spring

Well it's been a great & busy week.

We planted 20 sweet cherry trees during the week. When I say we, I mean mostly Paul, planted 20 sweet cherry trees during the week. I did help once the holes were dug and the fertilizer (alpaca poop) was mixed in :-) Can't wait until they look like the picture and we are enjoying them.

Next we-I cleaned the barn. A few more hours and it will be complete. Well as complete as a barn with 14 Alpacas pooping daily, too many chickens to count & 1 friendly turkey can be. It was good enough for shearing.

We had a great day shearing all the Alpacas and had some great helpers! Thanks to our neighbor Kelly and our new found alpaca friends Eric & