Mar. 16th - Sep. 30th

FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE
Beginning Mid-March 2021
Spring & Summer Field Trips or Road Trips to the Farm
Shepherd's Cross

Sheep & Shepherd Tours begin when the lambs are born each spring here at Shepherd's Cross, an authentic working sheep farm, just north of Claremore OK on Scenic Route 66. Come to the farm and watch as the sheep peacefully graze the pastures, and rest by the still waters. The new born lambs jump for joy and frolic in the pastures.

Sheep & Shepherd Tours:
Participate in your choice of Guided or Self-Guided Tour.
Walking Tours are donation based (suggested $5 per person).
Guided Wagon Ride Tours start at $7 per person. These Tours must be pre-scheduled.

Spring Time also brings blooms in time for Bible Garden Tours. Shepherd's Cross is home to one of only a handful of Bible Gardens in the U.S.A. Over 100 plants in this garden have Biblical references.

Bible Garden Tour Options:
Participate in your choice of Guided or Self-Guided Tour.
Self-Guided Tours are donation based (suggested $5 per person).
Guided Tours can include a DIY planting activity with seasonal plants. Guided planting tours are $7 per person and must be pre-scheduled.

All Tours also include the following:
Visiting the sheep, lambs and other farm animals at the petting barn area.
Teaching Nomadic and Biblical shepherding practices.
Wool Mill Tour demonstrating combing, spinning, and weaving wool into a finished product.
The educational & interactive Farm Museum & Educational Silo.

We are open for drop by visitors Tuesday through Saturday 8:30 - 5:30. Please preschedule Field Trips for groups of twenty or more (one free leader for every 10 paid participants). Tours can proceed even in the case of inclement weather. Picnic area available; bring your lunch with you; limited seating available. Snack and beverage concessions are available on site.

Be sure to visit our Shepherd's Shop where we features a host of "woolly" and farm related items; supplies and much more! Yarn, yarn, & more yarn, all natural, many types, produced and processed on the farm. Shepherd's Cross also offers roving, batts, felting supplies, knitting needles, spinning and weaving supplies and much more.
Additionally the shop features a mission section; purchases made in this section of the store return 100% of the sale price to the indigenous people that crafted them (countries include Afghanistan, Thailand, Kyrgyzstan, Malawi, Uganda and more).

Our farm is a Family Farm, an accredited Agritourism facility, a Made in Oklahoma Company, and is Animal Welfare Approved (pasture born & raised lamb, mutton and Dexter beef).

Heart of the Shepherd, is the non-profit 501-C3, which operates at the farm, and provides Biblically based agricultural education locally and internationally.

Contact information:
Shepherd's Cross & Heart of the Shepherd
16792 East 450 Road, Claremore, OK 74017
Dr. Diane Dickinson, President & Executive Director
SheepFarm@ShepherdsCross.com 918-342-5911
website: www.ShepherdsCross.com
Online Stores: https://www.etsy.com/shop/ShepherdsCross
Like us on Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/ShepherdsCross/

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Apr. 5th - May. 5th

CodeWizardsHQ's annual Code Challenge is a global coding competition made for kids ages 8-18. It's free and beginner-friendly.

Learn foundational coding concepts and programming skills in this fun and educational event.

Our Deep Space Crystal Chase has been designed by a team of our own developers, CodeWizardsHQ Senior Teachers, to be an interactive, fun, beginner-friendly learning experience. These daily coding challenges lets kids to learn and they go. The 21 levels teach basic concepts and skills so students develop a passion for coding.

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Apr. 22nd - 24th

FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE

Woolly Weekend at Shepherd's Cross

Thursday April 22, Friday April 23 & Saturday April 24, 2021
10:00 am - 7:00 p.m.

Woolly Weekend is a "sheep to shawl" festival held at Shepherd's Cross, an authentic working sheep farm, just north of Claremore OK on Scenic Route 66. Come to the farm and watch as the sheep are shorn (given a haircut). Sheep shearing occurs throughout the day. After the fiber is shorn from the sheep you can watch the wool being processed on site. It will be combed, spun, woven, knit, crocheted and felted into finished products.

This is a true Sheep to Shawl Event. Over the three day period at least three shawls will be created entirely from the wool shorn on the first morning of the event. It is rare to find a true Sheep to Shawl experience.

Shearing and demonstrations take place inside the Amish built tour barn, which houses some of the animals as well as the wool processing, farm museum, and the gift shop. There are Short Course Fiber Classes available you can learn drop spindling or needle felting during the event. Be sure to visit the Farm Animal Barn & pet the barnyard animals. Tour the educational interactive Farm Museum & Four Story Observation Silo, as well as the Bible Garden.

ALL ACTIVITIES WILL ADHERE TO COVID RESTICTIONS. WE WILL ARRANGE SMALLER GROUPS AND ASK THAT MASK BE WORN INDOORS.

