Fiber Arts Friday: For Me!

In honor of our first hard freeze last weekend and with the realization that I only have one hand-knit hat and it is not alpaca, I cast on a hat for me using hand-spun yarn from our oldest girl, Keyla.

Keyla with Willow

It was donated by her about the time we were just dipping our toes into the idea of raising alpacas and spun by a friend of our first alpaca-farming-mentors.

I thought it was the most beautiful yarn I'd ever seen and had dreams of making an Irish Fisherman's Sweater out of it.  Of course I had no idea then that there was no where near enough yarn for a sweater.  :-/

It has sat mostly quiet in my stash since then.

I decided a simple London Beanie would show off the character of the yarn best and give me the fit I wanted.

I've made this pattern so many times that I can almost do it in my sleep... exactly the sort of pattern I need right now.

I must say, it feels good to have been hit with a little inspiration and to be able to act on it.  :-)

Happy Fiber Arts Friday.

Forecasting

I have been reading Astrology Zone for years.

I think that Susan Miller does a very good job... for me anyway.  My forecasts are usually quite accurate.  So I had to share tomorrow's forecasts for me.  Boy, I sure like where this is going.  :-)

Daily Forecast – 10/10/12

You haven’t lost your way.  If anything, you’re on the verge of finding it, if only you would discard past expectations and debunk the myths you've told yourself about what constitutes a happy life.  There is a new wave of people coming into your life and they could become the truest guides that you could ever hope to have.  If you would allow yourself to follow their lead.  Open your mind and your heart, and they will show you the world in ways that you've never seen it before.

Fiber Arts Friday: A Growing Herd

I had hopes of sharing some fiber-y goodness with you today, but we kept having babies...

Friday morning we were blessed with Holly.  Saturday afternoon we were surprised by Pearl.  Then Monday we were prepared for Willow to make her debut.

L-R: Holly, Pearl, Willow

It would appear that my plan to have all of our cria born around the same time has worked much better than expected.  Three healthy girls in four days.  :-D

On Wednesday, Daisy was confirmed not-pregnant (again) by ultrasound but Apple is definitely pregnant.  So we will be expecting one cria in June and then breeding everyone again next summer.

L-R: Daisy, Willow, Clementine, Apple, Keyla

In the meantime, I will be talking with some friends about setting Daisy up with their very handsome, more assertive, more experienced and hopefully not related herdsire.

Then later on Wednesday, Wasabi joined the family.  As we know, Tibetan Mastiffs grow a nice fur that makes a very squooshy yarn and they can produce quite a lot of it.  ;-)

A rare clear photo of 4 dogs.
L-R: Wasabi, Noodle, Wonton  with The Alpaca Dog in front.

The dogs are doing very well with each other and the new cria.

I hope you're having a beautiful Fiber Arts Friday.  Be certain to visit everyone linked in over at Wisdom Begins in Wonder.  :-)

Last Harvest?

We are expecting our first freeze tonight, and snow later this week.  So I picked all I could earlier today and made sure that the hoses have been disconnected from the house.

The winter squash have all been wiped down and are resting on the counter in preparation for storage.

We just have a few onions and rutabagas remaining in the ground and then my 2012 growing season is complete.

Introducing: Shang-Hai's KayaKyi Susitna

We spayed Wonton over the summer, so we had been looking for another breeding-quality female Tibetan Mastiff (TM).

LGD#3 is 7 months old and just came back from her first show where she won best Tibetan Mastiff Puppy.  :-)

We brought Noodle down to our breeder's place yesterday so she could see how well Noodle has grown up, as well as ease Wasabi into her new family.

Wasabi is related to Wonton, but not to Noodle.  So this will give us more breeding options in the future.

She was great on the car ride home, and made friends with both Wonton and The Alpaca Dog quickly.

She wasn't too sure about the alpacas at first, but has warmed up to them quickly too.

Wasabi in front, Noodle behind and Wonton to the right

Her fancy name is Shang-Hai's KayaKyi Susitna, but as you've probably figured out, we will be calling her Wasabi.  :-)

Introducing: Alpacamundo's Willow

Well, after the excitement over the last few days, we were ready for Willow to join us.

We thought there was a possibility for a delivery yesterday, but a quick exam showed Keyla was progressing, but not imminent.

She was definitely in labor while I was doing chores this morning.  Keyla has been around this block several times.  So I decided to sit back and watch her after I was finished cleaning and feeding.

A few minutes later, I knew it was happening.  I walked over to the corral and instantly the head and front legs were out... Superman Style... exactly as it should be.

Alpacas are very social and curious, especially when a baby is coming.

10 minutes later we had a girl on the ground and Keyla was up tending to her.

Willow was on her sternum in about 10 minutes and standing at nearly 45 minutes old.

She was ready to suckle from the very beginning, but Keyla was not interested.  She kept walking away, but was otherwise very attentive.

If you zoom in, you can see Willow's hot-pink tongue poking out ;-)

After about 3 hours, I called our vet who made plans to stop by on his way home.  But then 30 minutes later, I spied them nursing.  whew.

Alpacamundo's Willow is the daughter of Enchanted Sky's Charlie Brown and Qaint Keyla.

And with that, our Cria Watch is over.  :-)

We feel very blessed to have three healthy girls.

Slow Living: September 2012

It's definitely fall now.  The Cottonwoods have started dropping their leaves and the other trees are changing colors.  The nights are into the 50's and sometimes lower.  The days are still warm, but not nearly as hot.  I've started foregoing my flip-flops and shorts for long pants, socks and shoes.

I love the change to fall, almost as much as I love the change to spring.  :-)

So on to September's installment for the Slow Living Project.

NOURISH: Make and bake as much as possible from scratch. Ditch overpackaged, over-processed convenience foods and opt for 'real' food instead. Share favourite links/recipes/tips from the month here.

