Hay and tractors

As I sit in the office trying to catch up with paperwork, that the sun is mocking me and is shining warmly, letting me know that most of the hay is still sitting in the field. It was looking good for this weekend as the weather is meant to stay warm with maybe a shower on Thursday, but it would be possible to get it all in at the weekend as we have a few extra bodies staying! Guess what the tractor and trailer are not available!!!!!!!!!!!!

I am now trying to persuade a few visitors to come early and give us a hand on Thursday/Friday.

On a more positive note I have seen some of our processed fibre and it is beautiful and will ready in the next few days for knitting up or selling as duvets, pillows and throws. Very exciting. I have to say it is even tempting me start knitting myself, long winter nights coming up.

Mind you at the moment I have got to make chutney with the glut of courgettes i seem to have, they are taking over, off out today t oget more onions and jar seals - guess what everyone will be getting for Christmas this year?

The photo is George our only little boy - he is about one week old in this picture and is great fun now he has grown a little more confident and worked out that his Mum does not like to feed him when she is eating - he doesn't keep getting kicked off!

Fame at last

http://bbc.co.uk/i/tc509/

If you look at this programme aired today on BBC One it will show our land and some of the past alpaca residents. you may even spot a very Inky amongst the herd. I got a phone to watch and have to say we are rather over excited about especially as it give a little add for alpaca fibre and why everyone should be using it!

Shearing complete

At last the girls have been sheared and are looking elegant and thin. This was a new experience for all of us and not as traumatic as we thought. Our girls were very well behaved and even the yearlings who were being sheared for the fist time did not cause too much stress. I have to say the youngsters are being slightly more jumpy when I go into the barn now than they were before!! However all of them are cleaner looking now and not sticking their necks, legs and anything else they can into the water troughs now.

Their fleeces have been sorted, which was a slightly dusty job, especially the first timers. Not made easier by the fact that the dogs thought it smelt great and was something for them to play with and kept splitting the bags just as we had got the fleece in it. The yearling fleeces are so soft it was like sorting cotton wool, wafting about - it will produce fabulous yarn to make into ultra soft socks, jumpers etc. They have been dispatched to the mill and are being processed along with the rest of last years fleeces. so soon we will have a store cupboard restocked with lovely yarn and products to sell.

My daughter and I tried to get the hay into the barn on Tuesday, but only managed to move 80 or so bales out of the 200 sitting there, before getting absolutely soaked and abandoning the task, much to our annoyance. The wet bales have been left to dry off this week, and hopefully can be stored away at the weekend - weather permitting!!! Got told afterwards that if we had tried to store the wet bales they could have spontaneously burst into flames as they dried off, so glad we did not do that then!!!!!! We will be trying to cut down all the thistles too, busy weekend and short handed now as daughter gone off to work at Cowes week, having 'survived' her parachute jump yesterday!! Yes it was a birthday present from her Dad last year, and only now managed to get it done. She, and I, were terrified before the event. I had to go and check she got down safely and will admit to actually crying on the way home out of sheer relieve! What a softie!!!

Well must go now to get the cat in from chasing the froglets, the dog who has got himself stuck on the wrong side of the fence and bring the bin in which has somehow got itself into the middle of the road causing everyone to brake rather sharply as they come round the corner!!

Pictures

This is Fleur at about half an hour old with Mum Inky on the left and Fleur a couple of hours later looking beautiful on the right.

web site (almost)

Here we are in July, still hot! At last we have all three babies Fleur, Dameli, and George. typically the boy, George was he weedy one, lightest and lazy. Starts raining, and all others go inside George just sits in the rain, so he has had to suffer the indignanty of wearing the asbo coat. At least we could see him in the long grass. Dameli arrived he day my daughter got back from Australia hence the australian name, it means affection, and she is very affectionate, or nosey is another word for it.

Now finally we can get them sheared which happens this Friday evening - not really looking forward to it as it means upsetting the girls a bit, but better than them getting too hot, and the fleeces can be processed straight away as the mill are finally get around to processing the fleeces I bought in April. So within a couple of weeks we will have some stock and the web site will be up and running.

We have also taken delivery of our first lot of wild flowers ready to be potted up and labelled for selling - that's my job today. Just got to design write and print all the explanatory labels to stick on pots!

Bit of potential disaster with hay fields - they still not cut!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

The contractor is all behind and now I am wondering if we will ever get any hay. It must have no value in it either nutritionally or price to sell so not very happy. He promised to get it done this week, but depends on weather. It is not as if we have had bad weather, so not sure what going on there. Tractor will be bought before next hay time if we still here.

