on my needles...

You may remember these little beauties I made from last year, maybe not. Due to the very uncomfortable heat and humidity for the past several days I've spent a lot of time inside avoiding it, it's miserable! In doing so I figured I'd better be doing something so I decided to get a jump on winter knitting to avoid months of chiropractic care and a neck and shoulder packed in ice for weeks! I posted these on our facebook page yesterday and said I'm making these again today only with fiber from my boys and got lots of compliments but I got a great idea to make these little beauties even better....

how? you ask....

let me show you...

...they are being lined with roving that will eventually felt into the mitten and make them softer and ever warmer. It's like sticking your hands into our llama without the work of having to care for him or shear him. These were even more popular, I've got three orders to fill already!

now that's COLD!!!

Right now it's cold here, I don't know exactly how cold but cold enough that when I went out to do the barn chores tonight the snot in my nose froze. Needless to say that I was not excited to be out there much longer than necessary but I do need to feed and care for my animals so I bundle up and go out and try to ignore the cold. Dakota, our llama has an abscessed tooth which I am in the process of treating. Not to worry, he's responding well to treatment and from what I understand this is quite common for both llamas and alpacas, considering this is our first one here I think I'm doing alright. Other than being over the moon disgusting treatment isn't that bad, a course of antibiotic and flushing the draining pocket of puss until it heals. By pocket of puss I mean the first time I drained it there was well over a tablespoon of thick, white, slightly chunky puss that came out of the hole in his face! Gross is not the word for it! In some cases I understand the tooth can be removed but the risk is a broken jaw neither of which sounds good to me.

Dakota is learning that when I come into the stall without food I'm coming after him for treatment, he has been taking off to the far end of his pen requiring me to follow, now he's realized that treatment isn't going to kill him and he feels better and is followed by grain - which he loves! Now he steps away just a few steps as if it's an attempt to remain defiant in front of his herd but secretly just giving to the temptation of grain...

Tonight after most of the chores were done I popped back into the house to draw up the syringe of antibiotic and the flush and went back to the barn to treat Dakota. When I got to the barn I placed the syringes on the mini shelf of the stall, went to fetch Dakota and tie him up because he does not enjoy the dose of antibiotic and by doing this it's less space for him to move and dance around in which allows me to use both hands. Got him tied and grabbed the syringes. Feeling around under a ton of thick warm fiber for a place to pinch up a bunch of skin is not exactly an easy task, after this was accomplished I pushed the needle into his skin. I was not able to press the plunger down, I was sure I was in, but the plunger would not move, so I switched out the needles and tried again. The liquid in the needles was frozen! OMW!!! The flush was warm too! I couldn't believe it! I warmed them up so they would thaw and be given but I could not believe in the three minutes they were on the shelf they'd gotten cold enough for the liquid in the needle; which was covered, to freeze. Yup! That's COLD! After the antibiotic was given and the abscess was flushed (and bonus tonight I didn't get any of the puss or flush splashed back onto my face tonight! woohoo) Faith led Dakota over to his bowl of grain which he devoured almost as fast as Andrew eats pesto!

Warm Winter Woolies!

So here it is folks! Just back from the mill and ready for some creativity, all that's needed is YOU! This is our llama/wool blend.

 

100% Maine grown alpaca! Exclusive From the Country Farm blend we call Johnsey! Makes me think of a sinfully rich mug of hot cocoa. Silky. Soft. Warm. What more could you ask for?

 

 

 Miss Audrey's favorite "Deorgepaca!" Again 100% Maine grown alpaca! Similar to Johnsey only a white chocolate version!

All our fiber is processed and spun into this wonderful yarn within 10 miles of our farm, when I say I like supporting local businesses I mean local! :-) When the rest of the yarn is finished and back I'll post some pictures of that as well, it'll be after the start of the new year, I think I'll have all this yarn in hanks by then! Have I mentioned I'm just giddy about this?!

Sending out some Christmas cheer!

Meet the Cast - 'The Boys'

..........George Harold
(Faith's alpaca, she chose the name)

..........Monday Morning

..........Monkey

..........Crazy Professor

(My mother said he looks like a wild and crazy professor, it stuck!)

..........Prince William/Willbill

(Andrew's alpaca, he came as Prince William but Andrew thinks he might call him Willbill, who know's it might change tomorrow!)

** all these pictures were taken by my sister Jen.

A herd of alpacas arrived at our farm last night about 10:30 pm and are settling in nicely and fitting in splendidly here at what some are calling "The Misfit Refuge." We're starting to be know for our animals with 'issues,' and I'm totally fine with that. For those of you who may have missed that post about our other misfit animals that post can be found here.

In this hodgepodge of misfits we've got a stunted one, one who is a train wreck as far as conformation goes, one with a "skin issue" on part of his leg and neurological issues. (The skin issue is not contagious, as he's the only one who has it and they've all come from the same herd.) And one that sounds like a baby toy when he humms. So that leaves us with one 'normal' alpaca, for now until his 'issue' appears. I think they'll fit in quite well, don't you?!

I've been smitten with alpacas since I first saw them and went nuts (I know, I know it was a short trip!) over the fiber and have wanted some ever since, however they are a bit out of my price range right now, but when a friend asked me if I was interested in these after she really hurt her back and felt like she could no longer care for them I jumped at the chance to have alpacas! My husband is a very good and patient man and fellow animal lover. Thank you Ron! So we worked out a deal and I brought them home last night! Our llama Dakota is thrilled and after a period of adjustment and quarantine they'll all be turned out together.

