Farm visitors.

In the almost five months that we have been living here at the farm fulltime we have had our share of driveby farm visitors. People see the alpacas from the road and are curious about them so they stop. Some just stop at the top of the driveway and watch for a few minutes, other visitors want to see them up close and personal. I don't mind at all... I like having visitors and showing off the alpacas.

This afternoon I had a lovely woman named Robin knock on the door and introduced herself as a "spinner" and ask if those were alpaca. She was very excited to see them and I was more then happy to give her a tour. It turns out she only lives about 20 miles North of here in Virginia. She owns a rug hooking studio called Robin's Nest where she offers traditional rug hooking supplies and rug hooking retreats. Oh, in a world where I had more free time I would like to learn to hook rugs. Robin and I had several interests in common and it was nice to chat with her while she was here. I hope she feels free to stop in anytime for an extended visit, maybe even help me learn to spin!

Robin has a wonderful blog as well. Reading it has inspired me to make more time to work on my knitting. I have at least 4-5 projects on needles right now! I really need to get some done and maybe start working on some gifts for the hoidays.

First time in all my years!

The kids and I were at the feed store this morning stocking up on a bunch of feed; alpaca, dairy cow, chicken crumbles, and some waterfowl. The stock guys always pull the orders from out back in their storage area and bring it up your vehicle and load it for you. Something I greatly appreciate when getting several hundred pounds of feed at once. Normally there is no problem and I am in and out in five minutes. Not today though! They couldn't find the alpaca feed I normally get or the waterfowl feed. The computer system said it was there so several guys and about twenty minutes later they finally found what I needed.

Meanwhile, McKayla had fallen asleep in the Suburban and Evan had climbed out the back onto the loading dock to see what he could see. He spotted something and called over to me to come see... it was a cat. Actually, a kitten probably about 4-5 months old. A little female. She was very friendly and came right up to Evan and I and rubbed all over us.

Now, in my whole adult life, twelve years of which I worked as a veterinary technician (eight of which was in an all feline practice), have I ever seen a cat or kitten out and about and felt the need to take it home with me. I like cats and respect them highly but I would never classify myself as a cat person. So why then did I find myself asking the folks inside the store who owned the little cat out on the loading dock? It simply was an issue of color. This little friendly cat was solid steel grey, my favorite cat color. And there was something about this little kitten that spoke to me.

Two of the most special cats in my life have been that same solid grey color, Gris and Billy. Neither of these two wonderful boys is still in my life. Gris, the more recent of the two, left a huge hole in my life when he was gone about a year ago.

The clerks in the store said the kitten was from a litter this spring out of a stray cat. This kitten was the last of the litter to still be around. It was a nice little kitten they said but that if I wanted it to please take it home with me. And just like that she ended up coming home with us.
The kids fell in love with her instantly. McKayla hoisted her up and carried her around for quite a while. We showed her where the food bowl was up on the deck and she ate until her little belly was full. After about 45 minutes of handling from the kids she had enough (who can blame her) and she ran off into the woods behind the house. I know if she is truly meant to be ours that she will stick around... I hope anyway!

Berk strikes again!

Sigh... there is another chicken in the sick ward.

Earlier I was standing on the porch looking out over the pasture as the alpaca girls were grazing over on the shady end of the pasture. One of the girls, Celtie, went loping off to the barn to get some water. As she neared the barn, Berk, our male Anatolian Shepard, jumped at her and growled! Something that is very bad for him to do and that I have not seen him do before. It stopped Celtie in her tracks as she had not known Berk to act this way either. I quickly slid my boots on and went down to the barn.

What I found was my little Hill Roamer hen (yes the mate to the stuck chicken a few days ago) lying down near the barn with her backside all wet and feathers missing. Obviously Berk was playing with her earlier but when Celtie had come down to the barn I could clearly see Berk laying near the barn and he had not been chewing on anything. So, was Berk now protecting his snack from Celtie OR was he protecting the hurt chicken from Celtie? I may never know for sure at this point.

Anyway, I scooped up "Cookie", the name I have given the little hen, and gave her a quick once over before heading to the chicken coop with her. I could see right away that she had a good-sized wound on her back behind her right wing. The feathers were missing and there was a hole through the skin so I could see the breast meat clearly. Otherwise she looked alert just a bit scruffy. I put her in the brooder pen with some medicated water and food. I also treated her wound with a topical antibiotic. When I left her she lay right where I placed her.

We will have to see how she does over night. Meanwhile... what do to about Berk?

Doing the bunny hop.

Our two American Chinchilla rabbits are about 9 months old now. They have been ready to breed for a few months but I felt that it has been too darn hot here for that this summer. Now that the temps have dropped I figured it was time to let them have their fun! The hutches I have them in were here when we moved in. I believe they were actually built for poultry breeding not rabbits but they are working out ok. The doors into the hutches are small which means I can only reach in with one arm at a time and there are still areas of the hutch I can't reach. Luckily, the hutches have pass through doors in them from one to the other. I just opened up that door and let them mingle. Although this would be the first time for both of them it didn't take Sasaparilla long before he was interested in dancing with Parslane. I left them together for about an hour or so. If they managed to do things correctly Parslane should kindle her kits on October 18th. Only time will tell...

