Today is pleasantly warm with a soft breeze and the sun is shining brightly!  It is so wonderful to see no clouds in a gloriously blue sky!  We’ve seen robins here and there, and daffodil tips are peeking up along the foundation to the house, sure signs that spring is on its way.

The alpacas had been romping around the pasture early this morning.  There’s still some snow covering most of the ground and with all this quick melting there’s also plenty of deep puddles and mud.  Thankfully my boys hate to get their feet wet so they hop over the puddles and quickly walk through the mud.  The sun has dried the straw that we’ve put out in the paddock for them to cush on.  They’ve been basking in sunshine for hours.

Arlo greeted me at the gate as he usually does although today he’s totally covered in straw.  Apparently, he’s been rolling!  They’re so funny when they roll.  First they sniff out an area like a dog would, probably to be sure it’s ‘clean.’  Then slowly they will cush, and suddenly they kick out their feet as they roll onto their side, and kick and kick while they slither on the ground.  Then they’ll go back to a cush, spring up, and shake.

As I went about my chores, Coty came into the barn and started sniffing the one stall with no straw, just the stonedust.  Next thing I knew, he was dropping and rolling!  After rolling in stonedust, Coty’s rosy-fawn fleece looks kind of gray.  Guinness had been cushed near the hay feeder so he just flopped over on his side and rolled away.  He too was covered in straw as he sauntered over to the water bucket.  I turned around to see Julio coming into the barn from the tack room side, sniffed at the straw, and he too dropped and rolled.  During all this rolling, Bo had been quietly eating some of the fresh hay that I’d just put into the wheelbarrow.  He only had straw on his legs from cushing.  I let him know that I had seen him rolling out in the paddock from the window this morning.

I guess all the alpacas have spring fever too!

Last Thursday, New Hampshire, and most of New England and New York were hit with yet another seriously strong storm.  The weather forecasters talked about it for days; you’d think the apocalypse was coming.  They’ve been pretty wrong quite a bit lately so I didn’t think too much of it.  In the afternoon the heavy rains and wind started up, the back of our cabin started to leak in odd places, and I knew that this time their forecast was correct.

In the past 3 years since we’ve started our farm, Deerfield and the surrounding towns have been hit with record rains, flooding conditions, collapsed roads, record snowfall, a tornado, a severe ice storm causing extensive statewide damage, power outages lasting weeks, a phone outage (due to flooding) lasting a month, etc. etc.  This last windstorm once again caused extensive property damage, downed power lines and trees, flooding, impassable roads, and power and phone outages for days.  This is getting all too familiar.

The power went out late Thursday night.  The winds were so loud we couldn’t sleep, the strongest winds coming about 1:00 a.m. Friday.  We were curled up on the couch all night in front of the woodstove, bleary eyed.  We heard the most god-awful noises but with no power we couldn’t turn the outside lights on and it wasn’t safe to go outside.  At first light, around 6:00 a.m. I ran out back and started calling out to the alpacas, who were all huddled behind the tarps we put up.  Within seconds they all came running out looking excited to hear my voice!  All were fine and the barn appeared intact.  We did have minor roof damage to the house, branches down all around, and trees down in the woods.  And, oh yes, no power nor phone, again.  The Governor declared a state of emergency, and told us to plan for an extended outage, again.

It’s easy to become despondent and anxiety ridden, and I was on the borderline.    As Dan and I drove around looking for somewhere to get water for the alpacas and saw all the damage around town, we quickly changed our spirits to all that we were and are thankful and grateful for.  We continue to keep thinking about all that we are grateful for.  Gratitude keeps us focused on the important things.  In the big scheme of things, nothing really bad happened to us.  We are just fine.  We have neighbors and friends and co-workers who were not as lucky as us. 

We are so happy and grateful that we were not injured, nor were any of our animals, we are grateful that our house and barn and fencing were not really damaged and that no trees fell on them, we are grateful that no windows broke, we are grateful that we had supplies and daylight to repair the roof quickly, we are grateful that our cars and trailer and tractor were also not damaged, we are grateful that the house stopped leaking (it stopped raining), we are grateful that no power lines fell on our property, we are grateful that the sump came within three inches of the top (i.e. it did not overflow!) and that the cellar stayed dry, we are grateful that we have a friend who offered us water for the alpacas, we are grateful we live in a town that has water available for livestock in emergencies (how great is that!), we are grateful that we’ve always enjoyed heating our home with a woodstove, we are grateful that the right situations fell into place and an electrician was able to come out to wire the house properly for a generator, we are grateful that we finally got said generator running, and we are grateful that the phone and internet service were up within 3 and half days. We are very grateful that we were out of power for only 48 hours this time. 