Now that this blog is connected to web site I will must keep it up to date with our news each week - I think I may have said that before.

Our first new arrival

At 8.50am Inky gave birth to a health, beautiful cria. We are all over excited.

Inky is being wonderful and has introduced her new baby girl to everyone. the other alpacas have all been carefully checking out Inky and her baby and one of the adults (the oldest of the group) made sure the youngsters did not interfere with the new born until she was up and about.

All are in the paddock next to the field so we can keep an eye on everything for a few hours, but so far so good. the weather is warm and not wet, and being born at this time gives baby time to feed dry off and be strong enough to cope with the nght night - clever alpacas.

I just read some of the blogs of note and realise my blogs are so boring at the moment, people really put a lot of effort into them. anyway maybe I will catch up to their standard one day.

Thunderstorm last night after a very heavy (weatherwise) day. the girls decided to sit it out outside! they do not seem to be spooked by anything. needless to say this morning they are soaking and dirty again. Dogs did not bother too much either, living here is chilling everyone out. The hayfever not good though, forgot we not near the sea now so suffering more than before.

The new car saga rolls on. We decided on a volkswagen estate until got told it will be another 6 weeks when it was due this week! So back to the beginning and went to look at a volvo estate again and decided to order, which will be here earlier saving lots of fuel money we hope -very important for us poor smallholders. While test driving the car we came across another lovely place called Doddington Hall - I think. Great farm shop where we stopped for a coffee and ended buying stuff! The hall looks lovely and somewhere to bring relatives when they visit.

this week really going to get cracking on the wildflower business - really excited about it. Also maybe this time next week we will have another little alpaca to add to our herd.

time has whizzed by again. Lots happening. Inky is only one week away from her due date and I keep watching her with binos. It's been amazingly wet and stormy the last few days too so do not want baby alpaca to be born in wet. One of the crias had to have a visit from vet for treatment for something similar to 'mud fever' in horses. She looking OK now, but we had to wash her legs every day so it got us and them a bit more used to handling. Did not even get kicked this time. Also had the grazing field topped again, the rain makes the grass grow quicker than the girls can eat it, plus it will control the thistles! More expense though so need to get cracking on either getting more animals to eat it or change the fences around so it can be cut for hay.

Really starting to formulate some plans for land and development of business with the FWAG man coming out in July and the woodland trust in a week or so.

We have decided we need a tractor now as quite a few things would be easier with one, topping, mowing, carrying stuff etc. So I have asked some friends of mine to advise about what to steer clear of so we can hopefully get a good one, that will not break down too much.

the fleeces we sent for processing should be ready soon, hopefully, and we need to get photos done for the web site and get some things sold.

Daughter returning from Oz next month and soooo looking forward to it. I know she sad to leave but no doubt she will be planning her next trip as soon as she gets back.

Saw an item o n news last night about some rescue ponies that need a home - must try to control myself!!!!!! They were sweet though.

Well we have found a shearer although he can not fit us in until July after the babies are born, but at least we have met him and he lives close by. He came and gave the girls a pedicure and is gentle and caring so much relieve all round. We got a few tips on how to do a few other things too.

The mini heat wave is over and as it is Bank holiday it is of course raining. We did need the rain as the ground is very dry and the grass in the meadow we want to cut for hay have not grown that much yet. Still I am sure there is time. We still have to tackle the thistle problem and it is getting worse. We have been told they just need to be cut before they flower and that will help, but how we re-establish the grasses, we have still to find a way we feel comfortable with. Visitors are just going to have to help dig them out!

Great excitement as the web site was sent by the designer for us to try out and very cute it is. Not sure about the colour still, but will try it out on a few people to see their reaction. Now we just have to have some products to sell and get some lovely pictures.

WE may well diversify into wild flower/plant selling as when we have tried to buy them for the garden there are none around in the normal laces, you have to send off for them, but it would be great to start with plants bought in then start growing our own. Will investigating that this week.

Heatwave

I do hope this is not our summer and just a preview to what we can expect. The last few days have been hot hot hot! Great for us but not for our girls who have still not been sheared. We spend time pouring water all over the grass near the trough for them to lie in, under the fruit trees, which they seem to like. Hope the shearer comes soon or we will be nervous wrecks.

