Aragon Alpacas ~ a journey

to Bend and Back Again

2012-01-13T21:00:00.000-08:00

Hopi the llama has been a such good 'visual' for farm visitors to see the difference between the camelid cousins that I have wanted to get a suri to demonstrate the two types of alpacas, too. Suri fleece drapes from the animal's body in silky locks, rather than fluffing outward like the huacaya's crimpy fleece.

My good friend Cindy, of Hum Sweet Hum, and I made the trip to central Oregon (near Bend) on Thursday to pick up a suri dam and her young son. We are the proud new co-owners of Q'Inti, a multi-award winner before beginning her breeding career. Her name means "hummingbird" in Quechua (Peruvian Indian).

Although recently weaned, we rejoined dam and cria for the ride to their new home in the back of Cindy's Honda Element. To minimize stress, I have left them together for the first few days of adjustment to a new environment, new herd mates, new routines. The Kid is asking to nurse again, Q'Inti is stepping aside. No, no, no!

Soon I will reshuffle the groups so all 6 weanlings are in a pen by themselves, the Kindergarten class. Meanwhile, the Kid is getting to know Smuggler and Trinket and the others, and the dams are accepting Q'Inti. Bred to Cha'ska, another show-stopping suri, Q'Inti is due in June.

Now to come up with a suitable name for the Kid! He's our candidate for "Name the Cria" contest at ABC's upcoming booth at the Eugene Green Home & Garden Show next weekend.

Q'Inti and her current and coming offspring are all full Peruvian suris. Their fleece just shimmers. New spinning experiences await!

Around the Bend

2012-01-10T06:58:00.000-08:00

Winter Solstice was just three weeks ago, and already we notice the difference in length of daylight. Solstice is a welcome marker to the shift in natural rhythms -- and I inwardly celebrate passing it.

Besides the inevitable season of mud, winter brings foreshortened days and I am time-challenged by solo farm chores. But now we've rounded the bend, and darkness before 5:00 p.m. has stretched to dusk at 5:15. Wow, simple pleasures! A minute per day gain may not seem like much, but the affect is noticeable and welcome.

On my iGoogle home page I have a map that displays the dark/light phases across the globe. By observing these shifts through the seasons, it helps me to feel more connected with folks I know in other parts of the world: family in Southern California and Texas, friends in Michigan and Massachusetts, and wishful travelers to Ireland or Japan.

The continuous, inevitable shifting of daylight to darkness and back again is the earth breathing in-n-n-n-n and out-t-t-t-t, yoga-like. And the moon phases to and fro, accompanying the melody.

And so the seasons flow one into another.

Avoiding Weaning Woes

2012-01-07T07:22:00.000-08:00

Our 2011 cria arrived in May and June, their births grouped together and timed so that they would grow and develop over the summer instead of during Oregon's sun-challenged fall and winter. However, that means that weaning at six or so months of age comes in the midst of winter.

Rather than segregating the young alpacas from the main herd, I chose to take their moms out and group them with newly pregnant dams. This way, I could continue to "feed 'em up" with extra calories. And the weanlings were well supported by remaining with their buddies and aunties.

Garamond and Tondero (photo taken in Sept) were the first two to wean over Thanksgiving weekend, when Mike was on hand to help me with sorting into feeding areas until they learned the new routine. I think Murphy Brown and Gracie missed their boys more than the boys missed them, even though both are experienced dams. But they soon got over it when they realized extra food was involved.

The next set of cria were old enough for transition on Christmas weekend. I checked the weather to make sure the nights were not too cold since they wouldn't have mom to cuddle with. Two of the nursing dams are rebred, so for the mom's health, it was important to separate the cria from them. Again, I moved the dams to the other group.

The moms and weanlings could visit over the fenceline for reassurance. For the first few days it was a challenge to urge Smuggler out into the pasture with the rest of the herd -- his buddy Trinket would call to him to come along. After a week of lagging, I decided to allow his mom, Jedlicka, back into the main herd. She is not pregnant so her health is not compromised. Jedlicka's presence had a calming affect on the other weanlings, and I have not observed Smuggler nursing any more. That's an unusual bonus.

Gradually I have shifted the two female herds from "main" and "young females" to "main" and "pregnant/weaned females" -- the feed 'em up group. Plus Blackberry, our lively 19-yr old who has lost a tooth.

The weanlings continue to eat pellets in their kindergarten group at evening feeding. During their transition, I added probiotics to the bowls to alleviate any digestive stress. One of the most fun parts of my day is to spend some time in with them as they eat, and they are accustomed to my presence among them.

Trinket and Smuggler (unrelated)
are best friends, born a day apart.

Life lessons

2010-02-14T06:54:00.000-08:00

Chantica has finally joined our herd. She was the last of our agisted (boarded) alpacas, remaining down south until she'd weaned her cria and been rebred for a spring birth. She's the daughter of our Sheba, and half-sister to Jedlicka (f) and 4-month-old Sarek (m). Sheba greeted her daughter quickly, then returned to grazing. It's been two years since they'd seen each other.

Hopi takes her new guardian duties seriously -- when she met Chantica, she chased her. I stepped between them, held my hand wide in front of Hopi's face, and told her "Stop! -- she's OK, she's one of us now, too."

The other dams and cria came to check out the new girl as Chantica surveyed the landscape. For the first few days, I kept her in small groups so she could become accustomed to her new home and learn the daily routines. At feeding time, Hopi tried to segregate her once more, but again I firmly told her No, and she backed away.

Chantica is in with the weanlings, maiden females, and a couple of dams with cria, including Sheba and her crew -- here the 'little family' is seen sharing the hay bin. I selected a range of ages and sizes to be in this mini-herd so the separated babies won't feel so alone.

It's been a full week now, and all is well. Chantica and Black Sable are both due mid-May, the first births of 2010 here at Aragon Alpacas.

On Friday I spent awhile mucking out a couple of barn areas where the weanlings and companions are penned at night. It rained most of the morning, and the dams chose to remain out in the hay field, obliviously grazing. Their fleece is so long and thick that only the top gets wet, they're still dry at the skin.

Getting ready for a trip to the feed store, I looked out the window and noticed Blackberry had come back up toward the barn and was all by herself, cushed or laying on the ground. At 18, she is our eldest, and her fleece is shorter because of her age. I recognize that she gets tired now more easily, too, and lately she sometimes cushes to eat. With a halter and some pellet treats, I went out to check on her.

Blackberry stood to eat from my hand and I haltered her easily, led her back to the barn where I toweled her off, put on a jacket, took her temperature (it was low), and gave her more food. Before leaving for the feed store, I put another alpaca in with her, as companion -- they stress when left alone.

Mulling all of this over as I drove down Dillard Rd, I glanced over at a pasture of sheep and goats. Down away from their house I saw a white animal laying on the ground, head in an awkward position, and thought, "Oh no, another animal in trouble. I hope they do not come out to discover a dead one."

That concern hovered in my thoughts as I did my errands. Driving back, I looked in the pasture again to see if anyone had noticed the downed animal. To my great surprise and delight, there was a white goat standing with two little bright, shiny white kids nursing! It wasn't a death, as I'd feared, but Life!

Blackberry was fine. I took off her jacket so the afternoon sun could continue to warm and dry her, then unloaded bags of supplies, and went to check on the weanlings. The clever girls discovered that I hand not quite closed a partition in the barn, and next I saw Blackberry and Jedlicka in the gated driveway, headed toward the pasture.

This time when I tried to get Blackberry back to the barn, she steadfastly refused to go. It's always preferable to their well-being that they're not stressed, so I took the cues from her. Since she really wanted to be back out there with her herd, I let them out and both girls ran down to rejoin them.

Blackberry's boy Toledo is one of the weanlings, and now all of her resources can be solely for her. For the first week I day-wean, allowing the pairs back together at night. This way they are not quite so frantic, and the moms' milk can begin slacken off. Then it's 24/7.

Since we have so many cria of similar color and size, I put bandannas on the weanlings for simpler sorting. The three girls who generally stayed near their moms have had less trouble adjusting than the two free-lance boys who are now whining and crying until distracted by food.

And Hopi the llama just observes all of this, not quite understanding what all of the activity is about or why her herd is in different sections now.

We are preparing to plant our spring garden. First of all, deer fencing is going up. Mike has designed a gate with an arbor above it, yet to be built. We're researching roto-tillers, trying to decide if we really need one, and if so, which brand and style? Laying out a bit more cardboard (from a neighbor's new stove), lasagna-gardening style; and marking pages in the Territorial Seed Catalog. This will be quite grand in size, since I've only gardened in a small backyard plot until now.

Lastly, we have finally installed the walls on the back of Galileo's shed, and painted on the primer coat before the weekend rains. He seems quite pleased with it! A sliding door is next, so we can store hay and supplies for him there instead of bringing feed up from the boys' barn each evening.

Slowly, our plans continue to take shape!

Much like a website, a farm is never 'done.'

"Green" Alpacas

2010-01-23T18:04:00.000-08:00

The fifth annual Eugene Good Earth Home, Garden & Living Show has a few new stars this year: Alpacas! What better place to showcase how connected these unique livestock are to sustainable living?

Aragon Alpacas has joined with a few other local alpaca farms to form the Alpaca Breeders Connection, (ABC) and this Show is our first group outing. The response from the organizers, Berg Productions, was immediate enthusiasm. As we set up our booth and the pen for guest alpacas, other vendors came to greet us. And the public flocked to our booth non-stop, full of wonder and questions, and eager to purchase alpaca products.

Our goal is to introduce folks to the entire process of raising alpacas, harvesting and using their fleece, and creating warm, wearable art and useable objects.

Each day, two alpaca ambassadors fresh from our pastures braved the crowds of curious people. Baskets full of fleece elicited many Ooohs and Aaahs when touched. Folks gathered to see yarn being spun on a spinning wheel — an old-fashioned machine that you don't plug in!

Hand-knit or crocheted accessories, commercially made sweaters and coats, socks and gloves — all lined our booth. And there are so many earth-friendly things you can use this "wonder fleece" for:

line hanging baskets to keep in the soil and moisture
embed seeds in a roll of the fleece for planting
stuff a pillowcase for a cozy pet bed
put a bit in your shoes for warmth and comfort
felt it around a bar of soap for a gentle scrub
endless felting possibilities: hat, purse, rugs, chair seats, placemats, 3-dimensional designs
and of course knitting, crocheting, weaving...

Even beyond fleece, there is the final product: "alpaca gold". Since alpacas are ruminants, their manure does not have to be composted before applying to plants. Vegetables, flowers, fruit trees, vineyards — all will benefit from direct application or manure tea. We even spread it in our hay field, completing the circle of life.

We often state that alpacas come in 22 natural colors,

but all of them are "Green."

Next Saturday, January 30th, the ABC Farms (map!) will host Open Farm Day from 10-4:00. Seeing alpacas in a show setting is one thing, but seeing them in their home pastures, grazing and resting and playing, is much more fun, for both the alpacas and the people!

Thank you to all who visited us at the Eugene Home Show! We love what we do, and we love sharing that with you!

(And if you are reading this and you are nowhere near Eugene, Oregon, I invite you to find an alpaca farm near you and go for a visit. That's what we did five years ago...)

Happy New Year!

2010-01-02T15:06:00.000-08:00

In this New Year, we have a new addition to our herd: Hopi is a stately llama lady who formerly lived with horses. Her llama companion was killed by a cougar last year, and she mourned him, so her caring owner wanted to place her with other camelids.

Overwhelmed by all of the curious alpacas for the first few days, Hopi has made a good adjustment to life among them in less than a week. Surely they must seem like munchkins to her! Most of our adult females have lived with a llama in the herd before, at their other farms.

Now Hopi lopes and frolics with the dams and cria down to the big pasture each morning. She is a watcher, a sentinel guardian. And she gives us llama kisses.

Once again we prepare for the onset of the Winter season at Aragon Alpacas. The indoor barn areas are fluffed with bedding of the generic "horse hay" we grow in our hayfields during the growing season, and a solid wall built from a couple of tons of bales stands against the Norwest-wall incursion of cold winds. It's actually great hay for horses, cattle, sheep, and other livestock, but the alpacas only seem to be interested in it when it's either growing in the field or they can pilfer it from somewhere they're not supposed to be. (Did I mention they can be a little on the mischievous side?)

A cold snap rolled through a few weeks ago, driving daytime temperatures into the "teens" for a week -- it was 7° on our front porch one morning! -- and the studio and barn water pipes froze solid. Each primary water bucket in the pens had a heater, but they had to be resupplied daily. We experienced firsthand the age-old Pioneer Method of dipping water by the rope-and-bucket from the underground reservoir, which was fortunately being refilled by the well pump. We insulated it last year when the well-head plumbing froze. We also lost the rechargeable Ni-Cad batteries from our cordless power tools to the cold.

Our "alpha" male herdsire, Peruvian E Galileo, has a new feature in his pasture - a small but heavily engineered and constructed pole barn to keep the rain and snow off his ears. He, of course, doesn't seem to care much, but we got worried about him when, last year, we could only see a flat field of snow with a "bunker" in it that got up and shook it off every once in a while. He actually didn't seem the least bit cold while doing his "day job" of managing All Things Alpaca, but it offended our sensibilities that he had no place to get out of the weather should he want to, not even a tree. So in addition to the new pole barn he has a new apple tree that will eventually diffuse any wind from entering from the lower pastures. We have yet to enclose the back side of his barn, which is the direction from which the wind-driven snow and rain arrive. We may only get to putting up bales of horse hay or a tarp wall this year.

Last year, the Beekeeper [shameless and unsolicited plug: Rowan Beetanical Apiary, Creswell, OR, 541-942-6479] who keeps hives at the other end of our ranch gave us some of the honey, with which we made Mead (honey wine). Not being real fans of sweet wines, we fermented it down to a standstill, and the initial tasting proved it was going to be great. At four months, it's still technically "too young" to be tasted, but it seems to be losing the dryness a bit as it ages into the bottle. Impatient, we toasted Thanksgiving and Christmas with sips of our "Druid's Nectar."

We just received a batch of this year's honey, which Jason says is a richer flavor than the first year, so when we get a breath we'll start the 2010 Mead. Most likely in the spring -- one of the hard parts of wine and beer-making here is keeping a room up to 70 degrees to keep fermentation going.

We also homebrewed two beers this year, a Porter that was quite good while it lasted, and a nearly-extinct "WWI Flying Ace pub" chewable brown ale called "Yorick Ale." We generally try to make a lighter beer for summer cooling off and a heavier winterbrau for winter settling in. We planted four varieties of hops last year which I hope are wintering over to be back in the spring: Willamette, Centennial, Goldings, and Mt. Hood. We know the Goldings didn't make it. The rest are all patent OSU clones.

