Alpaca scarves & unique ornaments

There's still time to create your own gifts with these hand dyed or natural yarns

Alpaca rugs and warm alpaca socks will keep your feet happy this winter!

Ashford fiber art supplies, tools and books

I’ve divided my days because both indoor and outdoor activities are of equal priority. Halter training is going fine. Za is still needing some work, but April and Pablo are doing well. Pablo is the best – he LOVES IT! He wants to go everywhere try anything. I’ve started training him for performance classes which is like an obstacle course for alpacas. He has learned to climb the stairs to the back deck where he saw his reflection in the door… and he’s now learned to walk down the stairs rather than launch himself from the top. He is also becoming quite comfortable doing the teeter-totter. It’s slightly different than your normal playground teeter-totter. It’s wider and they have to WALK up, balance on the top and WALK down the other side. I’m having way too much fun with this. Thankfully, so is he. Pablo is like the “smart kid” in school that needs a challenge to stay calm and focused. He loves this too!

April just likes to please people, so she’ll do what she’s asked to do. I can almost here her say, “I can walk in a circle and stand still. Whateeevvveeerrr.

Za on the other hand is entering her “pre-teen” phase. Need I say more? Sadly, she was away with her mom at another farm during the time I normally train the “kids”, so she’s starting a little late, and she’s not really sure this is what she wants to do. When she’s “over it”, she’ll simply plop down on the ground with the attitude, “I’m so over this!”

By that time, so am I. Not really, I still love it. But it’s time to get back to work inside and finish up some projects for our Christmas in the Country/Open Barn.

April's smile

White River's Empress of Za

We had a beautiful weekend for our Open Barn. It was sunny, warm and ‘Paca Perfect! The alpacas, as expected, were a big hit – even with the local news station.

We must report that the voting contest became skewed when Unicorn decided to have her cria on opening morning. We thought Pablo might become the “Farm Favorite” with his outgoing personality and unique spots.

He was one of the farm favorites

But then Grace’s 3 week old cria had spots too…

"Marble" needs a name

but then Unicorn had her newborn on Opening Day, and all bets were off. He was definately the “farm favorite”.

This was the Farm Favorite

Our barn was totally transformed into a shopping area…

Shopping area in the barn

With new hand dyed yarn, felted pictures and table runners…

Felted scarf, felting kits and Ashford Fiber art supplies

and this one of a kind faux felted scarf.  The wind was strong on Sunday making it difficult to keep things in place and take photographs, but such are the challenges of country living!

Pablo was born in January 2009. Terry found him at 8:00 in the morning and he truly thought that he was frozen – it was during an ice storm. But when he picked him up, he looked up at him and hummed!

I came “skating” to the barn with my hair dryer and towels and Pablo sat inside my coat while I dried him off and warmed him up. Terry looked at him and immediately named him Pablo after the Disney storybook we read to our boys when they were young. You see, Pablo was the penguin that hated the cold. With this cria being black and white and born in an ice storm, it seemed to be the perfect name!

I’m going to write a children’s book about Pablo. We are very attached and he is quite the character!

Meet Pablo right after shearing. You should see him now!

April needed a “Show Stopper” name, but naturally she must be called April. It tooks me months, but I finally arrived with a name that suited both her date of birth and was show worthy. LaBelleFluer is French for “The Beautiful Flower”. It had the flair I thought she needed!

This is April's baby photo. You should see her now!

Last year was such a success with well over 100 people coming, that this year we’ve added a couple of new activities.

VOTE for your favorite alpaca in several different categories including “Most Adorable” – always a favorite, “Show Stopper”, Yarn Pick/favorite color” and “Farm Favorite”. We’ll tally up the results and post them here and on our website.

We also have a new arrival that needs a name. He’s a rare appaloosa and could very well grow into the “Shop Stopper” category and he needs an appropriate name.

Meet Montague. a.k.a. Monty.  He looks like he’s a light brown, but when you part his fiber, he is a beautiful black.  When alpacas are in utero, their newly fiber can become “bleached”.  It’s only when the new fiber begins to grow in that you can truly see what color they will become.  Monty was born in August, 2008. 

You’ve seen him in our literature; he’s the short one…

Another “Monty Mug” is one that I use in seminars…

That was Monty then, but this is Monty now, well this winter.  You can just see his density and his curls!

Alpacas are weaned when they are approximately 6 months. 

This is Monty now…

NOT! 

Maybe it’s the program, but more likely the user. I cannot get things to line up the way I intended.  I want a photo here, but it shows up somewhere else, there are too many blank spaces, yada, yada, yuck.

So as you look through my newest entries, be kind.  Be patient.  Or tell me how to do it!

Let’s see if I can bring you all up to date.  We’ve had several crias born this winter.  You can check them out here somewhere.  I have a catagory for crias – babies, then so far I’ve posted Monty and April.  That in itself took most of the day, and I thought I could get through all of them today.  Yeah, right.  All I can say about that is, “check back”. 

It’s shearing time.  We’ve done a few of our own, but mostly when Terry and Ben are home at the same time, we’ve scheduled dates for our customers, and have been working ours inbetween.  Terry does an excellent job and I’ve been able to get some nice show fleeces.  On our newest herdsire, Rusty, we even did the “DO”.  You know, the fancy hair do that the “big guys” get.  You’d be impressed.  When I can, I’ll post a photo of the before and after.

It’s also breeding time here on the farm.  Lots of breedings going on.  Last year I bred in the winter and had winter babies.  This year, yeah, not so much.  I want early spring babies instead.  Cria watch in the snow and ice was, well, not so fun.  But those babies are all growing up and learning to lead.  Now that’s been a hoot!  And I must say that all of them are so very smart that they actually enjoy putting on their halter and going for their walk.  There are 7 of them to walk each day.  April’s not in training yet other than to “stand”.

Feeding time is a blast right now.  I let all of the kids out into the center isle and put their food dishes toward the barn door.  They gather around and eat, then play, then eat, then run, then eat then check out to see what the “big guys” are doing, then eat, then show off…  I enjoy having them under foot, but they are also in training and don’t realize it.  They are use to people walking around them, touching them and talking to them while they play.  This group of crias has been so much fun and each has their own personality.

Pablo, for instance, is a “pill”.  He’s not afraid – he’s curious and he always wants to see what’s going on and to mimic the actions of the “older males”.  He’s polite, but likes to play hard.  Diedra on the other hand is a sweetheart.  She loves my approval and looks over at me to see if she’s doing things “right.  She loves to have her ears rubbed.  Za is definately the Empress.  She won’t play too much, but regally struts around the barn.  Flash is timid, but coming out of that somewhat now.  Courtney and Monty are being weaned and just want their moms, but are managing quite well.  Copperhead likes to play if somebody else starts it.  And when they’ve been couped up because of the rain, they run through the barn like… well, you think of an anology.  It’s like the Indy 500 and Bumber Cars combined!  Tally’s cria loves to run and buck sideways!  He needs to be named after a PBR bull!  I think I’ll start calling him Bodacious!  Why not, he’s the right color, acts like him and it’s still regal enough for a top herdsire plus this kid needs a name.

Enough time on this for today.  I’ll try and do a better job of keeping this up.

But it’s also show season.  White River’s Court Jester (Courtney) is making her show debut at the Kentucky Classic next weekend.  I’ll let you know how that goes.

Hugs & Hums

Stacy