In the spring they'll be shorn and I'll have lots of yarn in lots of shades and colors. I'm thinking about starting a fiber CSA. I got the idea from another blog I follow and think it's a wonderful plan! Any thoughts or interest? I don't have all the details worked out at the moment, but if there is interest please leave me a comment or contact me and we'll take it from there. Deal?

It's not gonna be a good day Tater...

...when you have to start off the day by nailing part of your ROOF back on! Augh! I woke up last night to the sound of "wind gusts" as our rather chipper weatherman likes to call them and the roof being blown off. I knew there was nothing that I could reasonably do at o dark thirty in the storm by myself so I decided to stay put and pray, as that seemed the safe and right thing to do. So to start off my day I climbed up onto the roof and tried to fix it the best way I could and hopefully it stays put, at least until we replace it with a standing steam metal one. Mind you I'm not a roofer, just thought with would work.

No, the kids were not on the roof, Faith was just taking pictures behind Andrew and his head was poking out through the window, although he really wanted to be out there with me helping!

You should have seen the look on Dakotas face, like he was thinking "Crazy human do you realize where you are? I really don't think you belong up there!!" Poor D.

A Creative Break

I enjoy knitting socks, most of the time. Now I'm a practical woman, I figure nobody but me, (or you if I made them for you.) will actually see these so I don't spend time making them all fancy, no cables, twisted stitches, (although one day I might make myself a pair of those, just for namesake.) argyles etc. So I make them stockinette, well knitting in the round, it's just knitting and mind numbingly boring! I'm currently working on a pair for Ron when I just had to stop, I could not take one more stitch! I needed to take a break and do something creative and different, like the hats, needle roll or this:
I found this pattern and fell in love with it but wasn't sure my knitting skills were up to the task, after all the pattern said it was for intermediate knitters, and it looked intimidating. I have a couple nieces who are all girl and play with their babies all the time so I figured I could make this in a much smaller size to see if I could knit it or stand doing it and if it worked out give it to one of them for their doll. Turns out it was not nearly as bad as I figured and totally manageable. Now to find a yarn that I love as much as the pattern will be another thing, I'm considering Dakotas wool I've got.... That would be so neat!

Meet the Cast - Hyacinth

Here's the newest addition to From the Country Farm, Hyacinth.
She's an angora cross, my friend thought it was Nigerian Dwarf. Before arriving at my friends home she had been in a place that had abused her, I don't know what happened, but my friend said it was quite a while before she could have anything in her hand and walk near the goat.

So she's here now and will not have anything but love here. Yes, it's possible to love a goat, they are awesome animals! I say that honestly, but with some partiality towards them; I have to, we have 5 now, and started with only two... (grinning like a fool.) I was warned though, I was told that you cannot have just one, as they are herd animals and they need to be with other animals, like kind is good, what I think they meant was you can't have just one because the are like potato chips and you'll need more.

The kids and I arrived home last night about 11:30 and before we even went into the house to pee we got the goat unloaded and into the stall. I decided not to put her in with the other goats last night as 1. she thinks she's a horse I'm told, 2. I wanted her to get settled from the 1 1/2 hour ride home in the crate to a new barn, people, animals, life etc... and 3. a period of quarantine is always a good idea. So we put her in the stall in the crate, gave her hay and water and figured she'd come out when she felt safe. I felt awful this morning when I went into the barn and she was still in the crate we brought her here in, horrified would be a more accurate term. Had she spent the entire night in there? Like I said, it was a tight squeeze but manageable. I had to have the kids help me get her out because I couldn't do it myself, the crate is very large and bulky, we managed to do it but it wasn't her favorite thing to do. Now that she's out she's eating, drinking, pooping and peeing, so far so good. Dakota, our llama looked over the stall wall this morning and liked what he saw. He's intact, for now...... but they'll be on the chopping block shortly. My vet likes them to be a bit older before she gelds them for the health of the animal. I'm good with that.

So there you have it, our newest addition, I'm sorry the picture is a bit blurry, I only took a few pictures, I didn't want to freak her out and this was the best one. Oh, I almost forgot, she (and Blackberry for that matter) is already starting to shed her wool! I'm excited about that for two reasons, 1. hopefully it means an early spring and 2. I get to spin it, an oooo-la-la is it soft. Now for the spinning wheel......

Just a note for future farming/homesteading reference... don't wear chapstick to the barn during shedding season.

Meet the Cast - Dakota

Meet Dakota, Garlic's buddy. The first winter we had Garlic seemed like it would drag on forever, and I think he felt that way too. We had SO much snow and ice that it felt like at any moment we'd start seeing polar bears! That said, I think Garlic would have welcomed the company, he seemed really sad and lonely, spending days in his stall with only his head poking out as if to say 'Damn, it's still here!' Wishing it away did not work for either of us. So in the spring we added a llama to our farm. Dakota (named by my daughter after a horse she dearly loves at another barn) was smitten with Garlic and I thought the feeling would be returned, it was not. Garlic could have cared less for Dakota, he was not the least bit interested in making friends, eventually Dakota's persistence paid off and now when I take Garlic out for a ride he'll whinny back to the barn for his friend.