Winter also brings the opportunity for more indoor activities. Even though there seems to be endless computer work to be done (basically we are still nerds, after all), delving into handcrafts is much more satisfying for us. Mike crafted a new niddy-noddy for Ann, and Ann is spinning more, and knitting and crocheting hats and scarves and such for sale in our farm store and at event booths. One client commissioned a dozen hats to be made of sari silk yarn combined with yarn from our herd, destined for a retreat group in Germany.

New Year's Day dawned with a rainbow of promise above the barn. May 2010 be happy and prosperous for us all!

Alpacas in Bethlehem

2009-12-23T10:08:00.000-08:00

Gryffin and Lincoln visited Bethlehem's manger in a local stable last week, participating in a living Nativity scene presented by the youth group of Grace Lutheran Church. The Christmas story of Jesus' birth was staged in the church parking lot in a 3-sided 'stable' with sturdy fence, good lighting and sound system. At first the yearling boys were overwhelmed by traffic noise, lights, and people, but then they settled down and nibbled the at the straw bales. Sheep and donkeys were unable to come this year, so alpacas represented the animal kingdom at the humble birth.

Early in December, Eugene experienced a week of below-freezing temperatures. The great challenge was to make sure water buckets remained liquid, so we invested in some floating warmers. Another technique is to mount a light just above a large bucket so that the air flow continues to move due to the heat of the bulb. But that method did not work well in 7° weather! Pipes to the barn and in the studio froze, but nothing burst. (View to the barn through the frosted sliding door.)

Freezing temps made cleaning up simpler since the 'beans' remained solid. And I listened to several audio books to distract me while raking the barn pens each day, all bundled up in hat, gloves and thermal boots. All 13 cria snuggled up next to their mamas and did well, even though a couple of them are only a few months old. I jacketed two of the older dams whose fleece is shorter than the younger ones. I am not sure they appreciated it, but it made me feel better!

There was no precipitation during this frigid weather, and I am healthy, so the cold did not bother me. In fact, it was preferable to working out in the 105° weather of August!

The pacas have a natural rhythm to their day -- the girls and cria all return from grazing in the big field about the same time every afternoon. Yesterday a movement caught my eye, and I glanced out the window to see the young ones running in circles and racing back to the pasture up again. Such delightful dancing, even the teenage girls joined in, and a couple of the moms, too. Maybe they were celebrating solstice and the return to lengthening daylight hours!

I wasn't able to capture that cavorting on film, but here are a few of the cria playing in the leaves.

Thankfulness

2009-11-16T18:42:00.000-08:00

For so many things on our farm, I am thankful...
That all 13 of our crias this year were born healthy, and that they continue to grow and flourish. Seven boys and six girls:

Trinity, Valrhona, and Roark (girl/girl/boy, aka, the Triple Fudge Brownies)
Cadence, a maroon and white female (gig 'em, Aggies!), from Autumn Sun
Toledo, fawn boy with a black nose, born to our spunky old dam, Blackberry
Celeste, our only Galileo daughter, out of our first alpaca, Flora
Ramiro, a red-brown boy from Sonnet ~ named for a king of Aragon
Latakia, a brown boy (pictured) from Murphy Brown and Galileo ~ name of a spicy tobacco
Juliaca, a light fawn girl from Nutmeg ~ a city in Peru
Rigel, brightest star in constellation Orion, his sire, and mom Solstice Summer
Sarek, from Sheba and Galileo; named for Mr Spock's Vulcan father
Tecumseh, meaning 'shooting star' because he has one on his forehead; from Amazing Grace and Orion
Mariquita, 'ladybug' is a red-brown girl with white face, from Black Lace and Orion.

I am thankful for clients who entrusted the care of their alpacas to us, adding new dimensions to our herd. Some have now gone to live at their newly prepared farm in Texas. And 4 of our boys are delighting a young family near the coast with their charm and antics.

I am thankful for the bounty of our land:

tons of hay our field produced
68 volunteer pumpkins in the plot we are readying for the garden
the first pear from our little tree
gallons of plums we harvested for cooking and eating and wine
blueberries ~more than last year, not enough for a pie yet
wild blackberries offering juicy treats and possibilities
honey from Jason's hives, and the tasty mead we brewed

I am thankful for friends and neighbors...

with their unique sets of ideas and enthusiasm, challenges, frustrations and laughter
sharing their friends, expanding our circles of connection
celebrating birthdays and holidays, achievements and surprises
visiting us on their travels, bringing news and reminders of other days
helping when extra hands are needed.

I am thankful for our families...

grandchildren that delight in visiting
a house for nesting Jennifer and family
extraordinary experiences and connections for Paul at Ephemerisle, and for Erica rebuilding homes in New Orleans with her Americorps team
cousins who stay in touch across the miles and years.

I am grateful to our country's service men and women who give so much more than has ever been asked of me.

I am thankful for the grandeur and bounty of this place on earth and for the privilege of caring for it. I am ever-grateful to my dearest Mike who has consciously postponed his dream for a time to support mine. I am thankful for our continued health and well-being and mindful creativity, the very spark of life.

For all of these things and more, I offer humble thanks.

Roark ~ Valrhona ~ Cadence

Mariquita & Tecumseh ~ Juliaca ~ Sarek

Celeste ~ Toledo ~ turkey basket of yarn

Triple Fudge Brownies

2009-06-22T18:53:00.000-07:00

Cria #3 (of the June set) arrived last Thursday morning, another flawless birth in the field by Windancer on day 354 of gestation (first photo at 5 minutes old). And another dark brown cria with black points, this time a male.

Galileo is the sire, and this was obviously a great pairing!

Windancer was very patient as the other dams and yearling girls in the pasture came over to greet her baby.

This boy's fleece is curlier than I've ever seen on a newborn, even though Mike claims "you always say that!" We are still contemplating his name: Galileo's _________. Perhaps something astronomical and suitable to the human namesake. Herdsire Galileo already has sons named Aries, Cassini, and Callisto (moon of Jupiter that the astronomer discovered). Since we have other Galileo cria due in the fall, perhaps a theme of names from Star Trek...

Galileo's son with Aunt Summer and cousin Gitana.

Now there is a trio of dark chocolate brown babies dashing through the fields, and usually I can only tell which one is which by the mom it's next to. Perhaps I could get colorful ribbons to pair the sets: green, yellow, and purple. ~ Just kidding, I would never put a nametag on such young, adventuresome animals...

Rockford half-sisters and their moms

Dependable Moms

2009-06-12T17:37:00.000-07:00

Killdeer, the Sequel
As predicted, the killdeer parents took turn sitting on their eggs and protecting the nest. Whenever I ventured through the gate to check on any progress, the resident one would go to another area, feigning lameness to draw me away. I'd quickly snap a photo and exit.

On Day 24, I noticed both adult birds present in the dirt. Thinking this signaled hatching, I checked the next day and was completely surprised to find no evidence of birds at all -- no discarded shells or feathers or poop or any other traces of their almost month-long habitation of the dip in the dirt that had been their home.

The dams were quite happy to have that pasture again, only now the grass was so tall that Mike had to mow it. Pacas are particular and will not graze tall grasses, preferring shorter, more tender (sweeter!) shoots.

Cria Watch
After waiting almost a year, due dates for three of our dams were this week: two due June 9th, and one on June 11th. They are all experienced moms, and as the days drew nearer, I kept the herd close to the house so I could observe through the windows. Cria are generally born between 10 a.m. and 2 p.m., so they will be up and running away from predators by evening.

There are definite physiological signs to watch for, such as a softening and stretching of the tendons beneath the tail, frequent visitations to the poop pile in response to the internal pressures, and perhaps laying on one side or the other, to get comfortable as the cria repositions itself.

Once I saw Disa head back up towards the barn, where her daughter was born last year -- sometimes they return to the same place for birthing. But no, she was simply grazing along the driveway. She moved to different areas frequently throughout the morning, and was humming a lot. The next time I glanced out the window, I noticed another dam peering intently towards a tree. There in its shade was Disa, and a baby on the ground. None of the other alpacas had noticed yet, so it had just happened.

I grabbed a notepad and my iPhone, and ran to the barn for my 'cria kit' and towels. The cria was already sitting sternal (upright), and Disa had delivered the placenta. Flawless alpaca births are essentially bloodless. The baby was wet and easily chilled on the overcast day, and laying in the dirt, so I scooped it up with a towel and carried it to a flatter area in the grass. A girl! Very dark brown, graduating to black on feet, ears and nose.

Once I was sure that mom and baby were safe, I dialed Mike to let him know, sent him a photo to show around the office. And called neighbor Elissa to come see.

There is a post-birth checklist to step through, so the notetaking began: time of birth, first standing, first nursing, dip the umbilical cord, etc. All of this while sitting on your hands as much as possible and observing from a distance, to allow bonding. Disa did good: got pregnant on the first breeding, and her delivery was "textbook" quick and clean.

This was Disa's third pregnancy and third daughter, all by the same gray champion herdsire, Aussie Rockford. Hence, we're considering the name "Trinity." She is of solid coloring, whereas her two older sisters are light/medium rose gray, with unique markings. [photo: Ladyhawke greets her little sister.]

Night temperatures are in the low 50s, and since crias do not regulate their body temp well the first week, I put a jacket on our new little girl. It's a toddler-size flannel one that I got at a thrift store and cut off the sleeves, buttoning along her back. She only needed it for the first couple of nights.

One Down, Two to Go
Windancer is a small-framed dam and it looks like she swallowed a watermelon. However, it was Fabia that birthed next, in 15 minutes from start to finish. Like Disa, she's a push-button dam: one breeding, quick delivery, and she knows what to do. This time Fabia was in the field (with Disa, her baby, and Windancer) -- they are so much happier there than being confined, stressed and nervous, in a pen away from their herd. I was watching through binoculars as she paused in her grazing and began pushing. Fabia lay down a couple of times, readjusting.

By the time I got out there with cria kit, towels, etc, the baby was on the ground, cushed (sitting upright). Only when she rolled to her side to stretch did I discover that we had another girl (!), and almost the identical color of Disa's cria. Again, the papa is Rockford, and Fabia is also gray, but their daughter (the 5th pairing of these two) is dark brown with black points. Wow, half-sisters and so very similar!

I took a lawn chair, clipboard with checklist, a knitting project and audio book out to the edge of the field to observe. This little girl is strong, too.

Thankfully we've had overcast days, so the sun has not been too hot for these dark little ones. I try to shoo them into the shade so they don't overheat, but the moms often have different ideas. Here, gray Fabia is checking on her daughter, with Disa (sitting) and her cria in the background; Windancer looks on just behind Fabia's head.

Name choices will be announced as soon as Windancer's cria births. She doesn't appear to be in any rush!

The photo of the "sun goddesses" was snapped the previous week. Pacas love to soak up rays, belly-side to sun. They can lay very still for many minutes, even the blackest alpaca on the hottest day.

Killdeer was here...*

2009-05-20T21:04:00.000-07:00

They are still here, in fact.
*Poetic license taken for the grammatical lapse.

In the pasture behind the house, I noticed a few of the alpacas peering at something in the former burn pile. I got the binoculars and saw it was a bird flapping on the ground. Quickly, I moved the dams into the adjacent pasture and closed the gate, then went over to investigate. I found a ring of rocks with an egg in it. After about 15 minutes, the bird returned.

Before letting the girls into that pasture the next day, I checked again, and there were 2 eggs. Guess they hadn't scared the bird off after all. A couple of days later, there were 4 eggs. I placed a rusted coil nearby so I could sight it more easily from the porch.

By the brown and white striped markings, I identified the birds as Killdeer and researched them online. But I could not find any information on how long they incubate the eggs before hatching. So I emailed the president of a local birding group (an ornithology instructor at the University of Oregon) with my main question: How much time am I investing in keeping my herd out of this sizable pasture?

His response was quite informative:

Killdeer almost invariably lay 4 eggs and usually 1 egg per day. Two-day laying intervals are very rare, as are 5 eggs, so you can safely assume that the complete clutch was laid over a four-day period. Once the final egg is laid, the adults will begin incubating so that the eggs will all develop at the same rate and hatch on the same day, frequently in the same hour.

The incubation period is somewhat variable and is affected by the outside temperatures. Right now we are not having any extreme weather so I would expect a normal incubation period of 22-28 days. Longer incubation periods have been reported but are rare.

If you saw one egg 2 weeks ago (14 days?), then the birds have likely been incubating for ~10 days which means that they have another 10-18 days before hatching. Both parents will share incubation duties and assist the young after they have hatched.

So this Friday (May 22) will mark 22 days of incubation, and hopefully hatching. I am not clear how long they will be nestlings, but since they are "precocial" they will be able to see and walk immediately. There's even a YouTube video of a similar nest.

The alpacas look across the fence at the parent birds, no doubt wondering why they are kept out of the pasture with all of the tasty grass. I put our herdsire Galileo in there for the day a few times and he grazes without bothering the nest. The girls would be rolling in the adjacent dirt, but he doesn't do that.

At our neighbor's pond on the other side of the fence, there are 2 sets of Canada geese goslings. One group of 7 evidently hatched in our pasture (I never found the nest) and, with their parents, spent their first day marching up and down the fenceline, looking for a way to get to the water. Even though the adults could easily fly to it, they remained grounded with their fuzzy offspring.

We opened the gate to the hayfield for them, and they toddled over to a gap in the fence and made their way to the pond. Both parents care for the young until they can fly.

All of these feathered babies are a prelude to 3 cria due in early June. Windancer, Disa and Fabia look especially large after shearing. I feed them rice bran pellets (for calories) along with their regular daily mineral pellets, so they will not be too drained of resources this last month, and to give them a good start towards lactation.

Our stately gray Fabia is 15 years old, and this will be her 10th cria (her first for us). She is strong and healthy, and births easily. This photo was taken a few days before shearing.

The 3 most pregnant dams were 6 wks away from delivery, and I chose to shear them. It's is a judgment call whether the stress of shearing might cause premature delivery, or the stress of over-heating if they are not shorn and the weather turns hot. I gave these three dams Rescue Remedy to calm them, and they were sheared first and quickly. They exhibited no problems; I was glad I made that choice.

A final sign of spring is that the bee hives have arrived. They are placed at the far end of the hayfield, across a seasonal stream. What a surprise to see the patchwork of colors this year! The beekeeper tells me that bees forage for nectar up to 3 miles, so they enjoy the fruit trees, willows and garden plants in this rural area. And we have a gallon of honey from last year's harvest, and a recipe for mead!

