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Saturday, November 26, 2011
Fun in the pasture
OK, I know that it can't last, but wow! I'm enjoying the sweatshirt weather and the alpacas are happily still grazing during the day and hanging out in the pastures closest to the house during the night. There can't be much nutrition left in the grasses at this point, but who wouldn't want to spend the day soaking up the sun and enjoying another day of blue sky weather. As our hay-guy put it..."every day like this is one less day of 20 degrees and snow for us to endure later".
Now that we've officially opened the store, closed out our breeding efforts, and prepared the farm for Winter, we are taking another look at the Cria Crop of 2011. We don't usually try to do the Carolina Show in February, but we are so excited at how some of these cria look, we are making preparations for a February road trip! That means: 1. Don't park the trailer off the gravel (there is bound to be snow by then); 2. Pasture the show boys in the New Barn so we can keep them dry and clean; and 3. Start putting hands on the young ones that will take their first Big Adventure away from Mom.
Our gray herdsire, Casanova's Peruvian Crown Prince has done a SUPER job with both color and fiber. He should have four of his offspring on the Show Circuit. Perhaps our best boy is out of Chieftain, and he just might be the best cria EVER born on the farm. He's one of those cria you love to look at everyday, just to make yourself smile. He has a bit of growing up to do,but his fiber is in the elite category already.
Let's hope the weather cooperates for February, the cria are ready for a road trip, and everyone looks just as handsome...and beautiful (for all those girls)..as they do this month!
Crown cria
Chieftain's Highland Monarch
yawn...life is good!
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Wednesday, October 19, 2011
Tiree looking good, but reluctant
Leaves are falling and the weatherman is tormenting us with a prediction of snow flurries in the near future...what do they know anyhow! Our Open Farm Day Oct. 8 was a huge success. The weather could not have been more perfect, the leaves were in full color, and the people doing fiber demonstrations did a great job showing off their talents.
We've done some shopping for the store...almost as much fun as shopping for stuff to put in our own closets...and the latest yarns have arrived from the mills. Our first Yarn Club is now enjoying a new stash of baby alpaca yarn in three different colors. The 2012 edition of the Yarn Club only has two more shares left and we should be able to have their alpaca/sari silk blend of yarn ready for them by the end of the year. You can check out more info on our yarns at www.AlpacaComforts.com. I haven't taken the time to put any articles from the store on that site, but all the yarns from our own alpacas can be seen there.
The boxes from Classic Alpaca and Lanart are sitting in the workshop area ready for the inventory. Peruvian Link should be sending us a bunch of sweaters and some jackets to round out our supply for the holiday season. This is probably our biggest stock of alpaca garments for the season, but we are expecting a good shopping season. We've exceeded all of our previous sales from the events we have attended so far this year.
Before we get too caught up in the retail part of our business, Jen and I are heading off to the Empire Extravaganza Oct. 21-23. This will be the only show we can fit into our schedule this Fall, and it looks to be tough competition for our crew of eight yearlings! Everyone one has been to a show in the Spring except for our beautiful Accoyo Tiree. She is having a tough time with the halter and the idea of walking on the end of a lead. She's such a sweetheart, she doesn't pitch a fit, just insists that she isn't committed to the idea of a brisk walking pace. I'm hoping Jen can convince her that it's not such a bad thing by Sunday when her class will show!
2012 Yarn Club
Open Farm Day project
Pre-holiday store scene
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Monday, September 05, 2011
Cria enjoying a cool evening
I was a teacher, so I am used to the Angst of August...when the realization that summer is coming to an end hits the panic button. What happened to July? Even without the definite deadline of "back to school", I'm feeling like I missed out on a season. Never mind that the 90 plus degree days in July had me wishing for rain, an unseasonably cool spell, or the delight in a cool crispy Fall day. I want the long evenings to enjoy and the shorts and T-shirt attire of my typical day. Give me those 80 degree days of summer when you didn't sweat unless you really were trying to. Maybe that's the problem. The summer was so hot, I spent the afternoons seeking shelter in the office or the cool basement under the pretense of "working in the store".
