What Makes The Heart Sing

Last weekend, I participated for two days of The Artist's Garden hosted by Ash Creek Pottery in Callander, Ontario.  This was the 10th year of the event.  It's a awesome event.  It's great to meet new people, talk to old friends and see some works from talented artisans. 

It was a hot, humid weekend with thankfully only a sprinkling of rain during the day and night (sorry to the farmers but scrambling to save my product in a downpour is not fun.)  I had the best spot for a booth, with nice breeze and guaranteed shade in the afternoon.  Plus, it was the closest booth to the tea room, so I was able to convince the church ladies to deliver the pie and ice cream when the mood struck.

It's always a lot of work to pack up my shop and set it up somewhere else.  Coupled with the effort to produce the product in my booth, it's obvious that I will not be paying all my household bills from my farm-based yarn business any time soon.  I hear a lot of comments from people who don't 'get it'.  People who don't understand why I would want to do it.  ``So much work``, ``so hard to compete with the price of imports``...yada, yada, yada.  I get especially suspicious stares from people I knew from my former IT career, where "billable hours" rule the day. 

Why do I do it?

Simply - because it makes my heart sing.

Sitting outside at this lovely venue, I spin the most lovely brown alpaca through my fingertips for hours (which is like a day at the spa for me).  Having three little talkative girls of 3 and 4 years old stand and watch my wheel for most of an afternoon and ask me questions makes me feel connected.  Hearing strangers complimenting my yarns, so soft and colourful, makes me feel proud.  I showed my Canadian made spinning wheel to a visiting tourist from Wales who is also a spinner.  I shared my weekend with other wonderful artisans and their family members who I now know just a bit better.

I don't golf.

I don't 'get it'.

But this...I do.

Recent additions to our household include two 3 year old German Shepherd half-siblings, Junior (sable on the left) and Sadie (black on the right).

We are really enjoying them after being dog-less for 16 months or so.
They are very well-trained and very loving to their pack (that's us now!).
German Shepherds are very intelligent dogs.  It`s important that they are kept challenged.
These two came from a young family who spent a lot of time training them.
Puppies are adorable, but being able to find these really super dogs already trained is like winning a lottery. 
At 82 lbs and 62 lbs respectively - they do fill up the house!
And hopefully I won`t be finding bear poop in the back yard anymore.

Jimena the alpaca kept a good eye on the dogs from the barnyard, alarming to the others quite often for the first few days.  She's calmed down now.  We've started walking the dogs through the pasture on their leads after supper on our way to one of the large back pastures that we use for off-leash exercise.  The alpacas are curious and wary of the dogs, keeping their distance and a fenceline between them.  Our other dogs never went to the barnyard or pastures.  These dogs are more intent on keeping an eye on  the ball-thrower ('Chuck-it') that we are carrying to the back field - they know it means loads of fun.

The chickens, though, are living dangerously.  The other night, when we entered the alpaca pastures to walk through with the dogs, the chickens all decided they were going to follow us out to the fields and walked with us like a gang of minions within the danger zone of the dogs.  I'm not sure what was going through the dogs minds or the chickens...although I am reminded how small a chicken brain is and perhaps how well-behaved a dog can be.

On the gardening front, we have proved that despite our lack of ability, our inexperience, the lack of rain, the groundhogs, the potato bugs, our lack of weed control (this gathers lots of 'Tsk, tsk'ing from other gardeners)...we still get to eat!
Think about what we can produce when we get better at this!!!

Despite making oven-baked zucchini sticks, whole wheat zucchini load with blueberries and pecans, garlic and parmesan fried zucchini, freezing shredded zuchinni for winter use and adding zucchini to everything I cook...alas, we are swimming (almost drowning) in zucchini.
My daughter thought we had found our calling when she discovered how many zucchinis were hiding under those big leaves. 
I've written enticing sales ads for the zucchinis that I've given away at work.
The neighbours don't eat zucchini apparently (what!).

But my daughter is an optimist and future entreprenuer.

Zucchini's for sale!!!

Meet Some of my Four-legged Friends

My weekdays start with a coffee at the table with my family before they head off for the day.  Then, it's me and my four legged friends...
here's only a few of them...



You might recognize Smokey, the retired barn cat.  You might also recognize the alpaca/merino handknit sweater jacket, that I threw on the blanket box when I came home from the library.  Smokey has great taste.  In fact, I have had to move my retail sweaters, shawls, blankets and such into a cupboard in the shop so that he can't perch on them.  He finds anything alpaca to lay on that he can.  I figure that apart from being nice and warm, he might also be able to smell the alpaca and be reminded of his barn-buddies.



 This is Lucy.  Lucy is about 13 years old.  We got her at the pound when she was about 3 months old.  She was in a puppy cage by herself.  While the other puppies jumped up and yapped when we entered the room, she leaned her whole body against the cage so we could rub her.  She's a very loving dog.  These days, she sleeps a lot.  I think she really misses her pal Molly.

