Dan has been working most of the summer to build a lovely set of stone walls just opposite the paddock and barn.  Our land from our back yard to the barn slopes downward gently and it’s along this line that he has been creating a(nother) place for me to garden in.  The top portion is flat and we’ve discovered it is a great place to make a little patio and set up a picnic table set to sit and watch the alpacas.  For now, we’ve placed a folding mat and some chairs from our camping days onto the freshly leveled dirt at the top of the new wall, and sip coffee.  The alpacas don’t seem to mind us watching them and go about their quiet ways.

Some mornings when I go into the barn to check on our alpacas, I start wondering ‘what goes on in here at night?’  Their fan is pushed over onto its back blowing air up to the ceiling, the hay bale feeder (i.e. heavy) is pushed several inches over sideways, the outside feeder is also pushed sideways, there’s water on the floor under the buckets, there’s fresh spit on a wall or post or someone’s neck, a post for the temporary fence is bent over, the poop-shovel-and-rake is knocked down, and their communal poop piles are well, not so communal.  In the summertime we usually have all the windows in the house open and our bedroom balcony door also faces the barn; you’d think we’d hear if a ruckus was going on.  Yet apparently they’ve made up because all the alpacas are cushed together!

Another wonderful thing about having male alpacas, especially the younger ones, is they play a lot!  They chase each other, climb all over each other, roll around together, nibble each other’s ears and toes, and other general good-natured wrestling.  It’s always fun to watch, another simple joy of alpaca life.  They usually play in the pasture but sometimes in the paddock or barn.  Like most other alpaca activities, it’s pretty darn quiet out there.

As they mature this playtime occasionally turns into a bit of actual fighting.  We’ve had our lovely little herd here for just about a year now and up until recently it’s all play.  Julio and Guinness, our geldings, are both 7 this year and watch the goings-on between Bo, Coty, and Arlo in bored amusement, if they watch at all.  Bo is a year older than Arlo and Coty and is now starting to define his place in the herd.  His intentions are usually directed at Coty, who is one very tall alpaca.  I’ll hear the scuffling and heavy breathing associated with playing and go to the window to watch.  Suddenly, it gets serious with loud squawking and grunts and serious rough-housing, complete with pushing and shoving and real biting.  Then, in true alpaca form, some serious spit starts to fly.

Oh my god, my alpacas are fighting!  I holler out the window “Hey boys ~ play nice!”  They’re alpacas and therefore ignore the crazy, hollering human.  I run outside with Stella underfoot, put on my barn boots, and in my hurry usually trip over Stella or my own feet (happens every time!).  As I’m running down the path to the barn I continue to call out to them “Bo ..... Coty ..... No fighting!  Stop that!”  By the time I get to the fence they’ve usually stopped.  I go in anyway to give them a stern stare and remind them that this is a nice farm; we only play nice here.  Thankfully I’ve never had to physically pry them apart and the fighting has only happened a few times.  Coty will look at me like “what did I do?” and casually start eating grass or hay.  Bo will stand there with his lower lip down, drooling green slime and unable to move his mouth for a few minutes; it’s the camelid reaction to spitting.   It’s not pretty.  I remind him that he could be eating hay too if he just stopped being mean to Coty, and that he looks silly and undignified with his lower lip hanging down like that.

Other alpaca people have told me not to interfere, that it’s normal behavior and the boys need to work it out amongst themselves.  And there I am running outside at the first sound of a possible fight hoping to nip it in the bud.  Oh well!

It’s August, and those lazy, hazy days of summer are upon us.  Humidity and afternoon showers and thundershowers are here.  Considering the past few years, I feel a bit odd saying this ..........we could use some rain!  Not a lot, but the gentle showers we’ve been getting are refreshing and most of the rain is happening overnight, creating a picturesque early morning fog.  Things are starting to green up again in the pastures and all the boys are out grazing in the cooler mornings and evenings.  The hot afternoons are what we now call ‘siesta time’ where the boys cush in the barn and paddock areas in the shade and take long naps.

We set up our farm so that we could see into the barn and pastures from the back windows of our house.  It’s such a beautiful and peaceful sight for us, watching our gentle alpacas graze the fields as the seasons change.

This is the view from our kitchen on this foggy morning:

And this is what we see when we stand on the balcony off our second floor bedroom.  The fog clears up quickly as the sun comes up. 

Look at the beautiful stone wall Dan has been building near the fence line!  Our veggie garden is just to the left of this picture.  It’s still hard to imagine that this new stone wall and all the pasture area, and most of the side yard up from the barn, was covered in thick woods just 2 years ago. 

Some days, during the quiet times of farm life, we like to reflect on the wonderful things and the simple joys that have happened and continue to happen to us.  We sit back with a big smile and thank God and the Universe for all of our abundance.

Being thankful is a simple joy.  Being thankful is good karma. 

To some, we seem to have so much; to others, we seem to have so little.  To us, we are just grateful, and continue dreaming of a wonderful future full of simple joys and that pot of gold at the end of the rainbow.

This is the usual scene in the barn in the evenings when we arrive to do chores.  The tack room door is in the upper right corner of this picture, and the fan is to the right of the door, just a few feet away.  And there's the gang all cushed in front of the fan!  The fan not only helps to cool them down, but it also keeps away those nasty mosquitoes and horseflies, making their lives much more comfortable.  Happy alpacas = healthy alpacas.

Last summer we had just one day where the temperature reached 90 degrees.  I heard it’s been about 8 years since it’s been 100 degrees.  Well, this summer we’ve had several days of 90+ degrees weather, and yesterday, it was 101 degrees here in New Hampshire!! Yes, folks, it was record heat.  The weather people are saying it will be just pretty darn hot for several more days.

Our alpacas’ barn is really a 3 sided run-in style shed with an awning that doubles the space.  The awning has really neat walls/doors that fold back but we’ve been keeping them closed to provide as much shade as possible.  And with windows across the back wall, there is plenty of cross-ventilation.  The boys have remained in the barn most of the day, but sometimes they’re silly and still go out to graze and sunbathe.  Yes, wooly alpacas lie in the sun and sunbathe!  In the afternoons, they all cush in front of the fan which we have running 24/7.

Yesterday was so darn miserable that in the morning we decided to try hosing them down.  The alpacas saw Dan coming across the yard with the hose, all ears went up and in a somewhat single leap, they all greeted Dan in the paddock.  They know what the hose is for!  Dan sprayed and sprayed alpaca bellies and Guinness and Bo eagerly turned around so Dan could spray under their tails as well.   Guinness and Julio cushed in the mud puddles.   Arlo was trying to drink from the hose at first while Dan sprayed his belly, and then realized that getting sprayed under the tail is a wonderful thing.  Each was trying hard to push in front of the others to get sprayed again, although Coty was a bit unsure, until Dan got him good in the belly and then he was the last to walk away. 

They were so obviously happy and we couldn’t stop laughing at their antics.  I tried to take pictures of the whole gang but Arlo was the only one willing to pose.

We’re really late this year planting the garden.  Usually I like to have everything planted right after Memorial Day weekend, but this year we’ve moved the garden to the back yard, near the corner of the pasture fencing, and behind the old shed that was here when we bought the property.  A garden near the garden shed sounds logical!  And now the hose will reach every part of the garden easily, and I can see it from the house.  Dan built 4 more 4 X 12 garden boxes, and we’ve moved 3 of the 4 from the old garden in the side yard.  The last box has some rogue lettuces and scallions that sprang up on their own (I love when that happens!), my huge garlic chive plant, and my really, really, huge oregano plant.  I’m waiting for the lettuces to bolt and the scallions to be ready to be picked, and then I’ll figure out how to best move the oregano plant and then we’ll move that last raised bed.  The oregano plant is more like an oregano bush, and I want it to continue to do well.

We filled up the new boxes with compost from the local nursery, and I’ve been busy planting and planting.  I’m hoping that because I’ve planted a few weeks late, and during the week of the summer solstice, that the bugs will be few and far between this growing season.  Dan put in several stakes around this new garden area, and tied white plastic trash bags to them.  This is my neighbor's trick to keep away the deer; hopefully it will work for us too!   What a beautiful week we’ve had, these longest days of the year, warm and breezy and perfect for planting.

Now I have 8 large raised bed boxes, arranged somewhat in a square, with a four foot path going down the middle both ways, sort of like 4 small squares with 2 raised beds in each.  I wanted the paths to be wide enough to accommodate the garden cart.  The north side of the garden is the side closest to the pasture fence, and Dan will probably build me a long, narrow garden box, and eventually I’ll grow vining veggies there, like sweet peas or maybe pole beans, with some morning glories mixed in.  Around my veggie plants I’ve always planted marigolds and petunias, both for bug control as well as color.  Bright red tomatoes are great, but we won’t see them until late August!

The little garden shed that is here was surprisingly painted purple (!).  It’s in need of some repair, mostly to the roof, but basically serves its purpose.  Dan even thinks he may be able to build a small chicken coop right off the back.  Fresh eggs!

The best part is that I’m really close to the alpacas now.  Coty and Arlo love to graze together at this far end of the pasture.  I can see right into the barn and watch the others cushed in front the fan, my ‘vampire’ alpacas that they are on these hot days.  I call out to them easily, and they all look up at the sound of my voice.  They watch me curiously, as I work in the garden, Stella sleeping in the cool grass under the maple tree nearby.  

Like so many of you, the growing disaster of the oil spill in our country’s beautiful Gulf Coast region is continuously on my mind.  If you are new to reading my blog (and thank you) and are curious as to what the oil spill has to do with alpacas, please read my prior blog post here.  Today, I simply want to vent.

I love our beautiful planet Earth with all its magnificent treasures.  In an average human’s lifetime, there would probably never be enough time to see, hear, feel, touch, taste, or otherwise experience all there is on planet Earth.  I’ve always felt it is important to appreciate nature and how it intertwines with all life.  I’ve always felt it to be very important to take care of the Earth and do all that is possible to keep our planet safe and healthy, which in turn keeps all of us safe and healthy.  Why wouldn’t we want to take care of our planet?  This is the only place we can live.