Discovered, yesterday, from the neighbours that this house had a large orchard in the fields behind and it got me thinking that maybe we should replant an orchard and grow fruit. A bit long term but am hoping we will be here for a long time. Will ask FWAG man when he comes if ground suitable now.

Yesterday spent most of time in garden potting things on and replanting pot bound roses etc. Dogs were in garden until quite late especially Tilly who appeared late on when all others were inside from the pond area soaking wet, having dropped her ball in the water again. this time it is lost for good and she is distraught that we have not been able to get it for her, lets hope she forgets about it when we get her a new one!

Bit of crisis night before, office window was wide open and both cats had disappeared. Not too much of a problem if window facing back as large garden no road, but it doesn't , so two cats out, strange place - no road craft!! the wild cat who used to live outside decided to come when called, the other large black one who goes out decided to hide, not difficult in the dark! After about 20mins he too decided it was a little bit scary and came back hissing and yowling, but wanting a cuddle. He is usually so lazy.

also bio tank aerator pump has stopped working so electrician been and said it is a switch that has worn out and he will try and order a new one, if not it will be new pump! Hope it does not take too long to put right, sure it not good! so will be trying to use loos when out to save using the tank!!

Trimming and Kicking

Forgot to mention the incident with the girls on Wednesday evening. Had to give Inky her lamivac which has to be injected into the skin, this means trying to find some loose skin on an alpaca - well there isn't any! Chris was holding her still ,after he had been spat and squealed at several times. I was desperately trying to find any skin under all the fibre, let alone loose skin conscious that Chris could only hold her for so long. Anyway finally got it done, hopefully in the right place, and Inky was eating her tea as soon as we had let her go, so no stress on her part, which is what we worry about the most - the same could not be said for the humans.
To add to our discomfort we decided to trim one of the crias around the rear end as looking a bit messy with straw etc. so Chris caught her, he's stronger than me, I bent down to trim the offending area and whollop, kicked straight in the throat making me choke and Chris let go of cria who ran off a little way then turned and looked at me as if to say 'that'll teach you not to stand there'. She's right of course, will be more careful next time.
Honestly animals are so ungrateful - why do we do it?

Well thats me thoroughly told by my daughter! (you need to read her comments) She phoned from Oz this morning and told me to read them! Just to put a balanced view on things, I do know she is working hard and doing really well with her assignments etc.too and am very proud of her - must take after her Mother!!
It's Thursday again already, market day so will be trundling off to get the bread, and today I need compost for the tomato plants which finally seem to be growing - a little bit of warm weather yesterday has set everything off.
Sophie arrived late last night on her way to visit her friend who has just given birth to a little girl. It was a flying visit as she left lunch time today to get there for visiting time, but lovely to see her. Her dog thought he was dreaming and kept licking her, probably to see if she was real. I kept him in the garden all afternoon so he got so tired and would sleep, so he probably did think he had been dreaming.
The cria kit arrived, which is a little bag full of vital things we may need when the alpacas give birth, interesting, and a little scary, sooooo hope we do not need to use all of it. I have been wondering what it's called when they give birth, you know like calving, lambing etc and yesterday I heard that some people refer to it as 'criating' which sounds like 'creating' I think that is perfick, so thats what we will say.
Have ordered the pour on stuff for girls to keep off the flys etc. which is essential, and more so if it gets hot and they have not been sheared. Still no luck getting a shearer before July so we will be rigging up hose pipes to keep the girls cool if it gets too hot.
Spent 4 hours digging out thistles during the afternoon and have got the blisters to show for it , but quite satisfying in a strange sort of way.
Chris spotted 3 egrets in the farthest field, which we were both surprised about as thought they only inhabited coastal areas. Also saw a sparrowhawk being chased off by a blackbird, a magpie then chased it out of the trees where it had gone to hide, forcing it to fly into rook territory which meant it got chased by them too. Poor thing it had only been sitting in the field having a rest, not even flying about!