Bring the entire family. Children's activities include weaving, games, wool project, and coloring contest. This is a free event. Donations are welcome - suggested donation of $5 per person. If you have groups of twenty or more please pre-register.

Volunteers are needed to demonstrate fiber arts. If you spin, weave or needle felt you may join our Sheep to Shawl Team. Anyone who works with fiber is welcome. Inquire for additional information.

Come shop at Shepherd's Shop featuring a host of "woolly" and farm related handmade crafted by Shepherd's Cross and over 50 local crafters; farm fresh USDA processed and Animal Welfare Approved meat (lamb and beef), Amish jams, health foods, yarns, and much more! Additionally the shop features a mission section, where 100% of the sale price is returned to the indigenous craftsmen (countries include Afghanistan, Thailand, Kyrgyzstan, Malawi, Uganda and more). Our Shepherd's Cross yarns are natural, chemical free, home grown and hand picked here on the farm. The shop also offers roving, batts, felting supplies, spinning and weaving supplies and much more.

Fiber Arts classes, Animal Husbandry classes and Shearing lessons are available at the farm throughout the year.

Shepherd's Cross is an accredited Agritourism facility, and a "Made in Oklahoma" Company. The farm is also Animal Welfare Approved. It is home to a non-profit Christian organization named Heart of the Shepherd that hosts this event. Teaching basic agricultural principles and their relationship to the Bible are instrumental in the educational component of the farm.

To find out more information about this woolly event please visit our website: www.ShepherdsCross.com, or you can check us out on facebook.com/ShepherdsCross.

Contact Information:
Shepherd's Cross & Heart of the Shepherd
16792 East 450 Road, Claremore, OK 74017
Dr. Diane Dickinson, president & executive director
SheepFarm@ShepherdsCross.com 918-342-5911

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May. 1st - Aug. 31st

Heart of the Shepherd's Intern / Apprentice Program at Shepherd's Cross

Heart of the Shepherd's internship program has been in place since 2009. Over 70 interns have participated in our program. The internship program at the farm equips students with basic farming skills and arms them with Biblical references to farming and shepherding.

The objective of the internship program is to teach an awareness of basic agriculture, develop basic agricultural skills, expose students to the many agricultural parables found in The Bible, and to teach an appreciation for historical agriculture, laced with a healthy appreciation for industrialized agriculture.

Students will learn in the same manner as an apprentice learns. Watch the shepherd, practice with the shepherd, and then do the activity unassisted.

The farm is primarily a sheep farm, with several hundred sheep; however there are many other activities on the farm and through the ministry, Heart of the Shepherd. There is a cattle herd, horses, donkeys, chickens, at least one goat, lama, alpaca, sheep dogs, barn cats, a Farm Museum, a Farm Store, hay harvest, pecan harvest, walnut harvest, walnut hulling, a wool mill, shearing school, fiber arts
retreats and classes, a Bible Garden which produces vegetables and fruit for farm use and for sale, and a Mission Shop. There is a live on site veterinarian and a veterinary care unit for the animals on the farm. Opportunities abound for learning.

Dr. Diane Dickinson, the director for the Internship Program, is an agriculturalist with a Bachelors in Agriculture, a Doctorate in Veterinary Medicine, and over five decades of farm and livestock experience. Following her footsteps each day is sure to include a bountiful harvest of learning.

Internships may be geared toward one of the following six areas:

1. Sheep and Shepherding Internship: this internship has a primary interest focused on shepherding. The busiest season is the spring season, with many opportunities for learning. Learn what Psalm 23 really means while being the shepherd to the pasture raised flock on the farm. Learn how to give Shepherding Tours, and work in the Farm Animal Barn.
2. Bible Gardening Internship: Learn about natural gardening for sustainability, train to be a Bible Garden Tour guide, assist with Garden related educational activities in the Farm Museum.
3. Wool Mill Internship: Learn how to process wool "green" - including washing, carding, spinning, weaving and more. Learn how to give Wool Mill tours and assist with Wool related displays in the Farm Museum.
4. Farm Museum Internship: The Farm Museum & Educational Silo is an agriculturally based museum with hands on learning activities. The museum is indoors and outdoors. Learn how to manage a museum; assist with upgrading the farm museum, be a farm museum tour guide, and learn how the Bible and agriculture are related.
5. Heart of the Shepherd Missions and Missions Shop Internship: Emphasis is on the International Mission Shop operations and fundraising. Learn how to tell the story of the nations and their needs, and how to maintain a brick and mortar gift shops.
6. General Farm & Shepherding Internship: This internship experience includes all of the previous categories, working in the fields, working with the sheep and other farm animals; assisting with the Pumpkin Festival; providing Christian, agricultural based educational tours; as well as a vast array of support farm tasks such as field and tree maintenance, harvesting, planting, cleaning & fence maintenance; assist in the Farm Animal Barn.