We will always get a good laugh at how the power came back on less than 5 minutes after we got the generator running!  Now that we have a properly installed generator for such emergencies, we’ll probably never lose power again! 

We are grateful in advance for that.   

I just love to go barefoot.  In the warm weather, the sun on my toes and the feel of grass or beach sand beneath my feet is such a relaxing sensation.  I’ve always hated to have anything on my feet except for wool socks in the winter when I’m in the house and my feet are cold.  I only put slippers on to run down cellar or going onto the porch for wood.  When I come into the house, whatever is on my feet I quickly kick off.  Dan even has a family friend who does go barefoot in the winter, even outside!  (Hi Jeff)  My mom often reminds me of the Easter day when I was 2 years old and cried all day.  That evening when she took off my new little shoes, my feet were covered in blisters, and I stopped crying.  I imagine I’ve hated wearing shoes since then.

I do have to have something on my feet to drive or walk or get around so in the warm weather you’ll usually find me in something like Teva sandals or Birkenstocks.  I can easily take them off before I start driving.  If I’m hiking in the woods I will wear proper hiking boots to protect my feet.  I wear the hiking boots for getting around in the winter too.  And somewhere I do have men’s type work boots for safety when we cut and stack wood, move rocks, and other yard chores.  And now we have livestock, so another boot beckons.  It just wouldn’t be healthy for me to be barefoot in the barn and pastures!  Dan on the other hand, has no shoe issues and always prefers to wear something on his feet.

So what’s a barefoot loving girl to do?  She wears boots from a company appropriately named The Muck Boot Company!  We are lucky enough that the feed store here in town carries them.  We were looking for a boot that would keep our feet warm while doing barn chores in the snow and wind and we tried on their ‘Artic’ boot style.  Oh my!  The sole is quite cushy but also has arch support and while walking around the store, my feet were actually comfortable!  They come up almost to my knees which keep out deep snow, but they also fold down so I can easily tuck my pants in, and then roll them back up.  How great is that!  They are rated to keep your feet warm to 40 degrees below zero.  And may I dare say, my feet have never been cold while I’m out in the barn!

During those weeks of below zero temperatures and fierce winds, all I could think of was Elaine on a Seinfeld episode when she was writing for Peterman’s catalog:  “Thank goodness I was wearing my Muck Boot company’s Artic zone boots!”

Last weekend at the feed store Dan was showing me some clog style boots for spring and summer.  Lucy, the owner, quickly opened the catalog to show me that they also come in purple.  Purple!  How can I resist a boot that comes in my favorite color!  Come summer folks, you will probably find me about the farm not barefoot, but in my purple clog-style farm boots.

Coty loves to hay-dive.  He’ll stand at the wheelbarrow picking through the hay, chewing and sniffing.  Then suddenly he’ll thrust his head down to the bottom of the wheelbarrow.  His head is completely covered in hay.  He’s eating all the delicious bits of grassy things that fall to the bottom.  Sometimes he stands in one place. Sometimes he’ll reach over under the hay as far as his long neck will stretch.  The hay on top of him jumps around.  The other alpacas don’t mind him doing this.  Usually they’ll just continue eating the hay that’s covering his neck and head.  Sometimes they join him.  After a while, swoosh!  Coty’s head pops up.  He’ll stand there chewing a mouthful of hay, with long, grassy, green hay hanging down on both sides of his head.  I laugh and tell him how adorable he is wearing his ‘hay hat.’  If you’ve never watched an alpaca hay dive, you’re missing out on one of the funniest things in life.

Jenna Woginrich blogs on the Mother Earth News as the Happy Homesteader.  She recently posted a fabulous entry she entitled ‘Yearning to be a Farmer.’  Many readers have commented that her term ‘Barnheart’ will be this year’s ‘locavore.’  I’d have to agree.  I am relieved to hear that many people share my affliction.  If you have a chance you can read her blog post here and on her personal blog site here.