Daughters and bees

Why do I not take advice, just read my daughters blog, which she advised against, and thought how proud I am of her! The capacity for drinking and eating at such a young age must be from her father!!!! You see this is the down side of the internet etc. in the days before parents did not know what their children were up to and could imagine they were having fun but in a sensible and tasteful way, but now it it there for all to see and worry about!
No wonder children think their parents lives are boring there is no record of what they got up to when they were that age - thank god. (boring - been there done that)
Anyway back to life in the countryside, much more suitable. Alpacas are growing, outwards mainly and I have still not found a shearer yet, really want to get them sheared before the babies arrive it will be so much easier to see what is going on etc. Will be on the phone again today chasing people.
The fields are starting to look very full, but unfortunately a couple of them are full of thistles - not sure what to do about them, everything I read says dig them out, but there are hundreds of them, perhaps we should get a goat? may well have to try eventually. The top field which is very uneven with loads of nettles may be the ideal spot for the wild flowers as we have been told it looks as though it has not been improved so will check when get visit from neccessary experts.
Yesterday morning a cloud desended outside the patio windows, very localised weather and dogs all came in rather quickly. On taking a second look I realised the air above the patio area was full of bees, absolutel hundreds of them. Rushed around to close all windows and doors so they did not choose the house to nest in, and made sure all dogs were inside. After a few minutes they were gone - hopefully moved on and not nesting somewhere too close, to be discovered later!

Farmers market Day

Off to farmers market in a mo. hopefully the bread man will have my cheese which he forgot last week and I was really looking forward to a little bit of Colston Basset.
I am really crss with myself this week as I have forotten to book the shearer and now it is getting rather close to the alpacas due dates to be putting them through any kind of stress, so have been on the phone trying to find someone we like and who can fit it in to the next couple of weeks. so stupid. also we are starting to act like expectant parents watching the girls every five minutes to check they are OK they think we have gone mad. I need to give them thier injections soon too so that's a job for next week, if I have got my dates right.
The web site is starting to get going now - I do not know what I have been doing for the past 3 months. I hope we will have it up and running for June, ready for when the babies arrive.
Talking of babies the moorhen babies are huge and eating all the bird food from the patio - they look like they have clown comedy feet when they strut around, I am sure they will trip over them.
The fruit trees are all in blossom now and wondering what they all are, know the plums, because we were told! and they all smell fabulous. The veg on the other hand is not doing so well as it has been so cold - another frost this morning, only beans seem to be surviving - better find recipes for bean chutney! The tomatoes which sould have been hardening off have been brought back in as they look not hard at all. Better luck with next lot. On the positive side the potatoes have eventually started to grow so we may have something to eat later in the year, the rabbist are certainly eating well.
The only thing that is growing is the grass so that got it's first cut yesterday along with the paddock, which looks loads better and can now actually be used for the girls to come into when they are due - so we have them near.
Two of our little bithches are on heat so been to vets to get a bitch spray which hope will stop smell and stop the dogs going mad and pestering them too much. Poor things.
Well joy of joy the sofas arrive today so may actually be able to sit comfortably tonight -I am stillconcerned about what they will look, as totally forgotten what we ordered. Also we have light! We can now see what we are eating when it gets dark as had lights fitted over the table in sun room - it is great, of course it means we have to eat really late now so we can use them!
Well must go now as got to get to market and be back in case the sofas arrive early - so excited! How sad are we?

Under a Harvest Moon Association

the aim of the association is as follows;

To promote and advance education in sustainable and ethical living practices within local communities, thereby enhancing the health of our communities, ourselves and our world.

If anyone is interested in helping us achieve this just leave a comment and contact so I can send you further information and if you want to join the association it is only £10 per year, to get us going, so just let me know.

Cats and keyboards

I could blame the cat for all my typing errrs as he does have a habit of walking over the keyboard while I am trying to type, but that would be rather unfair - I am just rubbish. I really should read everything before I post it, not ages afterward, as I have done now, to find the spelling mistakes along with the terrible sentences! Sorry to anyone who reads it.
Again I have neglected this spot, as I seem to have been really distracted over the past week or so. As my school report said ' must try harder'. The moorhen chicks aare growiong fast and getting very bold coming right up to the patio to get food, although the adults give them a real telling off if they stray too far from cover. Inky and the rest of the girls are enjoying the warmer weather and are rolling in the dust baths and charging around the field like race horses. I never knew they could run so fast. They have been joined in the barn by a pheasant and his wfe, not Sir Percival, who seem to be making their home there, so maybe we need to watch out for eggs next time the barn is cleared.
I have tried planting out more squashes as the last lot did not seem to like the cold, must get a greenhouse for next year, The mang tout peas seem to be holding their own if not growing very fast yet, the runner beans look good and yesterday sowed leek and cattot seeds. Not sure how they will survive the dogs jumping all over the beds. also planted the tomatoes seedlings into bigger posts and have started to put them outside in the daytime.to 'harden off' - get me.
The association I mentioned last time to help other people has developed into helping communities to help themselves become more sustainable and community minded and it is gaining more and more support. The idea is to help communities as well as individuals get the support and personal advice to help them set up village allotments, garden plots to help the wildlife, and row veg. We want to raise money to pay for villages to buy tents for horticultural shows, pay for an expert to get people started with community projects and start looking after each other and the environment again. The will is there but alot of the local expertise and knowledge has been lost. Villages have lost their schools, who used to organise the village fete, s nothing happens to bring neighbours together. Communities are detached from their surroundings, maybe we could pay for a village policman, support the village shop to stay open and provide the service for the community and encourage swop shops of ideas and produce. The rekindling of communities will hlep the environment whithout even noticing.
Getting on my soap box, but I feel it is important and I am sure many more people will understand what we mean so I will post the aims of the charity (pending) and if anyone wants to rebuild our communities and help the environment please join us.
I will go now mainly because if I do not feed the cat he will sit on my keyboard and break more keys!

