Something Old and Something New

There's a new piece of equipment at Misty Haven Alpacas.  Well, it isn't actually new.  In fact, this tractor is about 72 years old.  It's an Allis Chalmers B...we beleive from 1939 or 1940. 

My husband and daughter have made a new hobby out of this old tractor.  And it works!  Although it needs some adjusting and a few replacement parts, hubby has been cutting the back fields with it and hauling the manure spreader with it.

There is something amazing about motorized equipment that works 72 years after it came off of an assembly line.  Why is it that our cars seem to expire after 10 years maximum?

It's not just the admiration for the strength of the metal and the simplicity of the mechanics to last over seven decades.  I can't help looking at this tractor and try to imagine the farmer that bought it when it was brand new so many years ago.

My grandfather loved the large draft horses on his farm.  I have a favourite black and white photo of me standing in the field with my Papa and his huge horse, Pete.  I was about 4 years old and the top of my head was at Pete's mid-thigh.  I am wondering how my grandfather viewed the advent of the tractor on the farm.  Was he happy, did he view it as progress or did he know that it would lead to the demise of the working farm horse and thus the bond between farmer and his horse.

I have a few new yarns in my shop.  I had a new yarn done at Wellington Fibres in Elora, Ontario this year.  This is a fingering weight 2-ply yarn in a blend of 60% alpaca, 30% kid mohair and 10% fine wool.  I've created handspun in this blend for a shawl last year, and it's a beautifully soft blend that blooms with use.  I usually handdye my farm's yarns, but this year I asked the mill to dye some of the yarn.  I was very happy with the colours.

If I Won a Million Dollars...

I do buy the odd lottery ticket.  Strangely, I often think to buy it when the jackpot sign outside the store says that the night's draw is some bizzare amount, like $44 million.  Then, after I buy the ticket, I pray I don't win 44 million.  Really - who needs that much stress?  Or that many long-lost cousins?

But every once in a while...usually on days when I wake up to the news about the economic debt crisis and then open my email to find a panic message from my financial advisor...I think about what I would do with $1 Million Dollars.  The fact that last week, not one but both of my part-time jobs ended, may have prompted me to think a little heavier about this.

1.  I have some debt.  I'd definitely pay that off.

2.  I'm thinking that I have some people to show my gratitude.  However, the people top on of that list, my father and my in-laws are doing what they want in life and I don't think extra money would make them enjoy it more.

3.  I need expensive repairs to my farm bridge.  I'd reconfigure my farmyard and put up a separate barn for the males.  Farming would be simpler and the barnyard more tranquil.

4.  I'd definitely hire a housecleaner.  Well, after I cleaned the house, that is.  I'd be too embarrassed to have some stranger see inside my fridge or my laundry room.

5.  I would hire who I needed to do all those house repairs that have been half-finished or totally neglected.  (But would I have to clean the house first?)

6.  I'd spend some money to hire a competent alpaca-knowledgeable farmhand for a few weeks of the year, and take my family away on some fun carefree vacations.  (Who am I kidding?...I have a teenage daughter...carefree? for who? Mom?)

7.  I'd donate money to my favorite charities and non-profits.  Community Living comes to mind, but I don't have to look far for valuable organizations that are doing important work.

8.  I'd spend my days writing, reading, spinning and well....creating.  Oh, maybe I'd even have a well equipped studio built for me and my artsy friends!

Hmmmmmm...when I started writing this post, I didn't think that I'd be able to come up with many items on my dream list.  Now the ideas are coming quicker and becoming grander.  Time to stop.

I realize that I likely won't ever have that cool $1 Million to throw at the items on the list.  However...

1.  My debt will get paid...sooner or later...likely later.

2.  I can let the people in my life know that I am grateful to them every day.

3.  My bridge will get repaired in time.  Farming is pretty simple already and usually the farmyard is tranquil.

4.  I choose to only invite friends over who vow to ignore my chaotic, messy house because it gives me more time for creative expression.