Arts & Crafts

2009-03-15T21:48:00.000-07:00

Combing the arts of design, supplies acquisition, construction and painting, we have completed our sign! Along the bottom we will hang notices like Open Farm Today 10-4, Yarn & Roving, etc. -- as soon as I make them. When granddaughters are here next week, we will plant a flowerbed beneath it.

People enjoy this road as a lovely "back-door" drive into Eugene, and the sign will capture the curiosity of passers-by for Open Ranch Days. We love visitors!

Very Local Painters
As Mike and I unloaded the van recently, we noticed a car driving slowly past, and a few minutes later, it returned up the hill. The car stopped across the end of the driveway and the passenger jumped out, rushing to introduce herself as a neighbor from a nearby street. She and her friend were in search of a place to set up their easels and paint boxes, to watercolor landscapes before daylight eluded them. We made our introductions and invited them to look around for a vista that would work.

Cathy and Victoria are members of Plein Air Painters of Eugene, and they go out each week, rain or shine, to paint outdoor scenes. Enjoying their enthusiasm and expertise, I invited them to come again, and they connected me with their fearless leader, Brooks. Now Aragon Alpacas is on the painters' April calendar, and we look forward to hosting the group, rain or shine.

Spinners' Camp
Mike gifted me with my first trip away from the farm since the alpacas began to arrive last March by taking over my chores while I attended a 4-day spinners' retreat at the Silver Falls Conference Center. The EWES (Eugene Wednesday Evening Spinners) get away for a long weekend every spring and fall. This time, 16 clever, bright, creative, energetic women shared their expertise and joy as we spun, knitted, crocheted, and laughed our way through the days, pausing only to eat and sleep.

Besides me, the EWES welcomed two other newcomers to the retreat, one a knitter, the other a crocheter. We stayed in threesome cabins, and geek-knitter Andrea bunked with Elissa and me.

No longer can I shyly claim to be a beginning spinner, although as with everything else, there is always more to learn. I came home with a greater appreciation for fiber arts and a heightened self-confidence in my spinning abilities.

I learned to ply my early spinning attempts into chunky yarn. With practice, and from watching others, I can spin more delicately. Now to complete some other projects on the needles so I can knit something from my beginner yarn. Much like the first pot that comes out of the kiln in pottery, this first yarn attempt will be memorable for its own lessons and reasons.

I have signed up for the 'wheel mechanics' class at Black Sheep to learn which knob to turn when, and how to alter the functions of my double-drive Ashford Traveller wheel. Hopefully the four births due mid-June will be accommodating so I can attend this session!

The Art of Weaning
While dancing with the rain these spring days, I am weaning cria: day weaning for a week, and then 24/7. Troubadour and Jedlicka are looking especially damp, although beneath all of that alpaca fleece is a very dry animal.

Mike is drafting plans for another shelter, to increase the use of our pens. Then we can house the kindergarten class of weanling boys in the male area.

Brew-crafting
Oh, and we've purchased four hop rhizomes as starter vines. In home-brewing, hops are one of the most expensive ingredients. By growing our own, we'll not only have enough for the recipes, but also for making into fragrant wreaths and arrangements.

Our beekeeper brought by a bucket of honey and recipes for mead, so that's on our agenda, too!

(our little cabin in the woods at Silver Falls' Retreat)

Crazy Feet!

2009-02-08T09:39:00.000-08:00

For an hour or so each afternoon, I have been letting the dams and crias (25 total) out into the hayfield. As soon as they see me heading toward the gate, they run ahead in anticipation. That's Sable, practically attached to my shoulder.

The young alpacas especially love to romp on the 10 acres, and sometimes the dams join in the pronking (boing... boing... boing, as if they're spring-loaded). Then they break into a full-out run, and sometimes do a side-kick that Mike fondly calls "crazy feet."

The hay field remains a perplexity to us. If we plant orchard grass (alpaca's hay of choice), at the most nutritious time in its growth cycle for mowing, the weather is too wet to cut it. And if we leave it to grow until the weather is dry enough, the plants flower and go to seed, draining the leaves of nutrition. So last year we planted horse blend (timothy, rye, orchard grass and one other), and it was indeed harvested when most of the grass and seed heads were dry.

Most of the 420 bales we sold -- folks just came and loaded up their trucks right in the field. We used some of them as a boundary for our garden, and I have built up layers of compost within it over the fall and winter months. (We can even hollow out places to plant trailing vegetables atop the bales.) And some bales we stacked in the barn as wind-breaks in stalls, and to be used as bedding on the concrete floor. A few of the alpacas choose to munch on it for diversion, but it offers very little food value for them. Granola, I call it, because it is just a crunchy snack.

Weights and Measures
I started the year by getting a weight on each alpaca. Most do not mind being haltered and led to the scale, and some stand there more calmly than others. A few need patient coaxing, and two refused to budge, so I had to enlist help from a friend. Fabia is the most reluctant to be 'processed' for anything she considers unnecessary. But she also loves her carrots, so she was easily lead, unhaltered, to the scale and stood quite happily while munching on the dish of sliced carrots I held in front of her. I woulnd't mind if they all did it that way!

I do not spit-test the girls in winter months, because I would not breed them if they became open. We will test them again at end of March, hoping all pregnancies have held. The first four births are due in mid- to late June. Most of the other dams are due in Sept and October.

Since the winter sun is at such a low angle, we give Vitamin D paste to the crias bi-weekly. At end of day, while the adults are enjoying their pellets, the crias come into the creep feeder to eat unchallenged, so it is simple and safe to catch them there and give them a dose of 'orange sauce.'

Even though there are not as many chores to do for herd maintenance during the winter, the season brings on many more farm tasks. Mostly due to the weather and the latitude. In mid-December, I began afternoon regathering from the day pastures and feeding at 3;30 in order to be done by dark.

Once we passed Winter Solstice, the days began noticeably lengthening. Reading the Farmer's Almanac, I discovered that as days lengthen again, daylight extends about four times faster at the end of the day than at the beginning -- a fact of Nature I never realized when holding an office job!

Frost is Our Friend
The frost is often quite beautiful, caught cobweb-like in fuzzy ears or outlining leaves and grass blades. Mud and ice offer their own challenges. When the ground is so wet, the riding mower with trailer is unusable for poop scooping so we reverted to pushing wheelbarrow. A 4-wheel drive 'gator would be handy, but we haven't made that investment yet. And so far, we do not feel the need to get a tractor.

We put straw down on the pathways so they are less slippery. I did land on my tush one time and had to carefully sit sideways for a few weeks until the tail bone bruise healed. But we also discovered that frost is our friend. After driving a load of wood down to the workshop, the van kept spinning on the way back up the driveway. Early the next morning, the ground had frozen and Mike was able to drive it up just fine. I used the same technique to move the mower with trailer around for the next few mornings, and once again could take the load down to fertilize the hayfield.

Winter sets in

2009-01-24T16:34:00.000-08:00

Strange winter happening outside. It hit pretty hard in December, was quite the adventure driving to work on ice - spent a couple hours on a blocked freeway one morning when I was supposed to get to work early to install some new software. After a week or two of this stuff, it warmed up (to freezing) and it's held there at night ever since. Days are a balmy 40-45, though. Crisp but not really cold.

Had a good Christmas on the farm, fairly quiet but we're not really removed from family here, just at the other end of the wireless.

The WinterBrau - a nice quiet reflective Organic Brown Ale - I made in November (dubbed it Amber Waves because we bottled it on Veteran's Day) sat in our Alpaca Store, where the heaters have been off all winter. As a result, it must've thought it was a Lager and never quite carbonated in the bottle. But it isn't bad, and I discovered that bringing it in the house for a week or two before opening one helps.

How to boil the wort in a deep-fat turkey fryer.

Then my lady surprised me by smuggling my daughter into the state for a visit. It was a Great Christmas present. We went up to Oakridge where I was born and played in the remaining snow one day. My family will recognize this picture as the selfsame spot we all learned to swim as kids, and yes, you're right - that water never does warm up. But it is beautiful up there.

Meanwhile, the alpacas don't seem to notice that it's cold out. They do prefer their water LIQUID though, so Ann's been hauling buckets of boiled water all over the farm to melt the ice in their waterbuckets. We should have some better solution ironed out by next winter...

Dawn meets Dusk

2008-10-05T19:25:00.000-07:00

The last cria born to our herd this year arrived on Monday, September 29, and thankfully it was a simple, quick birth.

Murphy Brown is generally the first to greet me in the mornings, and very interactive with me when I'm in the pens. About three weeks ago during evening chores, I noticed her sitting very still, then sometimes rolling as if uncomfortable. I thought perhaps the baby was shifting and pressing on a nerve, and consulted our vet for his advice. Since Dr Pat was in our area the next day, he stopped to check her.

From my description, he suspected a uterine torsion (twist), but Murphy's heart rate and temperature were normal, which is generally not the case if there is a torsion. They are more common when the fetus us large, and if anything, Murphy looked small for her 10+ months of pregnancy. But when he did a manual check, there was a definite rotation of the ligaments supporting the cervix.

Torsions are rare, and most are "right-twist." Only one in 20 twist to the left, and that was Murphy's case. He could reverse it with external manipulation, but it would take three people, so I called our neighbor Elissa to come and help.

Once Murphy was mildly sedated, we got her to cush and rolled her on her left side. Dr Pat held and pushed on her uterus as Elissa turned her hind quarters and I rotated her neck and front legs. We returned Murphy to cush (upright) position and rolled her in the same manner one more time. Upon another manual check, Dr Pat declared her returned to normal positioning.

I kept a close eye on Murphy for the next few days, and she was once more her curious, interactive self. She's a tall, elegant dam, but needed some extra weight in the last few weeks of pregnancy, so she eagerly anticipated her morning bowl of pellets, rice bran and a handful of alfalfa for added calories.

Last Monday morning, I did not immediately see Murph's engaging face, so I went looking for her. She was one of the last to emerge from the barn, and when she turned, I saw that she had begun birthing. The cria's head and two legs were out, though still encased in the unbroken sac. I nicked it to release the water, then edged Murphy into a clean pen, and the other curious looky-lou's out.

Keeping a watchful eye on her, I gathered towels, the cria kit, a note pad and pen, and my camera. Within 15 minutes the baby was on the ground, a healthy, normal boy. There is little fluid and no blood with a normal birth, but the morning air was cool, so I towelled him lightly and stepped away.

I was thrilled to see that the cria was black, for this is the first offspring of our vicuña-colored herdsire, Canzelle's Orion. He is bred to two other black dams, and soon to a gray one. Orion's sire is medium silver gray Patagonia's Quijote, so we are hoping that Orion will also produce gray.

This is Murphy's second cria, and she is an attentive mom. Elissa and visiting friend Una came over to see him. We kept our distance to allow mom and baby to bond, while I took notes of when he sat sternal, tried to stand, tried to nurse, etc. Although he seemed small to me, he weighed 15.7 lbs that afternoon. By Friday, he had already gained two lbs.

Murphy still gets her morning bowl of calories, to increase her weight during lactation. On a scale of 1-5, she is a 2.

We have named him Navarre, the black-clad captain in the tale of Ladyhawke who cared for her each dawn, then turned into a wolf at dusk as Isabeau reclaimed her human form. Since Ladyhawke was the first cria born to us this year, it seemed fitting that the last one is black Navarre.

Ladyhawke greeting Orion's Navarre

Herd Alert - One Male's Perspective

2008-09-15T08:26:00.000-07:00

On one of our first visits to an alpaca farm, we were standing in the pasture with the dams when they heard a coyote. The high-pitched, staccato alarm echoed through the group, all turning with necks and ears upright to face the direction of the danger. Immediately, the sentinel llama ran in the direction of the unseen marauder while the dams all ran in the opposite direction, circled up with the cria protected in the center, much like a wagon train under attack.

Alpacas make few sounds, and a 'herd alert' is generally used only for imminent danger. But some alpacas are more 'alert-y' than others. When we took our dog to a ranch that I had visited many times and kept her at a distance, Promise sounded the alert while the others quietly maintained a 'watch and wait' attitude. But as prey animals, it's always good to be cautious.

On a few occasions the distress signal has awakened us in the middle of the night. We jump up, pitch on jeans, jackets and shoes, grab the flashlights stationed by the door and head out to determine the cause. (We do not have livestock guardian dogs.) So far, we have only spotted the reflective eyes of deer meandering through our hay field on the way to the adjacent property. Before cross-fencing and critters moved in, this used to be their territory, too.

Last week during evening chores, as I exited Galileo's pen he sounded 'herd alert.' I looked all around and could spy no approaching danger. None of the other animals were on alert status, either by posture or sound. But Galileo was insistent and continued the shrill alarm.

Mike and I both looked all around and in the direction Galileo was facing. Finally we determined that the 'danger' he perceived was that the five yearling males in the pen next to the females, grazing along the same fenceline. As King of the Mountain, Galileo interpreted that as a strategic threat to his girls.

Shaking a dish of pellets, we enticed the boys back to their shed and closed them off from the neighboring pen. That was resolution enough for Galileo. He settled down and soon everyone went back to grazing.

All the while, our other herdsire, Orion, stood erect in his pen with his back to the drama, as if to say "I am not a part of the problem, I am not challenging you." These intelligent animals have a specialized system of body language that we continue to learn.

In the wild of the Andes, a macho herdsire stands atop a hillock and surveys his herd. Galileo is definitely in his prime and behaving exactly as he should. It's the silly humans that created this frenzy with our lack of understanding. If it weren't for the enforcement of fences, Galileo would have chased the boys away himself. So it was our job to rectify the disorder we'd created and return calmness to the herd.

This herd alert was not quite the heart-pounding rush of a 2:00 a.m drill by search-light, but very solvable once we paid attention. The alpacas listen and watch; as their shepherds, we must listen and watch them.

Moments later, a relaxed Galileo was eating his pellets out of my hand, satisfied that 'his girls' were safe.

Playing Barn

2008-09-13T15:12:00.000-07:00

As a kid, I used to enjoy "playing house" — going to the store on my tricycle, cooking Tinkertoys for dinner, bathing the teddy bears and putting them to bed. So once when Mike came to find me puttering about in the barn, he innocently asked, "Whatcha doin' ?"

I paused for a moment, then replied with a smile, "Playing barn."

It seems such an apt term for the hum of delight that I feel at being able to work in this structure that is 108 years old (give or take a few), setting up my supplies, arranging the halters on a wrack that I built, watching the alpacas watch me as I move about their quarters. Like a giant jigsaw puzzle, every part of what I do is somehow connected to another part: raking poop, fluffing hay, weighing crias, halter-training, spit-testing. And on I hum...