Spring has Sprug

Noticed on one of the blogs that the frosts had finished!!! Typical should have known better so no veg been planted out recently. The rabbits thanked me for the red cabbages I kindly planted for them and the squashes have all been killed by the frost. Still the weather has definitely warmed up now so this weekend will see the beds starting to fill up with veg. and a net to try to stop the rabbist until the plants are well establised and there are plenty so we all get some.
The fields have all been topped apart from the very rough one which will get done next week - needs a more heavy duty machine. The girls are very happy with the field now as they prefer the grass a little shorter. We had a couple of visitors while topping the fields as the gate was left open (cardinal sin) someones horses decided to take full advantage of the extra grazing space. Strangly when we went to check all was well the horses had somehow turned into sheep, and no sign of the horses, that we had returned to their own paddock. The sheep all look liked Shaun the Sheep with the same quizzical look at us looking at them.
There appear to be seven moorhen chicks all growing rapidly and boldly coming out ontot he lawn to be fed bfore being chased back into the reeds by mum or dad. the large black cat has decided he likes sitting on the bridge watching them and being shouted at by the adults until we relieve them and take him in to much growling and hissing (not vicious, just moaing).
Feeling very frustrated about advice or lack of it available. We have been looking for ages for someone to advise about what best to do with land relating to the wildlife and earning a little income this year, but all you get is leaflets and booklets to read and no one will come along and advise and suggest. this amongst others is why we are setting up an association to raise funds to pay for experts to make site visits to smallholdings and gardens to advise people how to get the best out of their space without damaging the environment. Lots of organisations concentrate on techniques and policies, but few or none seem to be able to help individuals. Unless anyone knows differently.

what have I been doing

Time has marched by and I am so behind with this blog I forgot my password!! anyway Easter has come and gone and we have all eaten too much chocolate and fudge, keep trying to perfect the fudge recipe and not burn it, but you do have to eat the mistakes. We are also eating a lot of banana cake - very good.
Since the last blog the girls have been injected against blue tongue and have forgiven us thank goodness and will have to been given another injection next week. Thank goodness they are good natured. We also have a first draft of the front page of our web site for The English Alpaca Company - very exciting, so will be on line very soon. Got some fleeces to take to the mill and turn into beautiful wool, duvets etc. some are last years fleeces from our girls and very good they are too.
The frosts have stopped (bound to get one tonight now) and the mange tout, broad beans and squashes have been planted out in one of the raised beds, the rabbits have not found them yet, but I am sure we will be supplying them as well as ourselves. they seem to be Ok at the moment, but because we did not think about it before, having to carry water to beds in buckets as no tap and the hose is not long enough!! Also planted some poppies, cornflowers, verbina in the front garden and will put the wild flower seeds in this week, a lot easier to water them.
Tonight great excitment as we came up from feeding the girls we spied a tiny little moorhen chick on the pond, so the heron will have to be chased out of the garden for a little while until it is big enough to get out of the way. The trees are all beginning to bud, the grass is covered with bullrush seeds which look like little furry animals running about being chased by the bats which have also appeared to eat the insects which gather beside the hedge. Life is getting very busy and the garden is full of life getting ready for a great summer.

