Starting on the New Pasture!

I apologize for not posting this last night...first time I've forgotten since I re-invented the blog!

Anyway, we finally started on the new pasture this week!  Granted we haven't gotten a ton done, but we are 3/4 of the way done with the aisle from the shed to the pasture.  We're out of t-posts though, so next up is a trip to Tractor Supply!

Pounding the posts.

Our stick-chewing helper.

The southern edge of the pasture (a gate will go where the orange flag is).

Happy llamas grazing in their current pasture.

Countdown to the CNY Fiber Fest!

It is getting close...the CNY Fiber Fest that is!  Just a little over a week away, and I still have a ton of stuff to do!

I have been busy though...  I've been spinning like mad, finishing up some last-minute knitting patterns, and sanding my new display.

At my "day job", I've been carding 4 final batches of fiber.  One was done last week, I did 2 more today, and I think the last one will get done tomorrow.  The first batch is all wound into 4oz balls, but I still need to do the last 3.

Unfortunately I still have a ton of stuff to do!  

• One last batch of skeins (8 so far, we'll see if I get any more done before the weekend) that need to be washed
• Lots and lots of batts to card, wrap, & label
• Tons of skeins to measure, weigh, and label
• Patterns to fine tune and print
• Signs to design & print

Luckily I'm not too worried about getting it all done...I'd just like to get it all done before next Friday night!

Planting the Garden!

Once we finally got the garden tilled, all I wanted to do was get it planted!

So that's what I did...

On Monday I planted the broccoli, as well as some onions, carrots, radishes and beets.

Broccoli in the distance.

Broccoli on the left.

Bed of onions, carrots, radishes, and beets.

Onions coming in.

Radishes (I think).

On Tuesday I planted the squash and pumpkin.

My poor covered squash.  They were being eaten by cucumber beetles...more on that next week.

Baby squash.

On Wednesday I planted the potatoes.  We also set up the trellises for the cucumbers and squash.

Two rows of potatoes.

Cucumber trellis.

Cucumber trellis.

Squash trellis.  This was a previous tomato cage, so we figured it might as well get used.

On Thursday I planted some of the flowers around two borders of the garden.

Parsley.  Something ate it yesterday...

Marigold (bottom) and nasturtium (top).

Calendula (top) and sage (bottom).

I planted some tomatoes today, but didn't get around to taking pictures!  I'll report on those next week.

My beautiful garden!

Planning For A New Pasture

I'm sure I've mentioned it at some point, we're planning to build a new pasture this summer!  Now that the garden is started, it is time to do less planning and more building.

The first pasture we built ended up too small...the available space was pretty confined next to the barn, but we made it as big as we could.

The second time around we're going big...about 2.5 times bigger!  We're planning a 150' x 350' pasture, which makes it about 1.2 acres.

This pasture will be for spring/summer/fall use only, as there isn't any water or electricity nearby.  We were originally planning on building a 3-sided shed to use for shelter, but in an effort to save time and money we're going to use part of the equipment shed.

Luckily the shed doesn't need much work to make it livable for the lamas.  We removed the junk (mostly wood boards and barbed wire rolls, but there was also an old lawn mower!) last week, so now we just have to fix the boards on one wall and close up the other half (with cattle panels to make a wall and a gate).  The front will be left open for the lamas to come and go.  The floor is dirt and gravel with some tiny wood shavings mixed in, so I'm thinking about getting some ag lime to cover it...need to price that out.

Due to space issues, the pasture is going to be separated from the shed by a long aisle.  The aisle will come out of the barn, past the apple tree, and out into the pasture.

And this is where the pasture is going.  I bush-hogged it last week (though it needs it done again already!), and measured to lay flags for the corners.  We're hoping to start setting the corner posts this weekend, followed by the wood line posts and then the metal t-posts.  Then we'll hang the fence and be done!

I hope we get the new fence in quick...the llamas are really sick of being stuck in their dry lot, and I'm sick of them looking like scare-crows!

Washing Fleece

It is hard to imagine, but even though I've been raising llamas and using their fiber for almost 15 years, I rarely wash their fiber myself!  I've always been scared of felting it, and I usually have a mill process it into roving, so I just let them wash the fiber as well.

Well, I finally took the plunge!  I had some odds and ends fiber lying around that needed washing (raw mohair, "washed" dirty wool locks), plus several baby llama fleeces that I purchased from a friend, so I decided to start washing it myself.

**This method is for alpaca/llama fiber, not for greasy wool!**

I used 5-gallon buckets (from Lowes) to wash and rinse the fiber.  To wash I filled the bucket with hot water and added some Dawn dish soap, and then added the fiber.  I stirred it around, agitating it as little as possible, and then let it sit for 20-30 minutes.  If the water looked really dirty I would fill a second bucket the same way and transferred the fiber to it for another wash.  If the water wasn't too dirty I filled the second bucket with hot water but NO soap, and transferred the fiber to rinse it.  For the llama fleeces, I did 2 washes and 2 rinses.  

