had some unexpected excitement!

To start with, last night a couple families dropped off their animals early, and one of the families discovered their llama had inflamed feet – turned out they had foot rot going on because of all the mud on their farm. So I hung out with them and helped them get the llama treated until it was nearly dark, then kept her in our dry paddock all night.

This morning the 4H group started showing up, and we had a couple visiting experts, so they had a look at the foot rot problem and gave her advice on what to do. They got busy treating their llama’s feet, and the other llamas they had brought, and we got the other kids busy working on learning to show for fair. Our visiting experts helped them out one-on-one, which was great for the kids.

At the same time, a couple families had said that on the drive in they saw a very shaggy llama running down the street about a mile from our house. I pretty much know who lives where, and I thought I knew where that animal belonged. By the second time someone mentioned it, one of the families jumped in their truck (with horse trailer) and headed off to look for it. After a short chase they cornered it and caught it, wrestled it into the trailer, and brought it back to my place. I gave them a halter for it and they walked it out (noticing along the way that it was an intact male) and as soon as Martha, the other leader saw it – she recognized it as an animal she had given away a year or two before!

Turns out this animal which should have been gelded, had instead been passed around intact, never sheared apparently, and was now a big mess, and running loose! So I hopped in my van, along with the mom who had caught the beast, and we drove to where I thought the critter belonged. I got it right on the first try! She went up to the farm house, and the people said ‘yeah, he got out again’ – and they weren’t even out looking for him! So they took the llama back to it’s home, and the 4H mom told the people if they ever wanted to get rid of it to let her know. Instead of saying yes right there, while the animal was haltered and in the trailer, they waited a couple hours and then called and told her to come get it! jerks! So now folks are networking to figure out how to rescue this animal, get it the old snip-snip, and find a home for it.

After the 4H meeting was over I went along with two of the other families to the family’s farm with the foot rot problem, and we all worked until it was getting dark, treating all their animals and rearranging their barn to make a safe dry area for the llamas to recover in. Since this is the family that ended up with my llamas, I got to visit with Scoops and Patrone again, and Scoops was as sweet as he ever was – proving to me that it’s not me, these alpacas I am fostering really are just jerks! Heck, even Patrone was nicer to me than the foster alpacas!

So it turned out to be a very long day. I barely sat down between 10am and 7pm, helping haul straw, lift, pull, drag, dig, lead, and do anything else helpful I could (without getting kicked by a llama). Glad I could help out our friends, and I hope their animals recover quickly. I know this snuck up on them and they felt terrible about it, and I could have easily seen that happening to myself.

I stopped and picked up a pizza on the way home, and now I’m crashing on the couch – what a LONG day!  But you know, it made me feel good too, because my friends (like me) all have learned along the way, through trial and error sometimes, to take care of their animals, and help each other out, and if I decide to get a horse someday, I know they’ll be there to help me too.

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‘Packys

On By stefrobrtsIn 4H, farm2 Comments
Trent, Jamie, and Sharon helping the alpacas settle in to their new digs.

Well, the alpacas have arrived. They are actually very nice. They need some time to rest and recover. They badly need to be sheared but that can’t happen until spring, so they’ll just have to tough it out. Right now they have shelter, hay, fresh water, and we’ll get them started on some food to put the pounds back on. They were easy to catch and handle, and allowed quite a bit of body handling. I’m certain these guys will find themselves in good 4H homes before too long.

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4H llama shearing party

On By stefrobrtsIn 4H, farm, llamas1 Comment

Today we had the 4H llama club meeting at my house, and everyone brought their llamas. After a potluck and socializing, my neighbor Kelley came over and sheared the llamas. It was a good day, llamas got cleaned up for upcoming summer shows, and there were kids running all over our farm playing with dogs, harassing chickens (one ended up in the neighbor’s yard, apparently deciding that was a safer place to be until the kids were gone), and generally having a good time. Lots of fun!