Barnheart is essentially the heartfelt, intense longing for the outdoors, of growing our own food, building our own shelters, and raising our own livestock for food and clothing.  It’s our longing for self-sufficiency and breathing fresh air while we live our conventional lives, working in our windowless, stuffy office cubicles.  It’s that calling we feel while discussing average percentages and quarterly reports with co-workers.  That longing for a quiet and peaceful life based on simplicity and nature is what wakes people with Barnheart up at night.

I have had Barnheart all my life and now it has a name!  I grew up in suburbia with its developments, soccer games, traffic lights with congestion and honking, and strip malls.  On paper my hometown had a wonderful school system and safe neighborhoods.  During and after college I continued to live in suburbia for years.  But I longed for large open fields of lush grasses and wildflowers.  I longed for large expanses of land that beckoned to be hiked in solitude from crowds.  I longed for that smell of fresh air.  I longed for hearing nothing but birds singing and the wind rustling grass and leaves.  I longed for that life where joy is found in pulling up that first unperfect carrot grown from the soil you created and rainwater, baking bread from grain you grew, upon finding that first egg in your coop in the springtime, vases filled with flowering weeds, attending to animals in an old barn, and running your hands through freshly sheared wool.  I longed for wearing wool from animals I raise and care for.  I longed for working my land, for having dirty hands and knees and unbrushed hair and for that to be my fashion statement.  I longed for starry nights that can be seen from my porch, my land, my homestead.

I longed so much and for so long and now joy is here with my little farm.  The longing never really goes away, yet with each step forward one’s smile becomes wider.  For all of you with Barnheart too, may you find your joy soon and may that joy bring you peace. 

My name is Mona and I have Barnheart.               

Oh what a gorgeous spring like day today!

Yesterday’s storm was rainy and yucky but not at all as horrible as predicted.  The little road to the barn is very muddy this morning but most of the ice is gone so I could walk down quickly, not inch along like I’ve had to do.  The pathway in the paddock is still pretty icy and the mud is slippery but at least it’s just a short path to the tack room.  It’s warm enough today that I didn’t have to lug jugs of hot tap water.  I just used the water pump in the barn, wow!

And the alpacas are enjoying this burst of warmth too.  Dan had put some straw down on one end of the paddock for the boys to cush on a few weeks ago and the sunshine today has dried it up nicely.  Straw from the barn has also blown out, so now there’s a really large cushing area for them.  They seem to be basking in shifts.  This morning Guinness, Bo, and Coty were all out for hours, and now it’s Julio and Arlo.  Last night their fleeces were all wet and muddy with hay and straw stuck all over them.  Today they all look so much cleaner.

The rest of the paddock is an absolute muddy mess and this is where they’ve now decided is their poop pile of choice, all of it!  Better than inside the barn.  Last year when figuring out how to deal with the mud (i.e. drainage), it was suggested to us that the paddock area be considered a ‘sacrifice area.’  A sacrifice area is where no grass is grown and instead just stonedust or cement blocks, etc. is used.   It sounded like a great idea and clearly worked for that farm.  So what did we do?  We brought in loam and planted grass!   Once spring is really here we will move all that loam and bring in stonedust.

There’s so much still to learn!  But having a great time ..............      

Oh what an absolutely beautiful day today!  The sun has been shining and not a cloud in the sky.  The sky is so blue, blue, blue making this weeks’ additional 1 foot+ snowfall look so white, white, white.  Best of all it’s been just above freezing this afternoon, about 34 degrees, and the snow is really melting, running down off the roof like a stream.  It feels like Spring!

We thought it would be a good idea this weekend to clear out a lot of the snow from around the barn and the house in preparation for the upcoming rainstorm headed our way on Monday.  It’s supposed to be a little warmer with ‘significant’ rainfall.  We want to be sure the rain and melting snow are directed away from the barn and pasture and our cabin.  A warm and rainy Spring in New Hampshire, and especially Spring-like weather in January, could easily mean flooding due to all that fast melting snow.  The weather people are probably doing the usual ‘doom and gloom’ forecast, but this is our first experience with our little alpaca farm and rain with melting snow and we just don’t want to take any chances.