Interns will experience some of every segment of farm life, and are not restricted entirely to their internship emphasis. Therefore each Intern will be learning from all six categories. However their primary focus will be in their interest area. We have a saying "Every day is a new day on the farm." Be ready to be flexible. Nature is unpredictable.

Steps of the application process:
1. Submit a Resume
2. Receive an Internship application & return the completed form to our office.
3. Reference checks
4. Personal interview
5. Background Check

Internships are for one semester. Generally the times are as follows:
Spring Semester January - May
Summer Semester May - Mid-Aug or Early Sept.
Fall Semester Early September - December

Activities of farm life change with the seasons.
The spring semester is the busiest sheep season to intern, as this is lambing season and sheep shearing on the farm. This is also haying season.
The summer semester is the busiest Bible Garden season to intern, as this is harvest season.
The fall semester is a busy evangelism outreach with the Pumpkin Festival and Living Nativity. This is also pecan and walnut harvest season and haying season.

Following successful completion of the Internship, the student may apply for the Residency Program. The Residency Program allows the student to remain at the farm for one complete calendar year, experiencing all of the activities of a farm year. This is beneficial in terms of understanding seed time and harvest, and the Biblical Implications.

Experience is advantageous, but not required.

Internships are full or part time. Compensation for internships may include room, board and a monthly monetary stipend. The stipend is not a salary, and it is performance based.

College credit can be given for our internship program. We have worked with many colleges within and outside of the state.

Interns have come from New Hampshire, California, Colorado, Kansas, South Carolina, Arizona, Georgia, Illinois, Minnesota, Michigan, Texas, New York, Kyrgyzstan and Oklahoma.

Several graduate interns have been hired to be a part of the Shepherd's Cross and Heart of the Shepherd team.

For more information about the farm, drop by and talk to Dr. D or visit the website at www.ShepherdsCross.com.

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May. 6th

FREE reservations, Thurs., May 6 @ 12:00 PM CT
Journalist and Author Susan Berfield will share insights about her book "The Hour of Fate: Theodore Roosevelt, J.P. Morgan and the Battle to Transform American Capitalism" on May 6. Selected by Amazon editors as one of the best of 2020, Berfield's book takes us back to when President Theodore Roosevelt and Banker J.P. Morgan battled in the courts to determine the balance of power between government and big business.

Susan Berfield is an award-winning feature writer and investigative reporter for Bloomberg Businessweek and Bloomberg News.

Dr. H.W. Brands, History Professor and Jack S. Blanton Sr. Chair at the University of Texas at Austin, will act as moderator.

Thursday, May 6 free of charge:
o 12:00 - 1:00 p.m. CT
o A 60 min. program with Q&A at the end.
o Questions may be sent prior to the program to shirley.hammond@nara.gov

General Public live program link and registration: https://esc11.zoom.us/meeting/register/tZ0sceCuqzgqHNFts9LiZtEM7-h8lgxx5Faf

Educators, register at Connect2Texas.net for free live program or to receive a free recording of the program afterwards.
1. Create an account.
2. Click on the Events tab and select George H.W. Bush Presidential Library and Museum, event "The Hour of Fate: Theodore Roosevelt, J.P. Morgan, and the Battle to Transform American Capitalism."
• Registration help: Contact Lori Hamm-Neckar at lhamm@esc11.net or 817-740-7156

To view recording after live program, here is the link to find "The Hour of Fate" program video: www.youtube.com/user/TheBushLibrary

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May. 6th

Journalist and Author Susan Berfield will share insights about her book "The Hour of Fate" on May 6. Selected by Amazon editors as one of the best of 2020, Berfield's book takes us back to when President Theodore Roosevelt and Banker J.P. Morgan battled in the courts. Book purchase link: https://www.museumstore.com/cproduct/7177/the-hour-of-fate

Susan Berfield is an award-winning feature writer and investigative reporter for Bloomberg Businessweek and Bloomberg News.

Dr. H.W. Brands holds the Jack S. Blanton Sr. Chair in History at the University of Texas at Austin, where he earned his Ph.D. in history in 1985. He has authored 30 books on U.S. History. His works have twice been selected as finalists for the Pulitzer Prize. He has appeared in documentaries, the History channel, and C-Span, among other media programs.

General Public live program link and registration: https://esc11.zoom.us/meeting/register/tZ0sceCuqzgqHNFts9LiZtEM7-h8lgxx5Faf

Educators, register at Connect2Texas.net for free live program or to receive a free recording of the program afterwards.
1. Create an account.
2. Click on the Events tab and select George H.W. Bush Presidential Library and Museum, event "President Theodore Roosevelt vs. Banker J.P. Morgan, The Hour of Fate."
• Registration help: Contact Lori Hamm-Neckar at lhamm@esc11.net or 817-740-7156

To view recording after live program, here is the link to find "The Hour of Fate" program video: www.youtube.com/user/TheBushLibrary

Website

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