The Gulf Coast oil spill is shaping up to be worse than the Exxon Valdez oil spill.  There is no shortage of depressing broadcasts and video.  I am a happy American, and I do believe in democracy, capitalism, personal wealth, philanthropy, and a free society.  I believe that these ideals are worth continually striving for, that they create a better life for all.  This disaster is heartbreaking, yes mostly for the residents in the Gulf Coast region, but also for the rest of the Earth’s inhabitants, human and otherwise.  WE WILL ALL BE AFFECTED AT SOME POINT.

The blame game is going on now and who is to blame?  And is there just one answer?  Is it BP, and/or the companies they worked in conjunction with?  Is it our elected government and/or its appointees?  Is it us, the American citizens, with our insatiable lifestyle?  And right now, who is going to clean up the spill?  Oil is gushing out daily by the thousands of gallons, ruining more and more of the Gulf Coast region, and spreading out of the region.  It seems like everything is working in slow motion while oil is spreading out polluting the ocean at the speed of light.

I think of all this while I quietly take Stella for a walk, plant and weed in the gardens, pick lettuce and herbs for dinner, hang out laundry, skirt fleece, weave and knit, watch Dan work the pastures and build gates and hay bins, and take care of the alpacas.  In my lifetime I have tried to only drive fuel-efficient vehicles, car pool, turn off lights, turn down the thermostat, open windows and use fans instead of air conditioning, shut off the water when brushing my teeth, use lukewarm water for washing clothes, hang out my laundry, grow a lot of my own veggies, plant perennials which attract pollinators, garden without pesticides or herbicides, buy organically grown food and products, compost and recycle everything I can, promote solar and wind power and renewal energy, etc.  I always wonder if I’m doing enough, or too much, or if it really makes a difference in the big scheme of things, whenever I see a large environmental disaster unfold.  I am trying so hard to remain optimistic as well as realistic, and I will continue to do what I’ve done with a better focus, and continue to find new ways to keep our planet safe and healthy. 

The best way to clean up the Gulf Coast Oil spill, and to prevent future tragedy, is a positive outlook and a 'we can do it' spirit.

One of my favorite environmental protection groups is the Natural Resources Defense Council, www.nrdc.org.  I’ve always found them to be very effective.  Their blog is continually being updated regarding the spill ~ http://switchboard.nrdc.org/gulfspill.php.  One of their writers also writes her own blog and has this post on a similar theme as to what I’ve just written today ~ http://www.nrdc.org/thisgreenlife/default.asp.       

Thank you all for listening.

The other night Dan and I went out to the barn, excitedly chatting about the day’s events.  As we entered the barn, the alpacas all ran up from the pasture, knowing full well that it’s dinner time.  I opened up the tack room door and reached inside to turn on the lights.  As I turned around, Arlo was walking into the pen.  And out of the corner of my eye I saw a rather large mouse, a very large mouse, crawl up and over the pen wall and run back down.

I screamed so loud that I’m sure our neighbors up in Canada heard me.

I’ve always been a lover of all animals.  But to be totally honest, rodents just aren’t at the top of my list.  This is especially true with rodents that could be categorized as very large mice.  I’m usually a sensible 40-something woman, but at the sudden unexpected sight of a very large mouse I lost all control, screamed bloody murder, and shut myself into the tack room.

Dan is normally calm, but my screeching really irks him.  I was all but hyperventilating trying to explain to him what I saw.  He kept reassuring me that it was indeed just a very large mouse, harmless, it’s gone, so it’s OK to come out, and please stop screaming.  Good idea, as my throat was now hoarse.  I slowly opened the tack room door and stepped out.  Dan looked rather annoyed.  The alpacas hadn’t moved and were staring at me with that ‘Where’s our dinner?’ look.  Even the barn swallow that’s been living in our barn hadn’t left its nest.  I had only scared away the very large mouse.

Now in the evening Dan always enters the barn first, waving the flashlight around all the edges, tells me the coast is clear, and turns on the lights.  I peer in slowly checking all the edges myself, before I come in.  For several days there were no new signs until one morning when there was a very large hole dug against the tack room wall, right next to the water spicket, which seemingly went under the tack room into the abyss.  I was good and didn’t scream, but had to run back up to the house to get Dan to inspect it.  He thought I was panicking again and reluctantly agreed to come out; then he saw the size of the hole.  He quietly said, ‘Hhhmmmm, I guess you did see a very large mouse the other night.  I’ll get the traps.’  He returned with mouse traps large enough to catch a small squirrel.  I figured it was best not to ask why.  He set both on either side of the tack room and now we wait.  It’s been several days and no signs yet that the very large mouse has returned.

A barn cat is looking better and better, after the barn swallow is done nesting.

I’ll keep all of you posted, loudly I’m sure.

Warning:  Pardon me for stating the obvious, but please be sure your alpacas or any of your livestock cannot access mouse traps!!  And please, no poisons!!!

Alpacas are curious and they certainly will inspect a mouse trap.  One trap is set in the pen which is attached to the tack room, and we’ve secured the pen door shut.  The other is set under the tack room from outside, with rocks around the opening and I pulled out the few blades of grass nearby.  This side of the tack room is also in the area that had been sectioned off.

It’s springtime so it’s time to work on the pastures again.  Dan had done such a good job last summer, york raking up the ground to smooth it out for us to plant grass seed.  They say the best seed for alpacas is orchard grass, but we planted a horse pasture mix which includes orchard grass and many other grasses.  Alpacas are browsers while they graze, and isn’t variety the spice of life?

The grasses did come up again this spring and after a long winter of just hay, the alpacas are loving it.  Pastures are continual maintenance, and the healthier the pastures, then the healthier the alpacas.  First things first, we separated the east side of the pasture in half with a zig-zag.   We used some temporary sheep fencing, those plastic poles, and 2 strands of wide electrical tape.  There’s no need to electrify the fence as it is just temporary, to divvy up the pasture for resting and re-seeding.  We’ve also used this fencing near the main gate, separating off an area of about 10 x 20 feet, as added assurance when we enter and exit that no alpacas will suddenly decide to wander off.  It’s worked just fine.  Until now!

Last weekend it wasn’t very windy and with on again, off again showers it was perfect for adding lime.   Dan spread about 40 pounds of lime onto that separated, little pasture area.  I’m sure we could probably use a ton more on our clay soil.  Lime is great.  It helps to alkalize the soil, the first step in growing good soil and healthy grass.   In another week or two, we will re-seed, and keep the alpacas off until the new grass is in and several inches tall.  Already the grass on that side is greener.  Alpacas generally respect fencing but two things will get them to find a way to the other side:  open females, and greener grass.

Arlo is still small for his age, but he’s a brazen little dude and all personality.  One day doing barn chores I realized that he wasn’t with the herd.  A quick look around, and there he was, just on the other side of the temporary fencing.  I couldn’t figure out how he got over there.  The fencing hooks up to the barn wall with handles so I undid the handles and walked over to him.  He kept grazing.  I put my hands on him and coaxed him gently, ‘C’mon Arlo.  Let’s go back with your brothers.’  He wouldn’t budge!  I continued to coax him and with every couple of steps, he’d take another bite of grass.  We were only a few feet away from the fence line but it took me almost 5 minutes to get him back!

Coaxing Arlo out of the fenced-in side is now a daily ritual.  Although now, instead of staying up by the barn, he obstinately goes right into the middle part of the pasture.  And he’s a spunky little guy!  He does the same thing with Dan, takes a few steps, takes a bite, takes a few steps, takes a bite, and then he scoots under the lower tape, doing the limbo.  So that’s how he’s getting in!  We’ll have to put up a third strand of fencing or the new grass won’t stand a chance.        

The weather has been good to us lately.  Sunny cool days and crisp nights with little frost, and only gentle rains rather than fierce storms.  It’s still a bit early to plant most of the garden, but it’s good weather for weeding.  As I weed, I can see the side of the barn and most of the east side of the pasture.  I’ve purchased a few plants in peat pots from a local organic farmer and they’re set out on the porch at night and under the shade of a maple tree during the day.  We’re going to move our garden sometime this year to a sunnier spot right in the back yard, in front of the pasture fencing.  We’d planted the garden way over in the side yard when we first moved here so that it wouldn’t be disturbed while we cleared land, and at the time it was sunnier there.  Turns out, not sunny enough! 

The oregano and garlic chive plants are huge already.  Every garden I’ve ever had has surprised me in the spring with something that has self-sowed from the year before.  So far this year I’ve found green onions (scallions) and lettuce plants.  I was happily surprised to find a few teeny carrots had survived last summer’s ‘deer attacks.’   As I continued weeding, there are a lot of carrots, and not all of them are teeny.  They’re all bright orange and solid, as a carrot should be.  I also found several small beets.  Here I am expecting to be getting the garden ready for planting, and I’m harvesting carrots and beets!  I can’t wait to roast them in olive oil with fresh oregano and garlic.  Maybe I'll save a couple carrots for snacks for the alpacas.

Back in March of 1989, the Exxon Valdez oil tanker ran aground in Prince William Sound, Alaska and dumped approximately 10.8 million gallons of crude oil into the sea of this pristine and remote location.  The incomprehensible, devastating damage done to the sea life, shoreline, and local communities and economies was insurmountable and continues until this day.  Exxon has denied responsibility continually and has appealed every verdict regarding this issue.  At the time, the environmental activist in me joined the millions of others as we all went into full activist mode, writing letters, calling elected officials, signing petitions, donating money to cleanup efforts through environmental organizations, and my personal favorite:  mailing little baggies of oil to Exxon’s headquarters.  The legal wrangling has spanned 20 years, and so has my complete refusal to buy gasoline from an Exxon station.  I choose to run out of gas first.  One of the saddest outcomes of this tragedy is the fact that our legal system has done literally next to nothing to get the spill really cleaned up properly, nor to compensate and assist the communities that were affected.  And to top it off, hardly anything has been done to switch our country over to clean, safe energy.

