National Alpaca Farm Days

This weekend is the weekend designated to open our farms up to the public and talk to them about alpacas, their fleece, our industry, and showcase our farms. We have done this event every year for the last 3 years and have always enjoyed. This year is special though. We were featured on the front page of our local newspaper, Today's Sunbeam.

When I found out they were going to write an article about our farm. I was thrilled and excited. I was never expecting to be on the front page. The day the writer and photographer came was a special day here on our farm. Our beloved, Eliza, a dark rose grey modern female decided she wanted to deliver her cria just as they arrived. :-) My first words to them when I came out of the house from changing clothes was "Are you squimish?" They were excited about witnessing the birth. It was an interesting experience giving an interview, delivering a cria, and taking care of it all at the same time. Did I mention I also have a 2 year old and a 2 month old. Who were thankfully sound asleep napping during this time. Eliza delivered a beautiful solid medium brown or rose grey male. We are so excited for this cria as he is our very own herdsire's second cria born on our farm.

Now, back to NAFD. I guess the press in the paper and the ad we put into the Cumberland & Salem Guide paid off. We opened the farm from 10 AM until 3 PM. Saturday was the first day and I have to say it was phenomenal. We had the largest turn-out we have ever had. It was just me today as my husband, Rob, had to work. I couldn't keep up with number of visitors. I know I missed talking to many people. However, the alpacas got lots of grain. There was a lot of interest in the alpacas care, skirting and carding the fleece and many people were amazed at the felted soap!

The challenge on Saturday was not only the volume for just one person, but the rain. It rained and misted just enough that I had to squeeze everything into my husband's shop area. It was a tight fit. I couldn't properly open up my skirting table and show off my beautiful girl, Crystal, fleece. Although, many people were willing to hold the one end of table up so I could quickly show how the process works. The other issue I had was that my child-care for the day fell through. My SIL was suppose to come over with her kids and watch my boys. She got called into work and I didn't find out until 1 PM when I came into the house to feed my children. That made it a challenge because I had to keep track of what Benjamin was doing because 2 year old's can get into a lot of trouble quickly & alot of cars were coming in and out. Thankfully, my 2 month old slept in his car seat most of the time. Thankfully, on Sunday Rob will be home so I will have help with the kids.

Sunday is another day. I can't wait to see what the day brings. Will we have as many visitors or will it be slow like prior years. It is also the last day for the 'name that cria' contest. We have several good names already (I had to peak).

I want to close by Thanking Everyone who stopped by today to learn about the alpacas and shop. We truly appreciate your business and hope that you enjoyed yourselves as much as I enjoyed meeting you. If you bought anything from us, I hope you enjoy the product and that it keeps you snugly warm.

Wow, It's been awhile

I can't believe that my last post was over a year ago. Time sure does fly when you work full-time, run a household, take care of one child (and I was pregnant with my second during this time, too), and manage the farm. Well, life has been full of ups and downs the last year. We won't go into that here.

What's new? MFI Peruvian Microman had his first cria born November 2010. We named him Microbrew as he is the nice rich color of a home brewed beer. I will post pictures soon. It is on my list along with updating all my websites. Life has been so crazy that I have not even gotten last year's cria on there. And it is almost time for the 2011 cria to start being born next month. We didn't get the breeding's in for Spring 2011 births due to the cria's being born late and the weather had already turned scorching hot last year. We opted for only Fall births for 2011. This year, we bred for all Spring births for 2012.

I will be starting to post pictures of the farm on the blog along with things going on here so please keep checking back. I am going to try to be more active in my blogging. What is on tap for the next month? Waiting on 3 cria to be born in September; building a skirting table, and working my way through two years of fleece. Wish me luck.

Check back later this week as I am going to post pictures of the skirting table I am going to build. I bought all the material today so hopefully it won't take me long to do this. I have a plan...Let's see how it works. Until later. Have a great week ahead.