About the Museum of Friendly Beasts
Sheep and wool, goats, cattle, pigs, horses, camels, poultry, bees, fish, cats and dogs, and the long story of how people and animals came to live together.
Why these animals?
All of these animals, and several others, were chosen, kept and bred for their gentle nature and because they could be managed within human communities to meet people’s needs: food, fiber, leather, milk and work.
When did farming begin, and what changed?
The earliest farming began about 10,000 years ago, in what is called the Neolithic Revolution. It changed far more than food. People made new kinds of tools, lived together and harvested together, and grew cereal grasses. They stored grain in cool, dry granaries, kept the strongest and best sheep for breeding, and found ways to keep the surplus through the seasons, such as making wine and brewing beer.
How did villages become cities of strangers?
Groups once bound by kinship took in other people. As cities grew, more and more of the people you met each day were strangers. A division of labor followed: new tasks to manage the surplus, and new chances for skilled work, which let cities grow and thrive.
Was it peaceful?
Not always. Conflict between groups never went away, and armed warfare between rival powers runs through history, with rulers using military force to impose their will. All of this belongs to this museum, along with the gentle beasts that thrive beside us.
Is everything here suitable for young children?
Some rooms show how industrial farming and slaughterhouses work in a modern economy. They can be disturbing, so they are marked for older students (“For grades … and up”) at the door of the room, for parents and teachers to decide.
Is there a better way?
There is a growing one. In the new farming movement, people from cities go back to the land, raise animals on pasture and trade within the local economy: meat by agreement with a local butcher rather than heavily processed, and honey, berry jam, beeswax for candle making and much more from nearby farms.
What do children learn here?
One of our goals is to open children’s eyes to the countryside that feeds and clothes their city, its hinterland of supply, and to show them how people go back to the land. Those lessons run through the whole curriculum, for every age.
Where can a family make something?
We carry the same work into a shop of our own, which teaches children how yarn and other animal products become clothing and useful things: knitting and crochet for young makers, a pattern maker, a wide range of blanket patterns free to use, and whole kits families can buy. A small quilt shop is being built with Florida quilt makers, who offer their work on consignment at the price they set; the shop takes nothing from the sale. All this and more is at softlamby.com.
The museum in numbers
| Galleries and rooms | 48 |
|---|---|
| Wall cards | 257 |
| Class patterns | 13 |
| Fiber festivals | 157 |
Every wall card cites its sources. Pictures marked as house illustrations are SI-generated; photographs carry their credits and licences.