Babies are everywhere, this weekend. Desdemona was the first mother of the season, with a beautiful buff-colored baby girl born Friday September 3rd (see photo). Also, Guinevere is a first-time mother, with a little brown boy born this morning (Sunday, September 5th). We’ll be posting pics of her little boy as soon as we get the camera straightened out.
Desdemona's new baby, born September 3rd, 2010
We will have a table full of knitting and crochet book and magazines and bargain coned yarn at the Fiber Action Co Op’s Anything Fiber Yard Sale on
Aug. 21. This is the second year for this event which will also have spinning, weaving etc demos’s. All fiber enthusiasts are welcome, no admission is
charged and the event is from 10 am to 4 pm at the Washburn Center in Black Mountain. Directions are posted on the Fiber Action Co Op’s website(www.fiberaction.org) or call us.
Before shearing….
After shearing…
Erin & Brandon Greene took care of this year’s shearing for us. They and Brandon’s brother Curtis showed up June 5th with their table and shears and took care of between 20 & 30 animals in a day and a half. Mom & Dad used to do the shearing entirely on their own. Being the lazy daughter I am, I tried to avoid shearing like the plague. For Mom & Dad, shearing would usually last most of the month of May. This meant that shearing the whole flock in 18 hours was quite a welcome change!
While Erin & Brandon ran the show, we had quite a number of guests and assistants. The newest members of the crew were Clarke Merrill and Bob Benites, members of the local Orchid Society (another of M&D’s pet projects). Clarke and Bob offered assistance and stuck it out much longer than I ever expected, assisting in grooming before sending the animals to the shearing table. Poor Bob even took a full-on spit to the face, and continued to carry out grooming duties – what a trooper!
Linda Brier of Ever Thanks Farm and my ever-patient husband Travis both were also instrumental at keeping the process moving. From both Mom and myself, thank you to everyone for your help. It was probably the most fun we have ever had during shearing.
By the way, in-between being spat at and getting stepped on, Bob also did a nice job of documenting the shearing process. Above are before and after shots of a few animals, but you can see his full running commentary by clicking here.
I have just posted a sales list of alpacas we need to sell on Alpaca Nation (alpacanation.com). The best deals are the Beginner’s and Breeder’s packages which consist of groups of 3 females, a breeding male and a nonbreeding companion for this male. The price is well below regular market price, but I must reduce my herd size dramatically. I am not able to deliver but delivery can be arranged for an additional charge. These packages would be a great way to start an alpaca herd or expand an existing one.
In a quest to find something happy, Mom announces her newest little fuzzy friend, Miss Kitty. Miss Kitty is currently setting up house in the garage, but will soon be out roaming the farm in search of rodents.
Dad’s Memorial Service will be held Saturday, February 27th, at the Lutheran Church of the Nativity in Arden, NC (a suburb of Asheville). This is actually the day after Dad (and uncle Jim’s) birthday. The service will be held at 11am so the members of the church can provide lunch after the service. Everyone is welcome.
If you’re partial to sending flowers, thank you … but please don’t. Dad always hated spending money on things that won’t last – we request that you make a memorial donation to one of the following groups:
After the service, paper and writing implements will be available for you to document your memories of Dad. He had many, many interests over the years, and we would love to reminisce. We are collecting these stories for Mom to keep, so if you won’t be able to attend, or just don’t like writing things by hand, feel free to email, snail-mail or enter your story here on the blog.
On Friday evening – Feb 5- at about 8 pm, Jack slipped away – ending his short battle with a particularly aggressive cancer. Changes will be coming to the farm operation, which had been in the early stages of planning for 2010 when the illness struck. I know we will have to decrease the size of the vegetable operation and some of the alpacas will have to go to new homes as I cannot care for all we have by myself. The store operation will remain the same. We will ask your patience if we are a bit slow to respond to your orders for a week or so but promise to continue our customary level of service.
We have a LOT of roving. Until January 1, 2010 all orders of roving will receive free shipping.
Use coupon code Free Roving Ship when you check out. Click here to visit Lorien’s roving section.
Sorry to our customers far-and-wide, but free shipping on roving only applies to customers in Continental US.
We will be at the new Asheville City Market (across from the United Way building on South French Broad) from 10 – 5 on Saturday 12/12.
Our products will be available at 2 new events this fall & winter: Hillside Shops (Fri-Sun thru Nov 26th) and the 2nd Annual Riceville Christmas Market (Dec. 6th, 10am-4pm) for more info, visit our Events page.