Ollie and the burnt fudge

Well another eventful day at chez Inky. After a day of paper work and usual feeding etc, let the dogs out into the garden for a race around. All the dogs can run free except Ollie who is the escape artist, as may have been already mentioned. So around the garden he goes on a long lead. so far so good until they all had to go in before the rain started again, all went well until the door had to be opened to call Billie in, who is always last, and Ollie took his opportunity and barged through the door. As he was heading towards the bottom of the garden he suddently stopped and realised that the pond was within his grasp and so altered course and ran straight into the pond giving the moorhens, and probably the toads, a bit of a shock. Oh what joy wading around then running out as he is nearly caught charging off in the opposite direction to the far side of the pond to wade in from that side. This went on for a while until at last he dropped his guard, because some smell or other took his attention, and he was grabbed. He started to walk obediently towards the house until he realised he was being taken in and planted his paws firmly into the grass and would not move, rather like a stubborn horse. He is a big heavy dog and was not going to give in easily, but with a bit of persuading and a notch tighter on the collar he eventually was put through the door into the house to be rubbed down. He looked mighty pleased with himself and started charging around the house with a toy showing off to the other dogs.
This happened not long before dinner time and for some reason or other it was decided to make fudge at the same time Unfortunately the cooker is not one we are all used to and while leaving the sugar, butter etc to melt and deal with some unfinished paperwork on the other side of the room, the ring got hotter than expected. Very hot sugar butter and milk poured over the top of the pan and burnt onto the cooker!! Charging across the room and quickly taking it off the heat most of it was saved, but the kitchen was full of the 'lovely' smell of burning sugar and the cooker was needing some serious wiping. Why do I try and do two things at once? Luckily that very evening we had found the very long pole especially designed for opening Velux windows, which is what is set in the roof of the kitchen, and the window was quickly opened to allow the burning smell to escape and let the rain in! Still it was very refreshing to have a shower while cooking the dinner - it can get a bit hot in the kitchen! Anyway the fudge did get made eventually, but has not set, can not think why. Mind you I have noticed the jar in which the fudge got put in, to set in the fridge is going down rather quickly so it must taste alright. Will do better tomorrow if not distracted with dogs, ponds or any other event.

Top Soil and Washing Lines

Who would have thought deciding whether to have a washing line or a whirlygig would take so long - and still it is not decided! I prefer lines as the washing drys quicker and blows but we have no mature trees in the garden to tie a line to. I resent spending out for a post to put in the ground as it would have to be cemented which will be a mission. There are already holes for a whirlygig but they are on the patio and I do not want to look out on washing when we have a lovely garden to look at. We have a lot of washing so probably can not confine to one day a week.
After 6 weeks we have bought a washing line and yesterday tried to find somewhere to hang it, but to no avail, plus it was raining all day anyway. We still have no washing line and I suppose I am going have to accept that I need a whirlygig or buy a post! More expense.
While the rain poured down and I was trying to organise an advert on the phone the topsoil arrived. The lorry blocked the road, so not wanting to get on the wrong side of the neighbours so soon, time was of the essence. However chaos rained as usual, top soil being offloaded, while I am on the phone, at the same time trying to keep dogs out of the office so they do not eat the cat food, keep cats in the office so they do not jump out of the open windows in the lounge, find change to give the driver a tip and sound professional on the phone to the magazine trying to write a feature about alpacas!
However we now have our top soil which is sitting at the front of the house getting heavier because it is raining heavily again. It has to be wheelbarrowed to the veg beds which I am now thinking should be closer to the house! Got to go now as phoning the vets to order worm and bluetongue stuff, find some straw, order cushion pads, write more trust letters, buy some fleeces and organise the herd name.......

Three of the dogs Inky wants to keep her eye on. 'They look peaceful here but I've seen them in the garden'

The rest of the girls 'just hving a chat'.

'I am just keeping an eye on those dogs in the garden'

Catch Up summary

In November 2009 spotted a property to rent in Lincolnshire with land. It is not a property we would have looked at as did not particularly want to move to Lincolnshire, or so I thought…….

‘Go along with an open mind’ mother said as we had been looking for several months without luck. With six dogs, two cats and an elderly relative to house it limited our choice somewhat. This property had enough rooms and space for all of us and the owners were fine with the dogs et al.

The bungalow – yes I know, not the pretty farmhouse envisaged – was fairly non descript from the front , but it looked quite big and the welcome from the owners was extremely warm. The village was very small but being on the edge of the Wolds, the countryside was more green and undulating, more to our taste, very pretty.

Once there, the extent of the place unfolded - 16 acres at the back with alpacas! After further discussions we were hooked and decided to move and take on some alpacas of our own and produce beautiful, useful products from these pretty quiet charismatic animals.

