Enough Already!

Here's the reason that we will never shear before the last week of May at my farm. This picture was taken Saturday morning.
Not a great day for the Country Roads Tour. The hydro went out for a bit over 5 hours. We have an inline generator, so that didn't affect us much.
However, I didn't have customers Saturday.

I could have felt bad, but I felt worse for my friend that has the tour tea-room. She had spent Friday baking pies and cooking food for the weekend.

Today's weather was better. The wind was bitter, but the snow gradually melted away.

We did have a stream of customers come through today. Several were disappointed that the alpacas weren't out at the front to greet them. Most understood when I explained that I couldn't feel good about putting the alpacas out in a temporary pen with no proper shelter to stand knee deep in snow. The children felt better when I told them that they could call to come back in July to see the baby alpacas that we were expecting.

I demonstrated handspinning to the children, explaining how the pioneers would have made their clothing and they were so interested. I'm always surprised at the number of adults who tell me they have never seen a spinning wheel at work before. It gives me a lot of pleasure to be able to show this historical craft.

At 6:45pm Sunday, it looked like this.
Our area sure needed the extra moisture that the snow brought.
I am looking forward to the return of warm weather this week.

Snow!!!

Yes, it has been a while since I've written. It's that time of year...things are busy for the shop and in life.

I've had two open houses at the farm store and participated in a one day craft sale. I also turned a year older during all this (if anyone asks...39...really;)).

Saturday was my second open house. The traffic out to the farm is dependent on the weather. And boy, did it snow Friday and Saturday morning. Here's the view of the barn area from my back sunroom. Luckily, the snow stopped late morning and the sun came out. In fact, two of my regular customers came out on their way to go kayaking. (May I suggest alpaca underwear?)



We've had a very mild fall. On the good side, the alpacas were grazing in the pastures up until last week. On the bad side, with the ground not frozen, the barnyard was getting pretty mucky.
Like others who don't ski or snowmobile, I generally don't look forward to seeing the white stuff in this quantity. But with the snow came colder temperatures at night, which makes the ground more solid in the barnyard.

Another plus for the snow fall, is that Gary and Amy got to test out 'Zelda'....as she has been named by Amy. We bought this beater which was sitting dead at some hunt camp outside of New Liskeard this summer. Gary and Amy have been fixing it up for a farm vehicle. It helped us gather fallen wood in the fall and now, with the plow on the front, will make the driveway cleanups more comfortable than the tractor with the snowblowing attachment.

I drive a PT Cruiser year round. Last week, I invested in studded winter tires for the first time in 26 years of owning vehicles. I think it was money well spent.


Here's a picture of my shop. I carry alpaca based yarns and finished products, all from Canadian farmed alpaca and everything is made in Canada. The yarn, especially, is getting somewhat picked over at this time of year. I'll be looking at buying fibre from another farm after New Years', so that I can get some milled yarn ordered ahead of our farm's spring shearing.
There is a pretty big turn around time and effort to turn fleece from the alpacas back into yarn, even if it is milled. Shorn fleece needs to be handpicked for removing vegetable matter, sorted into grades appropriate to end use and by colour variation. This is bagged and labelled. Then it is either brought or shipped to the mill, for discussion with the mill personnel for desired blend, meterage and twist. There is a waiting list at the mill, typically of six months or more. When I get the yarn back from the mill, there is often washing required, sometimes dyeing. The meterage is checked and for knitting, a swatch to check the gauge. Then labelling before stocking on the shelves. There is a lot of hand-work and skill that goes into putting quality yarn on the shelves, whether it is handspun or millspun.

This little fellow is Buddy, our daughter's dwarf male rabbit. I found out I was allergic to rabbit fur while blending angora with alpaca for my own handspun. That blend makes such a very lovely soft yarn that I shall probably continue to blend it and spin it, but only when I can work outside. Some things are worth the itchy eyes. Just like 'Buddy hugs'.