Shearing Day!!

Our first shearing on the farm has been an adventure...a woman was supposed to add us to a list of farms that are serviced by a shearing team out of Ohio. They do many of the alpaca farms in the area as they make the circuit around the state. The team is highly recommended and we were assured that they would make our first shearing experience a pleasant experience...We never got on the list and I just found out about that a few weeks ago. A scramble to locate another shearer began. Many calls, many dead ends, and much frustration. Wayne took over the search and finally located a llama owner/shearer in Schoharie (about 45 minutes away). He was willing to come and was scheduled to do the shearing last Tuesday. Then it rained. We rescheduled to Friday...and showers developed. The shearer put us in the schedule for today, the weather said, "partly to mostly sunny"...I was hanging clothes on the line this a.m. and looked to the northwest where big, gray clouds were forming. "Oh no!" We hurriedly erected a tarp over the barn area so we'd have a semi-dry place to shear if it started raining. I tried ignoring the drops that hit while we fought against the wind to tie down the tarp without stressing the animals who were watching anxiously through the barn door.

The power of prayer was once again proven...by the time the shearer arrived the clouds had passed and the sun was shining brightly. We had a refreshing breeze keeping us cool as we learned the fine art of putting an alpaca in restraints and holding him still while the shearer did his thing. So here they are...the before...the during...and the after.

I'm so-o-o thankful we have a year to pass before we get to experience this adventure again! I think they are, too.

First of the new chicks

The first chicks arrived on the farm yesterday. These are Araucana chicks that Marc is raising for the woman who is selling him the goats. She doesn't have success with chicks so he's raising them until they are a couple months old. We ordered 10, we got 8, and she's getting 6. The other flock Marc is raising for her should arrive on June 2nd.

Matt and Marc also ordered some for their own endeavors...Matt for pastured poultry/eggs and Marc for additions to his laying flock. His egg business has grown so much that he needs more ladies providing eggs.

Here's Jonathan reading on the back porch and Ian wandering around the back yard checking out how things are progressing on the farm. He looks like a little old man wandering around with his hands in his pockets.

Fruits of our labor...

This weekend the 4 middle kids completed a major project. We have had a big stack of logs sitting in the backyard for 3 years. Each year we'd cut up a few more logs and get them split for our winter supply. This year was declared "the year to finish the pile". (We needed to move it to make room for the new goat barn) I forgot to get a before picture, but here are the after pictures...actually, the after is cleaner than this since they hauled all the pieces of bark off to the "fort" by the river and the big logs have been moved to our new log stacking location. We have more logs to be moved to the 'stacking location' but that's for another day. We're all very happy to see this neatly stacked pile of wood ready for next winter.

The gourds are cleaned and ready for the next step in the crafting process. The fleece above them is a batch I washed up this week. I received four free fleeces via the local "freecycle" website. Today I spent the afternoon carding fleece. Hopefully, I'll get some spinning time in this week. At the very top is a stack of Wayne's grapevine wreaths made from grapevine he and the kids harvested on our property.

Tuesday the alpaca are supposed to be shorn. We're praying for dry weather...we don't have the indoor space to do the shearing and wet alpace shearing is NOT good. We're all a bit nervous about our first shearing day...stay tuned for a blog detailing the experience.

Brothers and bubbles

Friday Matt and the two youngest took advantage of some beautiful sunny weather. They broke out the bubble solution and the big bubble wand. They made some great bubbles...and memories...Matthew patiently helped them as they struggled to make bubbles like his. Jonathan actually had some success. Ian just loved being a part of it. Matthew brought out a smaller bubble wand later which was more Ian's speed.

We had a very productive weekend...the perimeter fence of the 'permanent' alpaca field is up. Matt and Nathanial worked hard getting that done while the other kids helped get firewood split and stacked. Yes, we're already dealing with next winter's firewood! Actually, the wood needed to be moved before we could move onto the next project...moving the chicken house away from the garden and over to the area where the new goat barn is going to be. We're trying to condense all the outbuildings and enlarge the vegetable garden.

I have peas planted and we've started several different types of seeds indoors. The tomatoes are off to a good start. Lowes donated a flat of cabbage plants to area churches...not many people from our church took plants so we brought home the leftovers...if all of them survive, everyone we know may be getting sauerkraut for Christmas!!

Everyone into the pool!

It was a beautiful sunny spring day today with temps at 70. The humans on the farm donned short sleeve shirts and left the jackets inside, but the animals didn't have that luxery. Matt felt bad for the heavily coated alpacas and brought out their pool and the hose. As soon as he started the water "the boys" were there. As you can see, they plunge right in and enjoy the cool water...I think they'd appreciate a bigger pool, but for now they'll have to be content with what they have.

This afternoon I "skirted" some wool that Mary had given me last fall from her southdown babydoll sheep. It washed up beautifully and is drying on our warm side porch. I'm thinking of trying some solar dying with that wool since it's such a nice white and should dye nicely.

Arthur provided some more angora for our collection. I'm trying to decide "who" to blend the angora with. I'm thinking probably "Mystifier" since I have a bag full of his fleece washed and ready to card. If tomorrow is as nice as today, I plan on taking my carder outside and process lots of fleece.

So many projects...so little time.

If you give a boy a tree...

He must climb it! The other day Katelyn and Jonathan were using this ladder from a former swingset/playground to 'rescue kittens' as they played firemen in the backyard. They would put the ladder on the benches of the picnic table which served as the firetruck. Then they would get an 'emergency call' and haul the ladder to whatever the 'kitten' was caught in (the swingset, the trees, the trampoline, etc.) Katelyn made sure that Jonathan didn't get up into the tree by telling him that they needed to get the 'kitten' down instead of going up into the tree. Today Jonathan decided that it was time to get up into that tree. And if Jonathan does it, then of course, Ian does, too!

Enjoying the sunshine

Today was a beautiful spring day. We could hear the peepers in the wetlands across the road and the grass is starting to green up a bit.

The alpacas had a chance to enjoy the salad bar in the field...they enjoyed munching for quite awhile and weren't very eager to return to their regular pen.

Here's Rachael and Nathanial having a turn holding on to the leads while the alpacas grazed. The other day Wayne and the 3 youngest marked the new fenceline that we'll be putting in soon. We hope to make this fenceline more permanent with separate paddocks to rotate them in throughout the summer.

Here are the kids having fun on the trampoline. Matt is pretending to be a spider catching the flies (his pesky siblings).