Silkies Farm Agritour

The kids and I had another fun "Camp Leong" field trip last week when we had a personal agritour of Silkie's Farm in Chester Springs. Agritour, as we learned, is the fancy Nancy way of saying farm tour. I found the farm because I discovered several local online homeschooling groups and joined them. They have the BEST ideas!! I know I'm technically not a homeschooler. I think I checked the (non-existent) "I'm the fun field trip Mom" drop down box. It was in one of those groups that I learned of Silkie's and immediately booked three tours.

First of all - this is not a promotion for Silkie's Farm. But let me be clear - this is TOTALLY a promotion for Silkie's Farm - or ANY Alpaca farm where you live - because we are now completely obsessed with everything Alpaca. I mean, look at this face.

We were given our tour by a woman named Adrianne who might possibly be related to me in some way. She has to be. Her short story - she came for a tour and left with alpacas but she lived in a townhouse. Her alpacas continue to live at Silkie's and she is now a devoted and passionate tour guide there! She can see her Alpacas and picked up a fun hobby!

After I learned that Adrianne had a rug made from her very own alpaca's fleece, I could see the look of fear on my kids' faces. The "Oh no. This may happen." I mean, after all - I met my doppleganger.

I asked the kids just now if they could remember some of the cool facts that they learned about alpacas. Here you go:

Alpacas are herbivores - they eat hay, plants and grass.

Their fleece is sheared once a year and different than wool in that wool contains lanolin. And alpaca fleece is extremely warm.

Alpaca pregnancies last almost a full year! And baby alpacas are called crias. 

(Cree-uhz)

When people buy alpacas, they never buy just one. These sweet, gentle animals could literally die from loneliness! You have to see this video - Hope and Brian were swarmed with adorable, fluffy, gentle alpacas that wanted to sniff and kiss them!!

Silkie's has other animals, too, including chickens. Did you know that the color of the chicken's earlobes tells you what color their eggs will be?? 

Did you even know that chickens had earlobes?!? I am here to say I never gave thought to chickens and whether they had earlobes.

We also met "Squirt" the tortoise. Squirt was malnourished in his former home. We learned that his shell should actually be flat and smooth. 

The peaks that you see are the sign that he is not in optimal health. Yet! He has a great home now!

After the tour, we stopped in the little shop on the property. I am always cold - and I burn through slippers so I made a beeline for the sock section. I live in slippers and I'm super fussy about them. They can't be too hot. They can't be too thin. They don't need to be expensive - they just need to be warm. Well, I decided to bring home a pair of alpaca slipper socks with grippers on the bottom shaped like alpaca hooves. I'm here to report back after a week of daily wear - these are the warmest, coziest slippers I have ever owned. I know what everyone on my Christmas list is getting this year! Surprise!!

This was such a fun field trip and we will absolutely be back to Silkie's. They have Yoga with Alpacas... you can take felting lessons... paint the alpacas... it's just cool and quirky and fun. And I'm so, so grateful for my life - that having the kids in a virtual charter school allows me to learn by their side - and also beat a lot of crowds during the quiet weekdays.

Watch this space for our next outing!