Here it is now, 21 years later, and another devastating oil spill is happening in our beautiful Gulf Coast waters.   I cannot believe that once again I will be working in some capacity to clean up yet another major oil spill.  This time, an explosion occurred on April 20^th at a deep sea oil rig owned by BP.  As well as major environmental devastation again, many lives were lost due to the explosion.  I pray for those families.  It is now 19 days later and oil is still gushing out.  BP is denying responsibility and says they’re not accountable.  Supposedly our government is doing ‘all it can.’  Is it?  When will this leak stop and who will clean it up?  And what does all this have to do with alpacas?

Alpacas are ‘green,’ very green.  Their fiber can literally absorb oil and allow clean water to pass through!  As history does tend to repeat itself, it will be we concerned citizens that initiate clean up efforts before the ‘officials’ step in.  The alpaca forums are already buzzing about a group that has been mobilizing.  Alpaca farms are banding together to mail alpaca thirds and unused alpaca fiber to collection sites.  Booms are being made with alpaca fiber stuffed into nylons as well as felted alpaca mats.  Once the oil is absorbed, oyster mushrooms are applied to break up the oiled booms and mats, and then earthworms finish up the job, turning a harmful substance into glorious dirt.  Please visit this wonderful organization’s website, www.matteroftrust.org to learn all the details of this ingenious oil spill clean up method.  And fellow alpaca farmers, send in your unused fiber!  Recycle those empty grain bags!

 If we citizens don’t take action to take care of our environment, who will?  And where would we all live?      

Here I am, all these years, writing letter after letter to my elected officials, begging them to think of the environment first and pass appropriate legislation.  Who would've thought my love for animals and natural fibers, being outside, and gardening organically, would have brought me to a place in my life where I'm raising livestock that is not only ‘light on the earth’ but also is instrumental in cleaning up an environmental disaster.  What a feeling!

Today is Mother’s Day.  Hi Mom!  And while we’re all thanking our Moms please, please remember to do something thankful for everyone’s ~ human, animal, bird, fish and sea creature, reptile, insect, and plant ~ mom, Mother Earth.    

This past Thursday was our first shearing day here on our little farm.  We have agisted our alpacas for about 2 years so we are familiar with the whole shearing process, and our shearer has sheared our alpacas in the past, but everything is different when it’s being done on your farm for the first time!  This is still our first year having the alpacas here, so everything is a new experience.

Pam was here (thanks Pam!) to assist and also to sort the fleeces, and another nearby alpaca farmer volunteered to help and stopped by too.  Thanks Janet!

Everything went surprisingly well.  On Monday the weather forecast was calling for rain for a few days, so late that night we had to lock the alpacas into the barn.  With a run in shed, that means putting up tarps!  Dan had just finished making a gate which we’d thankfully hung up on Sunday; now we had a way to enter and exit the barn easily.  So one stall had the gate and the other three had tarps.  Even though my 5 boys had 6 stalls and are wimpy about rain, they really dislike being locked in the barn for days!  I got spit on more than once (thanks Guinness).  But my reward for green slime on my face and in my hair was dry animals on shearing day.  Dry, clean fleece is imperative for shearing a usable product.

I had enticed the boys into the pen with pellets before everyone arrived.  Funny how they fall for this every time!  They were all humming quite loudly watching us while we set up mats and extension cords, bags for gathering and separating the fleeces, and flattened cardboard boxes to kneel on. 

We decided to shear our boys from darkest to lightest in color, because our fussiest boys are the darkest.  Our shearer is extraordinarily kind to the alpacas; we wouldn’t have it any other way.  Still, I’m sure the alpacas are a bit frightened even though it’s ‘all over with’ quickly.  Julio, being bay black, was the first.  Our tough alpha male screeched like the dickens the entire time!  When he was done we scooted him out to the pasture, where he stood up on the dirt pile near the fence to watch his herd mates.  Guinness, then Coty, then Arlo, were next and all accepted their fate quietly, albeit reluctantly.  Bo Jangles was last, and we went through several rags cleaning up his mouth from all the spit. 

The alpacas sniffed each other for hours afterwards, as if they were all different alpacas.  And they stayed out in the far pasture all day.  It was a sunny, cool day with a strong wind and I know they were cold.  When they saw us in the evening they did come running in to the barn without being called.  They all ate their pellets in record time, and dashed off back into the pasture.  Yikes boys!  We weren’t going to lock you up in the barn again!  A few minutes later, in the dusk and growing darkness, all the boys began to pronk around the pasture, led by little Arlo.  It was a glorious sight.

My fluffy, teddy bear-like alpacas now look like Dr. Seuss characters, or aliens!

Well this is certainly not my nor Dan's favorite picture of ourselves, but look at Bo Jangles!  Doesn't he look fantastic!

I would have loved to have presented a 'before' picture, but as you can imagine Bo Jangles was not exactly in the mood for posing after hearing his fellow herdmates screeching.  I'm surprised he willingly stood for this one.  As soon as Dan released him, he ran out of the barn to join his buddies in the pasture.

I'll post about our experience during our first shearing day soon.

 Sometimes, a picture says it all!

I’m back!  For the past couple of weeks I’ve had the privilege of serving as a juror for the US District Court.  It was a wonderful experience, but it’s nice to be back to the routine of our daily life.

I had to be out of the house first thing in the morning, so Dan was tending to the alpacas.  Cell phones are not permitted in the Federal Building so I’d leave mine in the car in the parking garage, a few blocks away.  I had to wait until the end of the day before I could quickly walk to my car to call Dan and bombard him with questions:  Did Arlo greet you at the gate?  Did Julio sniff your head?  Did Guinness let you scratch his neck?  Were Bo and Coty so excited to see you that they started neck wrestling?  Anyone give you alpaca kisses?  These are all regular morning happenings for me and I was surprised that Dan responded with “Uhhhh ....... nope” for each question.   Ditto after Day 2.  By the third day I barely got to say hello before Dan said ‘Mo, I think the alpacas just like you better.’  I don’t want him to feel bad, so I told him I think it’s just that they see me more often. 

Dan is still concerned, so now he fills his pockets with Ziploc baggies of baby carrots when we go out to the barn in the evenings.   This is probably Julio’s and Guinness’ favorite snack.  Those great sniffers know there are carrots somewhere, so they follow Dan around as we do the nightly chores and sniff at his pockets.  Dan makes them wait until they eat all of their pellets before he gives them their carrot dessert.   Julio will at least chew his carrots, but Guinness can eat a whole carrot in one big snort.   The other alpacas, the ‘little boys,’ are curious as to what’s happening and watch this scene intently.  They too sniff at Dan but when offered a carrot they turn their heads.  For some reason our three younger alpacas have never liked carrots, so I put a little extra pellets in my hands to distract them.  Wet alpaca tongues tickle my hand as they cheerfully eat the pellets, and sniff at me for more.  The two geldings stand around Dan, poking at him with those long noses and sniffing him until they’re certain that all the carrots are gone.  Dan laughs as they sniff the top of his head over and over.  After a few minutes Guinness or Julio notice the little ones getting pellets for a treat and they quickly stomp over to me for their treat too.  Within seconds I am showered again by the geldings in alpaca sniffs and kisses. 

So nice to be back to the simple joys of our alpaca life......

I would love to have all summer days just like today - mid 80’s with lots of sun and a gloriously strong warm breeze.  Stella has been chasing butterflies, running like a puppy on too-long legs.  When she gets hot she finds a cool spot in the dirt under my car or in the grassy shade from the trailer.  Daffodils and forsythias are blooming.   I can see the daylilies all popping up, their tips a deep green.  Birds are everywhere this time of year, singing cheerfully while they gather up supplies to build nests.   This morning I could hear the familiar rubbing noises on the outside of the logs here in the den.  That noise is a mama robin, building a nest on the criss-crossed corner of our log cabin, in the shade of a large maple tree.  Lately we’ve been seeing a smaller bird flying in and out of the barn also carrying grass and such in its beak.  This type of bird built a nest in the barn last year, up in the ceiling peak near the light.  It built a smaller nest in the next light to watch over its babies’ nest, and it would often perch on the fence nearest the barn to watch Dan and me.  It’s not really gray yet not really green either, but never stays still long enough for us to get a good look.  Anyone have any idea what type of bird it could be?

I wouldn’t be concerned normally about the alpacas on a very warm day like today but they are still in full fleece.  Shearing Day isn’t for another few weeks.  They must be roasting in those wool coats!  My feet were definitely toasty today in my Muck boots (time to get those purple clogs!)  I checked in on them again at noontime and everyone looked the same as any other day so that’s good.  I put out another bucket of cold water from the well pump for them.  Not that I really think 5 non-breeding male alpacas would drink 10 gallons of water in an afternoon, but I felt better!  I was going to put ice cubes in the water too but then I know I’d be concerned that they would swallow an ice cube whole and choke, thanks to my wild imagination, so an extra bucket of water it is.

The boys are still not too sure about their new bale feeder, except for Guinness, always except for Guinness, aka ‘Grumpy’ on our little farm.  He’s never shy when it comes to being fed!  Guinness will gladly munch and munch from the hay feeder, and fuss loudly and sometimes spit when another one of the boys comes over to eat too.  Even Julio walked away today, too hot to fuss back.   Eventually Guinness will walk away too; then the others will approach.  The bale in this new feeder is going down, down, down, so I know it’s not just Guinness eating from it, even if it seems that way sometimes.  This new feeder is in the barn under the awning in the shade, so I’m happy to see them eating hay in the shade while the afternoon is so warm.