5.  If all the house repairs were done...what could I nag my husband about?

6.  I spent part of today sitting in a boat reading while my daughter fished and then went kayaking and swimming with her.  That was after a morning of spreading manure and doing spit-checks on the pregnant alpacas along with my hubby.  Okay, it may not be YOUR dream vacation, but it was a pretty good day.

7.  I may not be donating money to my favourite charities this year.  Someday, I will.

8.  I don't need a fancy, picture perfect studio to have my artsy friends over.  I've had a lot of fun-filled afternoons with my fibre-art friends in my kitchen and sunroom.  This will continue. 

I don't need $1 Million to read books or write stories or spin yarn or felt scarves or weave rugs or blend fibre or dye roving.  I need to give myself time...that's all!

I live a blessed life and have everything that I really need...and more.

Where Did July Go?

July is almost done.  Most of the month has been very hot and humid.  That kind of weather is very worrisome when you have livestock.  And since we had very little rain in July, I would have thought my neglected gardens would have shrivelled up to nothing.

It pays to plant hardy, native species!  I don't even weed my flower bed.  I have big bushy perennials that fight for space in the garden with long grasses.  It looks fabulous and colourful at this time of year.

My vegetable garden is a jungle!  We enjoyed a lot of lettuce until the extreme heat came and it turned wild and bitter.  I am purposely letting some of the lettuce go to flower so I can try to save some seeds for next year.  My friend suggested that I could still pull the old stuff out and plant some new seeds to have new lettuce growth.  I may try that.

The purple bean plants are growing like wild.  There are a lot of beautiful purple flowers.  I hope this means a lot of beans in the next couple weeks.

The tomato plants have a lot of flowers on them and some little green tomatoes starting.  I read on Facebook that my friend nearby is already eating tomatoes from her garden.  Hmmmm...I planted late.  I hope not too late.



I didn't plant many squash, but they are still trying to take over everywhere.   I had thought twice about planting them in my garden because of this.  Next year, they are definitely getting their own garden!



I'm proud of my little garden.  We have tilled up a portion of the poor pasture so that we can make a bigger garden next year. 

And I leave you with a picture of my relaxing chair in my little piece of paradise.  This is 30 minutes from home, so it makes a great farmer's vacation spot.  Far enough away to forget the work piling up at home, but close enough to pop home to do the chores.  

Hay-Making Weather!

It doesn't take long when the sun finally shows for a few days at 30C or so.  The clay that was a dark brown menace that threatened to suck in and absorb the new little cria is hard-baked to the consistency of...well...pottery. 

It doesn't take long for the line up at the new dust bath. 



Even the hens are enjoying a good old sand bath.

 I'm having to water my garden.  Look, things are growing!  I have been doing pretty good at staying ahead of the weeds, considering my schedule.  We have enjoyed some lettuce from the garden so far.  It would look like we will be eating quite a bit of lettuce.  Then there should be purple beans, yellow beans, tomatoes, squash and cucumbers.   The purple beans, squash, and lettuce were from heritage seeds from Soggy Creek Seed Co. from nearby Nipissing, Ontario.  The tomato plants are organic, purchased from Mrs. Artan at the North Bay Farmer's Market, who grew them from seeds that have passed down in her family for 4 generations.  The yellow beans were a commercial packet from the local garden centre and were labelled 'organic'.  The cucumber plants were half dead bargains that the garden centre had in their end-of-planting-season special corner.  The experiment is whether I can actually make a quantity of good tasting food from this garden....you know...actually FARM something that grows up from beneath the ground.

See what I recycled to string the bean hangers on?

I don't play favourites.  The little white girl got her close-up in the last entry.  So, here is the little dark girl!  Isn't she cute?  (She will grow into those ears!)

My family is making the most of the good weather and spending a lot of time on the lake these days.  The hay is in the loft and the cria are running in the field.  Time to enjoy some summer.

I hope you are enjoying yours!



