Wednesday, December 9, 2020
Twister, a few hours old.
All alpaca ranchers at one time or another have some experience with birthing moms that find themselves into a jam. It is not a question of IF, it is a question of WHEN.
This year was my turn. As moms approach their birthing dates we start watching them carefully. We watch for any clue that today might be the day. Are the moms eating well, are they restless, are they uncomfortable, are they separating themselves from the herd, are their bodies changing, getting ready for birth, are th read more...
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Tuesday, November 24, 2020
2020 has really been a doozy, hasn’t it. I am not going to wade into the political quagmire in this blog because it would make my head hurt.
As I write this blog this morning, I find myself waking up in the live quarters of our big horse trailer. It is pretty darn comfortable, so not to bad. Seems that I may have some kind of allergy to something in my house and every morning I wake up the an allergy head ache. The bright side of this is that I get to figure out what is bothering me. read more...
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Friday, March 20, 2020
Jack Jack, says hello!
Wednesday March 18, 2020 we started our day by feeling a 5.7 magnitude earth quake. Seriously? As if we don't have enough to deal with. Today also marks one month since the W.H.O. declared Covid 19 a pandemic.
So how does that impact our small farm business? For one thing all farm visits have been halted until further notice. No farm visits equals, no visitors, no sales in the store. That is a big kick in the teeth.
On the bright side the farm and it's daily activities seem to flo read more...
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Thursday, January 16, 2020
This blog has nothing to do with farming, but everything to do with the reality of where I find myself in society. I am a moderate. I believe in the good of all human beings. It appears that the extremes is where the true injustice seems to occur.
Certain people call me political names designed to humiliate me or try to make me feel ignorant.
Ive never seen myself as far left or far right, I think extremes fail us all.
*I think there are more people out there just like me, than I read more...
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Thursday, December 12, 2019
You know that period of time when you are waking up in the morning and you drift in and out of awareness? This morning my mind was stuck thinking about the word ACCEPTANCE.
I decided that this word is the most dangerous and dividing word I know. Why?
At first blanch one thinks, what a lovely and inclusive word, but then the reality of the word flows in.
The lovely side of this word is;
-I love and accept you for who and what you are.
-I accept and respect our differences. read more...
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Tuesday, December 10, 2019
2019 is coming to an end. I had a 5 big things I wanted to try to improve about my self last year.
Here they are;
My big 5 that I need to work on!
1. There are things I do too much. This stems from being insecure I think.
2. I sometimes come off as an insensitive know it all in a moment of try to help someone.
3. I can be super pushy and don’t really consider what other people have to tell me.
4. Too many excuses.
5. I have a hard time seeing past my own problems and looking at the bi read more...
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Wednesday, April 3, 2019
TO DEHAIR OR NOT TO DEHAIR, NOT A BLACK AND WHITE SUBJECT.
Let’s talk dehairing. Let’s explore all sides of this process. There are many different trains of thought on dehairing. So I think it would be beneficial to hear from YOU on both sides and talk about, what people think, what people have experienced and why people think what they do.
Some questions I would like to explore are;
Does dehairing work on alpaca?
When is dehairing needed?
When is dehairing NOT needed?
What are s read more...
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Friday, February 1, 2019
So 2 weeks ago, my husband called me to the barn to see what he had found. It was a hen that had hatched out 3 chicks.
IT’S JANUARY! What is this hen thinking? We are in Utah and we are experiencing single digits for Pete’s shake. Well we decided to see what would happen.
We set up an infrared heat source with a thermastat in the corner of one of the horse stalls set water under the heater and food near by. AMAZINGLY hen and chicks are doing great. I guess this must mean that sprin read more...
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Tuesday, January 15, 2019
While cleaning the nursery this morning I spied with my little eye some runny poop spots. None of the crias will claim it. I wandered around for quite a while and can find no evidence of who is the owner.
No mess on anyone’s legs, no mess under anyone’s tail, nothing to give me a hint to who the little plops belong too.
Now what? I guess I become a super duper poop detective. Not my idea of fun! With 12 little crias running around there are lots and lots of suspects.
Do I have a read more...
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Friday, January 11, 2019
As I worked through my chores this morning it dawned on me that there is no end to the AND THENS. I love Alpaca farming, caring for my flock and doing farm chores. Being outside working is my happy place, but the AND THENS can get out of control sometimes.
My day usually goes something like this;
First, at dawn I start by letting the moms and crias out of the barn, where they have been safely tucked away for the night.
AND THEN, I clean and tidy up the baby barns, as I call it. This read more...
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