Basking

.... in the sunshine and promise of spring, that is!We hadn't experienced more than a very rare single day of sunshine for a while, and the past few days of warmth and brightness seem to be making everyone feel great.
All over the farm, the creatures were soaking it up. Even our koi came out of the depths of their pond for the first time in months to see the sun.
And today I saw the first crocuses of the year. (Their purple color reminds me of the 3 champion banners we brought home from the show this past weekend... I'm basking in our farm's success, too! Check it out here). Pin It Now!

Do You Know Nuno?

....Nuno felting, that is. It's a very cool technique for producing light-weight, gauzy products with alpaca or wool laminated/felted onto silk and I'm really loving it! It's a great way to combine dyeing and felting, and the end product is ethereal and gorgeous.I was in heaven this morning in the studio, with projects in various stages and lots of dyeing taking place, too. I love the methods I use for dyeing silk, and plan to make silk scarves and finished scarves and shawls available on my Etsy site soon so that people can use them for their own projects (or just wear them as-is!). (This one may just have to stay with me, I'm going to put an abalone button on it).
This coming weekend is the Southern Select Alpaca Show, and whatever I don't sell there will be posted on Etsy, with more to come.
Munchie was keeping me company this morning. I never could previously figure out why he didn't like hanging out in the studio with me, when he's always nearby in the house. Finally, I set up a cushy spot for him in my padded office chair WITH a plush sheep hide on top- how could I have forgotten that he's all about comfort, and a simple rug on the wood floor was simply not good enough, and made him feel like a D-O-G? Pin It Now!

Summertime routine... not!

After five jam-packed days in Cleveland of showing and selling alpacas, networking, learning new things, shopping, and camping in our RV on a parking lot, I had hoped to have at least one little quiet day.... not! We had our 3rd cria within a few days (male, but one of the best-looking fleeces I've seen on a cria), the kids have lots going on, and this morning our water well pump went out. It always takes a while to get into our summer groove, so I guess I need to be patient.

The AOBA National Show and World Alpaca Conference really was great, and I am SOOO glad I went! It was so fun reconnecting with people, and I think it's always good to learn new things. It's just very motivating! Fiber and all of the awesome things that people are doing with their fiber was probably the most exciting thing to realize. The Fashion Show was great as always, and featured both commercial and handmade items! (See guy in alpaca coat and scarf at top, be sure to look at coat, not just guy!)

One of the new things I learned about was these giant needles, at the booth of BagSmith. I bought a pair of Size 50's (plus 35's for i-cord), as well as a very cool pattern book for making rugs, shawls, bags, etc. It looks like I could be going through a lot of my giant yarn stash very soon!

I've been wanting to "relearn" how to crochet- they make giant crochet hooks, too!

The definite highlight of the conference was winning our first National banner- Brown Female Color Champion with XXXtremely Sweet! We purchased her dam at the Snowmass Auction last year, and it was a very affirming selection! Her dam just gave us the mentioned cria on Monday, and he looks to have the same potential.

Out other alpacas did really well in the show, and we sold our auction girl! Check out this little movie to see Man of Steel (co-owned with Catalpa Creek)being shorn after showing. His color change from before to after is really cool. Pin It Now!

Spring has sprung!

I love this time of year, and have been a bit busy for much blogging! We had our first show of the weekend in Columbus- it was a big success for us and a lot of fun as well! As always, I came home really, really tired am just now getting back on track. It's an A+++ day outside and I'm getting ready to go ride, so here are a few quick pictures:

Big Brown and Jenny by our farm display.

The blush of green that absolutely nourishes my soul this time of year!

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A Weird and Wild Adventure

I'm SOOO glad to be home all in one piece from our final alpaca event of the season (the Belleau Wood Auction and Carolina Classic Show in Concord, NC). It was exciting from start to finish! First, we brought along an extra pussy (get your minds out of the gutter now), MB's cat Stevie-Y, who had his leg amputated the week before. MB couldn't leave him to travel, as he needed a lot of extra care and bandage changes. Seems he used up several of his nine lives when some low-life shot him. I know that God must have a plan for Stevie, as he survived at least 3 shots- the one that eventually took his leg, another that pierced his ear, and a third that went cleanly in and out of the surviving front leg.

