Thaw underway, and the 'message' gets stronger.

:-)

And finally...

Here's the result of an hour with the shovel this morning - I'm hoping it will mature with a slight thaw...I had to stand on the top rail of a fence while holding onto a tree to get a full view - I'll try a Microlight later!

Thanks to everyone who reads the blog, and for advice and friendly comments, look forward to meeting up next year,

"Happy Christmas" everyone, and best wishes for 2011, Dave & Joy.

This blog has some snow in it.

Hi everyone - I make no apologies for attaching our snow pictures -we had 'just' six inches of snow last night, now that's a third of what some readers have had, but here near the Somerset Levels, that was a huge amount, and very rare - for today, we loved it, especially as it had the decency to come over night, and we had blue skies all day - if it lasts for weeks, I'm sure we'll come to hate it as much as anyone who's already had three weeks of it - anyone who has alpacas will know the pleasure that every new situation brings, as you observe and share their exploration of new things (even though, all they really want is some grass to graze on!) - enjoy the pics:




Moira has a snow bath...

Marmite for alpacas?

Sunday is alfalfa day, and it's been a beautiful day here, so it was 'high tea' in the field, which had been completely cleaned for the week ahead. Bramley is having a roll in front of Autumn in the picture. This morning we collected a trailer load of hay, which, with our current stock, should see us through to the middle of April, and we hope to secure another batch to see us through to summer. I gave all the alpacas a drench dose of mineral supplement (marmite for alpacas).
When asked whether she knew anything about some straw going missing from the shelter, Moira had more urgent feeding to attend to rather than own up!

Michael Stipe breeding alpacas?

Well we've only had a dusting of snow, last thursday, and as it is what I call, 'face-grippingly' cold, it is still hanging around, though you'll need to look very closely - but it sounds like most of you don't need to see any more. To supplement the feed, we've made a corral on the lawn to give a weekend treat of lush grass - like all cria, Bramley gets so excited by the change of surroundings, she managed to levitate this aftenoon:


Then after charging around for a bit...
She asked Mum to join in...
"Darling, I'm stocking up to make more milk for you, run along and play"...

We were very lucky in travelling to Scotland last weekend, with good weather, and the highlight of the journey being a break at Beckbrow Service Station -Barbara kindly took a large chunk out of her day to introduce us to her lovely herd, the farm and the charming canines, and also to 're-fuel' us - the 'royal' couple didn't arrive until wednesday, so at least there was no distraction from the core herd - thanks again Barbara.

I was privately amused (and I have to say, thrilled) at another service station, when drying my hands under a hot air blower, and looking at my reflection (always have been vain) in the stainless steel casing, it caused a 'hall-of-mirrors' distortion, and I got Michael Stipe from REM looking back at me! The thing is, if he looked in the same machine, would he see me, and would he know it was me? ...somehow think not.

Mrs. Smallholder held a fleecce and fibre product evening for a lot of girl-friends from the village and surrounds, with wine, nibbles and home-made cake - yours truly was engaged to answer the door, take coats, serve wine and be hospitable - it seemed very successful ( a bitterly cold night helps, though of course the products are excellent) and she's got orders so the spinning wheel is notching up the miles.

I've been at the computer drawing a sketch design for a project which can't be revealed yet, so more on that hopefully in a month or two.

Animal Madhouse.

No, not here! It was a programme on Channel 4 tonight, and featured a couple of alpacas having trouble getting pregnant - the programmes vets refer to Claire Whitehead for advice. Fellow bloggers may find it interesting. Try www.4od.com to watch again, it was on at 8 o'clock.

Small is beautiful.

Like a toddler sucking a piece of spaghetti...
Bramley persists in eating leaves and stems all the way...
Going, going...
Almost gone...

While we search for more grazing, I content myself with the advantage of a small-holding of knowing every square inch of our land and being able to check it for hazards and grass condition daily.

Faecal testing is progressing with comforting results - with hand-clearing latrines I think I can clear 95%, and I'd be interested to know whether 'poovers' can achieve the same level of clearing (poo-pickers elbow excepted).

There is a Eucalyptas tree adjacent to our alpaca shelter, and the girls love the leaves - it's not on the hazardous plant list, and knowing the medicinal qualities of Eucalyptus for humans, I'm assuming the alpacas recognize it too.

Of course, while I comfort myself with the Small is Beautiful mantra, and its benefits, really I'd love to be expanding the herd more quickly, but for now I'll content myself with the intimacy of our small, but beautifully formed (in my opinion) herd.