Decision made we started to look at buying some of our own, ~The owners f the property agreed to take us and help us buy a few of our own. A date was decided and all arrangements made, the day dawned and it was snowing, not just a bit like we usually get in this country no it was unbelievable, blizzard conditions!

However daughter riding shotgun we decided to go not really believing it would be that bad. It was. It took hours to get there. The boys did not believe it to be that bad either but they would later on!

We had lunch then went on a 40 min drive to meet Kevin and his alpacas. On the way it was green and very beautiful right across the Wolds. We met several lovely alpacas and chose 3 pregnant ladies, Inky, Zoe and Achyls with 2 of their young crias, Dior and Colby. They were all so lovely we were over excited looking forward to them coming to live with us, hoping they felt the same. Kevin agreed to keep them for us until we move in February and we left, just as the snow started to fall and it kept on falling.

It was a good job the boys knew where they were going as I would not have been able to see the road – it was a blizzard. It turned out that everytime we visited our new home to be it snowed.

We finally got home after a long day very tired but pleased we had got our alpacas.

March

Well here we are, installed after a lot of toing and froing. (So much for hiring a removal firm). What a stress. I booked them told them what we had to move and when the day came they were not sure their lorry was big enough so they brought another smaller one and filled that up with all the items from the rented house with no room for anything from the other house. Later when we arrived at the bungalow, the first van, which had the content of the storage container, was not even full and could have brought all the plants, and furniture we had to leave behind. We were not happy and have spent the last few weeks gradually bringing things over a bit at a time. Not the stress free move we anticipated.

The alpacas arrived on a very wet Sunday afternoon completely stress free, calm and chilled out. They followed us out of the trailer down the garden and into the paddock without mishap. They seem to be settling in well and have been gradually getting used to the dogs charging out in the garden every morning as if they have never been out before in their lives!

We have fed them up a bit with extra feed because it has been such a rubbish winter and there is still not much grass. They certainly seem to getting bigger and friendlier and we are starting to see their individual characters emerge.

This has set us thinking about creating this blog about their adventures meeting all the other animals that will be joining us over the coming months and our endeavours to deal with everything..

It does not feel as though we have achieved much but thinking about it, we have shortlisted our logo, built two raised veg beds and ordered the topsoil, planted potatoes, and potted up some patio plants and herbs.

We have also gathered together the fence panels that my other half ‘just happened to have’ and discovered there is enough to put around the patio. This means the mad escape artiste that is Ollie the lab, will not charge off into the paddock, next doors hens or straight into the pond. Apparently he does not jump over things just barges his way through things!

Finally got some loft boards and put some of the Christmas decorations away – why have we got some many?

We have ordered two new sofas, in cream and pale blue – what was I thinking, we have six dogs! Watch my blood pressure go up when we get them installed.

We have also chosen a new car, one that does 60mpg, the very best reason as cash flow will be tight for the time being until the alpaca business is up and running and the festival starts paying it’s way..

As far as the festival/association is concerned we have sent out about 50 letters to trusts, 30 letters to schools for horticultural comp., also starting to write letters for sponsorship. Had one positive response from a trust who asked me to write again and they will try to help. Others have been positive but we need to be a charity so trying to find two trustees so I can send in the application to the Charity Commission.

Doodlebug Designs are coming up in April for a meeting and we can finalise some details for the web sites for both The English Alpaca Co. and the festival. We must take a lot more photos so they have lots to choose from.

Janice the cat has moved into the office with Murphy and seems to quite like it, as long as the dogs stop eating their food. Murphy is getting quite adventurous and goes out every morning for about half an hour while I feed the girls and Coby, Billie and Princess have a charge around the garden.

The pond is full of toads spawning although we think they look more like frogs - how useless are we? Not seen the heron lately, but no doubt he will be back later in the year when all the ‘froglets’ are about! Seen buzzards regularly which is a real treat, and the other morning had about 4 yellowhammers feeding on the patio – very pretty. The barn owl flew over the garden the other morning and looked beautiful, it must be the same one I watched along the road earlier in the week. Very exciting. We have a regular pheasant visiting the patio and parading in front of the dogs, especially Billie who gets quite affronted. The pheasant has been named Sir Percival because he looks well preened and snooty.

Topsoil for veg. beds arrives today and it’s raining again!

So that’s us up to date. And entries will be daily.