Whenever our granddaughters visit, they join right in the circle. The girls quickly learned 'gate ettiquette,' moving aside so the animals will proceed through without feeling threatened; and always closing a gate behind you. We haltered the yearlings and took them for a walk to a different pasture. And fed the big boys carrot treats. Alpacas and children seem to have a natural affinity. Perhaps its the playfulness and curiosity of both that makes them easy companions.

During their week here, Gwen was often out with the dams, just watching them, talking to the crias, or filling a water bucket. She went to horse camp this summer, and taught me a new knot. Sheba is on a 30-day penicillin regimen, and now I use the daisy knot when tying her to a fence post each morning for her shot.

Annika discovered that if she gets down close to the ground, a curious cria will come near to check her out.

We also went to the Creswell Farmer's Market where our friend Elissa was spinning and selling some of her sheeps' fleece. For dinner that night we feasted on dusky brown 'Black Prince' heritage tomatoes and herbed goat cheese, and lots of crookneck squash with onions.

During these Indian summer days, I've been revisiting my garden plot, adding more lasagna layers to it so the decomposition will make it ready for planting next spring. Even throw-away fleece (too short/ dirty/ coarse) becomes a layer in the garden. The rest of the fleece has been sorted into projects: some destined for yarn from the mini-mill, some for felting into pet beds, some for the Alpaca Blanket Project with Pendleton, and some for my own hand-crafting and spinning. So many ideas, so little time!

Other family hand-crafting includes homebrewing beer. In April, Matt and Mike brewed an India pale ale and a Scotch red ale. This trip, Gwen assisted in the counter-top labeling process. (typing paper labels floated on a saucer of milk and placed on the bottle, excess blotted off)

Downs and Ups of Animal Husbandry

2008-08-20T08:57:00.000-07:00

As of the last posting, we were excited about the duo alpaca births, and still anticipating two more. We worked outside all day on Saturday and kept a close eye on Flora (slightly overdue). Didn't observe anything unusual or any pre-labor activity like straining at the poop pile.

On Saturday night, she was very quiet. In fact, she remained cushed in one place the entire night, for I went out and checked on her several times, and again at dawn. Just before 8:00 she started laboring, but something was not right. It was a brownish placenta she was delivering, not a cria.

We called alpaca friends, and the vet. Front feet were presenting along with a turned neck instead of the head. It took four of us to support Flora while Dr Pete delivered a stillborn female cria. She had likely only been dead for a day. Perhaps the umbilical chord had broken in the repositioning for birth. I had not seen Flora's water break, a sign of impending birth. We chose not to do a necropsy.

Dr Pete tended to Flora, verifying that her uterine lining had not been torn, that the vessels were pulsing normally, and flushing her with mild antibiotics. We gave her some homeopathy to assist with healing, and later, with grief. She grazed near her cria for awhile, saying her good-byes before returning to the barn with her herdmates.

Since Flora's milk was not stimulated by nursing, it did not come in. One teat swelled a bit over the next few days, but there was no milk to express. On the doctor's advice, we are cutting back on her pellets for a week, putting carrots in her bowl for something to chew on while the others eat their pellets in the neighboring pen.

The temporary reduction in calories will assist drying her milk, as well as call on some of her reserves. Flora tends to be a full-figured girl, so this will help to get her back in balance. Before breeding again in late September, the vet will check to make certain there is no infection.

One day when the dams and crias were in the pasture next to the farm office, I noticed several of the crias sitting near Flora, as if comforting her. Alas, I did not have my camera handy, so the picture is only captured in my mind.

On the following Tuesday morning, I went out early to check Black Lace — the last of our dams due in August. She was cushed and birthing her cria, and from the slight dryness of its ears, I knew she had been laboring for a bit. I gloved up and went in to check the position. The cria's knees were bent, so Lace needed help. I was confident enough to identify the problem, but not to adjust the dystocia myself. My job was to Not Panic. Immediately I called Dr Pete and he came and delivered a healthy male, 19.1 lbs.

As with Flora, we will do a pre-breeding check to make certain there is no infection. This is advisable anytime human intervention is necessary to go in to deliver a cria.

Mike had to leave for work that morning. Since it was only Week 2 of a new job, he did not have the luxury of calling in late. But he was able to stay long enough to see a healthy cria safely delivered before he had to dash away.

We have named Lace's boy Rudulfo's Troubadour, for he and his mom hum to each other more than most. Troubadour's were Spanish/Moorish in origin, and their songs often included themes of chivalry and romantic love. He has the confirmation and fleece possibilities of a quality herdsire, so the love songs should serve him well.

Even with the sad loss of Flora's cria, it's a relief to have the births complete. The last alpaca due this year is Murphy Brown in early October with Orion's first offspring. Lately, Murphy has really begun to 'show' and she is eating more.

When Dr Pat was here last week to do well-cria checks and regular herd health, he also ultra-sounded four other newly-bred dams. With three of them, I was able to see the tiny 45-day fetus moving; on the fourth, Sable's breeding date was later, so the view only gave us a 50/50 chance of viable pregnancy. But we spit-tested her the next day and she ran and kicked at the male rather than cushing for breeding. We will u/s her again in a month.

Next project: tomorrow I will take Sheba (accompanied by her 2-month cria, Jedlicka) to OSU to radiograph her jaw to determine the cause of a chronic infection. She is a good traveler and will cush in the van on our hour-long trip.

Troubadour, keeping Flora company

Not Quite Twins

2008-08-08T17:03:00.000-07:00

On Wednesday morning, two cria were born within 45 minutes of each other. And neither delivery was by Flora, the dam I've been watching so intently. Flora is the first of four alpacas due within a three-week period, so I was surprised to glance out the window and see Sonnet (last due of the four) in the midst of birth, out in the pasture.

I ran to the barn to get my birthing kit, some towels and a bucket of water. As I approached, I noticed the other alpacas further down the field, gathered around another cria! Sonnet was obviously still in process, so I rushed over to see a still-wet cria just attempting to sit upright.

All the aunties were sniffing and greeting it while Summer was anxiously humming to the little white-faced creature. With a towel, I scooped up the baby, checked the gender -- it's a girl! -- and carried her to a pen, Summer trailing at my elbow. I wanted them in a safe place and undisturbed while I went to see how Sonnet was doing.

Labor appeared to be at the same stage as when I first noticed her: head and one leg out, partial second leg. By checking the flex of the joints, I was certain they were both front legs (proper for delivery), rather than a front and back leg, which would have to be manipulated for birthing. Thank goodness! But Sonnet was up and down, laying on one side or the other, and the cria was mouth-breathing continuously. I phoned another alpaca owner to ask some questions, and Heather volunteered to come right over. (I so appreciate this about alpaca people!)

Sonnet's due date was August 18th, so this baby was a bit early (known as 'dis-mature'), teeth not yet erupted, but quite healthy at 17.6#s. Birthing was a little bit long (one elbow was caught on pelvic ledge, otherwise quite normal), so both baby and mom were tired, and it took the cria some time to gain her strength. Giving the baby a dollop of Karo, getting her out of the sun, giving Sonnet a pain relief med, all worked together toward successful nursing. Her sire is RH Bentley (DB), and we've named her Bentley's Carrera. Her coloring is identical to her beautiful mom.

While attending Sonnet, I could see that Summer's cria was up and nursing quite well. She had delivered right on her due date. This little girl has a white/silver face and feet, yet her silky fleece is a taupey-brown color, probably dark rose gray. She was 15.5#s, and sired by Spirit Song's Vivaldi (MSG), owned by Silver Sun Alpacas in Santa Ynez, CA.

Her name still eludes us. Since Vivaldi composed The Four Seasons, and Summer is the dam, it seems there would be a natural tie-in. Summer and her lively little pixie hum and sing to each other a lot, so something musical is appropriate.

Both crias are nursing well (always a relief!) and have gotten steady on those long legs. The older three amigos (Ladyhawke, Jedlicka, and Gryffin) are inspired to romp past the new little ones, showing off their dancing feet.

Now it's Flora and Black Lace's turn. All week, I've been reminding them: "nose 'n toes!"

The Sorting Hat

2008-07-06T22:12:00.000-07:00

Since Jedlicka had safely arrived, we had a break before being on 'cria watch' again for Nutmeg, due July 19. So last Monday, after errands, we unloaded groceries, checked email, etc, before I went out to check on Jedlicka.

To my great surprise, there was another cria in the pen!!

It was laying flat on its side, all dry and stretched out in the sun, and very still. For a few heartbeats I feared that it was not alive, but as I approached, little eyes opened and the head bobbed up. I scooped him up, shouted to our visiting nephew, Jacob, to go tell Mike we have another cria, and took him and his humming mom -- yes, it was a little male -- to a pasture with shade.

It was obvious the baby had already walked and even nursed, for he was strong and steady on his feet. We selected a few calm females and new cria Jedlicka and her mom, to be companions in the pen with Nutmeg and her surprise arrival. She clucked to him, and ate grass all around him as he sat cushed, resting. We dipped his dry naval in Novalsan, then got out of the way to let them bond.

The white swoosh on his forehead led to his name, but we searched along a few different paths for it:

Since he was born during Eugene's Olympic trials for track and field, something to do with Nike (originated in Eugene for Steve Prefontaine) seemed plausible.
The silhouette is the profile of a bird, so we combed through Oregon birding books for ideas.
Or was it reminiscent of Harry Potter's lightening mark?
We searched Spanish and Gaelic dictionaries, and a book on myths.

Finally, in the wine aisle of Trader Joe's, I came across the name 'Griffin' on a label and immediately liked it. I mentally tried it on him and it seemed to fit well. A 'griffin' is a mythological beast with head and wings of an eagle, body of a lion, and tail of dragon. Good, spunky name. And via the sorting hat, Harry Potter was placed in the House of Gryffindor at Hogwart's School of Wizardry. So Gryffin seemed a natural fit.

We'd misjudged Nutmeg's due date because she was receptive two weeks after the first breeding. Her cues to the male are not very assertive, and when she cushed again, we rebred her. Hence, the expected birth was calculated from the 2nd breeding. However, the first time must have taken, for Gryffin was right on time figuring from that date.

Gryffin is thriving, gaining a half a pound a day. He runs and plays with the other crias, a welcome kid-brother in the group. And he senses that Jacob is somehow like him, another kid in the family.

Jedlicka

2008-06-25T06:08:00.000-07:00

As the old rose bush by the picket fence bloomed with soft pink buds, I crossed my fingers that it was harbinger of another female cria. And it was! Yesterday Sheba gifted us with a champagne-colored daughter -- the first offspring of Cusco North's stunning white male, Rudulfo.

Sheba's pregnancy was at day 366. We had been watching her closely for weeks, but were not really concerned since she is a 'push-button dam' who has had several cria with no difficulties. Still, it was only our 2nd birth since we've had the alpacas in our care, and we didn't want to miss seeing this one. Life is so magical!

I am in and out of the pens and the barn most days, so the dams are accustomed to my random presence. And I talk to them by name as I move among them, just like I do with my dog and cats. Sheba was cushing, humming, up and down, and finally she was dilating. I returned to the house to get my neonatal book, my knitting and my camera, and let Mike know that birth was imminent. Positioning myself just out of Sheba's sight, within 10 minutes I called Mike's cell phone to let him know that a nose emerging. This was the first birth either of us had witnessed from the very beginning.

I also dialed another nearby alpaca breeder, just to make sure she was available in case we needed assistance. Over the next half hour, I called Sheri 3 more times: I don't see toes yet; the head is presented but feet are on top... she carefully stepped me through each phase so I would know what to expect, and how long the progress should take if all things were normal. Her knowledge at each step was a calm reassurance.

Sheba alternately stood and cushed, trying to adjust her discomfort. Curious Miss Nutmeg was overly attentive, so I escorted the 'helpers' out of the pen and they watched through the fence (birthing dam is circled in blue). Sheba was cushed during the final expulsion of head and front legs, and the baby lay half-delivered in a jumble on the grass. So with her next contraction, I assisted by pulling the hind feet free. The cria rolled over and I could see that we had a girl! I moved her away from the fence-line and exited quickly for bonding time.

With the 'Cria Checklist' on my clipboard, we observed and documented the time markers after birth: sitting in an upright cush position by 4 minutes, the umbilical cord doused with Novasan, cria standing at 10 minutes old, etc. And once she did stand, she remained on her feet for over half an hour. This is a strong little girl!

With a towel, I picked up the wet baby to move the little family to a flatter pasture, and on the way stopped in the barn to weigh her. Twenty pounds! Sheba is a big girl, and her pregnancy was on the long side, so we were thrilled with such a normal birth. Being able to observe the whole process was another good learning experience.

We purchased Sheba a few years ago from a ranch in Santa Ynez, CA. Before raising alpacas, Bonnie was a horse-owner, so in honor of this cria's 'roots' in Santa Barbara County and of Bonnie's love for horses, we've named her Rudulfo's Jedlicka, after a popular western-wear store in Santa Barbara and Los Olivos.

When we tucked Jedlicka in for her first night, I put on the flannel toddler jacket that had graced young Ladyhawke. Jedlicka is so big that she will need the next size soon. Pre-dawn is cool, and like all newborn mammals, temperature regulating and bodily systems and functions must adjust. I was glad to see her peeing this morning!

So, since there are no blue roses, does this mean we'll always have girls here?? At least our string of male births is being nicely offset by welcoming Ladyhawke and Jedlicka to our herd.

In Tribute: Today, June 25, marks my dad's birthday. Jud Holt was a large and small animal veterinarian in East Texas, and although he died several years ago, he would have loved the alpacas. I think of him often as we learn more about life on our farm and raising these unique animals.

the Alpaca Marketplace

2008-06-24T20:43:00.000-07:00

We've just completed our first 'show' -- a booth at the Emerald Valley Alpaca Association's annual Alpaca Marketplace. In a long list of 'firsts,' it's the first time we've had a booth of our own plus taken our own animals to a venue. Meeting people that stopped by was the most fun, talking about the animals, the possibilities and enjoyment of raising them, and using their amazing fleece. To some folks, alpacas were completely new animals to them. Others were well-acquainted and had dreamed of them for years.

We sold some fleece from the recent shearing, and some postcard of scenes from our farm. Mostly we invited people to join in on Open Farm Day this coming Saturday, to come see them on the farm in a more 'natural' habitat.

Dargan and Sulaymon went to the show, their first time off the farm. They were mellow and well-behaved. A show like this is 'boot camp' for them, where they learn to handle people coming up to them, and walking nicely on a lead. We'd take them out of the 8'x8' pen several times a day to walk around for exercise and diversion. In keeping with our Americana theme, they sported bandanas on their elegant necks. The bag of prime fleece from recent shearing and a 'Before' photo completed the setting.