New Cria at Misty Haven

The waiting is over.  There were two pregnant alpacas at Misty Haven this spring and now there are two cria on the ground.  These first time moms, Alicia and Makushla, have been sold to new alpaca owners.  The alpacas will stay here until the cria are old enough to move. 

I've had plenty of false warnings to get my heart-racing.  Tail held high, then nothing...bagged up with milk, then nothing...swollen nether regions, then nothing.  When I checked Thursday and Friday morning, there was no sign of anything happening.  Friday, Makushla was a bit separated from the herd and laying down, but she didn't look uncomfortable. 

Friday, I was picking up my new-to-me car at the dealers at 1:00pm.  The sales guy said it would take 20 minutes.  Two hours later, I'm back on the highway heading home.  I wasn't really worried.  After about 30 births on this farm, I figured I knew when it wasn't the day.

Guess what was in the field when I got home?  It had just happened as the cria was still trying to get steady on her legs.  The rest of the female herd hadn't even noticed they had a new one in the group.

This is a picture of her and her mom, Makushla, on Sunday, less than 48 hours old.

She's a lovely colour, a very dark reddish brown with a very unique white nose with brown freckles.

Saturday, I had a booth at the Farmer's Market.  Hubby was home keeping an eye on things.  I got home at about 1:20pm from the market.  Hubby said that I just missed another birth by ten minutes.

After 3 weeks of careful monitoring and postponing any unnecessary appointments, I ended up missing both events!


Alicia had just had her little white female cria.  She was on the tiny side at 14.6 lbs, but hit the ground running.  No interest in finding the teats right away, she just ran around the field with her poor mom humming and clucking behind her.  We were worried she wouldn't figure out who her mom was when she decided to settle down.  But she did.

We've had plenty of rain here over the past weeks, so the piece of yard between the barn and the pasture was a run of deep clay mud.  Not great for a little cria.  We usually let the mother alpaca keep her baby whereever she chooses to take her.  The pasture is safer for the cria - no dark corners to get lost in, less likely to get stepped, less germs in the grass than on a barn floor, etc. 

But when it really started raining on Friday evening, I carried her through the muck into the barn with Alicia right beside me.  I put her in the barn and boom - she flew right out the door.  I tried this 3 times.  The last time she flew (and I say flew, she was airborne), Alicia and I were slower to follow.  By the time I got out, Alicia was running around in a panic and no baby was in sight.  I noticed the boys on the other fence line were freaking out about something.  When I walked over, I found the cria stuck between a shelter and a fence.  They don't have the skill to back up at that age and I couldn't fit into that space to get her.  A scary couple of moments but hubby and I were able to pass our hands through the fence to relay her up to the top and over.

The next time she flew out of the barn, I left her and went back the house.  I saw her get stuck behind the barn door.  Again, Alicia was running around in a panic and the cria was not able to back up.  Eventually, she got out on her own.

Just after dark, I went out to check and there she was, curled up beside her mom in the barn, safe but covered in muck from her outdoor adventures.  I kept checking every few hours through the night.  She got more sleep than I did.

Here is a picture of her with the herd Sunday morning at less than 24 hours old.  Can't you just tell she's planning her next adventure?



I know she'll grow up to be a beautiful white alpaca with fine fibre and great conformation to produce good offspring and oodles of white yarn...and my apologies to her new owners who I know read this blog and who some of you may recognize...but....I just HAVE to say this...

"Size matters not, ... Look at me. Judge me by size, do you?” (Yoda from Star Wars)

"May the Force be with you!"

Preparation

It is amazing what you can get shipped through the mail from California to Canada.  I was soooo relieved that my "stuff" got through Customs fine and found it's way to my door just prior to the Canada Post labour stoppage.

 Now, before the helicopters start doing a sweep of my back 40 acres, I'll fess up.

 It's Lactation Stimulator herbal blend for the pregnant alpacas.  The two alpacas that are due to deliver are first time moms.  Better safe than sorry, I started adding these herbs to their pellet supplement prior to them delivering.

