A different Kind of Packing

On Wednesday we went on the best adventure to Horse Mountain Alpacas and visited Leah who showed us around the farm. Having recently become addicted to yarn and knitting, I have leapt at any opportunities to find out more about yarn and where it comes from . Neola met Leah at a farmers market and told me about it just so I could plan to make the trip. Jay, Neola, and Luke came with me.

Leah described the alpaca as being like cats, they're rarely the ones to come to you. Alpaca are, however, a little easier to catch. Leah is quite the expert at catching them!

The alpaca's fleece is soooo dense and much thicker than I had thought. My fingers just sank into the fleece.

Here is Leah letting me pose with this little guy! Isn't he adorable?!

Try 2. He wasn't so willing to listen to me.

Neola was very kind to take pictures while I gawked at the alpaca.

Leah told us that this guy likes to give kisses, and that it's the best way to coax him to come closer. Soooo...I kissed a girl ...and I liked it! Hahaha pop culture reference! Don't worry...you can tell by Luke's mildy disgusted face he's not especially jealous. I didn't get any germs, I inherited a rather large nose, and it turned into more of an Eskimo kiss.

I thought this chica was interested too, but right when I thought I'd wooed her...

She took a turn and went for Luke. I guess she knows a good lookin guy when she sees one.

Here's one of the babies. Sooo cute. OoooEEeeeh! Do you notice the fantabulously furry and lovable alpaca sized dog laying on the ground outside that fence? I'm not sure if that one is Max or Molly. They're companion dogs for the alpaca. (They keep the alpaca company, and break up any fights.) There's a board across the gate he's lying by because the way those dogs get from pen to pen is climbing up through the top gap. He's not supposed to get through that one. I'll believe it when I see it, but I'm still impressed.

Here are some of the nice male alpaca. They're kept in a separate pens. The girls are on the left. The more aggressive males have a nice cozy pen of their own.

Trying to make friends again.

So I guess high levels of testosterone in the males makes their fleece softer. Here Leah is holding him so I can feel the difference in this three year old males fleece.

These are the last two Pygmy goats, Christmas (the smaller dog), and Molly/Max. The Pygmy goats are in the same pen as the more aggressive alpaca. It's true, they can hold their own.

Here is the ornery guy himself and his buddy. The little play structure is for the goats. When they were younger, they climbed, now they sleep underneath.

Then Leah took us into the little side cottage/gift shop to show us several things. 1.) What the fleece looks like just after the alpaca is sheared (shorn?)

We also got to see lots of alpaca products and I even bought some yarn! I went with a white bulky. Wouldn't you know it, I forgot the name of the alpaca my yarn came from! Leah if you read this would you remind me?

Something I learned: Baby Alpaca doesn't really come from the babies. It can come from an alpaca of any age. Translation: Super soft is all that matters.