Mike volunteered as a clerk in the Fleece Show. He held down the fort when I dashed home midday to let our dog out and to check on our dam Sheba, due 'any day now.' And I'd either make lunch or stop off for a burger to take back to him.

All in all, the show was a great experience for us. Now we look forward to greeting visitors on Open Farm Day on Saturday. Eight farms from the show are hosting this event, and it coincides with Eugene's Olympic Track and Field Trials, so there will be many visitors in our fair city. Lemonade, anyone??

Sheared!

2008-06-12T07:30:00.000-07:00

After booking the date in January, planning and prepping for days, our herd of 20 went from heavy winter coats to summer skivvies in just over three hours. It had rained lightly the night before, so first thing that morning, Mike and I haltered the boys and towel-blotted them as dry as we could. The girls had mostly slept inside the barn, so were much dryer.

Since we are still so new to handling our own animals, we invited a few other alpaca owners to come and help us. Our shearer, Allan Godsiff, shears while the alpaca is standing, rather than anchored down with restraints, so we knew it would take confident holding.

For a few of the younger ones, this was their first shearing. Some of the more experienced dams put up with the indignity with a smattering of reserve, while others let us know their displeasure by screeching, spitting and/or peeing. For the spitting, we had a sock ready to loosely put over the culprit's mouth, and rags to mop up when needed.

The two 'most pregnant' dams were given Rescue Remedy to help soothe their stress. Sheba is due 'any day now'... and shearing did not bring on labor. Nutmeg is due mid-July, and thankfully she has held her pregnancy fine. Some dams have been known to stress-abort a few days after shearing, so that is always a concern for late-term pregnancies. But overheating is also stressful, so we take off minimal fleece as a compromise, just to cool them. After giving birth, we will trim their legs.

Even 10-day-old Ladyhawke had all of her fuzzy blanket sheared. The ultra-fine baby fleece, called 'tui' fleece, is just like velcro for pasture debris, so getting it off makes for a much cleaner alpaca for a year.

Our shepherdess-neighbor Elissa was in charge of collecting the fleece as it came off. We sheared inside the barn, and the only place large enough to lay out the damp fleeces was upstairs. So she and her helpers collected it in batches of 'blanket' and 'seconds' (marked with the alpaca's name on colored-coded paper) and laid it out on big sheets of plastic to dry in the open air.

Thankfully the new barn cats have not yet been transitioned to the barn, so the upstairs world of fleece has remained undiscovered by them. Our indoor cat loves her alpaca-fleeced box, so I'm sure Charlie and Pangur would reek havoc if they knew it was there.

Nights are still cool (40s), so we put a cria coat on Ladyhawke. We had borrowed one when she was newborn, but a friend suggested going to the thrift store and getting some toddler jackets. Even though I have flannel and nylon fabric to make simple cria coats, the time to do so doesn't yet exist. So I got 4 jackets, cut the sleeves short on the smallest one and put it on a squirming Ladyhawke, buttoning along her back. Immediately, all of the aunties had to come over to sniff it and check out her new jammies.

Boyz in full fleece: Dakota, Dargan, Sorrento, and Sundancer

Boyz shorn: Dakota, Dargan, Sulaymon, and Sundancer

Now looking more like a herd of deer than alpacas!

Alis Vlolat Propriis

2008-05-29T08:24:00.000-07:00

[translated...] "She Flies with Her Own Wings" -- a friend pointed out that this unusual phrase is Oregon's state motto. And since Disa's cria was our first alpaca birth at our Oregon farm, we like how it relates to the name we chose for her: Rockford's Ladyhawke. It suits her personality and her markings very well.

Ladyhawke is growing and thriving. She's changed so quickly in 3 days, learning what those long legs do and how to balance on them; how to nudge mom to standing so she can nurse. And even though hers was a completely normal, easy birthing, it is still a learning curve for us as new alpaca shepherds.

With the "Llama & Alpaca Neonatal Care" manual as guide, we stepped through each of the paragraphs, made the observations, accomplished the tasks, and gained new confidence. A few phone calls to Disa's former owner alleviated worries about where to best give a sub-q shot on a cria, and if a slight discharge from the dam was normal (it is).

For a few days, we've regrouped the herd so that a few calmer dams are in with the newborn, and the rambunctious 4-month-old Tesoro is in a different pen. Now that Ladyhawke is stronger, we will soon be able to reconnect the herd. The alpacas do not like being separated, and often cush near each other on each side of the fence.

I just peeked out the window to see Tesoro chasing birds. And we are once more on cria-watch, so soon Ladyhawke will have a playmate more her size.

Shearing is next week! The alpacas will finally be free of their winter coats and ready for summer.

2008-05-27T10:22:00.000-07:00

On Sunday morning we settled on the deck with bagels and coffee, with a view to the alpacas. I'd been out on morning rounds earlier and nothing was unusual. Now I did a nose count and noticed Disa's absence, so I went to see if she was in the barn. Indeed, she was, and not alone... "There's a cria in here!"

Mike came running. The cria was very wet and cushed (sitting upright, legs tucked under), only minutes old. We toweled it off a bit so it wouldn't chill, set it on a rug to pad the concrete floor, and backed off. I hadn't checked gender yet -- too hard to see on a dark little body in a darkened barn, and I didn't want to be overly intrusive. I quelled my curiosity since my 'need to know' to Disa's celebration of what she had produced, and their need to bond.

The area quickly filled with too many aunties checking out the cria, so we moved mom and baby to a clean grassy area where the sun would help to dry the wet little creature. Finally, I peeked... it's a girl! Overjoyed, we spent the rest of the morning observing, dousing the umbilical cord, doing minimal checks -- is Disa's milk in, is baby really nursing, etc -- and making excited phone calls to folks who had been awaiting the news.

Other than for his own daughter, this is the first time Mike had been present for the birthing process. Even though we missed the actual delivery, the follow-up responsibility was a first for both of us.

She's 16.9 lbs, and our first live girl after 10 boys in a row. Gestation was 11 months 3 weeks. The placenta delivered perfectly, no prolapse (which two of our dams had before, when agisting). What a relief to have such a natural, 'normal' birth! And we're already on cria watch for the next one.

She appears to be dark rose gray, a sort of deep maroon overlaid with taupe. She has a light gray dusting on her rump and across her face and ears, and a streak on her forehead. Her sire, Aussie Rockford, is MSG (medium silver gray), and her dam is out of grays.

We're still mulling over her name...

Pronking Tesoro

2008-05-07T10:51:00.000-07:00

At dusk most evenings, the young alpacas love to run and play. Tesoro's "gazelle-type" romping is called "pronking." It looks like he's spring-loaded!

At the end of that run, he sidles up to Windancer, not the least bit out of breath, and posed as if he's been there all along. Then he bounced off again.

More Arrivals

2008-05-04T15:14:00.000-07:00

by transport, not by birth... yet.

With the latest nine sets of alpaca toes that stepped off the transporter this morning, most of our herd is at our Eugene farm now. Matt and Don drove through the night and arrived at 7:30 a.m. Flora was first off the trailer, quickly followed by the others. At four months old and still nursing, Tesoro stayed close to his mom, Windancer.

The girls were met with open spaces and lots of green grass -- and six other inquisitive dams on the other side of the fence. Galileo and Orion checked them out as the group ran past through the nearest open gate. Curiosity took them into the next pasture, where we really wanted them to go.

Next, the weanling males disembarked, to be rejoined with Dakota and Sorrento. Sundancer (7/06) is still small for his age, the same size as Sulaymon, who is a whole year younger (7/07). Sulaymon's white fleece is dirty enough to look like Sundancer's golden locks. Soon we will become adept at telling them apart at a glance. They all have their nametags on, scribed by Humberto, sometimes with Spanglish spellings.

Our last five alpacas more are in various stages of breeding in So CA and will join us in a few months. Plus the weanling Modoc who missed this 'bus' so will catch the next one. He was shorn yesterday, so at least he's ahead of everyone else in that respect.

Nineteen alpacas reside here now. Waiting for the birth of Disa's cria to make it an even 20!

Additions & Subtraction

2008-05-02T19:07:00.000-07:00

Last Monday, our 'sheep friend' Elissa drove with me to pick up our two yearling boys who at been at the CA Classic. The 1990 Silhouette van is just right for one adult or two younger alpacas. Dakota and Sorrento hummed and adjusted and cushed then readjusted the whole 2.5 hours, and they were delighted to disembark upon arrival at their new home. For four days they had been transported, penned at a show, paraded in the ring, trailered to a strange place for overnight, then ridden in the van. Enough!

But good buddies can endure lots together. They look so 'at home' in their pasture now. By protocol, they are quarantined for three weeks to make certain they did not pick up anything in their travels. So far, so good.

Huge THANK YOUs to Larry and Paula Vellozzi of Adorabella Alpacas in Grants Pass for bringing the boys up to Oregon for us!

[What secret is Dakota whispering to Sorrento?]

Our next set of alpacas arrives by Cedar Ridge Transport this weekend. The five dams and four young males will almost double our alpaca population. And we will finally get to meet Tesoro, our Casanova son born in January. We will need to step up the pace of dispensing food and scooping poop. Greeting them each morning by name is a pleasure.

The Neonatal Class at Oregon State University's Veterinary School last Saturday was timely and right on target for me. Drs Long and Cebra exude enthusiasm, humor and passion about these marvelous creatures and their well-being. The doctors' knowledge and insights, and willingness to share them, were a huge boost to me as we begin 'life with alpacas.'

There were only 12 'students' so there was ample time for individual questions and discussion. Part of the class was a lab experience where we practiced identifying -- by blind touch -- a dystocia: awkward fetal presentation that needs manipulating to correct position for birth to occur. With these practice sessions, the confidence I have in caring for our animals has increased a notch, and I am grateful that such opportunities are available, for I always want to learn.

Then on Monday afternoon, the class became very real for me. While driving down to pick up the yearling boys, I got a call from our agisting ranch that Autumn had gone into labor; but it had not progressed, so they called the vet. She had a uterine torsion (rotated or 'flipped' uterus). The doctor had never dealt with that before (he's mostly goats, sheep and horses), so another camelid vet (an hour away) talked them through how to rotate the uterus back into correct position, with success. I was so glad to have seen this very technique in the movie and photos at the class, because I could picture it exactly.

Autumn was dilated, ready to deliver her cria. It was a dystocia: anterior presentation with head turned back. He repositioned for birthing, but that was very hard due to the size. Initially, the cria was alive, but the umbilical must have been broken because during the long process to birth her, and she drowned. They reported that she weighed 25 lbs! The dam is large-framed, but not over-weight, and gestation was right at 11.5 months. She was Sorrento's full sister and would have been a very welcome addition considering the last 10 births to our herd were male cria.

We check on Disa several times a day, sometimes by peering out the window with binoculars to be less disruptive. Of course we hope that birth (our first one here) will be normal, but after taking the neonatal class, I feel somewhat equipped to identify if it is not. And that information will help me to not panic.

April Showers!

2008-04-20T11:45:00.000-07:00

Last weekend we took a motorcycle ride to nearby Dexter Lake and watched the Covered Bridge Regatta -- racing shells from schools and universities all over the Pacific Northwest. The day was a warm 74° and everyone was in T-shirts, shorts and flip-flops. Lots of other motorcyclists were out enjoying the countryside, as well as picnickers, boaters, hikers, etc. We marveled at how the most perfect weekend was set on the calendar at least a year in advance.

While in town on errands one day, I snapped this photo of tulips bursting forth. It must finally be Spring!

Of course it rained a couple of days this week, but not before Mike mounted his 'other' motorized vehicle, a riding mower. After thorough comparisons, we decided that a mower would suit our needs better than a small tractor at this point. And we got a cart to pull along behind it, but we haven't tried that yet.

Mike took it slow through the pastures, getting acquainted with the drivability over basketball-sized lumps of grass and along folds in the land, stopping ever so often to remove rocks or branches or whatever. A few of our pastures are too sloped to mow this way, so we'll figure out another method. Once all of the alpacas are here, they'll keep it trimmed down, but until then, we need to tackle it.

And then the weather did a major switchback to Winter: this weekend we awakened to snow both mornings!! The girls are smart enough to go under the shelter or in the barn to sleep; however, the two boys toughed it out in their pasture. The alpacas seemed to wonder who took all the green grass, but once the temperature warmed up, and the snow quickly melted away.
Orion has never seen snow before, whereas Galileo is an old hand at it. When Orion stood up, he seemed to be contemplating the new landscape, wondering if he should step on it. I encouraged them into the shed with a small bowl of pellets (they usually get them in the evenings), and brushed the 2 inched of white stuff off of Orion's back. I am still getting used to how sturdy the alpacas are, and how adept they are to weather that seems so odd to me. I've never lived in snowy regions before either.

Kelly-dog didn't seem to mind the snow at all.

So, if April showers bring May flowers, what do April snow-showers bring?

Boyz arrive

2008-04-18T07:07:00.000-07:00

A few decades ago when I was in college, we'd yell "Man on the floor!" in the girls' dorm on the rare occasions when a male was carrying luggage up to a room. But when our two herdsires arrived, no one had to tell the other alpacas that they were there. The dams immediately ran over to the fence to greet them -- "Look, more of our kind!"

Due to bad weather across the Rockies and the resulting backtracking to take another route west, Galileo had been on the transport trailer for a week. Orion had a shorter tour, but both were glad to see open spaces, green grass, and girls.

The two males have similar temperaments and get along well. They engaged in one king-of-the-mountain fight, and I separated them for a time. Orion resorts to spitting at his buddy, but he was wearing more green stuff on his mouth than Galileo was on his fleece. Orion is younger and has some catching up to do in the dignity department.

The dams are all pregnant, so there's no interest there. We're expecting two births in May, and the boys will each have a date after that.

Summer (peeking at me through the office window) is Galileo's half sister, and I've wondered if she and Lace remember him. They are often together fence-side, as if to say hello to a former acquaintance from the same farm.

Vegetable Lasagna

2008-03-28T17:08:00.001-07:00

Well, it's not quite what you think... no yummy recipes here. It's a new-to-me way of developing our garden plot. As it turns out, a new acquaintance of ours is a Master Gardener with the Lane County Extension Office, and she stopped by to help us identify an unknown weed in our pastures. She had lots of other ideas to share, and among them was a simple way of readying our designated garden area. It's a sort of layered mix of cardboard, manure, leaves, newspaper, clippings and mulch. Our soil rocky with six inches of heavy clay on top of it. So to lighten it up, I'm going to use the "lasagna" method, also called sheet mulching.

