We are getting a new roof on the stable end of the barn today. Yep, they are working on the 4th of July. Welcome to Small Town U.S.A. The north side is just about done. Can you see the guys and the exposed rafters of the indoor arena up there? And that's Cord, a quarter horse, on the right. His person is Beth that I talk about often. Ivan could be in the middle but he's off eating on his pasture right now. Do you know that you can click on the picture to see an enlarged version?
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This is the view from my kitchen and deck. You can't see the alpacas because they are behind the tree on the left. I can see them though. Lucky me - overlooking my peaceful kingdom.
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Tomorrow morning we are leaving about 5 to go to Ohio pick up the four BabyDoll SouthDowns. We have their pen all ready. It is in the front of the barn and has a door to go outside. We will be planting some pasture for them, but for now, they will be on dry lot.

I just listed this skein in my Etsy shop - 2 ounces - 184 yards - 13 w.p.i. , which would make it a DK weight. The yarn has a titch of white silk in it which produces the random bumps and streaks. The alpaca is from our handsome Junior Herd Sire, Polaris. Jr. Herd Sire is a term that can be applied to any whole (as in not neutered) male alpaca that hasn't started breeding yet. Polaris (Lars) is a proud little guy who is easy to handle. Friend Beth halters him and takes him jogging down the road and back to the woods. He has an alpaca show to go to in September and after that, we hope he can start a breeding career.

His fiber is very lovely and about 5 inches long, which I think is about perfect for easy spinning. I stole Cary's idea of photographing the yarn on a plant.

Pollux

Just had to share with you this picture that Beth took this spring at the Davisburg show. Too cute, aye?

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We are having a new roof put on the stable end of the barn this week. It has several leaks. But we are not touching the roof over the indoor arena because it's huge and would cost a fortune. Right now all of the roof is black shingles but we requested a dark gray metal on the end. Hope that it looks all right.

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We are looking for straw to use as a bedding for the sheep. We have never used straw before and it sounds really messy to me. There I go again fretting about a dirty barn. The alpacas live on rubber matting and have a small area to poop in to which I add a pelleted product designed for horse stalls that absorbs moisture and odor. We put wood shavings in the horses' stalls that comes from a local lumber yard. Every morning, everything gets picked up, inside and out, and goes into the manure spreader which is spread every couple days. With our good manure management, we have very few flies ----- OK, there I go again. Probably too much information.

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Thursday we're driving to Ohio to pick up four of the little darling sheep (hope that I am still saying this a year from now). We are getting 2 black yearling ewes, 1 black lamb ewe, and a black whether who will run with our soon to be coming white yearling ram. (Heh, heh, did I get that terminology right, Cary?) Daughter Terre will be coming out to check barn water and to let the dogs out because it looks like an all day trip. We are taking the pickup (it has a topper) and will put them in the back. Amy Bidlack told me that some people actually fly them in dog crates in airplanes.

I ♥ to get pictures of projects that my buyers have made. It's so fun to see what my yarn has become. This charming baby set is from Linda in Dayton, Ohio. She calls this shower gift, "Goldie" Linda made "Goldie" from yarn that I spun from the fleece of alpaca Beau. The darker trim is from Tobasco. Thanks so much, Linda, for sending this to us.
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OMG! Linda reminded me after I posted that she bought roving, not yarn. I checked the purchase date and that means that she created this lovely in less than two weeks - spun it & knitted it. WOW!

Husband has gone and done it. We are now not only alpaca shepherds, but also will be sheep shepherds. Yesterday we drove to Brooklyn, MI and put money down on a ewe (that's a girl) and a boy ( is that a buck? a ram? a gelding? - I have a whole new vocabulary to learn.) The little girl isn't weaned yet so we can't get her until the end of this month. He also called a farm in Ohio and spoke for 4 more there.
Credit for this charming picture goes to Amy Bidlack of Shepherd, MI. Amy is the lovely person who helped us get started in this new adventure. Visit her farm, The Bidlack Pasture


♥♥♥♥♥♥♥♥ Breeding update
Hopefully the two girls here are bred. Ariana did another 20 minute breed with Alde this a.m. and Celeste did a little couple minutes with Pudge yesterday. We will spit test both of them in a couple of days. Spit test? We're not going to spit on them although my imagination is going wild creating a new pregnancy test. What we do is take the girl up to the stud and, supposedly, if she is, in fact, bred, she will run, or kick, or spit, or all of these to reject the male. I guess the old head ache plea won't work here.

Oh, my gosh, so much has happened since I last posted, I'm not sure where to begin. Will do this chronologically, I guess. Tuesday Mary and I drove to Hastings to pick up my roving. It's GORGEOUS! Thank you so much, Suzanne. I have been weighing and wrapping it to get ready to sell. Actually, I'm just loving getting my hands into it. Were eight bags, I think. These pictures are of my two favorites. The black is from Berringer and has blue silk in it. You can see by the skein above that I couldn't wait to spin up a couple ounces. It spins beautifully and almost wants to be lace weight. The lighter picture is white merino, gray alpaca, fawn alpaca, and hand dyed pink silk. It's yummy to handle and look at. Will see how it spins soon. I am listing batches in my Etsy store as I finish them.

Mary and I ran over to Nashville to have lunch with my bestest friend, Marianne. We visited her 3 dogs, 2 horses, 2 alpacas, 2 goats, and numerous chickens and ducks, and got a tour of her fabulous gardens. Marianne will be selling her awesome soap in our booth at Allegan's Michigan Fiber Fest.

Celeste


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Breeding update: Celeste stayed down for about 10 minutes for a breeding this a.m. My friend Phil of Applewood Alpaca Farm brought over a young stud of his. Beth and I had both noticed that Celeste doesn't seem to like white boys (does that make her a racist?) so thought we should try a different colored alpaca. Phil brought Pudge, his fawn colored boy, over and after about 15 minutes of being silly, she seemed to figure out what she was supposed to do. YEA! He will bring Pudge back in about three days to try again. If you want to see Pudge click on Phil's link above and look for Silver Creek's Minute Man.

About 9:30, Mary and I are leaving for Suzanne Pufpaff's mill to pick up my roving. I am so excited to see it that I was up at 4:30 this morning.