One of the many fun things with having a farm is that you get to utilize those hobbies of yours.  For Dan, my very crafty husband, he gets to use all of his woodworking tools and skills.  He just made this beautiful hay feeder for the alpacas which holds an entire bale of hay!  The feeder sits along the ground so the alpacas are able to eat their hay as they naturally do, right at ground level.  No one is pulling hay out overhead, so no hay will fall into beautiful alpaca topknots belonging to the shorter creatures, i.e. Arlo.  The top frame is made up of smooth wooden dowels so no alpaca noses will be injured.  The frame rests on the bale and drops down with the bale as the alpacas eat.  The doweled frame keeps the hay in the feeder; otherwise my fleeced friends would at times be able to pull out a large section of a flake and race around the barn.  Don’t laugh ~ sometimes as I’m carrying a couple flakes of hay the boys will come up and eat from the flake, and yes they’ve taken it away and ran!  Silly, silly alpacas, they’re always finding a way to make us laugh.

Of course introducing the new feeder is a different story.  Alpacas are very curious creatures, and rather cautious about anything new.  To their horror, we wheeled away their bright yellow wheelbarrow.  They eyed us intently.  And then we walked in the new feeder.  They eyed us intently still, but no one moved.  Even after we ceremoniously brought over an entire bale of hay and plunked it in, no one moved.  I pulled up some hay through the dowels to entice them.  Nothing.  We stepped back towards the tack room, and waited.  We watched and waited while they stretched their necks, sniffing loudly, and we watched and waited some more.  Finally, a brave alpaca soul approached.  And who was the first alpaca, the bravest alpaca, to try it out?  Guinness of course!

For morning chores, I usually don’t go out to the barn until at least mid to late morning.  From all the rooms in the back of the house, we can see straight out into the barn and pastures.   I can clearly see the hay feeder and can easily tell how full or not full it is.  Now that the snow is melted, the alpacas usually spend the early morning as the sun is rising wandering about the pastures, casually grazing on whatever is starting to sprout.  We don’t have any pregnant females or newborn crias to worry about.  Nor do any of our boys have any ongoing health issue.  The nights have been above freezing so I know the water bucket is not frozen.  Since we just have ‘non-working’ males here on our farm, I can usually drink my coffee and do my computer work before heading out to the barn for morning chores. 

The first thing I do when I head out is check the water bucket, empty it and re-fill it with the water pump in the barn.  I only bring down jugs of hot tap water in the evenings now.   The boys were all cushed here and there and Arlo as always got right up to greet me.  As I walked across the barn over the straw to the middle post where the bucket is, something looked strange to me.  Very strange.  Julio was cushed by the wheelbarrow, chewing his cud, watching me.  Ditto with Guinness over by the hay feeder.  Well that wasn’t strange; that’s normal of them.  I literally turned around slowly in a circle, looking around, very confused, trying to figure out what it was that was different.

Then it hit me.  AHA!!!  For the very first time since the alpacas have come home to our farm, 7 whole months ago, overnight nobody had pooped in the barn!    It was a pleasant surprise indeed.

“Oh what good, good boys!”  I kept on telling them, while I changed the water in the bucket and filled up the hay feeder.  I took a quick look out into the pasture and saw a beautiful green haze of grass sprouting up.  I walked back into the barn where everyone was loudly munching hay and said again “Oh what good, good boys!”  And Guinness promptly walked over to the middle stall, and un-surprised me.

Like most people, Saturday mornings are usually reserved for household errands, such as going to the bank, post office, grocery shopping, and a dump run.  Now every month or so, we fill our Saturday with farm errands as well.  On those mornings we sometimes also say ‘well, what the hay!’ and go out for breakfast as well.

Farm errands generally involve going to our local feed store and simply picking up a bag of alpaca pellets.  Sometimes we’re also running low on other necessities like electrolytes for their water or minerals, and sometimes we’re in need of another pair of gloves or tube of a de-wormer.  I always eye the boot selection.  Usually, though, we like to just walk around and check things out and talk with the wonderful owners.  This couple loves animals and is always interested in what our alpacas are up to.  We happily oblige and try not to babble on incessantly.  With every conversation we’ve had with them, we learn a little something. 

From there we head out to another fairly local feed store to pick up straw, when our local feed store is sold out.  This store has the same, but different, stuff stocked and is also a hardware store (gotta love small New Hampshire towns!) so we poke around there too.  This particular store is also really into feeding outdoor birds and I’ve always enjoyed looking at all the different feeders on display, located right next to bags of dog food.   When our prior dog had gotten older and developed sensitivities, this particular brand of dog food was the only one that would make her feel better.  I always think of my beloved Critter when we come in here.  Soon they will have starter chicks and ducks hatching, set up in metal boxes like tall structures with lights, resembling stacked trays and grow lights for starting seedling plants.  I know that’s the way it’s supposed to be done but it has always looked so odd to me.  They usually have a good selection of dog toys and treats so we always pick up a little something for Stella too, who is usually waiting patiently in the truck.

Some Saturdays we also need to pick up hay.  Our little tack room probably could not store a year’s worth of hay so we pick up hay every month or two.  We also need space in our tack room for the metal trash cans which store the alpaca pellets, wall room to hang halters and leads and the feed bins, and the small ‘work table’ in the corner.  We put these things along one half of the tack room and the 30 or so hay bales along the other.  The rest of any hay we purchase is stored in our garage and we wheel it down with a dolly as needed.  We put the few bales of straw we purchase in the corner of the pen, although lately the alpacas have discovered that rolling in an opened bale of straw is lots of fun!

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

Merry Christmas Everyone!

And thank you for reading our little blog!

~  Mona, Dan, Stella, and the alpacas at Sweet Harmony Farm

Well, all alpaca owners experience it; I already have several times.  It’s been happening at least a couple times a week to me.  Dan, on the other hand, has not experienced it.  But on Sunday night, he did experience it for the first time.....What am I talking about?  Dan was showered in the face and hair with alpaca spit.

On Sunday we also had another snowstorm.  We are far enough north that we were lucky to only get another 2 inches of powdery snow that makes the pasture look like we just spread white frosting all across it.  Everything looks fresh and clean.  The alpacas like to cush near the openings of the stalls.  The winds blow in snow and cover the edges of the straw in little drifts, and decorate the backs and necks of the alpacas.  They have no idea that they’re covered in snow; their fleece has gotten so thick and long.  Guinness easily won the “Most Snowy Alpaca” award.  The sparkly white snow on his dark brown fleece looked like vanilla icing on chocolate cake.  Of course I left the snow on him.

Julio is still imposing his ‘no leaving the barn while it’s cold and windy’ rule and the boys are getting quite cranky and stir crazy.  Bo and Coty wrestle with each other right there in the barn, sometimes over the poop pile.  Arlo keeps trying to join in but he’s still too little.  But it’s Julio and Guinness who get the others all riled up at feeding time.  They get jumpy and spit at each other, and then start chasing the others around the barn when we bring out the feed bowls.  Last night was quite a circus trying to get them to settle down to eat!  No one was in their usual place but after a couple minutes every nose had its own bowl and the steady munching started.  When they’d finished they all started eating hay and another spit fest started.  Dan was right there watching them and whoa!!!  All of a sudden he was showered in spit and I laughed for about 5 minutes straight.  I was still in the pen with Arlo and instead of spit, I got an alpaca kiss. 

Today it is the first official day of winter and it is sunny and frigid cold again.  The fierce winds are blowing the snow around sometimes making little ‘tornadoes’ dance across the pasture.  Surprisingly though it is above zero even with the winds.  The alpacas still won’t leave the barn.  I love the winter solstice.  The days start to get longer again! 

The water in the bucket was frozen again when I went out to the barn this morning.  And once again they weren’t concerned, just I was.  The past several days I put about 2 gallons of hot tap water in the bucket and carry it down along with the gallon jugs of hot water.  I am putting all hot tap water in the bucket and it’s still freezing up, hopefully not as fast.  Julio likes to drink the hot water and Guinness also seems to, but the others will put their noses in and look up quickly at me “What! What happened!”  After a few minutes, once it has cooled a bit, then they come back and drink.  I guess the alpacas don’t like tea as much as I do.  Hmmmm, perhaps I should be putting a tea bag in the water bucket ....

Brrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrr....................................  Wow!  Is it ever cold outside!  With below zero temperatures it is quite a struggle to stay warm outside when doing barn chores or just walking Stella.  Stella and our indoor kitty, Gracie, are on the couch or the rug by the woodstove all day.  It got so cold so fast.  Dan is already wondering if we’ll have enough wood for the entire winter even though we’ve never run out.  It’s hard to imagine how livestock manages to stay warm, especially creatures that do not have a warm fleece like our alpacas have.  When I put my hand down in their fleece, their bodies are warm.

It was about 15 below zero with the wind this morning when I went out to the barn to bring down jugs of warm water and check on the alpacas.  They were all cushed, looking quite cozy.  I smiled, relieved.  Then, to my horror, the water bucket was frozen solid!  Some mornings it has skimmed over and a quick poke with my finger or an alpaca nose will break through, but not this time!  I apologized profusely to the boys, picked up the bucket, and all but ran up to the house.  Thankfully we have another unused water bucket in the garage where we also store extra hay and straw.  After a quick rinse out in the kitchen sink, I filled it halfway with warm water and back to the barn I went.  I added the two jugs I had brought down originally and the alpacas just stared at me, wondering what all the fuss was about.  Apparently no one was thirsty. 

Even though we put up a tarp to help block some wind, the boys generally cush in front of the 2 open stalls right around the hay feeders.  Last night we spread out more straw for them.  It’s funny to see their bodies’ imprints in the fresh straw in the morning, so we know that they were behind the windbreak at least for a short time.  We’ve been stuffing the hay feeders full, full, full, and giving the boys a little extra grain in the evening.  We’re going to pick up more straw and place the bales along the edges to help keep out drafts.  That almost sounds ridiculous because it’s a 3 sided shelter!  We still think every little bit helps.  