Since we have plenty of cardboard boxes leftover from moving in, I started with them, opening them wide and removing the tape. I just layed them down on top of the grass and weeds, to kill them by blocking the sunlight, adding to the mulch. No mowing or digging necessary.

Then I topped the cardboard with a layer of alpaca beans from yesterday's clean-up. Alpaca manure is often called "alpaca gold" because it is nutrient-rich and can be applied directly to plants without burning them, and it composts well.

Next, a layer of dead grasses, long and seedless, that I grabbed from an old fence line. I need to import some leaves that I've raked in another area, and get discarded newspaper from a neighbor to complete the layers. But the rain comes and goes several times a day, so I've let it begin the decomposition for now. It was a quick start, and has me motivated to continue.

But then I thought that I should have begun the layering with a "carpet"of chicken wire on the bottom, to keep out the gophers and moles. So we bought that today and will put it under what I've started so far, and continue with that when I start the other sections. All of this is intended as raised bed, so we will border them with wood or timber.

Often we find earthworms whenever we dig, or we see them inching away from a boggy area so they don't drown. Now I will begin to collect them and relocate them to the garden zone.

I've already browsed the Territorial Seed Company catalog, selecting vegetable types I'd like to plant. And since they are in nearby Cottage Grove, we can go and talk to them directly and get their recommendations.

Last year at this time, a blackberry thicket was much of hiding our fence line. We had them cut down, and now that sunlight can reach the ground, there has sprouted several plants that roughly resemble zucchini bushes: large, serrated leaves growing out from a center, and less than knee-high.

I took photos and sent them to Melissa-the-Pasture-Lady (Small Farms Advisor for Oregon State Univeristy extension). I also posted the photo on EVAA's (our local alpaca association's) email list: Does anyone know what this plant is, or if it is harmful to alpacas? One of the other farm owners at first suspected it to be the dangerous and toxic Giant Hogweed, and located an online brochure (PDF) for me to compare it with. From the photo, Melissa said she was 99% sure that it is Cow Parsnip, Heracleum lanatum. We continued the search to be certain.

As mentioned, Master Gardener Joy offered to come and look at the mystery plant in its natural habitat, and to bring along some of her taxonomy books, to identify it. This invader is definitely Cow Parsnip, which is often mistaken for Giant Hogweed, its nasty cousin. In fact, I recall seeing CP in flowering form across the road last year. Its large white flowers resemble Queen Anne's Lace, and I had picked them for a flower arrangement.

The cream-colored tap root looks rather like a parsnip, hence the common name. I have been methodically digging it out of our pasture and the boys' pen, and will continue to check that area to make certain it is eradicated.

Because the Boys are coming! Our herdsire Galileo has been picked up at his "other home, " Eclipse Alpacas in Michigan. After a respite in Iowa to wait out a snowstorm, they will journey to So CA to pick up Orion, along with other alpacas needing a ride along the route, and will arrive here early next week.

It has been so very nice to get to know our small group of girls for these first weeks, and now we look forward to adding another dimension -- two areas to tend to, to clean and feed and maintain and enjoy.

And in a few weeks, the yearling boys Dakota and Sorrento will arrive, after making an appearance at The California Classic.

Hurray, the Boys are coming!

Easter blessings

2008-03-24T15:34:00.000-07:00

Easter is the one holiday in the Christian calendar that has no defined date. Instead, it 'floats' in late March or early April, falling on the Sunday closest to the full moon. Sometimes Easter is celebrated during the Hebrew Passover, other years it is not since they are based on different calendar configurations.

All this to say that our Easter weekend was tenderly touched by layers of events beyond us. On Friday -- aka, Good Friday, the prelude to Easter -- we learned that one of our first friends in the alpaca business, Ed Warynick, had died peacefully that morning. Ed was a retired engineer and test pilot who, along with his wife Elizabeth, embraced the gentle alpaca. They sold their home, bought a farm in the village of Los Olivos, just north of Santa Barbara, and learned to care for their herd of alpacas, several llamas, sheep from the Santa Ynez Mission, and a collection of rescued dogs with health issues. The figure of St Francis near the barn area reflects their love for animals and their Creator.

Alpacas de los Olivos was one of the ranches I was privileged to visit and offer assistance, on herd health days or at shearing time. Ed taught me about designing pens so one person could easily move the animals from one area to another. He was a gracious gentleman and host to many visitors on Open Ranch days, charming them with his stories of his animals.

Even though I had not seen Ed in awhile, already I miss his kind voice and the twinkle in his eye as he offered his advice. So I thought about him as I tended our animals through the weekend...

A friend joined us for a mid-day Easter dinner. I'd forgotten to turn my cell phone on, so missed a message from her. And another one, too, apparently: earlier a neighbor had called to say that when she went out to feed her sheep and donkeys, there were two new lambs in the stall! First-time mom, Rasta Girl, had birthed a male and female with no problems.

So we popped the apple pie in the oven and dashed over to see them. New life is so sweet to behold! The boy is coal black with tight, lustrous curls, and his sister looks like someone smeared white on her face. Rasta instinctively knew how to care for them, and she has plenty of milk.

These lambs are a blend of breeds: Cotswold-Wensleydale (Rasta, ewe) and Gotland-Shetland (Pappy, ram). The donkeys (Mediterranean minis, often depicted in the Christmas story as Mary's mode of transportation) were curious about the new additions to their world, and came to meet the lambs. Meanwhile, another ewe showed up bedecked with blackberry vines that she'd obviously gotten stuck in. We laughed at the dangling roots and sprigs of leaves that were her Easter bonnet. The other sheep helped to nibble them off.

Returning in time to check on the apple pie, we nodded to our five dams and reassured them how simple birth would be for them in the coming weeks and months.

So the holiday was poignant with unexpected blessings: the peaceful death of a man of strong faith on Good Friday, and the birth of black twin lambs to a Jewish friend on Easter morning.

Mike and I concluded this ecumenically diverse weekend by watching Cry of the Snow Lion, a chronicle of Tibet's recent past told through interviews and personal stories. Since we have no TV here (by choice), our news input is quite selective, and watching this documentary gave valuable perspective on current events.

Peace... whatever that means for you
at this moment, and the next.

and then there were Five

2008-03-20T07:03:00.000-07:00

Delphi's Disa has joined our herd, from Peaceful Valley Alpacas. She is due in early May with her 2nd cria, so we wanted to integrate her in her new home asap. And since the farm is new to all five of them, they can sort things out.

I go out in the mornings, with cup of hot tea in hand, to check on the girls and let them out in to the pasture. They are all cushed by the nearest corner, and they fairly romp past the gate. I greet them each by name and observe them for a few moments.

Lace is a bit of a clown. She usually has some grass of hay stuck to her in a funny way. She approaches me shyly, and I bend my head toward her in a lama bow. Both she and Nutmeg are brave enough to take an offered carrot bite from my hand. Yet amongst themselves, these two are the least assertive of the herd.

For the first few days, Disa hummed a lot, letting us know that she was nervous. Other than visual checks, we have left them alone so they can work out the hierarchy.

As Barbara, her former owner, puts it, "Disa is a gray girl in a brown dress." She has lots of gray genetics, and indeed, her last year's daughter, Terra, is a lovely rose gray by Aussie Rockford. Disa was rebred to Rockford, so we're hoping for a repeat performance. Of course, having a healthy cria and mom is of foremost importance, but after 10 boys born in a row, a girl would be most welcome! And Disa's will be the first birthing for Aragon Alpacas on our own ranch.

Yesterday the veterinarian came for a preliminary visit, to meet us and see the layout BEFORE there is an emergency. He was very reassuring about our pastures and feeding program, filling in some gaps by recommending minerals, reviewing his protocol for shots, discussing whether or not to get guardian/sentinel animals, mousers for the barn, etc.

We are privileged to be in the area that Dr Pat Long services, and just in time to take his neo-natal class at Oregon State University at end of April. I have attended one of Dr Jana Smith's birthing classes in So CA, but that was well before the responsibility for our alpacas was in my lap. So this will be a heightened refresher for me, and I will listen with new ears. Disa and Sheba and all of the others will certainly benefit.

Mike has been installing new latches on some of our gates. The alpacas are comfortable us being in and out of their pens, and are quite inquisitive as to what is going on. I guess he can always use the assistance!

As if in allegiance to St Patrick's Day, we have had 'soft' Irish weather this week, and lots of rainbows, even double ones. And cheery daffodils are popping up all over. We watched a squall (at least that's what it's called on the ocean) march across the valley, with dry skies behind it. The girls are all two-toned now, wet above and dry below. Often they are out grazing in the rain, but their fleece remains dry next to their skin.

The wild turkeys strolled through our yard again, heading up the hill this time. If this is the same bunch we saw a few weeks ago, they have grown a lot! One tom, and seven hens. At one point he struck a pose, stretching out that fan of tail feathers and fluffing out his wings. Magnificent.

Our neighbor, Joe, said he's counted up to 500 geese at his pond this year. They must be moving northward again, their visits and numbers are fewer this week.

The wildlife is always a nice surprise to this countryfied city girl. But I'm even more enthralled by seeing alpacas in our pastures!

We snapped this one of Nutmeg at a particularly goofy moment...

Alpacas have arrived!

2008-03-11T07:01:00.000-07:00

On the loveliest of Sunday afternoons, the first four of our dams stepped out of the trailer and onto our farm. As did Tom Goehring, from Ranch of the Oaks/Fiber Mill in Lompoc, CA, their shepherd/chauffeur for 14 hours on the road. All were glad to be out in the fresh air, moving their legs, strolling along.

We escorted the girls to the pens set up with hay and water. What a celebration for the old red barn to once again have livestock within its walls! And what a thrill for us to see our own animals on our own land!! I immediately called Mette to let her know that Tom had arrived safely, and Bonnie, from whose ranch they had come, to let her know the girls had made the trip just fine. Actually, eight alpacas arrived, since each of the dams are pregnant.

Over the past few months, I have visited other alpaca ranches to help to quell my missing these critters. But that was nothing compared to seeing the alpaca faces that I know so well!

Since purchasing two dams in 2005 and agisting (boarding) our growing herd these three years, the girls' arrival marks the realization of our dreams and plans. Tom was marvelous, and so reassuring for us nervous "first-time parents."

Indeed, it is much like having your first baby, with all of the excitement and anticipation of the impending arrival. We had the Layette to prepare: readying the barn, building feeders, buying water buckets, getting hay, stocking the medical supplies, reading the articles and manuals.

Then with their Arrival, the shift in focus and responsibility. No longer does Kelly-dog get our sole attention, and she has learned that there are new rules for her to obey, like waiting for "mom" on the other side of the gate. And husband Mike has less of my attention, too, for all of my going out to check on the alpacas, or to just watch and be with them.

And so many Photos of alpacas at every angle, just like with a new baby! Then there's the Showing Off to family and friends (like this blog!), and people stopping by to see the new arrivals. Best Wishes from so many, and a Celebratory Toast.

It's such a delight to watch the girls explore their new home, full of sounds and smells and sights and tastes they've never experienced before.

Sheba is the oldest one in this group, and she is the designated Watcher. The others keep close to her when the dog is out with us, taking cues from her attentiveness. But this morning, Summer was the first one to romp into a new pasture, and Lace and Nutmeg danced among the low branches of one of the trees, relishing the back-scratching.

Soon two more females will join this group, and then the boys will begin to arrive. Galileo is at home at Eclipse Alpacas in Michigan part of the year, and on his way westward, the transporter will collect Orion to join him. And the rest of our girls and growing crias from Canzelle in Carpinteria, CA. They're finally all coming Home.

And then the new cria will start to arrive, and I'll be a nervous mama all over again.

tiptoeing through the...

2008-03-01T08:24:00.000-08:00

Until our alpacas arrive next week, we're relishing the wildlife we see here "in the rurals." This week Mike spied a flock of wild turkeys perusing our yard and was able to get a few photos through the window.

And of course there's the huge flock of Canada geese (hundreds!!) that over-winters at our neighbor's pond. Sometimes they fly en masse to forage in our sprouting hay field. Onyx, our cat, is petrified of them, scurrying for cover the few times she's outside and hears their squawking. For all she knows, they're birds of prey.

When Mike and I trekked down to the hay field to look at the new gate, I saw not only goose footprints (1), but also deer tracks (2), and paw prints from [someone else's] cat (3). A new creature to us is the vole, a meadow mouse that makes running trails in the grass, from hole to hole (4). I've never actually seen one, but there sure are lots of holes! Kelly sticks her nose down them to investigate, but has not yet come up with one.

I've planted primroses by the new mailbox, mounted on an old plow that one of our workmen gave me. Deer munched the white ones, flowers only. The buds that were left have now bloomed, and they seem safe enough. So we bought more primroses and pansies yesterday, to line the walkway to the studio (red building in the background, attached to the garage).

We've layed in basic vet supplies to tend to the alpacas, and next week, hay arrives. Maybe we should put a banner and balloons out to welcome them! At least their arrival will be a real celebration for us two-leggeds, the culmination of dreaming and planning and transitioning for the past few years.

Now for the next adventure: shepherding our herd!

Winging It, or The One-Man Buffet

2008-02-15T18:54:00.000-08:00

[Mike has journeyed back to our 'other' house, to gather up the last of our stuff, load up the trailerable sailboat, and arrange for renters. Following is a monologue he had via computer while dining on Chinese take-out on Day 5.]

OK, Wings Chinese won out. Then upon arriving back home, discovered the only white wine we have is .... CHAMPAGNE (and lots of it). So having a personal Chinese meal with personal bottle of champagne. dammit, I'm GONNA sleep tonite.

Pork fried rice. Another neighbor dropped by while walking her dogs, to inquire if "the house would be Open tomorrow." I told her we'd taken it off the market, but she recanted this whole tale of how she almost bought it when "a single lady" had it for sale about 12 years ago, but then her boyfriend moved in and screwed it all up... So I sheepishly raised my hand, and we had a good laugh. She said she bought a place over on Torino instead.

As they were leaving, Bill and Katrina said "maybe we'll connect over the weekend and go out for dinner - we know what it's like to be left behind." (thinking you were here, but went ahead before I did). That was nice. I probably wouldn't, but who knows. He wears a tattoo of the Army Rangers (like Green Berets, only Army vs Special Forces). Said he was Enlisted for about 5 years, got out and got a bachelors on the GI Bill, then decided he didn't like civilians all that much (woulda been about 1963 - wonder why?) and went back in as an officer. I didn't tell him I turned down an appointment to Annapolis.... he'd have thought I was one of those Hippies or something.

