Thursday, June 16, 2011

Dying to Dye



I have been hand dyeing rovings for some time now, but decided to take a fibre dyeing course to pick up a few new techniques.
Check out the results! The yarn is two toned and looks like a summer dessert.
I also dyed a raw fleece in multi colours and can't wait to use it in a project.

Wednesday, June 15, 2011

Alpaca Mud Wrestling

You guessed it, I have added a new accomplishment to my already long list.

We have had 2 days of solid rain, and the girls in the temporary shelter have worked the floor into a sae of mud. It's still raining today and I just couldn't leave them in a mud hole any longer.

So, Off I go first thing in the morning all by myself armed with raincoat, halters and sweet feed as a tempation and determined to move the herd to the barn.

The sweet feed works, and I have all the ladies enclosed in their shelter.

Now, the girls are not interested in being caught! Around and around we go in the enclosure, all the while churning up mud and slipping & sliding. Feed buckets are flying and I'm clamly wiping rain & mud from my face. Sort of calmly.

I manage to catch the first 5 girls and somehow manage the gates alone and lead them to the barn.

Back for group 2. Another bunch to the barn, and a few follow the group on their own. This looks promising.

Group 3 is a challenge as they want to join the rest of the herd but really don't want to be caught. I managed to get two of them and the rest escaped. Thinking they would follow the group I was not worried...but they went in the wrong direction.

With much noise and coaxing the group made it to the barn. So, the boys are on the girl's side, the girls are on the boy's side and everyone is confused.

Just as things were settling down, my dear neighbour arrived and with a laugh said "Look at you!". Soaking wet, covered with bits of mud and grass and a big smile for a job accomplished.

Saturday, June 11, 2011

Barn Door Art


The weather has finally cooperated and with the help of Michelle the barn doors are painted!

Wednesday, June 8, 2011

Moving Day

The girls have had their usual access to the main pasture restricted in order that it can grow into hay for the winter. In past years, the smaller area assigned to them was adequate.

This year however they have eaten the grass down more quickly.

Today I noticed that two of the girls were "living life on the wrong side of the fence" and munching on the grass that we are trying to grow.

It became apparent that we would need to move the girls onto the new pasture we created for the guys, and move the guys to another area.

We started by moving the most of the girls into the paddock close to the barn, leaving the two strays in the pasture.

It wasn't long before our resident "drama queen", in her efforts to join the rest of the herd stuck her head through the fence and got caught. A fence tool is a wonderful invention and we had her cut free in no time.

Next step was the move.

We removed the boys from their new pasture and secured them in the barn. Then we escorted the gals and cria in groups of six to the new lush pasture that the boys have vacated.

With the help of Michelle, Kailin and Mikhail the move went smoothly. We have happy girls.

Saturday, June 4, 2011

New pasture for the Boys







The paddocks that the boys were using were just too small. They had eaten the grass down to nothing and desperately needed more space.


So, over the course of the spring and with much help from neighbours Rick & Bill and helpers Roy, Patricia, Els and Clotilde and little to no help from the weather we managed to get a new pasture fenced.

The guys moved in yesterday while Rob and helper Kailim put a few finishing touches on the fence and built the shelter.

This morning Kailim and I erected a temporary fence to allow four of the younger males access to the new pasture without being molested by the adults. The temporary fence was to buy us a bit of time while we put in a more permanent fence between the two groups.

It took Perilli, the main stud, about 3 minutes to jump the temporary fence and put the run on the youngsters. There was much wrestling and protesting and all we humans could do was watch. Finally we were able to separate the fighters.

The temporary fence became very temporary and Rob spent the next three hours pounding in permanent fence posts while Kailim and myself attached page wire.

All is quite now in the new pasture; the males respect the new fence while keeping a watchful eye on the young lads.