This is geared primarily to home schoolers but I welcome anyone that wants to answer.
I have been thinking about offering a "field trip" type experience at my house. I hesitate to call it a workshop because I don't know how much interest there is and don't want to make it too difficult. My farrier is willing to have a group of homeschooling families watch him trim and or shoe my two horses. While he does it he would explain the why and how of what he is doing. He also would show how the portable forge in his truck works, and pound some horse shoes into neat shapes, hearts , hoof picks.
The person I use has a family history of being a farrier, and knows his craft very well. Third generation on one side, sixth generation on the other. Plus he is in college, paying his own way by working as a farrier. He shod his first horse by himself at 11, and has worked professionally since about 16.
My hold up on this is, while I find this very interesting, I'm not sure anyone else would. For those that live in the country and or have horses, this isn't really that big a deal, but for families that are in town, it's something different. Since I live so close to Colonial Williamsburg I could probably tie it into that and or Jamestown, meaning the colonial way of life and that farriers and blacksmithing have come a long way, and in some ways it's a lost art.
In addition to this, perhaps on the same day or another depending on response, I was thinking of offering another workshop/field trip where I would show a couple different breeds of chickens to the kids, talk about the anatomy, what is different between them and the same. Basic chicken stuff that as BYC'rs we take for granted and most all of our kids know just from proximity.
Does anyone have any comments? How to pitch it, anything to add or omit?
I have been thinking about offering a "field trip" type experience at my house. I hesitate to call it a workshop because I don't know how much interest there is and don't want to make it too difficult. My farrier is willing to have a group of homeschooling families watch him trim and or shoe my two horses. While he does it he would explain the why and how of what he is doing. He also would show how the portable forge in his truck works, and pound some horse shoes into neat shapes, hearts , hoof picks.
The person I use has a family history of being a farrier, and knows his craft very well. Third generation on one side, sixth generation on the other. Plus he is in college, paying his own way by working as a farrier. He shod his first horse by himself at 11, and has worked professionally since about 16.
My hold up on this is, while I find this very interesting, I'm not sure anyone else would. For those that live in the country and or have horses, this isn't really that big a deal, but for families that are in town, it's something different. Since I live so close to Colonial Williamsburg I could probably tie it into that and or Jamestown, meaning the colonial way of life and that farriers and blacksmithing have come a long way, and in some ways it's a lost art.
In addition to this, perhaps on the same day or another depending on response, I was thinking of offering another workshop/field trip where I would show a couple different breeds of chickens to the kids, talk about the anatomy, what is different between them and the same. Basic chicken stuff that as BYC'rs we take for granted and most all of our kids know just from proximity.
Does anyone have any comments? How to pitch it, anything to add or omit?