Beef with Broccoli. I think this'll work out well - they're waiting for the same thing we are, the market turning around, to sell his place in Flagstaff, then will have plenty of cash to live wherever they want to. I quizzed Ann S this evening, she thinks it could turn around by a year from now. If enough people say that, it will. Generally, action by the Fed takes about 6 months to permeate the markets.

While Bill was still here, Larry popped in to look at the staghorn, so I introduced them. That was fortuitous. I told Larry he had a Harley-Davidson, Larry said "well, a Motorcycle is SUPPOSED to live here, isn't it?" So I guess it'll be OK as long as there aren't major Poker Runs and Oktoberfest meets.

Fooled with the Van window a little, it's apparently not an electrical problem - I was hoping it was just a blown fuse. However, the seal at the top has had the window leak/drip right down onto the switches, so maybe when I take the door panel off I can fix the door handle AND the window. If I can just get it up, I can prop a board under it or something. It's really gonna suck to have to drive it home with the window open, I'll need a jacket and earplugs.

Sauteed mixed vegetables. Sitting on the stepstool, but I guess it has to go out before BFI comes. Then there really WILL be no where to sit in the house except on a floor. Weirder things have happened, I guess.

The closets are all empty, the bathrooms just have chachka's in them (shells, soaps, kleenex boxes), the laundry stuff is packed. There's a MESS of wire hangers. I'm close enough I could pack the house out in about an hour, I think, except for the garage. That's a statistical nightmare: I have to have enough room in the van for the plants AND everything else, but until I get the plants in there I won't know how much is left for everything else, so won't know how much to take to storage before I put the plants in.

Sweet & Sour Pork. I couldn't get the garbage out of the garage rafters (except the stuff I took to storage), so when we come down to clean the place for selling it in a year (or two, or three, ... the longer we hold it the more it appreciates and the better our eventual retirement is gonna be) we'll have to call for another BFI "Spring Clean" pickup and pull it down then. With all the shingles and garbage up there, it's gonna make a real mess. I got trashed by falling junk just pulling down 4 pieces of wood (the "upper" rails to the waterbed frame).

Pork fried rice again: Ann said you and she had been "chatting very slowly" - a few lines then answer the phone, etc. Do I recall she got a Mac too? If so, are you using iChat?

Apple charges too much for their stuff - that's the old IBM model "we make it, you want it, you have to pay for it because you can't get it anywhere else". With PC's, EVERYBODY makes them - you can even assemble them yourself from parts - so there's no "monopoly influence" any one player can leverage. That's what I see the "Cloud" doing. Some ding-dong a long time ago said "The Network IS the Computer" (talking about the WWW then), and it's taking this long to realize it. That's what The Cloud is about. The computer is irrelevant, it could be in the dash of your car, it's the services it can bring you by being hooked to the Cloud that matter. Even "Tron" and The Terminator movies saw that coming a long time ago - although they turned it dark.

Incidentally, there's a video out there somewhere called "Pirates of Silicon Valley". We should have that - it was like a PBS special once about how Atari, Microsoft, and Apple got started.

Stuffed. Why do you suppose they always give you regular steamed rice if you order Pork Fried Rice as an entree? Nobody can eat THAT much rice without dying.

Oh crap. That much introspection and still a half-bottle to go? Oh well. You can't put the cork back in champagne!

Fortune Cookie. "Happiness can be achieved by using your patience." What the hell does that mean? Who writes this stuff, anyway? SpinMasters from the Democratic party? How to say what's most probable anyway and make it sound like prognostication.

Larry and I had a conversation about Unions today. I generally excuse myself from those because I realize I'm so far off the charts, but he's belonged to "Right to Work" organizations for a long time, so that was permission enough. He made one real good point: the anti-union activists missed the window when they had a Republican senate and White House - they could have gone for the jugular and got away with it. But no,... now we'll keep going up against Hillary and Teddie and cronies.

Be home soon, with boat.

P.S. Second Fortune Cookie (because I didn't believe the first one): "A trip by air is in your future." What a crock. Whatever happened to "you will meet a tall handsome stranger" - at least that had an aire of mystery for you ladies - or "remember your lady tomorrow when it's Valentine's day" - helpful to say the least.

P.P.S. The background music was "Unchained Melody" at Wings tonite while I was in there.

Mike's symphony, in three movements

2008-02-15T18:41:00.000-08:00

I was born about 30 miles from our Eugene farm, up in the mountains in a little one-horse logging community (honest, they only had one horse!), but I've been gone so long I had forgotten about the snow, mud, rain, cold, et al. My sun-baked Southern California epidermis took a short while to thicken and tolerate the less temperate winter conditions at this higher latitude. But now the cold isn't particularly bothersome. Flannel sheets helped. And a thermal sweatshirt. Oh yeah, and insulated boots. Um, and those fuzzy gloves... two pairs of socks...

The mud, however, is a different story. From late November on, workmen were sticking their vehicles in so deep they had to be pulled out, so they started parking on the lawn. Which accordingly now sports ruts that'll twist a camel's ankles. I spooned some pea gravel onto the less stable parts of the driveway so at least it could be walked across to the trash cans, garage, and Alpaca Store without sinking in, but after watching the rain wash down the drive, I've come to the conclusion that our driveway is and always has been crossed by the prevailing stream off the hills behind us. That could by why the cistern is where it is.

But thankfully, it froze and the mud became hard enough to walk on again. That was better. Even the pea gravel froze into a solid mass. We reveled in the fact we could walk to the barn without sinking in up to our ankles. Mind you, we're not talking legendary freezes here, just into the high teens and twenties, but with a daytime high of about 33F, it didn't thaw for a week or two.

And then it snowed. The first snow was on Christmas night, then it took a month's respite before returning with a vengeance in late January. Old Timers said it was the most snow they can remember. We were "snowed in" (well, okay, I bet I could have shoveled enough snow to get out if I'd really needed to) for several days, but we didn't really have anyplace to go anyway. So we just stayed aboard and had a great time looking at it, playing in it, romping the dog in it, etc. We even made a snowman and a companion Snow Alpaca on the lawn. I think maybe the workmen skidded into them though, because they didn't last long.

We planted our four foot living Christmas tree as the first of what we intend to be a row of evergreens along the street side of the upper yard. When I pulled out an old fencepost to plant it, subsequently landing on my keister in the mud, there was an actual running river at the bottom of the hole. I suspect there's a drain culvert down there that the fencepost pierced so many years back, the water was really running. Either that or I discovered the "headwaters" of the spring that runs... you got it... across the driveway when it rains.

But the craziest upshot of all this "weather related" diatribe is: I'm currently down in Southern California readying our sailboat-slant-woodworking-project for trailering up to live with us (where it can bug me until I finally get around to finishing it), and all the friends and neighbors are commenting how much I must really enjoy the wonderful spell of weather we're having. For some reason, it's too hot for me. I guess it always was, I was never really completely comfortable in this climate, but I always attributed that to being a tad on the "husky" side.

Who knows, might just have never been enough mud for me here.

--------------------------

Lunacy

It never occurred to me, until just now, to name a sailboat "Luna Sea" but one could easily say Lunacy is involved somewhere in there.

I was surfing the 'Net one night and chanced to see if I could find out anything about the One-Design class of sailboats I learned to sail in, the "Geary 18" (or as it's lovingly known, the "Flattie"). Sure enough, I made a connection with some of the people that still have them. The boat was designed around 1927 by famous naval architect Ted Geary, who went on to design many large luxury yachts and eventually merchantmen for the war effort. They are numbered up to about 1500, but there aren't many of the older ones left - maybe 50 or so - scattered all over the West Coast. I spent many a Saturday "racing", a moniker offered to wondering parents - more like just fooling around, in one of the real old ones: sail number 228. I had the idea of rebuilding an old one as a joint project with my darling daughter, as a way of teaching Perseverance by example.

So my loving wife and best friend said "Why don't you just buy one?" Yeah. Thanks a bunch.

Unsuspecting, I bought a damaged one for $400 in unmarked bills (hull number 272, originally built beneath an under-construction freeway overpass in LA around 1930), never received a stitch of paperwork with it, and have since come to some realizations:

no amount of money can get you two pieces of 21' long by 2' wide clear Port Orford cedar, as called for in Geary's plans for the sides. Substitute $1500 worth of mahogany. Now I have eight 80' tall Port Orford cedars in my front yard. Go figure.
finding a piece of 3/4" plywood 21' long by 6' wide is technically feasible, but how are you going to get it home? Substitute a few thousand more bucks worth of woodworking tools (darn), lots of wood joinery, and more expensive replacement wood.
when you take one rotted piece of a boat out, almost everything it ever came in contact with, will also be rotten. Substitute another paycheck worth of mahogany, longleaf pine, etc.
owning a boat when you have anything else to do with your life, is just plain Lunacy.

I'll finish the thing someday and sail it on Fern Ridge reservoir or Dexter Lake, but next week I'm starting the second chapter of the adventure by boldly trailering it (on those little 8" mini wheels) straight up Interstate 5 for about 800 miles. My job tomorrow is to wire it for lights, since some of that drive will be in rain and at night. Nobody alert the Highway Patrol, please. Oh, and by the way, I'd stay away from I-5 the beginning of next week if I were you.

--------------------

Multiplication.

We prepped our house in Southern California for sale last year and put it on the market. Detecting this miniscule flutter of butterfly wings, the real estate market across the United States promptly imploded. So we are left with a large and pristine home, richly upgraded at extreme expense, that we now find we must rent out and wait for the market to recover.

So to finish emptying it, I find myself back in the land of SoCal, in the town in which I lived for nearly 50 years. My family is still in the area, beloved members are interred here, and I still have a few surviving high-school friends as well as many other friends of more recent acquaint. However, this trip has invoked a great deal of solo-ness and I find myself sleeping on the floor in a house that's now been completely emptied of familiar accoutrements. Even the Internet connection has long since been turned off and I find myself stealing tincan-and-string level connectivity from some neighbors down the street who neglected to set a password on their wireless router. The echo in this empty house, once so warm and vibrant with friends, is the clarion call that it's time to move on, physically and metaphysically.

And right on cue, the 20-year-old Oldsmobile minivan I'm driving started giving me trouble. Nothing monumental, it still goes down the road, but the driver's side window locked in the wide-open position, for instance. Admittedly not a show-stopper. I could still get back to Eugene, but it'd be pretty darn uncomfortable driving through February weather with an Oh-Dark-Thirty departure and arrival and 18 hours of window-thunder between. With no "fat" in the schedule to allow me to find a cost-effective solution, a trip to the GM dealership put the window mechanism back in showroom condition. They even washed and waxed the beast for me! All for only.... about half the market value of the van itself. But like I said, there was no time to shop around and hope someone else could get the right parts the first time.

But what I really can't figure out is where all this STUFF comes from. When we emptied the house to sell it, we thought we had emptied it down to where one more van-full would take care of the last of the stuff. Now it seems, in the darkened privacy of the closed closets, the coat hangers have multiplied and we now have a van-full of coat hangers, a van-full of potted plants, a van-full of empty pots for plants, a van-full.... well, you get it. I'm being as ruthless as I can about throwing the "that's only barely used" piece of soap away, but the Stuff-o-Meter on our storage place keeps going up regardless. I'm worried they might surcharge us - out of the corner of my eye I noticed the clerk at the storage place hanging watchfully around as I put the last bunch of Stuff in. I think the door was bowed out just a little when I closed it.

And I don't think I'm getting any less Stuff in the van for the trip home, either. Every cabinet I open, even those I think I cleaned out the other day, seems to have Stuff in it. Someplace in a different universe, some guys are having a beer, pushing a button labelled "Multiply Mike's Stuff", and laughing at me on the monitor. "Quick, he's not looking, put some more Stuff in there!"

All right you guys, knock it off! I got my hands full here!

Tomorrow, I think I'll do a "test load" and see how much Stuff I can get in the van, then take it all back out and put it in the middle of the floor where I can keep an eye on it. Applied quantum physics - if I continually observe and am only open to the possibility that I have 1X amount of stuff, it can't multiply on me.

But sadly, I'm feeling like an interloper in a town in which I know every rock on every street by first name. Neighbors have remarked "isn't this weather wonderful?" and I find myself biting my tongue to avoid saying: "Naw, too hot." But maybe that's normal - I've only moved to a different town once in my life, and that was from the Eugene area TO Southern California, about the time the speed limit on the freeway went from 50 to the breakneck 55. This trip back north, with a van-full of (multiplied) stuff and towing an antique sailboat, will be at 55 miles per hour as well. That's some sort of circular experience, I guess.

Next stop, Wonderland

2008-01-29T17:09:00.000-08:00

My sister-in-law once suggested that we see the quirky, romantic, and sometimes plodding comedy, Next Stop Wonderland, because it reminded her of how Mike and I almost met on several occasions. Thankfully our paths did indeed coincide, and our lives combined. Now we live in this place that has turned into a winter wonderland, I am reminded of that title (refers to a Boston subway end-of-a-line stop).

As I type this, I'm gazing out at snow falling in the dusky daylight onto our pasture. Most of Sunday's 8 inches had melted today, but now it's being replenished. Like delighted children, Mike and I have been out tromping in white stuff for the last 3 days, investigating the strength of gutters and roofs on the out buildings, clearing sodden branches so they don't break, and just playing. This is the first time either of us have lived in this much snow!

Yesterday I made snow ice cream (milk, sugar, vanilla + fresh snow!), and on our outing we constructed snow creatures.

Of course that included a snow alpaca!

And took a walk up the [cleared] road to see the views from there.

At sunset, the sky was awash with pastel tints, even more colorful in contrast to the pristine landscape...

at home in Wonderland.

our newest Treasure

2008-01-23T07:29:00.000-08:00

We proudly welcome Casanova's Tesoro d'Aragon as the newest member of our alpaca herd, born January 17, 2008. He and his mom, Windancer, will come in March to the home we have been preparing for them.

When he arrived, we were somewhat daunted to hear that it was a boy, the 10th male in a row born to us. The common theory is that if the cria is a girl, among her attributes is that she will be a good 'oven' for the next generation. Only the highest quality males (top 5%) are herdsires, so 'lesser' males are generally relegated to fiber animals or companion animals. But this was our best breeding (grandsire Yupanqui x sire Snowmass Casanova), and we anticipated great results. We are not disappointed!

Tesoro ('treasure') is our chosen name for him. From his photos and the exclamations of other alpaca breeders who have seen him, Tesoro's fleece is exceptional: curly and crimpy and dense right to the skin, comparable to his half-brother, Canzelle's Swahili, who is now a multi-show ring champion. The ranch manager says it's their best fleece ever. (Tesoro is even attired in a royal purple cria coat.)