Once the fiber was clean I set it outside on my skirting frame (chicken wire stretched over a wood frame) to dry.  It actually took about 3 days to dry, as I had to move it to the barn the second day due to rain!

I'm getting ready to lockspin one of the baby llama fleeces...can't wait to see how it turns out!

Finally...A Real Garden!

After much waiting and patience (okay, maybe just waiting), I can finally say that I have a real garden!

Some may say that the patch of bare earth that I uncovered a few months ago was technically a garden (especially since it had been used as a garden for several years previously), but it didn't *feel* like a real garden until it was tilled...which happened Thursday (and again today)!!!!

This is what I started with back in March.

I live in rainy upstate New York, with a highly-clay soil.  I decided early on that I was going to plant my veggies in raised rows, in an effort to keep them from drowning (especially the tomatoes).  My plan was to set up 3' wide raised rows, with 18" walkways in between.

We grow rocks really well in the clay soil, too!

For some reason it didn't hit me until I was raking the soil to make the raised rows that even though the "footprint" of the row would be 3' wide, the plantable surface at the top of the raised row wouldn't actually be that wide.  I was a bit disappointed at first, but I've mostly gotten over it.

My fully prepped garden!

Luckily it doesn't really matter for most of the rows (potatoes, tomatoes, squash), since single plants will still be planted down the middle of the row.  The problem arises mainly for the cucumber row...  I had planned to put cucumbers down one side, and root veggies (onion, carrot, radish, beet) down the other, but I don't think I'm going to have room now!  I might just spread the root veggies around the rest of the plants too, and maybe even plant them on the slope going down the edge of the rows.

While Thursday and today involved most of the work to make the garden, tomorrow it will really feel real...I'll be planting the first of my veggies!  I'm going to put in my broccoli plants, onion starts, and lettuce, beet, carrot, and radish seeds.  I cut up my seed potatoes tonight, so they will be ready to plant in 2-3 days (maybe more considering the current weather forecast).  I can't wait!

Shearing is DONE!!

Finally, after 2 long weeks, shearing is done for the year!  I have a love-hate relationship with shearing...I hate doing all the grooming and I'm terrible at shearing, but I love having fresh fiber and I love how the animals look shorn!

First up was Ralph.  I'm not brave enough to shear him on my own (and my shears are definitely not up to the challenge), so I got a recommendation for a local shearer and called them up.  I didn't want to pay a set-up fee for just Ralph, so I took him down to their farm while they were shearing their own animals.  It has been several years since Ralph was shorn while stretched on the ground (he's been shorn standing at a llama show we used to go to), and he was NOT happy!  Luckily he didn't pee himself this time though!

And now I have 1 handsome burr-less alpaca, and 2 gorgeous bags of fiber!  The best fiber is at the mill, ready to be processed into roving.  The leg and neck fiber will go to another mill in a few weeks, to get made into more insoles.

Ralph's fiber will get processed the same as last summer...it will look like this!  70% alpaca, 20% merino, 10% firestar.

Next up, and first for me, was April.  April's always the easiest for me...she has pretty terrible fiber, so I don't bother grooming her like I do the others.  I just blow the dust out (to save my shears), and go for it.  She always ends up with the best haircut too, since her fiber is so coarse and easy to cut with the shears.

First for a "real" grooming was Duque.  Luckily he was pretty clean, so just a bit of brushing and a bath and then his haircut.  He even got to spend the afternoon grazing in the garden with T while he dried.  Duque's fiber is going to be hoarded this year for a special project...details to come.

Duque and T in their garden pen.

Duque getting shorn.

Handsome boy!

T was next to get shorn.  He took a TON of brushing, and I didn't realize how dense his fiber was!  A couple hours later he was ready to blow out and wash.  He had to stay out overnight with Duque and Kara to dry.  He was not real happy about being shorn, but finally with a bit of a bribe we got it done. He got a complete body shear, and unfortunately I had to toss most of his neck and leg fiber since it was so full of burrs.  He looks a bit rough right now, but hopefully by the time the NY State Fair comes around in August he'll be grown out and look decent.  T's fleece has already been sold.

Last but not least was Kara.  She wasn't quite as dirty as T, but I'm planning to show her fleece this summer and fall, so she had to be impeccably clean.  Luckily she doesn't mind being groomed as much as T!  She also had to sit out for a couple days to dry since her fiber was so dense.  I decided to hand-shear her first so I could get the fleece without any second cuts, and for some reason she freaked out!  Once I started cleaning her up with the electric shears she was fine.  Weird girl!  I really hope her fleece does well at the shows!

Kara didn't want to stand up straight!

My gorgeous little herd of shorn lamas!  Pardon T's stance.