Chchchanges!!!

   When we bought this house we fell in love with the house, the land, the outbuildings, and all of its potential.  All of our needs were met, and we are viewing this as a blank slate.  So in line with that idea, we are currently doing some renovations to our barn.
   The barn is essentially a wooden shed in good condition, with a cement floor.  However, it does not quite suit our needs.  As a result,  Donald and I are working on adding a fence and gate within the barn to prevent the herd from using the entire shed.  This makes them easier to work with to administer injections, and when the veterinarian comes to visit.
     In addition, we are putting a door in the back wall of the barn for the chicken coop.  The chicken coop is going to be in the back part of the shed, with chicken wire, perches that are hinged for easy cleaning, and nesting boxes.  The chickens should start laying in the next two months, and we are very excited about it.  Also, as the weather gets colder the chickens need to have somewhere to keep warm and be protected from predators.  The predators in our area include: skunks, coyotes, fox, cats, wild dogs, raccoons, opossums, eagles. 
    Finally, the last part of the barn is going to be empty between the herd and chickens.  We will store grain in bins and some hay.  This will allow us to feed the alpacas in the mornings, without having to go up and down the hill.
     We are building this completely out of convenience for ourselves, the animals, and for functionality.  We are all about being clean, efficient, yet stylish. 

"Tina, eat your food!"

   The alpacas have settled in nicely to the new barn and paddocks.  We get our daily paca kisses when we go clean the paddocks.  Today, we even put some halters on them and went for a walk to some greener pastures. While, Virgil frisked about behind us wearing a halter, he is not quite ready for a lead yet.
    However, let us backtrack to last weekend.  Last Sunday morning we went and picked up the llama we dubbed "Tina Claire." Ok, let's back track some more.  The day after we got the alpacas we emailed our good friend Judy of Perfect Peace Alpacas and asked her to keep on the look out for a female llama.  We needed an experienced herd guardian to protect our herd from wild dogs, coyotes, and other  undesirable animals.  By Wednesday, she had passed on the name of an experienced girl llama who has been protecting a herd of Dwarf Nigerian Goats.  So Sunday morning we headed off to Martinsville, VA to meet our newest addition.  In fact, there seems to be another new addition on the way, as she seems to be pregnant.  We loaded her into the trailer and off we went home.  As soon as we opened the door she hopped off the trailer and in with the new herd.  She blended right in, with no need to establish herself in the pecking order. 
     So what about names? Well I thought it would be amusing to name her "Tina" after Napoleon Dynamite. That movie is entertaining, and one of the few in which a casserole is chucked at a llama to eat. Oh, and our llama looks just like her. If you haven't seen it yet, you need to. Click on the link: Napoleon Dynamite feeding Tina. In addition, upon telling my students about "Tina," one student insisted the new addition should be named after her too; hence the name "Tina Claire." 
     We are working on halter breaking her more, since she was mostly a herd guardian.  She was not shorn this year due to being pregnant, but she will be shorn next April. We are hoping that she will have her cria by then, we are not sure when is due.  She is very sweet and very protective of her herd.  We could not ask for a better guardian for our small alpaca herd. 

  

At last...our alpacas have come along...

     After an excellent second week back at school, we are ready for a relaxing three day weekend. Not!!! The alpacas are finally coming home tomorrow afternoon; Autumn, Solstice, and baby Virgil.  We have the grain for everyone, plenty of orchard grass, all of our buckets, and alpaca necessities. Also, the barn is all ready with electric and a cement floor; it was already existing when we bought this house.
    However,  we still have one more side of fence to put up for the spoil section, and another gate. "We" really meaning Donald, as the most I normally do is sit on the tractor, or hold tools. (Note: I do other things around the farm)  Fencing is not my specialty; however, it seems to be Donald's. After hours of research, phone calls with professional fencing friends, and some heartache, it seems to be almost done. Who knew when we bought this place that it was the rockiest place in Virginia? Not us apparently.  Yet Donald, ever my superhero, managed to make it happen.
    Also, now that we are back to school and receiving regular pay, we are able to buy  more fencing to create more paddocks.  We want to rotate the alpacas into different pastures.  Rotating pastures is a great way for the alpacas to not over eat in a particular area.  In addition, it allows the pastures to be resting 75% while the others are in use.  After tons of research we believe that this is the most effective way to allow the alpacas to naturally graze; in addition, to hay and grain.
   Similarly, in the future as we expand the farm, we would like to allow all the farm animals to rotate pastures.  This method is an ideal practice to maintain the land, and also allows you to control or evaluate animal intake. We shall have to see what the future holds, and take one step at a time.

Keeping up with...Farmer Joe?

  Since we bought the farm we have...officially gotten engaged, bought 25 chicks, lost 2 chicks, seen multiple deer, started alpaca fencing, set up a kennel for the dogs, taken down a tree, experienced a strong wind storm (known as a Derecho), bought a truck, bought a tractor, built a chicken tractor, made plans for a chicken coop, started storing hay for the alpacas, started storing wood for the winter, finished setting up the house, killed a ground hornet's nest (5 feet wide by 3 feet deep at least), and numerous other things.  Dreams do come true!

We bought the farm!!

  Ladies and gentleman it finally happened! On May 18th, 2012 we finally bought our hobby farm! We are now the proud owners of a beautiful 11+ acre property in Catawba, VA. Our amazing new place backs a few thousand acres of the Jefferson National Forest, while the Appalachian Trail is right in our own backyard.  The past few months have been a whirlwind of To Do lists and emotions. However, we would not trade it for anything in the world.

The Beginning

     This is the beginning, of the record of our journey, as we pursue our dream of one day owning a hobby farm.  Our passion for animals, and my love for knitting led us to get our first pair of alpacas in March of 2008.  From these two lovely creatures, we have shaped our dream of owning a hobby farm that will be able to sustain itself.   One day, we hope to be able to at least partially live off the land through gardening, fiber from our animals, and dairy animals.  Please feel free to join us through this journey of triumph and struggles as we work towards owning our dream farm.