We continue to eat primarily from the Farmer's Market and our garden.  We also roasted the last of our Turkeys.  Our Turkey Farmer will be bringing his birds to butcher in the next month or so and we had to make room for a few in the freezer.  ;-)

PREPARE: Stockpile and preserve. Freeze extra meals or excess garden/market produce. Bottle/can, dehydrate or pickle foods to enjoy when they are not in season. Aim to reduce dependency on store bought items especially those known to contain BPA and other suspect additives. Stocking up on dry goods when prices are low counts too.

Canning season has continued... I've crossed the half-way mark with my apple tree by making a batch of applesauce pretty much every weekend, then the Mother-lode of apples when my Momma came for a visit.

I opened the last few bags of wood pellets that I bought at the end of last winter.  We use them on the alpacas' manure piles to soak up extra moisture.  It helps to keep the flies and aroma down during the summer.

We are almost finished with our Cria Watch.  I've made sure that we have plenty of clean, dry, old towels at the ready along with fresh checklists for each of the expected cria and a few other supplies in the event that they were needed...

Holly was born on Friday.  It was a bit scary as I had to intervene, twice,  and her momma wasn't super interested after that.  But they have everything worked out now and are both doing well.

Alpacamundo's Holly with Apple and Wonton.
Her momma, Frieda, is in the background

Then Pearl was a big surprise and born on Saturday.

Alpacamundo's Pearl with her momma Kocoa.  Daisy is looking on.

The dogs are learning how to be gentle with the cria.  This is only their second experience with cria and it's challenging not to be too excited.  ;-)

Wonton is ~100lbs and Holly is ~14lbs

Clementine (last year's cria) who last week still seemed small, is quite big next to the new babies.

Pearl and Clementine saying Hello while
Momma Kocoa and Auntie Daisy  supervise.

Only one more cria to go.  :-)

REDUCE/Reuse/Re-purpose/Repair: Cut down on household waste by re-using, re-purposing and repairing. A ladder into a strawberry planter? A sheet into a dress? Share ideas and project links here, allowing others to be inspired.

Hubba has started replacing door thresholds and weather stripping and fixed the-door-that-doesn't-always-close with a few wood screws from the-jar-of-old-screws-and-nails.

GREEN: up our lives. Start (or continue!) using homemade cleaners, body products and basic herbal remedies. The options are endless, the savings huge and the health benefits enormous.

I don't think we did anything that fits in this category over the last month.  :-/

GROW: plant/harvest. What's growing this month? What's being eaten from the garden? Herbs in a pot, sprouts on a windowsill or and entire fruit/vegetable garden -opt for what fits space and time constraints. Don't have a backyard? Ask a friendly neighbour or relative for a small patch of theirs in return for some home grown produce, they may surprise you!

This month zucchini, tomatoes, onions, watermelons, okra, red bell peppers and apples have all made it to our table.  We have finished off the beets and cucumbers.  I'm losing confidence in my chiles... I've had lots of blossoms, but very little fruit so far. :-(

Still  in progress... are spaghetti squash, pumpkins, acorn squash, butternut squash, rutabaga, okra, and apples.  :-)

We've also had some rain over the last week or more.  Everything is starting to green-up again... as the leaves are changing.  ;-)

CREATE: to fill a need or feed the soul. Create for ourselves or for others. Create something as simple as a handmade gift tag or something as extravagant as a fine knit shawl. Share project details and any new skills learnt here.

A little knitting and a whole lot of canning.  I had another apple pectin/jelly experiment that didn't go so well.  It jelled this time, but way too much so we made apple candy instead.  ;-)

DISCOVER: Feed the mind by reading texts relevant to current interests. Trawl libraries, second hand shops or local book shops to find titles that fill the need. Share titles/authors of what is being read this month.

I am planning to store some of our winter squash.  I haven't tried that before, so I continue to spend time with these two books.

We also spent a lot of time watching both the Republican and Democratic National Conventions.  I can't say that I really enjoyed them because I do get tired of the political rhetoric, but we feel it's important to listen to both sides.

ENHANCE: community: Possibilities include supporting local growers and producers, help out at a local school/kindergarten, barter or foodswap, joining a playgroup or forming a walking or craft group. Car pooling where possible and biking/walking instead of driving. Even start up a blog if you haven't already - online communities count too! Or maybe just help out someone trying to cross the street! The rewards for your time are often returned tenfold.

We donated a pair of over-stuffed sofas.

Hubba bought them from a friend soon after we moved into our house thinking he wanted them in his Man Room.  But the truth is, they were not our style, he never used them and they were in great shape.  Someone will be thrilled to find them at Goodwill, I'm certain.

ENJOY: Life! Embrace moments with friends and family. Marking the seasons, celebrations and new arrivals are all cause for enjoyment. Share a moment to be remembered from the month here.

The Paralympic coverage was big for us this month.  We enjoyed seeing amazing performance after amazing performance and seeing some of our friends do well.  We was very disappointed that they did not have live coverage of the Marathons, since that is our favorite event.  It was quite a bummer to wake up at 4:15 on the morning of the races and find that there was no coverage anywhere.  Of course we were delighted to see that Shirley Rilley from the US won Gold.  :-)

We also spent several days hanging out at the Farmer's Market.  Truth be told, we've been doing a lot of this over the entire summer, not just in September.  But one day this month we spent so much time hanging out and talking with people that we completely missed out on buying any produce. lol.

Lastly my Momma spent a weekend with us and we peeled and canned apples and chatted.  I love hanging out with my Momma.  She also went to the gun range with Hubba.  It was the first time she had fired her gun since before she retired from the Sheriff's Department about four years ago.  They had a "blast."  :-)