Our tractor has been good to us for working on our pastures.  We’ve moved rocks and roots and stumps, and leveled the loam for seeding it.  We’ve dug swales and made berms for drainage.  Now we have come to realize that it is an invaluable tool for moving snow!  Having the bucket in the front and the blade in the back allows us to move snow much, much more quickly than using just a snowblower would.  Watching Dan play (oops I really mean work) with the tractor today, I am so happy we purchased it while setting up our farm.  We’re using it more now in the winter than we did in the summer. 

Dan cleared out the entire paddock (again) and made long paths through the pasture (again) for the alpacas to pronk.  And pronk they did!  They romped around the tractor.  They all ran up and down the paths.  Coty wrestled with Arlo for the first time!  Bo managed to find green grass in the paths to graze on.  Guinness did his signature ‘rolling’ in front of the tractor.  When he finally walked away, Arlo laid down and rolled too.  Copycat!  And such a cute copycat he is.   We’re so happy that he’s finally grown enough to ‘play with the big boys.’  It was great to see them out in the sun after days and days of staying in the barn with snowstorm after snowstorm.  When they tired of pronking, they all went into the barn for a good hay fest on the fresh hay I’d just put out to distract them so Dan could work.  Julio instead stood near the hayfeeder, eyes glued on Dan working.  The path out of the paddock leads over to the main swale through the pasture, so runoff is directed right to it.  There’s a bit of an indent in the snow where the swale runs down the pasture to the back fence.  We’ve created huge snowbanks in the front corner where the fences from the 2 pastures meet and the swale begins.   

When Dan was done with the paddock, he cleared an area alongside the tack room end of the barn.  This will now direct runoff from the path to the barn, past the tackroom and over to a narrow swale under the snow.  This swale runs on a diagonal away from the back of the barn, under the fencing, and into the woods. 

Phew!  We’ve had so much snow already that we’re running out of room to put more.  Wouldn’t it be nice if we’re done with snowstorms for this winter!!            

I still suffer from ‘new alpaca owner syndrome.’  Anytime anything, and I mean anything, out of the ordinary (and when you have a new farm what’s ordinary?) happens, I have a quick panic attack until I realize everything is just fine.  I say ‘phew!’ and have yet another good laugh.  Alpacas are curious creatures and also very smart creatures, each with their own personalities.  I’m beginning to think that now they are teasing me for their own amusement. 

When we go out to the barn in the evenings it is already well past dark.  Sometimes the boys are eating hay but usually everyone is cushed and cozy.  We were pretty darn hungry ourselves last night when we came home from work so we ate our dinner first before going out to feed the alpacas.  Our footsteps make a crunching noise in the snow.  The entrance gate squeaks and the bottom of the gate scrapes against the snow and then clang! The gate rattles in the latch as we close it behind us.  We approach the barn saying hello to each of the boys but in the dark and behind the tarp we can’t see them just yet.   Dan turned around to go back and get the wheelbarrow for poop cleanup.  The barn has three light switches:  one for the outside perimeter, one for the little tack room, and one for the stalls.  I turn them on in that order and inspect our little herd.  Guinness had gotten up, Bo was blinking from the lights trying to wake up, and Coty and Arlo were cushed, chewing their cud.  Arlo always looks so happy to see me! 

And then there was Julio.  He was cushed in the straw too with his head stretched out, chin on the ground.  My heart dropped to my stomach.  Normally he’s the first one up and he hears everything.  I approached him slowly, calling his name softly.  All he did was flick his ears a bit and his chin turned a little, this way and that.  I called his name, again and again.  Nothing.  Dan walked into the barn then with the squeaky wheelbarrow and still no response.  I showed Dan Julio lying there so oddly and instead of being quietly cautious, my ever-so-calm-husband just walked right over to him and loudly said “Hey, JULIO!”  Up came Julio’s head like a rocket.  Being a suri, his topknot covers his eyes but we could see them blinking at us like “What! What!”  He stretched out one front leg and then the other, put his chin up towards the ceiling and s-t-rech-e-d that long neck.  Then he hopped up, shook, and walked over to the feeder and started eating hay.  He looked over at me like ‘Hey, everything’s fine.’

