Archives for llamas

Milestones & Quiet Farm on New Years Day

January 1, 2013 | 10 Comments

Mike and I celebrated the holidays quietly at home this year, enjoying the company of our flock, dogs, llamas, goat, donkeys – and each other. We celebrated arrivals and marked several milestones this season. Milestone #1 – Hooray for Zoe and Welcome Home, Farley! The week before Christmas, we had some encouraging news for our Zoe, our 1 year old Golden Retriever. As some of you may know, she's been convalescing from radical surgery back in October to address severe degenerative joint disease in her right elbow. Her xrays on December 19th hold promise – good healing from the surgery.
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Count Down to Shearing Day

March 23, 2011 | 7 Comments

Keeping dry – waiting for the shearer. Our week got off to a funky start. In the northeast we celebrated spring's arrival with a touch of winter: four inches of snow that's gone slushy since the temperatures are now just above freezing. Because we plan to shear the balance of the flock on Friday, this gave me a headache. Before the snow started at 9 Monday morning, Mike and I scrambled to get four dozen sheep and two llamas under cover before their wool got soggy. The sheep were the easy part. A pan of grain was all we needed
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Lovely Llama

June 4, 2010 | 10 Comments

Just remembered – you haven't seen Caitlyn's new haircut! I found her in a quiet, meditative moment in the upper pasture the other morning, enjoying the warmth of the sun. I love her regal posture, like a monarch surveying her domain. Did you know she was a show llama before she came to us? She came from Heritage Llama Farm in East Longmeadow, MA. Her former owner, Jan, gave me a photo of her sporting a blue ribbon at a show many years ago. Caitlyn's glory days. If you compare her midriff to her brisket, neck and hind quarters,
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Llama Minus Pajamas

May 20, 2010 | 23 Comments

Shearing llamas is different from shearing sheep. The llamas are haltered and tied in a pen where there's not much room to dance around (but they dance anyway). They stand the entire time. Sheep are seated on their fannies for the whole thing. Andy can shear anything that grows fiber. For the llamas he usually does a "barrel cut" – which means just shearing the midriff from behind the shoulders to the waistband. It kind of looks like a poodle cut. Caitlyn got a barrel cut. I forgot to take my camera to pasture today but will try to remember
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“Nor’easter”

February 11, 2010 | 8 Comments

Yesterday's much hyped nor'easter didn't amount to much After a mere dusting of 3 inches, I had the barn lots plowed out by mid morning. Late afternoon's sun reduced the snow to scattered patches. You won't catch me complaining about the lack of snow this winter. A sifting once a week freshens up the yards and then I can feed the sheep outdoors. With so many sheep in full fleece, there's not much elbow room at the feeders these days. Lengthening days means plenty of light for end-of-day chores. Here are some happy campers at dinner. Speaking of
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Spread the Love

February 5, 2010 | 52 Comments

We're going to have a little fun with Valentine's Day this year. I can't play favorites, since I'm the shepherd. But you can send Valentine wishes to that special someone in the flock. Does your heart go pitter-patter for the debonaire Butch, or do you have a sweet spot for his gal-pal Gypsy? Are you sending love to Cocoa, our wiley-wooly flock matriarch, or do you adore her handsome grandson, Cinder (or perhaps Cinder's sister, Blaze?) Maybe your heart already belongs to our humble guard llama, Crackerjack (unless you're a secret admirer of his elegant but fickle counterpart, Caitlyn).
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