So we are hopeful that this boy will grow into a fine herdsire. Male alpacas mature at 2.5 to 3 years of age, then there's the 11.5 months to wait for the offspring to arrive. Looking ahead to 4 or 5 years, he is our treasure.

musings toward a new year

2008-01-18T18:15:00.000-08:00

All of my plans to document the readying of the barn and fencing for our alpaca herd have gotten lost in the actual doing. Rarely now do I sit and journalize the details of decision-making and tasks, yet it always seems to be in the back of my mind, wanting to share the process.

Mike rode the Goldwing up in October, while I was safe and warm inside the packed van. He only encountered rain for an hour and a half of the long trip. Remaining is the flattie sailboat (Geary 18) to trailer up, and that's the last of our vehicles.

We spent three weeks here in October, and delighted in the beauty of autumn in Eugene. What a perfect time to select trees according to their showy fall colors! So we went to Duckworth Tree Farm selected three brandywine maples, and ash, and some evergreens, to obscure the view to a neighbor's steel workshed. We extended our visit for a week while waiting for furniture from my family home in Texas to be delivered. And the 10 acres of hay pasture was fertilized and planted. Now for it to grow!

On our first weekend, my children and families were able to visit. We celebrated with a turkey grilled on our new Weber, and a family photo taken by the picket fence ~ an early Thanksgiving!

In early December we officially moved here in time for the holidays. After prepping our home of 31 years for sale, we left it behind and made the 16-hour trip all in one day. This time Mike drove the van, packed to the gills, and I chauffeured Onyx (14-yr-old cat) and Kelly (9-yr-old dog) in the folded down rear space of the Volkswagen.

Kelly has taken to the farm fine. She loves to romp and run in the pastures whenever we are all walking outside. She and Mike have created a game by running all the way around the house to meet each other on the other side.

Onyx loved her traveling box so much (a small U-Haul box with wide slits cut into the sides, and lined with alpaca fleece) that we have put it near a heat vent in the living room, and she sleeps there whenever she's not upstairs, holding down the covers on our bed. Like the rest of us, she has gained weight and seems much healthier since she has been here, although it is an adjustment for her to be an indoors cat. When the sun is out, Onyx searches out the bright spots in the dining room floor for her morning ablutions.

Watching hay grow.

On Christmas Day we took the dog for a long walk and decorated our living tree. Then we baked a chicken dinner and shared it with our neighbor, Elissa. We looked forward to visitors the first week in January, to have a belated celebration with them. And it snowed the following day...

We scurried to unpack boxes that had been in storage for most of the year, delighting to discover old friends among books and knicknacks. When family arrived from Tyler, TX, and Seattle on Dec 31, we had made the place livable (and sleepable!) and holiday festive.

Six of the nine of us had knitting projects going, so over the course of the days, we'd sit and chat and knit or work puzzles or cook in various groups. The kids greatly enjoyed playing in the finished attic rooms, and having a picnic in the top floor of the barn while most of the grown-ups went wine-tasting. The weather wasn't especially cooperative for out of doors enjoyment, but our time together was warm and fun.

Moving from southern California to central Oregon in the midst of winter definitely has it's own challenges. We have been here for 6 weeks, and only a few days have been not cloudy. On the first fully sunny day (44°), Mike and I bundled up in multiple jackets and took a motorcycle ride to visit a new friend's farm. Every third vehicle on the road was either a motorcycle or a bicyclist, enjoying the shiny afternoon.

I have been missing my critters, so just visiting Margo's 2 alpacas and angora goats was a great delight. Earlier in the week, we were at Elissa's when she brought in her flock of 6 sheep and 5 mini donkeys. That was a treat, too. It seems I have easily shaken off my life of technology in favor of time spent caring for livestock and a simpler way of life.

Yesterday we had a new cria born at the Carpinteria, CA, farm where we agist (board) some of our alpacas. This is the first time I have not been available to go greet the new little life! Windancer is a great mom and very attentive to him. Always hoping for a female, this birth made our 10th boy in a row. We are awaiting photos from kind friends, so we can choose his name.

back view from Dillard road

Meanwhile, our 100+ year old barn is looking magnificent, under the fine workmanship of our treasured carpenter, Lee. He has strengthened the weaknesses, reused old gates and materials in alternate places, created new pen enclosures, and more.

This sliding gate fits into the side of the pen when open.

There is a wonderful reclamation center here in Eugene called Bring, where contractors and remodelers bring their usable leftovers for others to purchase at reasonable prices. ( love their tagline: Planet Improvement Center.) Lee has found many old windows there that allow more daylight into the dark barn, or so I can peer into pens in an adjacent section. He even visited another alpaca ranch to see how they have things set up, how their mangers are made, etc.

The adjoining sheds are for the boys, segregating the older from the weanlings, and creating a storage area. They look so very Americana.

Now I am preparing to order supplies for the animals, so we can begin to bring them to join us. We will start with some of the boys, so I can "practice" on them and gain confidence in the daily routine. We look forward to welcoming Orion, Dakota, and Sundancer here, and possibly a few others. Then the expectant moms will come when the weather is slightly warmer and the passes in I-5 are snow-less. A nippy 18° is forecasted for Sunday night!

Gradually we are transitioning from town to rural life, from technology to livestock as our primary focus. But since the herd is not here yet, and it is generally cold and wet outdoors, much of our days are spent sorting and filing, and often doing computer tasks and online research. But whenever I weary of sitting and staring at the screen, I grab a jacket and my mud boots and take the dog out for a romp in the pastures. I relish the fact that this is our land, that we are the caretakers and managers of it, entrusted with it for a time. We are very blessed!

* * * * *
As I looked through photos to include with this posting, there are others that I had intended to share over the past few months. So I present them here with a string with light commentary so you can see some of the progression of the work and fun in this place:

Blackberries welcomed us in August
and they were delightful on cereal.

Several Italian plum trees grace our driveway. We plan to add other fruit and nut trees for a personal orchard.

Sunrise in late summer,

and half an hour later, same view.

Dewdrop diamonds strung on spiderwebs.

The pasture is planted
and we grew a rainbow!

what day is this??

2007-06-14T14:20:00.000-07:00

Mike often asks me that. He-of-Long-Sight-and-Great-Vision often forgets what day of the week it is. Our house is a circus of contractors and noise and phone calls and logistics. Folks are not meant to live this way for extended periods of time!

But all of this hub-bub is getting us closer to our alpaca farm. We are 'between nests' right now. As we sort and toss and pack, gift family members with furniture they can use and Craig's List readers or thrift stores with the rest, we are lightening our load, and getting ready to load the truck.

Meanwhile we' have had 2 new crias born, and another is due any day now. Since we board them 30 minutes away, I'm poised to hear 'Summer's in labor' so I can dash up there, hopefully to witness the miracle of birth. Cordova, one of our recent boys, is romping through the pasture; the other we had to make the difficult choice to euthanize when only a few hours old. He was born with a neurological disorder that could not be 'fixed,' and so with tears we let him go. Such is life, and death, with livestock.

A few days later I was at another ranch just in time to see a newborn, to observe his struggle to stand, his search for the milk counter. It renewed my faith that Mother Nature knows what she's doing. Each struggle is really a way of strengthening and preparing for the next phase.

Likewise, we're getting ready to say Good-bye to this house that we love, to go to another one that we'll love differently. This time another alpaca friend is making the trip with me. We're volunteering at the Alpaca Marketplace Fleece Show one morning, and attending Black Sheep Gathering. I expect to be wowed by many fiber and spinning goodies, playing on my addiction to handcrafting. I have a short shopping list: a fleece carder, and perhaps a new drop spindle. So much to learn and do!

Alas, I have not been able to podcast, even though session ideas are percolating in the back of my brain while roofers pound and painters spray. The process that I'd intended to share has been overtaken by its own noise. And once I am safely at the peaceful farm, there is too much to do to want to dive into technology for a time. The fact that I'm writing about it tells me that it will come together soon!

This month since my last trip has been busy with shearing on three different ranches. Probably 200 animals, total. I simply assist with readying the alpacas, or with gathering the harvest of fleece as it flows under the shearer's blades. Lots of work, and quite dusty and dirty. It's a good tiredness at day's end. Some of our pacas will be released from their coats this weekend, now that they've had their babies. Timing is tricky. So what else is new?!

land o' Goshen

2007-04-15T13:14:00.000-07:00

I am 'home again' — back to our California house where I've lived for 30+ years. This week I set up appointments to get bids for a new fence, exterior painting, garage door, and some other fix-its. The alpaca Farm is now the pretty carrot dangling before us, urging us to sell this home to a family who will love and care for it as much as we have.

Jennifer's youngest daughter is almost four — as old as Jen was when we moved here in '76. Paul was two then, and he could walk under the pull-out chop board in the kitchen. Now he's 6-ft-1 and drives a Honda Element to service his wholesale clients.

I saved the doorjam with marks of their childhood growth through the years. Now I am ready to move from this home that has served us so well and on to the next era.

Mike was born in Oakridge, just 35 mi from our farm. So this move is a return to his roots, and a parallel to mine in east Texas.

Our alpaca farm, near the tiny town of Goshen, used to be called Goshen Hole Farm, so we're trying to learn more about it. The house and barn were built around 1900. Mike has been investigating (online) the little towns near our farm and gleaning some of their history. Goshen was originally a stage coach stop, and later a train depot. Interesting stuff...

There's a long, chatty article about the Goshen Truckstop Cafe, and another one about a local truck driver, Main Street Mahlon.

One of our neighbors lives on property that once belonged to her grandparents, and she remembers coming to visit the lady who lived in our farmhouse, her grandma's friend. She recalls lots of colorful carnival glass pieces in the windows, catching the sunlight. The farm lady gifted her with one of them that Sandy still has in her china hutch.

The next little town 5 miles south is Creswell, population ~4500. I've learned about going to the recycle center/dump that will become part of our routine. I intend to go to the library and do some 'hard copy' research of the area. We made friends with owners Kent & Laurie of The Coffee House, where we'd go to hook up to WiFi and check our email before we set up DSL at the farmhouse. Very welcoming folks!

And 14 miles south of our farm is Cottage Grove, the area I'd first centered on for alpaca farm possibilities. Actually, there was a 60-acre farm there that was just beyond our financial reach, but the exquisite old home and barn beckoned us. Whenever we'd go to look for property, we'd stay in Cottage Grove to 'test drive' the commute to Eugene. It wasn't bad, but the short 5-mile drive is so much easier now that we found our place. And that much more convenient to veterinarians and other services we'll need, too.

I've arranged to have our hay field mowed. The next time I'm there, I plan to have the Lane County Extension Agent out to make recommendations of where to plant fruit trees, garden, grape vines, and where to locate the poop pile/compost, according the the drainage pattern of our land. We are watershed-conscious and want to ecology of our land to work for us and for our neighbors.

Today we are taking a break from packing/planning to make a batch of 'Son of Toad Spit' stout beer. At least that's the name on the recipe, but we're calling it Movin' Out Stout.' We'd already bought the ingredients (from the Homebrew Store in Eugene) and need to use them. I joke that "it's a beer kit, you just add water" — the right amount of water at the right temperature for the right amount of time (the recipe is included with each batch of ingredients). Now we're waiting for the 1-hr boil before proceeding to the next step: cooling and decanting into the carboy with yeast for fermentation. I love the smell of the hops in our kitchen! It will be fun to baptize the farm kitchen with it, too. We may just have to grow some hops...

And we need to transplant a few rose bushes that grow along a fence where we want to fill in with hedge. They'll go nicely in our former vegetable garden in the back yard, a nice sunny spot making the yard a bit more formal. It's progress towards that carrot!

barn again

2007-04-09T06:25:00.000-07:00

Recently we watched a tape of the PBS presentation called Barn Again. It highlighted the history of barns in North America, the various heritage styles such as German ones with stone walls on the first floor, round barns, etc.

The big red structure with arched peak roof was the first truly American design. Many of these traditional barns are still structurally sound and are being 'remodeled' for more modern uses. That is what we intend for our stately 1900-era beauty.

Once used as a cattle barn, hay feeders remain and the big sliding door is functional. We value the craftsmanship and want to maintain the design integrity as much as possible. Some doors are missing, but the basic structure itself is sturdy and usable. Rough cement flooring in half of the barn is ideal for sheltering the alpacas and helping to keep their toenails worn down.

We will build a chute for safe restraint of an animal during vet checks, and install a scale. The electricity needs to be reconnected. I haven't discovered a water pipe out there yet, but that would certainly be handy. We are considering putting in a cistern to collect rainwater, to use for the animals.

Readying the barn and pens is our priority, since the sooner we can bring our herd here, the less agistment fees we will be paying. A neighbor had her sheep barn redone last year, opening up one side, enclosing the other. I am grateful for efficient guides in this department!

Yesterday I met a neighbor who told me of an old man who used to ride his bicycle around here. Joe hasn't seen him in quite awhile, so he has probably passed on. But he remembered hearing stories of how the man had met his wife will visiting this farm in the 40's, and that they had been married here. Our neighbor across the street lives on property that used to belong to her grandparents, and she remembers, as a child, visiting the lady of this farmhouse with her grandmother. If these walls could talk!

We will continue to create stories as our family comes to visit and grandchildren romp in the fields. Life stretches forward through us and our choices.

from city to Farm

2007-04-07T08:57:00.000-07:00

After nearly two years of searching for a home for us and our alpacas, we found Our Farm in the gentle hills just south of Eugene, Oregon. It is a 'return to the neighborhood' for my husband, who was born in nearby Oakridge, and a reflection of my east Texas roots (same annual rainfall as Tyler!). Our serendipity list of 'the perfect place' evolved and now we are on the next leg of our journey: the transition phase of selling our house while simultaneously getting the farm ready with fencing and barn set-up.

Thank goodness for the Internet! Networking within the alpaca community and my spinners guild, we have discovered new friends here who offer welcome recommendations and information. People are friendly and helpful, so I feel both supported and capable as we move into rural life from technology jobs. It is a big change for us, but one that we have longed for and planned for.

So I sit here typing on my laptop, gazing out onto our pasture and the neighbor's pond (with Canada geese), envisioning our herd of 16 fuzzy creatures munching and frolicking. This morning's rain reminds me that the days will be different than we are accustomed to, for us as well as for our animals. Can hardly wait!

Tomorrow I will visit another nearby alpaca ranch where they are setting up new fences, to learn where to buy materials, how to set the posts and gates, and savvy layout for good herd management. This all comprises our next steps before we can bring our animals here.

We have agisted for two years, and I will be quite excited to actually live at the same place as our animals. For me, going to alpaca shows has been like Camp Alpaca, enjoying them for days at a time. So I look forward to the daily routine and interactions, like a kid looks forward to summertime!