Dan calmly said, ‘Mona, he was just sleeping.’  ‘Phew!’ I answered and had yet another good laugh.

We have had gentle snowfall for 6 days now.  We’ve probably picked up close to another foot of snow.  At least it’s come in small increments so it makes it easier for us to clear the driveway and pathways around the house and down to the barn and over to the big poop pile.  Dan hooked up something called ‘skid shoes’ to the bottom of the ‘blade’ attachment on the tractor and has a fairly easy time ‘plowing’ all these paths out.  It’s much, much faster than using the snowblower even if he has to be turned around plowing backwards the whole time.  He used the tractor bucket as well as the blade a few weeks ago to clear a path in the pasture for the alpacas to run around on.  They all followed him and pronked behind the tractor while he worked.  Guinness was so excited he was pouncing around the tractor and then laid down in front of it and rolled and rolled and rolled.  When Dan was done, they all had races up and down the paths sometimes tripping over Guinness when he decided to roll again.  They continually find endless ways to amuse us.  Now when they see Dan coming down the path to the barn on the tractor they get excited, thinking he’s going to clear another path in the pasture for them. 

The strong winds continue and I’m constantly re-shoveling the drifts that keep accumulating on the paddock walkway.  Today the sun is shining brightly and I wish I could find a way to get the boys out of the barn.  Julio is a good guard keeping the others in the barn out of the wind but the sunshine is so refreshing!  Alpacas, with their wonderfully dense fleece can withstand the cold easily but it’s the wind that creates havoc with their health.  Wind blew snow up and over the tarp and onto the straw we’ve put down.  A few days ago I was actually shoveling snow off the straw in the awning area of the barn.  The boys must be heartier than I keep planning for as most days I find them cushed on the stonedust in the 2 stalls where we did not put straw down.  Usually at least one is cushed in front of the hay feeder entirely in the wind.  Arlo enjoys the thick straw in the pen the most although I wonder if the reason he likes cushing in the pen is because that’s where we feed him his grain! 

We’d been visiting our alpacas in the winter up at Pam’s during the 2 years they’d been there but this is our first winter to watch them ‘grow into their fleece’ on a daily basis.  Wow!  What a show!  The more their fleece grows the more gorgeous of an animal alpacas are.  It is so soft to the touch and with gloveless hands my fingers are instantly warm.  Their fleece right now is as long as my fingers are or longer.  When I touch all the way down to their bodies, their bodies are warm.  Yeah!  Sometimes it’s necessary to put a coat on the younger alpacas or the older or sick ones.  With this wind I’m tempted to make little ear warmers and booties for them although I’m sure none of my boys would wear them!    

I hope all of you had a better Christmas weekend than I did.  I spent most of the time on the couch, sick with some sort of mild flu.  I only left the house in the evenings to go out to the barn with Dan to feed our happy little herd.  Standing among the alpacas, they radiate such joy and good energy it’s hard to feel sick.

I love New Year’s and the hope for new beginnings that it brings.  On New Year’s Eve Dan and I like to sit back and reflect on our past year and create our goals for the New Year.  Our reflections start with the good, i.e. all the goals we did accomplish or are completing, and then on to the setbacks.  But instead of dwelling on any bad experiences that we may have had, we talk about what we’ve learned from those experiences so that it may help us in the future.  And then we laugh and talk about what we are looking forward to, jot down ideas, and from there our new goals are formed.  It's the end of the year.  Every end is a new beginning.

With the alpacas physically here it will be much easier for us to visualize the direction our farm is headed.  I’m sure all farms sit back every year and say ‘Hhmmm, what needs to be fixed?  What do we need to buy this year?  What could we improve?’  Necessity and the budget usually dictate what will come first.  If the alpacas could speak, I’m sure they’d like us to keep working on a better pasture, free of rocks and roots, and filled with lush, green grass!

As I type, big, fluffy snowflakes are falling covering all the tree limbs, fence posts, birdhouses, and all the mud left by yesterday’s rain, once again transforming our cabin, yard, barn, pasture and woods into a Norman Rockwell-esque painting.  I love a fresh snowfall.  Everything looks so peaceful and new.   

Here’s to wonderful new beginnings!

Wishing you all a joyous, healthy, and prosperous New Year!

Bright Blessings,

     Mona