Good day on the farm.

Today was a good day. Weather was beautiful at high 70's with the changing leaves all around us. Today just had a good feel to it from the start.

Both Neil and I were up early and motivated to get some things done. First off I needed to do chores but I also wanted to shear some of the fiber off of our llama, Neffi, and I knew that would be easiest to do in the cool morning while she was eating. So, I told Neil my plan and we both headed out to the barn before breakfast.

The first thing I do now in my chores is getting Cherry Blossom up on the milking stanchion and she has come to expect this already so she was waiting for me. Once on the stanchion I gave her a quick brush over. Then this morning I took our milking training to the next step and washed and massaged her udder with a hot wet towel. This not only cleans the udder and teats but it causes her to "let down" her milk. I had also brought the milking pail with me this morning just to introduce the pail to the equation. Well, the hot towel did the trick. Cherry Blossom was much easier to express milk from the morning! I got about 1/4 cup in the pail. What I learned was that I need to work on my aim again! But I am encouraged that I might get a little milk soon to supplement the store bought. We go through 1-2 gallons a day here so it will be a while before we work up to that amount... even after Riona calves this fall.

After the cows were feed and sent out to the pasture I took a moment to give the donkeys their morning cookies. I always give them two cookies each in the morning and in the evening since they don't get anything else but pasture to eat. It is a bonding time too and on most mornings I spend a few minutes to give them scratches all over.... but not this morning. It was off to feed the alpacas next.

I got the grain ready for Gigi (our new mom as of two days ago) as she is in her own paddock with her new cria. Then I got the grain for the rest of the alpacas, Neffi and the food for the LGDs. As the dogs and the alpacas were eating we rounded Neffi up into the catch pen and got her tied up the post. Yesterday we went and borrowed shears from our closest neighboring alpaca farmer at http://www.daydawnalpacas.com/. This was my first time shearing a camelid of any type but it was very similar to sheep, which I have some experience with. Neffi wasn't into the shearing thing at all at first and it was surprising how strong she was. But after a few minutes she cushed down and I was able to give her a descent "barrel cut" in about ten minutes. It is getting cooler at night now so I didn't want to give her a complete cut but just wanted to get some of the heavy fiber off her blanket area. I didn't turn out half bad considering it was my first attempt.
Once we cleaned up after Neffi's shearing I finished up the chores by feeding the goats and then the rabbits and then all the poultry.

Once back inside I made homemade banana pancakes for breakfast... yummy!

After breakfast, Neil started on his major project of the day... cleaning out part of the porch which included moving the old wood cook stove out. Once everything was cleaned off Neil took the tractor down to the tractor-trailer out back and picked up our refrigerator that we brought with us. It doesn't fit inside the kitchen right now so it will live out on the porch as an additional fridge while we continue to use the old fridge that was left here as our main refrigerator.
After that task was done we did a few other odds and ends about the place and then relaxed the rest of the afternoon. It was a good day and we got lots done to boot!

What an honor!

About six months ago while searching for more information on self-sufficiency I discovered the website of Patti Moreno, aka The GardenGirl. Her website, www.gardengirltv.com, is about Urban Sustainable Living. Patti lives with her family in Boston, MA where on her urban farmette she gardens, raises rabbits, chickens and fish. Patti is one of my inspirations! I love how she so intensively uses her urban land and hope to include some of her ideas here on the farm during our next growing season. The world needs more like her!

I encourage you to visit The GardenGirl site (which is in the process of being updated now... just wait and see what is to come). While you are there make sure you sign up for her e-newsletter to keep tabs on what Patti is doing now.

Speaking of her e-newsletter, this is where I became honored today! I received the latest issue in my e-mail box this morning and eager to see what it contained I opened it immediately. Patti is almost ready to launch some new videos and had several previews available to watch. After watching those and reading the rest of the contents I got to the bottom of the e-newsletter where Patti always lists a few links for her readers to check out that have inspired her. This time she had four listed. And guess what one of those links was too? That's right, our little patch of heaven here at Thane's Neck Farm! I was so shocked, excited and thrilled that I had goose bumps on my arms! Here is what Patti had to say about our farm, "In my fantasy world I live in the country on Thane's Neck Farm. The spinner in me is so jealous of all that Alpaca {fiber}! I am always looking at Sustainable Farms, a bit jealously, I admit and this is one of my favorites." Wow!

It's a girl!

I am thrilled to announce today's arrival of the first cria born here at Thane's Neck Farm!

A perfect medium fawn female that we are planning on naming Aberdeen. Abby is out of our older experienced dam Touch O' Gold and the legendary Kilimanjaro!

Her birth was wonderfully uneventful. Both Abby and her mom are doing great!

Abby is the fifth cria born under our farm name, only the second female and tragically only the third surviving. We are hopeful that all will continue to go smoothly as Aberdeen grows.