Julio has imposed a ‘no leaving the barn’ rule since it’s been so cold and windy.  Whenever one of the alpacas wanders out to the paddock or ~gasp!~ the pasture he runs out after them and noses them until they come back in.  Sometimes instead of a gentle nosing it’s more like a bullying push.  It’s nice to know he’s so protective but I’d prefer they’d all get at least a few minutes of sunshine!

Last week I posted about our unseasonable 65 degree weather in December.  On Saturday we had our first snow for the season, an easy to clear, 3 inch snowstorm.  My wimpy alpaca boys wouldn’t leave the awning and a grumpy crew they were in the evening at feeding time.  We only have the one pen set up, so the barn/awning is basically all open.  We moved the feeder inside under the awning for the winter so that the hay doesn’t get wet with snow but the boys still have 4 open stalls, 5 if you include the space in front of the tack room, and the pen.  One whole stall per alpaca is quite a lot of room!  We have no panels for stalls set up yet, so there’s plenty of space to pronk indoors!  We’ve been concerned about their water bucket freezing so lately I’ve been bringing out a gallon jug of hot tap water to add to it.  The nights it’s been windy I’ve added 2 jugs.  My mixture is about 2 gallons hot water to 3 gallons water from the pump.  It makes the water almost lukewarm and the alpacas just love it.  We put the bucket on the ground in the corner by the middle post and the pen wall and surrounded it with straw to help insulate it.  We’ve put plenty of straw down in the pen and 2 stalls for them to snuggle into to keep warm.  We’ll have to keep adding straw over the winter. 

On Monday Julio finally got brave and ventured out past the paddock, sniffing the snow on his way to the pasture gate.  He was in the other pasture for a good 10 minutes before the others slowly decided to play ‘follow the leader.’  First Coty and then Bo, followed by Arlo with Guinness bringing up the rear.  They all managed to find something to graze on but within a short time Bo skedaddled back up to the barn and so did the others.  Yesterday they played follow the leader again in the morning.  With the sunshine things melted a bit so they were able to graze for over an hour and play for awhile before heading back up to the barn.

Afterwards, they were still being wimpy and hid out under the awning for the rest of the day.  Last night they watched us intently as we put up a tarp over one of the awning openings for a windbreak.  We covered just one stall so the boys wouldn't be too confused.  Then for our added amusement Bo, Coty, and Arlo played 'Ring around the tarp' for awhile.  We will probably put up another one tonight or tomorrow.  I can't see into the barn from the house as well now with the tarp up, but of course it's more important that the boys be dry and warm enough!        

Today, today, we have a real New England storm:  it’s noontime, there’s more than 6 inches of snow on the ground, and it’s still coming down fast and furious.  Looking outside my den’s window, everything is covered in bright white fluff.  Snow is blowing around in the strong winds.  The alpacas were all in good spirits this morning while I worked in the barn, and very curious about Stella barking from the entrance gate. They all peered out from under the awning long enough to get their beautiful topknots covered in snow.  All except Arlo, who was much more interested in me filling up the hay feeder.  True to form, Arlo’s topknot is covered in hay.  No one has left the barn again today, but Coty has been happily cushed right between the wall and the hay feeder for hours, with a perfect view of the snowy outside world.

It is December in New Hampshire and today it is sunny and 65 degrees!  If you’re from another part of the country ......... yes this is very much unseasonably warm!

Here we are preparing for winter, in fact on Saturday we’re supposed to get snow, but today, I feel like gardening.

We really don’t mind our home being surrounded by green, growing grass but we also don’t follow the American obsession with perfect looking, golf course style lawns.  We mow, albeit not regularly, rake when necessary, but that’s about it.  I’ve read that American households use way, way, too much fertilizer and pesticides on their lawns, much more by square foot than is used in commercial agriculture. This creates a ‘chemically dependent’ lawn, the runoff pollutes groundwater, the pollution kills beneficial bugs and birds and other species ....... and the horrid cycle continues. 

Dan and I, we welcome the natural world and its micro-ecosystems.   Nature does know best; why mess with it?  We don’t want Stella rolling on pesticide laden grass, nor do we want to walk on it.  We welcome the dandelions and clover and other weeds, and we don’t fret over yellow grass due to grubs.   The grubs feed the robins, blue jays, woodpeckers and other birds, which in turn eat bugs that would invade our gardens.  The skunks also eat the grubs and frankly I’d prefer they not hang around because of the alpacas!  But oh well.

So folks, dig up your lawns!  Plant a garden!  I realize we’re all starting winter, but here’s a couple of links for you all to start planning gardens for next year:

 http://www.motherearthnews.com/Organic-Gardening/Square-Foot-Gardening-Food.aspx

  http://www.squarefootgardening.com/index.php/The-Project/how-to-square-foot-garden.html

In the mornings I go out to the barn to check on the alpacas.  They’re always fine, quietly munching on hay or cushed chewing their cud.  Sometimes they’re out in the pasture grazing.  I can’t imagine what’s out there this time of year to graze on!  Our pasture areas are far from perfect and still need a considerable amount of work but they always seem to find something.  We got some wonderful 2nd cut hay from a friend but if it’s sunny out, they’d rather be grazing on all the little nubs of grass.  I fluff up the hay and fill the feeder anyways just to be sure they don’t run out of hay while I’m at work or running errands.  Out in the pasture they all love to roll around in the dirt piles.  It’s so funny to watch and then they spring up quickly and shake and dust goes everywhere.

In the evening we go out again to check on the boys, and now it’s grain time.  My boys love their grain!  When they see me they all come running up to the barn.  In their excitement they all visit the dung pile too.

As we enter the paddock we greet all the alpacas by name, then Dan and I begin our quiet routine. He starts to ‘scoop the poop’ while I turn on all the lights.   I fill up the hay feeders again and dump the water buckets and refill them.  All the time we are eyeing the boys to be sure they’re all A-OK.  Sometime they will eat hay, sometimes they might cush while we work, but they all watch me.  When I’m done with the water buckets I pick up the grain bowls, and they all eagerly follow me to the tack room.  I usually get visitors at the tack room door sticking their heads in to eat hay while I fill the feed bowls, all except for Coty, who usually comes all the way in to the tack room and eats hay right next to me from a bale.  The spit fest starts between Julio and Guinness if I’m not fast enough.

When the bowls are ready, Dan and I will grab 4 of them and hold them up over our heads as we walk out.  The alpacas get excited again and do the 10 yard dash to the stall where we feed them.  Commotion erupts for a few seconds while everyone arranges themselves to their particular spots..... Guinness is on one end, Julio the other, and Bo and Coty in between.  Arlo walks up to the non-occupied bowl and starts eating while I run back to the tack room to get his bowl and call him into the pen to eat.  Most nights all is quiet except for the sounds of munching alpaca mouths.  Dan stands with the big boys in case anyone gets a little fresh and tries to eat someone else’s dinner.

Arlo eats so very slowly and I wait with him so he’s not alone.  When the big boys are done, Julio patiently waits on one side of the pen and Bo by the other, both hoping Arlo won’t finish.  Julio will look over the top of the pen wall, his eyes looking out from under his long topknot.  Bo is not quite as tall, so he rests his chin on the top of the pen wall and just stares.  Sometimes Dan or I will offer them a small handful of grain which they nibble up in a quick snort.  They sniff our noses often, alpaca kisses (!), and sometimes we’re able to scratch them behind the ears.  By then Coty will have come over too, but he’s still too shy to eat from our hands.  Arlo won’t eat from my hand either, but he loves a good ear scratch and noses me too.  They’re just very sweet and so funny.  Then there’s Guinness, our little piglet.  He’s never too shy when it comes to food!  He squeals until we give him a little extra grain too.

When Arlo is done I open up the pen door and he trots off.  Julio and Bo will rush in, sometimes Coty and Guinness too, and they all go after Arlo’s bowl, whether there’s anything left in there or not.  Arlo has the cleanest bowl on our farm!  I go back to the tack room to put things away and shut off the lights.  Arlo sometimes like to eat hay by the tack room, so if he’s right there waiting for me, I’ll put out a small handful for him.  The others by now are eating hay at the feeders or cushed chewing their cud, and Julio is usually cushed by the paddock entrance, ever watchful.  

Nighty-night, my boys.

We have been blessed by many glorious days of Indian summer lately.  It gives us extra time to cut, split, and stack the four cords of wood we burn over the winter.  There are still some beets and carrots in the garden which I’ve left in on purpose to give them some extra time to grow since they were so stunted by the deer grazing through.  The leaves have all fallen yet we are in no hurry to rake them up, even though they make great compost for gardening.  Instead we are putting up one of those ‘tarp and metal frame’ type sheds to store the tractor and its attachments. 

Pam is at full capacity now at her farm so this week she brought our girls, Dreamer and Alana, and Alana’s newest cria, Hank, to New Hampshire for us.  They will now agist over at Val and Gary Newell’s Crown Point Alpaca Farm, where they will be in very experienced hands with plenty of fellow alpacas for company.  Val and Gary have quickly grown their herd to over 40 alpacas, they agist for many farms, and have started other pastures to grow their farm even more.  They have an amusing assortment of other farm animals ~ chickens, ducks, turkeys, rabbits and goats.  And they have other projects in the works too, including a nature trail and my personal favorite, a yurt in the woods to rent out.  And like us, they focus on sustainability and the natural world, hence their name ‘The Green Alpaca.’  Our girls and crias will continue to be well taken care of and now that they are only about 35 minutes away, we can visit them more often.  Val does fabulous photography and hopefully I can figure out how to get my pictures out of our camera soon.

Apparently it’s been an easy transition for our girls who are already being themselves.  Dreamer is often at the fence line shared with the boys, spitting at them, and then trotting off doing a little jig.  Alana likes to run back and forth through the pasture from one end to the other.  And little Hank has already made friends with the other crias, climbing hills and pronking around with them.