Stevie was a model patient and traveler (except for the time that he hid himself in the cupboard and scared MB to death), and we were glad to have him along! It's very inspiring how quickly he is adapting to his loss, and he was nimbly jumping around on counters and upon the bed, where he gladly kept my feet warm!
Because we were leaving so early on Friday morning, MB and Stevie came the night before and were going to stay in the RV. We were already hooked up to the trailer and ready to pull out from the barn, and had the RV plugged in to an extension cord for heat. MB called to say the heat was malfunctioning, and then quickly called again to say that she smelled smoke! We told her where the fire extinguisher was and Paul and I flew up the hill to find that the electrical panel had partially melted due to an improper plug-in. Paul eliminated the problem by turning off several breakers and felt we were safe to still take the RV, and MB and Stevie stayed in the studio for the night.

The auction and show were successful for us, and you can read about the details here. We were extremely grateful to get good prices for our animals in this unpredictable economy, and it was reassuring that the foundation we laid for our farm/alpaca business 14 years ago is serving us well through raising top-quality alpacas.
On the way home, we began losing power going up big hills and the warning light was coming on in the coach. We immediately stopped for the night outside of Ashville, NC and were very fortunate the next morning to find an engine service provider that could fix the RV on our 3rd try. It was a long and uncertain wait, but we were able to get home in time for me to tuck the kids in and crash before my usual bedtime. Above, MB is showing off the cria that we had along, Eye Candy, to the mechanics at the first RV repair place. Below, at the semi-tractor repair place, the alpacas got lots of weird looks as we let them out of the trailer for fresh air and to stretch their legs!Thank you, Lord, for another event that ended up with a good outcome and that I can chalk up to experience, once again! Pin It Now!

Mission Accomplished

Wow, this weekend exceeded my expectations in every way! I'm so glad that my friends didn't shoot me after all because the kids were very good and helpful and we had a low-stress and very successful weekend at the Heartland Classic Show in Indianapolis. In fact, this was one of our best shows ever- with 9 animals we took 3 Res. Championships, 5 1sts, and 4 2nds!

Jitterbug didn't let me down, either, taking a blue in her class. It was pretty funny though, every time she'd get stressed she'd lay down and we had to get help to carry her from the show ring.
Maisy finally had her cria on Saturday, a white male sired by Sinbad. This morning we had another cria, a lovely dark brown male from Shiva and Dakotia Decadence. Shiva is one of our best dams, always so quiet, gentle and cooperative with easy births and lots of milk. This one is no exception! I love being with the dams and crias when the dams appear to be "in a zone" where they are awash in maternal hormones and stand calmly for their crias to take their first steps and find milk. It's a privilege to witness new life in this way, and it makes me feel very grateful to live on a farm. I hope you enjoy this small piece of farm life.

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Welcome to my World

First of all, let me reiterate that I am one of the luckiest girls I know! Above is what I woke up to this morning (in addition to my wonderful husband on the pillow next to me- we have an unspoken agreement that there will be no photos taken while in bed), literally right outside my window. I'll try to focus on this soothing image this weekend when I'm at my wit's end taking the land yacht to an alpaca show with 4 young teens, a dog, and nine alpacas.... without my hubby to provide reinforcement.

Last time I did this, I appealed to several friends to just shoot me if I ever suggested it again... they are not coming through. I plan to hand my Hosensizers (ask my sister-in-law, Sandy, what this term of endearment from her German grandmother means- she just found out)alpacas needing training whenever they get surly.... here's one that needs it:

I actually have very high hopes for this girl, Jitterbug, so hopefully I can report on Monday that we survived and came home with lots of ribbons!

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