 My old buddy Scoops was there. A polite gentleman, as always.
Kohl brought my old llama Patrone. He’s grown since I gave him away! Both of them, actually 🙂
Here Jamie takes a quiet moment to comfort her llama after the tension of shearing.
Funny face!
I gave the camera to the kids to take pictures of whatever they wanted, and I got back a picture of Kohl snuggling a chicken!

Alpaca shearing day!

On By stefrobrtsIn 4H, farmLeave a comment

Our 4H club has 2 alpacas that were donated for the kids to use, plus one family has nothing but alpacas. Since the alpacas get sheared a little differently than the llamas, we scheduled to get them all done at once out at the alpaca farm, Fancy Fiber Farm, yesterday. Martha and I stuffed Lucky into the back of my van and drove him up there. We arrived to find ‘packys waiting for their turn in the barn 🙂

These guys crack me up!
Tanya and Joey got to work brushing all the debris out of Lucky’s wool. He didn’t much like that, but put up with it a lot better than I expected, especially considering how much stuff he’d ground into it all winter.
Inside the shearing barn, they had a very interesting setup for doing the alpacas. They tie their feet and lay them down on a tarp and stretch them out. The alpacas actually take this quite well, and it seems like the safest way to do it for both animal and handlers. 
Don’t you let alpacas ride in the back of your van?
More pictures and video Here
Be sure to watch the video to see how they actually got Lucky on the floor.
The 4H kids do a great job handling the animals!

Lots and lots of llamas!

On By stefrobrtsIn 4H, llamas1 Comment
Today we had a 4H meeting at my house (since some of the llamas were already here). So people brought nine more llamas and alpacas, and we had quite a crowd!

Once everyone was there and settled down, they did a little show practice. After that we all headed off on a little hike. We walked across the street and about a hundred yards up the road to a trail entrance to the state park across the street. One of the leaders drove behind our group with her hazard lights on to keep traffic from coming up fast behind us. Once all the kids were on the trail she drove back and parked the car and came and joined up. Then we walked along the horse trail to group camp where we all stopped fo a rest.

There’s the llamas that used to live with me, Scoops and Patrone 🙂


Cameron gives a thumbs up to hiking with his new buddy, Julio!


The alpacas are oh so cute!

Along the way we met a horse, but the horse was very well behaved and the rider was in control, and we were able to move off to the side and the rider calmly took her past all the scary llamas safely.


Then we all hiked back home and had cookies and milk. It was a beautiful day for a hike!

Llama shearing

On By stefrobrtsIn 4H, llamas1 Comment

Last week our llama 4-H club had shearing day scheduled. To prepare for it Martha (the other club leader) and I got together on Mother’s day and built a chute to shear the llamas in.

The chute turned out really nice. She had a plan in mind, and I am pretty good at building things, so we just dove in and did it. It’s portable so they can move it around with the tractor. For shearing day, since it was raining, they put an easy-up over it. It worked really well!

Even the crankiest llamas pretty much gave up and let us do what needed to be done once they found themselves in the chute.

The kids took turns helping hold their llamas and keeping them calm, while the little kids picked up wool and bagged it. We ended up with a LOT of wool. Now we need to plan some activities and show the kids what to do with it. Sorry I don’t have any nudie pics of the finished llamas!

Llamas at County Fair

On By stefrobrtsIn 4H, farm2 Comments

Our llamas just returned from spending nearly a week at the Clark County fair. Our 4H club was there, and the boys borrowed my llamas for showing. They did great and brought home a lot of ribbons. If I’d thought of it we should have gotten a picture of all the ribbons! The kids qualified to go to State Fair if they want to.

Here they are in Fit & Show:


Costume class:



Obstacle class:



It was fantastic to see the work the kids put into practicing with the llamas finally pay off. Particularly since they were first year kids and first year llamas! There were a lot of other kids in the junior class, so it was pretty tight competition. The llamas did things for them I really wasn’t expecting them to do. At one point the judge had a tie between the boy using Scoops and one of the other kids, and so she asked them to pick up their llamas foot – and Scoops refused! If only we’d practiced that! We’ll be ready for it next year.

After a week of being in a stall at the fair they were really happy to get back to their own pasture today!