This is a wonderful new beginning for us.

Another thing about autumn is the coyotes.  In the evenings and throughout the night you can hear them howling.   Lately it sounds like it’s coming from the woods down the street, but many times it is the woods across the street from us in the state park, or in the woods behind our house.  Sometimes the pack behind our house howls back and forth with the pack in the park.  It’s a haunting noise and when the howls are close by the hair on the back of my neck stands up.  Our little alpaca herd doesn’t seem overly concerned, but of course we are.

We went up to Maine yesterday morning to pick up our new guard llama from Nancy Durst at White Barn Meadows Farm.  Nancy runs a gelding alpaca fiber farm that is picture-postcard beautiful.  Senator is a well experienced, well mannered guard llama that is easily handled.  He is just perfect for us. 

The initial meet and greet was in a word, hysterical.  Our boys all huddled around the paddock fence while we had Senator on the lead on the other side.  The happy sniff fest went on for quite some time, our boys much more curious about him than he was of them.  Once we led Senator into the paddock, Coty quickly instigated the others into chasing him around the paddock.  The same thing happened once we opened up the pasture.  Our boys ate their dinner quietly with virtually no fighting amongst themselves and then peacefully ate hay together out of the same feeder.  Senator ate hay from the big feeder and then stood just outside the paddock, observing the woods.

After dinner and hay our boys weren’t quite so spunky so Senator got to check out his new home in peace.  He carefully walked the fence lines and checked out the gates, sniffing and sniffing the air and I swear each inch of pasture.  It was a full moon night and the whole pasture was lit up.  He was very observant and alert over every little sound, dogs barking and howling, owls hooting, crickets chirping, leaves rustling in the wind, and I’m sure things that we humans can’t hear.  Finally he settled down and cushed in a spot along the middle pasture fence line and its gate.  Here, he has a perfect view of the barn with his new herd to protect and the entire pasture.

And Stella won't look at him either!

We love autumn and October in New Hampshire is especially beautiful.  The maple trees’ leaves slowly turn to glorious hues of reds and orange, making the sky look so blue and the grass and fields so green.  The air is wonderfully crisp and dry and there’s always a great breeze.  It’s perfect weather for hiking. This is such a fabulous corner of the country to live in, and autumn our favorite season.

This is the time of year I switch to drinking more tea as coffee really doesn’t keep one warm, we go apple picking, we split and stack large piles of wood, we rake huge amounts of leaves, we cut down the perennials, we pull up the veggie garden and till back in large amounts of compost.  I go back to cooking soups and casseroles and baking bread.  As the days get shorter we lament ‘oh no soon it will be snowing once again’ but we wouldn’t choose to live anywhere else but here, where we have 4 distinct seasons. 

It went from normal autumn chilly to downright cold just like that this week which of course now makes me concerned that the alpacas are cold.  Yes they are livestock with super thick fleece so by nature are just fine in the cold weather.  Yet here we are in the house, all of us ~ me, Dan, Stella, and our indoor kitty Gracie ~ all snuggled up near the woodstove so it’s hard not to want to bring the alpacas inside!

Dan is concerned too, so the other day he came home with some straw to put down for bedding for them.  We have found out that hay that is on the ground will wick up moisture and not dry if it’s been rained on, so yeah, the alpacas would get cold.  The straw is hollow and does not absorb moisture, so it’s perfect for them to snuggle on.  We spread out a bale and it didn’t take long for them to all cush on it.  Smart alpacas!  We will continue to add straw on top of what’s there, layer upon layer, to keep them dry and warm over the fall and through winter.  Apparently, if done correctly, there is a composting effect, therefore creating heat which does help to keep the alpacas warm.

Off to make soup!

Why do we all raise alpacas?  Why, the fleece of course!

This year, 2009, has been named by the United Nations as the International Year of Natural Fibers.  Alpaca fleece is a natural fiber!  You can read about the United Nations’ overview of alpaca fleece at http://www.naturalfibres2009.org/en/fibres/alpaca.html.   There has also been a non-profit organization established, in cooperation with Heifer International, to celebrate this United Nations declaration, called http://www.keepthefleece.org/.  Their goal is to build the largest fiber flock in the world.  What a goal!

We are so happy to be part of this growing community of alpaca fiber producers.  We have lots and lots of bags of many, many pounds of fleece (well, for us it’s quite a lot!) and are still deciding on which fleeces to be processed where.  Someday I will learn to spin, but for now we will send it out for processing.  Some will be sent to our wonderful, local mini-mill, Sallie's Fen Fibers, to be made into yarn, some will be made into yarn through our preferred co-op, NAAFP, and still some will be made into wonderful rugs.  Because this is still such a new venture for us, we prefer to get our own fleece/yarn back, which will also serve our ‘locally grown’ clientele well.  But also as a business which supports a growing industry (alpaca textile), we realize that joining a co-op is a sound decision.  The NAAFP co-op’s regional collection facility as well as their commercial mill is here in New Hampshire!  So not only will the co-op’s yarns have our fleece in it, the co-op’s yarn is locally made in regards to our farm!  We’re thrilled.  

And how could we not be thrilled?  Alpaca is the absolute best fiber there is!

Even though it is now October, it is still not too late to join in the celebration of the International Year of Natural Fibers. Whether you knit, crochet or weave, you’ll enjoy working with alpaca!

There are several horse farms and horse owners here in our town.  In fact there are at least 6 horse farms/owners here on our street, plus the vet.  Our farm is also within 7 miles +/- of three different feed stores, each selling 1 of the 3 major brands of alpaca grain/pellets (Poulin, Blue Seal, and Mazuri), all which also sell hay, so our alpacas will never go hungry.  Because the overwhelming majority of livestock in our area is horses, the hay is usually 1^st cut Timothy hay.  There is certainly nothing wrong with 1^st cut, especially when it’s still very green, but it does tend to be coarser and ‘stemmy.’  Alpacas will usually pull out the stems and not eat it, leading to quite a large amount of waste.  Alpacas’ digestive systems requires a  higher protein value than horses or cattle, so the hunt for green, grassy, 2^nd cut hay for the fall and winter is on.

We purchased some 1^st cut hay from our neighbor when our alpacas first came home.  It was pretty green.  The alpacas seemed to like it although they have definitely been pulling out the stems, and as a bonus they also seemed to enjoy grazing on what little grass we have growing in the pastures.  Next spring we will have our soil tested so that we can fertilize the pastures properly.  But right now it’s autumn and it’s getting cold outside, and our vet would prefer they put on some weight before winter.  It will be easier to maintain their weight from then on, rather than trying to have them put some on during the cold weather.

We went over to a friend’s house yesterday to pick up a couple dozen bales of 2^nd cut hay from his fields.  Beautifully green, fabulous ‘just cut’ smell, and much softer to the touch!   I pulled out the other hay from the feeder and re-filled it with the new hay.  When the alpacas see me, they generally all come running (yes, it’s a nice feeling!) and run they did!  They took a few good sniffs of the new hay, a few bites, then turned around and walked back out to the pasture.  Silly, silly boys!!  All except our littlest guy, Arlo, who happily eats hay from my hand.  I’m guessing that because we’ve had some light rain occasionally the past few weeks, there must be new growth on the field that they like.  Right now as I type, they’ve just come back from the pasture and are chowing hay!  I guess they like it after all.

When I think of farms that have livestock, barn cats always come to mind.  Because of all the feeds and grain that are stored, mice, rats, and other rodents would become rather prolific without the assistance of a good cat or two.  I have always been the type of person who has indoor kitties, thinking that indoors is the safest place for a cat to be.  I am also realistic and know that someday it will be necessary to have an outdoor cat now that we have alpacas.

We’ve taken precautions but also know that our current mouse-free situation is temporary for the short-term at best.  We built the tack room with a solid floor, store the grain in metal trash bins in the tack room, store the hay in the tack room also, and sealed off cracks between the boards.  We are currently deciding on where to put a ‘cat door’ for entrance into the tack room, as this will be the main place for a barn cat to get out of the weather.  I am also researching the many wonderful rescue organizations that place feral cats into a barn home situation, stray and ‘street-wise’ cats that would be inappropriate for an indoor home.

That being said, Stella just loves to chase squirrels and chipmunks.  They all always out run her, either hiding in a hole in the stone wall or running up a tall oak tree.  I suppose you all know where this story is now going ....... 

We have lots of rocks, large boulders down to softball sized, piles of them here and there left to us after the loggers cleared.  Dan loves to build stonewalls and he has plenty of rocks now to keep him busy for years.  Stella hears the chipmunks squeaking, and she hangs around the rock pile for hours, fussing and whining, occasionally digging a little, and pouncing at every noise.  She’s always done this, and we just let her be.  The other day when we called her, she gleefully came trotting over to us, tail hanging from her mouth, and promptly deposited a mouse at Dan’s feet, just like a good kitty would.  But she’s a Sheltie-mix dog!

So now we have a new nickname for her: “Stella, the Mighty Hunter!”

We’re having such a great time with the alpacas.  They do have their individual personalities and over the past month, we’ve begun to decipher them.  As I’ve mentioned, Julio is the self-appointed guard and leader.  When he heads out into the pasture, the others all follow within minutes.  When he heads back up to the barn, here they all come.  In the evening after sunset, he stands by the paddock entrance and seems to scan the woods.  When he hears something, his ears perk up and his body stiffens.  We’ll sometimes shine the flashlight to see if we can see anything, but we never have.  Sometimes we’ll hear a neighbor’s (it’s the country; neighbors aren’t exactly ‘nearby’) dog in the distance, but usually we don’t see anything.  Then he’ll slowly walk off into the pasture, look around again, and start grazing.  One by one, the others follow, and graze under the stars.  They’re all such a friendly little group together.