Next summer we will be better equipped to handle the heat. In a stroke of genius, Jen mentioned to a client who is a heating/air conditioning guy that instead of buying a male he was interested in, we would be willing to trade him for a ductless air conditioner for the living room/dining room. Creativity reigns at Highland! When we have the coldest summer in history next year, please don't cast the blame on us. We held out for as long as we could!
Crown's newest cria crop
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Wednesday, July 20, 2011
Crown's Highland (Lone) Ranger
The nursery pasture has come alive with 14 new additions who remind us that each day is meant for having fun, exploring new adventures (rabbits are the best!), and a mom's love is the most important thing in the world. With everything from white to black, these cria represent a good cross section of our breeding program in both color and quality. Crown Prince continues to consistnetly put out offspring in gray and black, Enzo has surprised us once again with a bay black male out of a dark fawn dam, and Chieftain has produced what could quite possibly the best cria...ever! We sheared everyone on the 12th...thank goodness before this REALLY hot spell, and now the big wait to see how that fiber grows back. We might be a bit premature, but I'm hoping the first show in North Carolina isn't on the same weekend as our Pittsburgh Knit and Crochet Festival.
These pictures are compliments of Chris Leonard during out June Open Farm Day.
Crown's Peruvian Cheechako
Two of Santana's final cria
No, that's not a baby bird!
Heir to the throne: Chieftain's Monarch
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Wednesday, May 18, 2011
I flew into Denver yesterday (May 17) for a quick visit with a college friend who lives in Denver before Wini and I set up for the American Alpaca Textiles vendor booth. I'm hoping the show goes well and everyone still feels comfortable coming to the show even with the recent outbreak of equine herpes in Colorado.
The UPS truck finally came at 5:30pm with the four boxes I shipped off last Friday...that relieved a lot of worry. A display booth is very hard to set up without any display materials!! I'm very excited about the display and the national debut of our alpaca/merino upholstery fabric. We've been working on this project for over two years and we finally have most of the pieces in place with a designer/weaver, a mill that will produce the yarn, and a great sampling of several different designs.
I'll take pictures and post some later this week.
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Sunday, May 15, 2011
It's another day of rain here, but when I look at the devastation in the South along the Mississippi River, I realize how lucky we are to be sitting on top of a hill in PA. We haven't reached the "boot sucking" mud stage yet, so this rain should just help the pastures grow...once we get to see the sun again. I'm sure there will be a day this summer when I'm kicking up dust with the mower and wondering if we will ever get a break from the heat...so goes it with Mother Nature.
Last week we checked off several Spring projects from the loooooong list. All of the straw is out of the barns and sheds, the poop bunk has been emptied over the hill (wow, thanks Dan. Your case of beer is on the way!), and the fans are out of storage. The barn floor was leveled during one of those nice days we had last week. Doug from McDowell's (sounds a bit like a Scottish clan!) is amazing with a skid steer in small spaces. In a short amount of time he had a crater riddled barn floor looking brand new. Michelle, her nephew, and I managed to drag and position almost 60 of those heavy rubber horse stall mats into a mosaic pattern that left just one small 4X4 open space near a poop pile. But I've jumped ahead of the REALLY big news (at least in my book). Earlier in the week Chatfield came and installed the foundation for three AUTOMATIC WATERERS!!! If you have ever lugged eight big buckets of water on a daily basis, you understand my excitement at being able to watch an alpaca drink water and see the water level automatically refill. I talked Jen into it with the logic of "before we finish the barn floor, this is the time to dig up the water line". Other than the usual discussion of the financials. it was a pretty easy sell. Of course, I think I vaguely agreed to putting in another small pasture for the female barn...but I would have agreed to just about anything to achieve this goal! On Wednesday, Chatfield comes back to actually install the waterers. I think I'll post a picture of an alpaca drinking from the "fountain". You will see me in the background doing cartwheels....and the ambulance pulling up in the next frame.
Two cria on the ground...both with unusual deliveries, but both healthy and female. Our new clients are beaming! Four more are due now with another four by the end of the month. That's the reason Jen isn't gong to Nationals with me on Tuesday.
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