A Very Wet 2012 Memorial Day

I am sitting here watching Clint Easwood casually shoot and stab enemy soldiers in "Where Eagles Dare" as I type this.  The book for this movie was written by a favorite author of mine, Alistair MacLean.  I'm pretty sure I've read all of his books and I think even a few that were ghosted after his death.  Richard Burton never seemed the right lead for this movie, but at least they followed the book - unlike "Guns of Navarone" and especially "Force 10 From Navarone".  The former was a pretty good movie, the latter - ugh.

Our three new Akbash/Pyr livestock guardian dogs are sort of working out.  Rosie and Lea still chase the alpacas so we've blocked those pastures so they can't get inside - which kind of defeats the purpose of having LGDs.  But at least we can leave them out of their stall for most of the day now.  We placed our foster dog, Bucky, in a really nice home and when they're ready they'll probably take Rosie also.  She's the more shy/timid of the three, but she's also the main instigator for alpaca chasing.  Once she's placed if Lea continues the behaviour we'll be placing her as well and then getting an LGD pup to keep Bob company.  All three of them would make good house dogs, just not at our house (-:

Chloe with an exhausted Gary snuggled up to her

Chloe, our mini-Oberhasli, is now giving us close to three quarts of milk a day (four quarts makes a gallon).  That's close to what a full sized goat produces.  We'll probably be breeding her in September - 1) to give her a break from milking and 2) to make sure her milk stays nutritious (and has what it needs for cheese making).  Whether it's a doeling or a buck/wether we'll definitely be selling them - two goats are enough at this point.

I've spent the morning trying to update our new website on openherd.com - adding pictures for the farm store, eventually I'll add prices. I've been trying to get the whole thing published, but for some reason it's just not cooperating. We'll see what their support has to say about what I'm doing wrong and hopefully we'll get it straightened out. Eventually we'll probably shut down heartofdreamsalpacas.biz, but if I do it right it should be a seamless transition. (It's now less than an hour after I sent my request for help and I got an email response indicating that the issue has been fixed - how cool is that?  Check out http://heartofdreamsalpacas.openherd.com )

The main reason behind updating the website is 2012 is the year we start working on downsizing the herd.  We have 29 alpacas at last count and in two years we lose one of our farm hands when he graduates high school.  Two years after that we lose our last farm hand when he graduates.  Which means that the daily farm chores will fall to Tim and myself and we ain't getting any younger )-:  Plus it will make our CPA happier (-:  So keep an eye on the website (openherd.com) for deals and updates!

Whimsy - laminate alpaca blanket 6'x4'

Now I think I've procrastinated enough and I need to start work on two pairs of slippers that were requested Saturday by the cutest couple I've seen in a long time who stopped by the booth just as the market was shutting down.  She asked for sky blue for hers and dark blue for his.  The gotcha is I've never successfully made slippers before - the one pair I attempted last year were never cut from the form because they looked too stupid.  Sigh.  Plus I just rememberd the third panel of the blanket I started in CA - one panel of dark rose-grey, one panel of light brown and on panel (to be done) with a mix of both colors.  This time it's straight felt, not laminated like my "Whimsy" blanket.

Where Did January Go?!

It's now February 1st and I don't know what happened to January?!  I know some of it I spent in CA with my parents.  Dad is in a rehab facility recuperating from a car accident back on Thanksgiving and Mom was having eye surgery.  Mom got to try spinach souffle (cooked in an 8 cup Pyrex measuring cup no less) as well as home made butternut squash soup.  I made Dad a black mouse with teal ears/nose/tail for his room while we sat and talked one visit.  We also mailed the pieces of a felt mobile to hang in his room - of course I didn't get any pictures of the pieces, but they were based on the Celestial Mobile by Marianne S. Dubois in "Designer Needle Felting".  I hope it brightens it up for him a bit.

I've also taken two cheese making classes with Julie Steil of River Valley Cheese in Snohomish, WA.  I'm still working on the aging side of the process - I've lost the rounds of Tomme, Blue Tomme and Camembert I've tried so far.  But Julie says that aging is the most difficult part of cheese making so I haven't given up.  My goat cheese and goat/alpaca cheese are coming along - my favorite is still the blended goat/balsamic vineagar cheese.  Next on the list is to make provolone from my stock pile of goat's milk.  I have the culture, now to give it a try and get the aging process going.

We're starting to ramp up for the 2012 market and festival season - we're back at The Redmond Saturday Market and we'll also be doing a Spring show in Duvall in March and probably the Duvall Plant and Garden Art Sale in May.  I'm hoping we'll have the llamas and alpacas at some of those venues.

My taxes are calling, as is the scarf I started that needs to be wetted down for felting. 

Happy 2012!