Alpacas are known for having easy births and great mothering instincts.  However, I try to be prepared with all the goodies I might need in case there are problems.

That includes the book that has seen me through 8 years of alpaca births, "Llama and Alpaca Neonatal Care" by B. Smith, K. Timm and P. Long.   It has a checklist of everything to watch for during labour, including general timelines of stages of labour.  It also has diagrams of difficult positioned cria and how to resolve with manipulations if necessary.  I dig it out every year, just in case.

And then we wait...and wait....and check under tails....and postpone hair appointments...and wait...and check the calendar wondering if we made a mistake.

Almost Summer

Well, I won't bore you with the details of why I've been too busy to blog for several weeks.  Life happens and blog entries sometime get to the bottom of the priority list.  Thanks to everyone who takes the time to leave comments on my blog.  I really do appreciate it.

As I am writing this, I am waiting for our hay producer to call giving us the go-ahead to leave to pick up the first of four loads of hay.  The trailer has been on the truck since Thursday.  It's always a waiting game for the hay-drying weather.  We've had great weather for 4 days and then last night, at our house was a major downpour.  Thankfully, the hay farm, which is about a 30 drive south only got a sprinkling.  The hay wasn't lost but needed a bit more time to dry today.  So, it will be 5:00pm by the time we load our first bale on the trailer.  Gatorade and chocolate bars are our friends today.

We sheared our herd of alpaca in between the rainy days at the beginning of June.  I can't let this go without posting a before and after shot.

This is Lily.  If you've been reading this blog, you will remember Lily, the cria that was rejected by her dam.  Her first start was with dried colostrum, then milk with yogurt, then goat kid milk replacer.  She likely wouldn't have survived except that she was soon adopted by a maiden alpaca who miraculously started lactating to feed her.  It was a happy story.  She's now a saucy yearling with great conformation and lovely fleece.

Well, I guess she doesn't have her fleece anymore!  I do! It's in a couple bags waiting for processing into yarn.

People often ask me if the alpacas mind being sheared.  Well, alpacas seem to have their own personalities and therefore, their own opinions about being sheared.  Giving up control to a group of people, with one of them holding some power shears, is undoubtably not an alpaca's idea of a good time.  However, the majority of ours seem to actually relax on the table to the point of appearing to be snoozing.  No doubt many appreciate the instant cool sensation from being released from those pounds of fibre growth.

Every year, though, there is one winner in "The Most Annoying Alpaca on the Table" award.  This year was Vivaldi.  Vivaldi is normally a very calm, cool 2 year old.  The whole time on the table though, he screamed a very high pitch, deafening squeal and had very vile smelling green spit bubbling out of his mouth.  Of course, since he was laying on his side on the shearing table, his head was rubbing in the green slime.  The person covering the head also came in contact with the smelly green slime.  (That would be my freaked out teenage daughter :) hehehe)

So, without further ado, I present "Vivaldi the Slime-Faced".  Shame on you Vivaldi, you smelly boy.

Maybe next year, he will remember that we are helping him by removing his warm fleece, not trying to harm him.
I found a new book at my public library that every handspinner that I know will want to rush to get their hands on.  It's called "The Fleece and Fibre Sourcebook"  by Deborah Robson and Carol Ekarius.

It is literally packed with valuable facts about animal fibres used in spinning and interest tidbits of information about the history of our relationship with these animals around the world.  For each breed or species, there is a summary of the animal, pictures of both the animal, and their fibre, facts about the fibre that includes staple length, fleece weight, fiber diameters, lock characteristics and natural colours.  It's just beautiful.

Although I have the library's copy currently, this is one of those books that I should have on my bookshelf.
So far, I've planted lettuce, purple beans, squash and 3 types of tomatoes in my little garden.  I still have room for a couple plants.  This is going to be my most successful garden yet.

I'm not sure how many hours until the actual calendar start of summer is here.  But with any luck, I'll have a loft full of sweet smelling hay.