CANAAN — The sheep were as curious as the visitors at the Fiber-Lee Farm in rural Canaan on Sunday as Leah O’Donnell guided people in and out of animal pens on Maine Open Farm Day.

Edie, a ewe, and Brutus, a young ram, nuzzled visitors, chewed at shoelaces and nibbled curiously at anything in human hands, while sheep siblings and parents ignored the procession. Nearby, rabbits huddled warily in their pens as the two-legged strangers passed through. And a small Jersey cow flashed its big doe eyes and stayed clear of inquisitive hands.

All the while O’Donnell explained why she raised sheep, why she didn’t raise goats, and how she harvested the woolly hair from her sheep and the soft fluff from giant Angora rabbits.

The annual visits to Maine’s farms emphasize the importance of agriculture in the state, and showcases the variety of farms which exists beyond those raising vegetables, cows or chickens. The program is organized and sponsored by the University of Maine Cooperative Extension; Soil and Water Conservation Districts; Maine Department of Agriculture; Food and Rural Resources and the Threshold to Maine Resource Conservation and Development Area Inc.

“Do you have to kill the rabbit to get the fur?” was a standard question at O’Donnell’s rabbit pens. “It’s hard to believe, but people just don’t know,” she said.

The large, hairy rabbits produce a new crop of hair an average of every 10 to 12 weeks. The traditional harvesting method was to pluck the soft hair from the pudgy animals. But O’Donnell finds clipping the hair more “rabbit-friendly” and leaves the animal with a lighter coat rather than bald spots.

The angora and the heavier sheep’s wool are washed, carded, and ultimately spun into yarn. O’Donnell specializes in dyeing the hair for sale to other spinners, although she also spins numerous yarns, and knits with them.

She demonstrated the process in her spinning shed behind the barn. The room is a walk-in fuzzy rainbow with shelves and bags of soft yarns, bats, and rovings as well as a colorful display of soft angora stockings and hats. She worked at a modern spinning wheel to show how the short hairs are twisted together.

In a corner of the shed, a 200-year-old spinning wheel stands, intact and still in use, she said. The prized Shaker-made wheel provides a more reliable and even spin, she said.

The yarns can be single or multiply, variegated or mixed fiber, including imported mohair and silk.

O’Donnell explained that to prepare wool for spinning, she uses a multistep washing process in her bathtub using dish liquid to remove the lanolin from the natural fiber. She said Sunday’s warm, sunny weather with a light breeze was perfect drying weather. She spreads the washed wool on screens to air-dry before carding and spinning.

To care for finished wool or angora products, she said, “Remember it’s hair. There’s nothing like shampoo and conditioner.”

An added treat at O’Donnell’s farm was the goats’ milk products produced by her neighbor Willie Higgins. Visitors sampled Higgins’ Chevre cheese with garlic, chive or pineapple and washed it down with chilly goats’ milk. Higgins also makes a goats’ milk soap that O’Donnell swears by for dry skin.