But alas, that changes somewhat when food is involved!  Fighting over food is normal in the livestock world as well in the wild.  We try to make things as fair as possible, like one would with their own children.  Some evenings they pleasantly eat their grain and then go back to the paddock and cush.  Some nights the spit is flying!  The usual instigator is Guinness, who for some reason seems to think that all the bowls are for him.  Dan will try to move him from the others’ bowls, then everyone rearranges themselves; what a riot!  We always put Arlo, our littlest and shyest guy, separate from the others or else he’d never get to eat, and I ‘stand guard’ by him until he is done. 

And then there is the hay feeder.  Usually all is fine, with everyone quietly munching.  Then they see me getting more hay to add, and I’m usually bombarded by alpaca mouths.  That’s fine as I can still easily add that flake or two into the feeder.  Once again, Guinness seems to think the hay is all for him.  His first victim is usually Julio who when it comes to fresh hay, always fights back.  Yesterday the two went at it, spitting and screeching at each other for a good solid 5 minutes.  The others were eating on the other side of the feeder but when the spitting started, they stood back with me out of the line of fire to watch the spit fight.  What a riot my 2 geldings are!

But what we love the most is in the evening when the alpacas play.  Either Coty will head butt Bo Jangles or vice-versa, the other returns the favor, and off they go.  They’ll run gracefully together side by side around the pasture, stop for some head butting, wrangle their longs necks together, and roll all over each other.  They make gentle snorting sounds as they wrestle and off they go again running.  Sometimes they’ll head butt the others gently to join in the race around the pastures.  It’s so beautiful and peaceful to watch, under just the moonlight and stars.

In a previous post, I had mentioned how our alpacas had easily adapted to their new home here on our farm, and that because they’ve been so calm, we’re kinda irked that they haven’t done something.  Well, now they have!

They were all hanging out by the awning and hay feeder, cushed and chewing their cud, when suddenly they all leaped up, instantly alert, and Julio ran to the back of the pasture.  He was intent on something past the stone wall.  The others cautiously came to the end of the paddock and one by one they stepped out slowly into the pasture in a line, but never quite reaching Julio; Coty first and then Guinness, followed by Bo with Arlo bringing up the rear.  Oddly enough, they were in a line from tallest to smallest.  I called out to Dan who was in the garage and he ran out back along the east fence line.  I got the binoculars and went out down the west fence line.   Julio was definitely eyeing something, and the others were cautiously standing still and watching, with Bo constantly looking over his shoulder at Arlo as if to say “Don’t move!  Stay right there!”  When Dan got to the middle of the stone wall that follows the back of our pasture, Julio turned around sharply and ran up to the barn, nipping at everyone’s back end to hurry along.  It was quite the sight to see them all running together as the herd that they are. 

The fuss?   Apparently there was a red fox sitting on the stone wall watching them.  It started to run off when Julio approached, and Dan saw it run off into the woods.  When Dan got to the stone wall where the fox had been, that’s when Julio called the gang back up to the barn.  It’s good to know that our alpacas can distinguish between Stella and our neighbors’ dogs (no threat) and with a wild animal (big threat).  Julio, being the tallest and heaviest, is the undeclared leader and guard.

Good boy Julio!

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Our first week of raising alpacas has been basically, blessedly uneventful.  They’re such quiet and peaceful animals.  Not that we were expecting them to be constantly animated, but after a few hours we were saying ‘hey guys do something!’

I love to read other alpaca farms’ humorous tips and stories, and now we’ve acquired a few of our own.  These are in no particular order.  We will also keep this list in our “Other Stuff” section of our website and update it periodically:

 ~ There is always a pecking order.  Our boys were in a large herd and now there’s just the 5 of them of various ages, so by default it appears Julio and Guinness, our 2 geldings and the oldest at about 6 years old each, expect to both be the alpha.  We think Julio will eventually reign, but until then, there’s some spatting and occasional spitting.  When the spit starts to fly get out of the way!  Yesterday we both got caught in the crossfire.

 ~ When there is barn work to be done in the heat, humidity and rain, wear a bathing suit.  I wear a tankini with men’s swim trunks.  The trick is to wear a color your husband would never wear; mine are purple.  As you get wet from the rain or drenched in sweat, the suit will dry quickly.  And when you get hot, just hose yourself off.  This has been a wonderful idea for working in the garden (my mother in law’s trick) and it works great for the barn too.

 ~ Keep the herd out of the barn while you arrange feed bowls.  Ours have walked right into the tack room and started helping themselves, and all but attack us as we walk the bowls out to the stall.  I swear I think we were being orgled too.  (note to self:  order panels!)

 ~ Alpacas love the leaves on saplings.

 ~ Barn poopers happen.  Just accept it.  And it is easier to clean up then the poop piles in the pasture in the rain.

 ~ Always be grateful to your Mr.-fix-it husband who can finagle electricity to the barn while you are watching a weanling to make sure it is OK after an episode of choke.  Also, have a chair available for him to sit on.  He knew in his heart that our little boy would be fine, but waited in the barn with me for 2 hours anyways because he was worried about me.

 ~ Ladies, you will almost always find hay in your bra.

 ~ And also, Ladies, sometimes your hubby will actually forget to remove his shoes before entering the house.  Bleach (non-chlorine) will help you feel much better.

 ~ If you are the type of person who is always checking to see if the toaster and iron are off and unplugged, you will also constantly be checking gates and doors to be sure they are properly closed.

 ~ After spending thousands of dollars clearing 3 acres of land and fencing it in, your alpacas will spend the majority of their time on the 1/3 acre surrounding your barn.

 ~ Your dog may be mad at you for having alpacas (see my post: Oh Stella!) but your indoor cat couldn’t care less.

 ~ Work your poop piles from the outside in.  Your shoes will definitely stay cleaner.

 ~ Alpaca males can and will open gates when there is an open female, surprise!

Our dog is just wonderful and we’ve done an excellent job at spoiling her.  She just loves the attention and is happy all the time.  But now that the alpacas have arrived, suddenly she is sullen, clearly jealous, and not too thrilled with us!!  First thing every morning for months now, Dan gets up and takes Stella for a walk around the outside of the fencing.  She is always excited for this, and trots along checking everything out, sometimes darting off into the woods.  Not that first morning!!  She wouldn’t go anywhere near the fence.  Dan had to actually put the leash on her and pull her along till she finally started to walk on her own.  She would hardly look at me either when I put down her morning crunchers.  As dog lovers (and lovers of all animals) we personally are just crushed!!   We’re sure she’ll come around soon, but until then, we’ll just feel terrible.

Hmm, I guess this means we’ll just have to shower our wonderful little dog with even more and more attention, which we’ve been doing.  More walks and frisbee tossing, scratches and pats, sometimes hand feeding her, and always more snacks.  Thank goodness she likes veggies, tofu, and rice.

The other morning I was at the fence line taking pictures and Stella woofed at me jealously from the yard.  She happily came over to me when I called her, wagging all over, but stood with her butt to the fence, refusing to look at the alpacas.   Dan has gotten her to willingly walk around the fence line with him, but again she just will not look into the pasture.   

But she is coming around; it’s just going to take a little longer than we had hoped. Such personalities our dog friends have!

I got up bright and early at 5:30 a.m., nuked up some coffee and starting checking email, the weather, and the news.  Suddenly, poof!  The power went out.  A bright and sunny summer morning, no wonder the power went out; this is rural New Hampshire after all.  Dan was listening to the radio (back up battery) and apparently a squirrel had gotten into a substation and ............ which knocked out power for several towns!  While I feel terribly for the squirrel, we found it to be a rather amusing story, and what a way to start our day, the day ‘the alpacas come home.’

The dragonflies are at it again this morning, flying around the yard and pasture gracefully.  We’ve been playing phone tag with our neighbor for a few days now.  Our first order of business is to swing over there and pick up some hay.  Our beautiful new wooden feeder will be ready in a few days, so for now, our yellow muck-wheelbarrow, new and still clean, will serve as the hay feeder.  It makes for some interesting pictures!  Their grain and minerals were on order and due in some time today, so we’ll run to the feed store later this afternoon.

Our little crew arrived at lunchtime with Pam beaming ear to ear.  Yeah, she loves our place!  The boys were a little confused getting out of the trailer but we easily got them into the barn.  We put out water and hay, and they all drank and started munching away.  We stood and watched them for a while, while they investigated their new barn and pasture.  They’re even enjoying what little grass we’ve got growing.  All in all, it seemed to be a simple, stress-free transfer for them.  What a wonderful way to start our transition to alpaca farming.

Welcome home, Julio, Guinness, Bo Jangles, Coty, and Arlo!

We’ve finally had another stretch of hot, sunny days so it feels like summer.  I’ve actually had to water the vegetable garden for the first time since I planted it.  Our mid-summer flower gardens are blooming with many brightly-colored hybrid daylilies, purple coneflowers, black-eyed susans, liatris, and hostas.  All the nearby fields are filled with bloomers too, goldenrod and queen’s anne lace, wild black-eyed susans, ragweed, and many others of which I haven’t got a clue.  In the late-day summer sun, our yard and pastures are teeming with hundreds of beautiful dragonflies.  Walking by the nearby fields there are clouds of them, hovering and swooping, their presence so magical and uplifting.  Sometimes one will land on us while we’re floating in the canoe or in the gardens.  We love to sit and admire them close up, such a fascinating little bug.

We love to see the dragonflies and have planted many of the flowers that attract them.  Dragonflies are harmless to people and animals, and because they eat so many mosquitoes it only makes sense to have plantings that attract them.  These same plants also attract many insect-eating birds too, another bonus.  And when it comes to eating mosquitoes, we don’t argue with the bats that show up at night either!  Attracting dragonflies and birds (and bats), not having standing water, and fans in the barn are our top choices for keeping mosquitoes, flies, and other disease-spreading insects away from the alpacas.  We know there will always be some bugs, and sometimes plenty of them, in our humid climate, so every little bit helps.