 This handsome dude is Ka'Kocha.  He's a lover with the ladies and throws very nice cria.  Unfortunately, he's a big bully with the other boys to the point that he wouldn't let them come in the barn sometimes.  So, KaKocha has a barn pen and a pasture all to himself beside the ladies.  He watches them all the time.  If I had the money to rework my farm, I'd have one barn for the girls and one barn for the boys with pastures that didn't share fencelines.  Then, the boys wouldn't feel the need to compete all the time.

This...uhmmm...interesting looking face belongs to Daewoo the black-face llama.  We got him and his buddy, Frankie, before we brought alpacas to the farm.  These llamas were destined for the sausage-factory before we bought them.

We were told he was 3 years old at the time, so he'd be about 11 now.  He hadn't been halter-trained or apparently touched very much.  I tried to halter train him, but he is a very large llama and at 3 years, he was already about 350 lbs.  It's a two person job to try to get a halter on him and he is able to drag me around the pasture with ease.  Anyway, my husband and I can manage him to give him medication, his vaccination and toenail care although it's always an exciting task.  I halter train all my alpacas to make it easy to manage them for care and transport.

Daewoo's ears must have been frostbit when he was at his previous farm. He's also not a very well conformed llama.  I don't think he'll live the full life expectancy of 18-20 years and I keep an eye on his eathing and his gait for signs of pain.  For now, he eats well and gets lots of exercise so he's fine.

Frankie and Daewoo were gelded when they were brought to the farm (otherwise, they could have impregnated my alpacas which would produce an animal with undesirable fibre).  They are sentinel guards of my herd - meaning that they are the first to see something in the fields and signal with an alarm to the others.  When they are in action - these llamas, which probably go about 500-600lbs each - look quite formidable...tails up, back arched, chests out, ears back.  We usually put them in a pasture with the weanling males so that they bond with the little guys.  It usually works so that, by the time we put the little guys into the main boys area, the llamas take quick action against any big boy that wants to bully the little guy.  I think they earn their keep.

Mr. Lonely No More!

Mr. Lonely isn't so lonely anymore. In fact, I think he's a bit overwhelmed!

We were waiting for the call from the post office all day for the chicks to be picked up. The hay lady called to say that the hay was probably going to be baled for pickup off the wagon that night.
And you know how that goes.
The post office called at 6:00pm saying that the chicks were in North Bay for pickup before 7:00pm. The hay lady called to say the bales were ready to pickup...30 minutes in the opposite direction of North Bay.
I picked up the chicks, hubby and daughter picked up the hay.

Can you hear it now? "Oh, sure, we're unloading the hay and you're taking pictures for your blog!"
We are done one load of three. We usually ensure we have about 375 small bales of hay for 20-24 alpacas and llamas. Alpacas only eat 2% of their body weight in hay. That means that a 150 lb alpaca will eat about 3 lbs hay a day. Not much, is it? Some farmers weigh out the exact amount, to optimize costs and to keep the alpacas lean. Lean, healthy alpacas have finer fibre than overweight alpacas. The trick would be to ensure that each animal gets his portion. We choose to offer extra hay and much gets wasted. We have always had around 80-100 bales left over, but it's always good to be prepared with extra, in case of a late spring.

Lucy is our 12 year old husky cross. She's a sweet, sweet dog. Lucy had a very hard time getting over the absence of her buddy Molly, our 14 year old dog who recently passed. Lucy had never been alone for longer than 30 minutes. We are giving Lucy extra attention these days. Many people suggested that we get Lucy another younger dog or puppy for a companion. I think Lucy will enjoy her final years as an only dog who gets all the attention.

That black box that you see at her throat is the transmitter for our radio-controlled invisible fence. Huskies like to run and we live in a fairly populated area on a fast road. Having an invisible fence means never having to tie your dog up to keep them safe.

Is Spring Possibly Here?

Temperatures here have been unseasonally warm and sunny here this week.
Everybody is asking "Is this it?"

Yesterday, I saw my first motorcycle of the year on the road. It was a perfect Northern Ontario spring day. Blue sky, clear roads and the snow on the snowmobile trails was still packed and hard enough to take a long hike through the bush with my daughter.

However, I remember that our members event on May 31 last year was cancelled due to a snow storm. Yes, that was a freak weather event, but having lived most of my life in Northern Ontario...I know not to put the snow tires or the plow away.

View of the farm from the back yard.

Pine trees and blue sky...this is where I always will call home.

My weekend dyeing, rose and denim 4 ply bulky 100% alpaca. It's available in the store now. I knit myself a afghan out of this yarn in natural cream....yummy, warm and soft. It does have a weight to it, which is perfect for a snuggly afghan.

This is my most senior dog, Molly. She'll be soon turning 14. We've had her since she was a pup from the pound, so she's been through a lot with me. Molly is the kind of dog would put herself in between me and a bear to protect me to the end. It's sad to see her getting tired and slow.
Thanks for reading my blog and I really appreciate it when people leave comments. It makes me feel connected.

I have a few favorite blogs that I follow. It is addictive. Check this one out when you have time. It's from a lady in Australia who is keen on living simply and it's chock full of good ideas. The funny thing is, with the time difference, I read her Friday entry on what is our Thursday night...
http://down---to---earth.blogspot.com/