 Our alpacas will start coming home to our farm soon, and now is when we realize that oops!  There is so much more to do.  But like any farm, or business, there is always ‘more to do’ or ‘something that needs getting done.’   All farms are a continual ‘work in process,’ and ours certainly will be no exception.

I suppose there will always be a new gate or gadget needed, an extra water bucket here, move the grain feeders there, that sort of thing.  Running through all the major things we’ve done .......We’ve cleared land and improved the pastures with, oh my, lots of drainage.  We’ve built the small barn with an awning.  We’ve installed the hydrant for water from our well.  We’ve put up fencing and adjusted gates and sealed off the low areas where rainwater has washed out underneath, allowing small critters such as the red fox access.  We’ve seeded the pasture with pasture grass mix and excitedly watched as it started to grow, albeit in large splotches!  Our first pieces of alpaca equipment is appropriately enough a poop scooper and large 2-wheeled wheelbarrow.  Our hay feeder is on order.  We’ve secured a hay source and grain/feed source.  We’ve decided how to divvy up the barn stalls and which directions to put the gates and panels.  We’ve purchased that very well used but sturdy horse trailer. We’ve prayed for clear, cool days and sunny skies.

So now we sit back and say, the alpacas will be here in a few short days, and we’re not ready!  We have waited for this moment for almost 2 years so how could we possibly not be ready?   We’ll need some grain feeders and oh yes grain, something to store the grain in, water buckets, the wire type tape to block off the area behind the barn where it’s still a bit mucky, and that tape to block off the stall where we’ll store some hay, oh yes ~ hay!, panels to divide the stalls, a scale, one of those awning things with metal supports to store our tractor in as we need the barn space for the alpacas now, where to put the pile of poop, and also...............  I’m sure after they arrive, we’ll constantly be saying ‘gee we really need to get a .......’  Until then, we can improvise.  Dan is very good at improvising, or as he says ‘mousing it.’

We are life long animal lovers and in that sense we are not nervous about the alpacas’ arrival.  Even though we’ve never owned livestock, we are comforted by the fact that there are several alpaca farms with kind alpaca owners within a 30-45 minute drive, our vet is walking distance away, and of course Pam is always available for our multitudes of questions.  Thanks Pam! Your patience and kindness to your animals, and now ours, is cherished. 

We are first and foremost an alpaca farm, and we are always excited when we can blog about the alpacas.  Yesterday we drove up to Longwoods Alpacas in Maine to welcome our newest cria, Sweet Harmony’s Henry, whom we will call Hank.  On our farm we love ‘the boys’ and little Hank is no exception.

Hank is our second cria from our beautiful girl Longwood’s Caitlin’s Alana.  He was sired by the Upper Farm’s stunning Milo Rawhide.  Hank weighed in at a sturdy 17.5 pounds, very straight legs and bite, and perfect conformation.  His fleece is shiny and soft, dark brown in color with black points, with a teeny white spot on his front fetlock.  He appears to have both his parent’s density.  Just lovely!  We are so thrilled with what this match has produced that we shall be breeding them again for a 2010 cria.

Pam went out to her back pasture about noontime and saw this wonderful surprise pronking around gleefully, nursing easily, and happily playing with her other crias born recently.  Such a happy and well adjusted little fellow, and we can’t wait to have him pronking around here in our pastures.

I headed out to the garden earlier to pick some more cherry tomatoes.  Isn’t this wonderful?  Weeks and weeks of heavy rain and cool temperatures, yet I’ve been picking cherry tomatoes!  So tasty right off the vine, it’s amazing I can walk back to the house and still have a couple for my salad.  The plum tomatoes and sandwich size tomatoes are still green, but there are plenty of them!  The zucchini plants are getting huge, but have still to give me anything to pick.  The beets, spinach, kale, and carrots have grown and there are lots and lots of buds on the green bean plants .......... and weren’t there more leaves yesterday???  I’m in a daze, probably because of the shockingly sunny day, and then I noticed the hoof prints again.  Only a few leaves were missing, but in the next box ........... all the leaves off the sunflowers were gone!  Bummer!!  I just love sunflowers in a garden.  The deer are beautiful creatures, but I’d rather have them in our garden than the alpaca pastures!

 All the work that Dan has done to help with drainage seems to be paying off.  We are continuing to have excessive rain, but as time goes by, more and more of the pasture area is usable, i.e., you can walk without sinking halfway to your knees!  Our little ‘farm road,’ which is the road that’s been created from the driveway down to the pasture is now relatively solid, despite all the rain, as is also the yard area around it.  The main gate to our pasture, near the barn, stays dry as well.  Parts of this pasture and the swale itself still get quite mucky and slippery, but they too are drying out sooner and sooner.

 So with this relative good luck, this past weekend we decided to seed the pasture.  There are shoots of green grass sprouting up here and there, but we need to speed up this process pronto.  Dan lightly rototilled on one side of the swale, and lightly tilled with the york rake on the other side of the swale.  This is to test which method will seed faster!  We’ve never been much into building lawns; we’ve always prefer to just rototill up the grass and plant more perennials.  So it’s rather ironic for us to be out there with our teeny little lawn seed spreader, walking back and forth spreading seed.  Much alpaca information will say that brome grass is best.  We decided on a simple ‘horse pasture blend’ of grasses.  This blend was closer to the native grasses that grow here naturally.  Once the pasture is well grassed, we plan to regularly overseed with brome grass in spring and/or fall.  After we seeded, that night we found ourselves in the unlikely position of actually hoping for a light rain!  And it did rain, lightly, just perfectly!  We then spread out mulch hay to protect the seed from hot sun and keep the moisture in.  There is also a perfect forecast for the next several days: sunny, warm but not hot, dry air, and no rain.

 An added benefit to the mulch hay is that there are plenty of grass seeds in it.  One tack supplier we recently spoke with said that all she did was spread out mulch hay – no seed – and her pasture came in beautifully!  We have our fingers crossed for the same good luck.

Here in the Northeast it has been raining for the past week and it seems like it’s getting to be time for us to build the ark.  I’ve been reading a rather funny thread on alpacanation about all rain we’ve been getting here in New Hampshire, Maine, and the entire Northeast.  I say funny only because I just thought it was a funny topic to start a thread on.  But, here in the Northeast excessive rain is certainly a real concern for us alpaca farmers.  The rain brings out the slugs, gross little creatures, which bring along the meningeal worm, hosted by our cute wildlife, the white-tailed deer.  M-worm is of particular concern for alpaca farmers as it is a deadly disease, and here in the Northeast we routinely de-worm as part of our prevention program.  (Note to self:  get chickens, sooner rather than later.)  And of course, any of us with new pastures from recently disturbed soil, as well as anyone with clay soil, is having additional problems with mud, mud, and yes, more mud!!

Not to mention all that standing puddle water is a breeding ground for mosquitoes and all the yucky diseases they carry.

So times like these make me appreciate the dry Southwest more and more, and like I already mentioned, make me start thinking about building that ark.

Or perhaps at least I should remind myself of the good things about rain........  The most obvious benefit is it waters, usually evenly, our lawns and gardens.  In a previous post I mentioned that I had planted seeds and transplants for our little vegetable garden.  I’ve only had to water once, the day I planted!  Most of the seeds are sprouting, but by now, they could certainly use some sun! ............  A related benefit is that I don’t have to be out there watering morning and night, and subsequently feeding the mosquitoes while I stand there.......... Another benefit is that is replenishes our wells.......Rain runoff from our roofs fills up our rain barrels, to water the gardens............ The birds have plenty to drink naturally, rather than me filling up birdbaths.  Water attracts birds to your yards, and birds eat many, many, bugs; no need for pesticides! ....... And as my friend Deb says, "At least we're not shoveling it!"

But we’ve had many, many inches of rain and we’re more than ready for sunshine!  Those of you who practice yoga, please join me daily in spirit for a Salute to the Sun!!!!

Late last summer we had a local logger and his crew clear about 3 acres of woods and brushy overgrowth.  It was done ‘rough grade’ as Dan wanted to do the finish work himself.  What a wonderful job they did!  There were many, many large rocks that they carefully placed on the property lines creating a boulder style stone wall.  The stumps were all buried alongside the rocks so as to be outside and around the pasture area, a farm road of sorts.  It looked fabulous and then, the rains came!  First a tropical storm bringing about 5 inches, and several smaller storms, and anyone who lives in New England remembers the rain and resulting ice storm in early December!  All that rainfall saturated our new pasture, with ‘sink to your knees mud,’ washing out a lot of the topsoil, creating ruts and little streams, and rendering it impossible to work in it.  Clearly we had a drainage problem, unknown to us before due to the thick woods.  Disappointed, we knew we had to wait until spring for things to dry out before the alpacas could come home.

 And dry out it did!  We’ve had a pleasantly sunny and warm spring. Another local contractor has come by a few times giving us ideas on how to divert runoff and rain.  We’ve seen swales before but never knew the correct term. Dan is in his glory on the tractor, digging and moving dirt and making one heck of a swale diagonally down the pasture.  He’s also been making several diagonal berms down the ‘farm road’ from our driveway to the barn gate and alongside the fencing.  'Berm' is our new favorite word.  We have huge piles of dirt now in the pasture, beautiful dark brown dirt!  After we sift it, and add in a little compost, this loam will be wonderful for gardening perennials.  Now to continue on picking up rocks and roots and york raking the whole area smooth.......And the rocks... oh my!  There are more huge boulder-sized rocks, all the way down to baseball sized and pebbles.  Dan will be busy making decorative stone walls for years.   

 We’ve been told that actually all that rain was a very good thing(!)  It helps to pack down the freshly disturbed land so the grass can grow.  The grass will then hold everything together.  So far, this does seem to be happening!  There are plenty of green shoots sprouting up all over.  We are very happy and grateful for that.  And soon the alpacas will be here, grazing and pronking....................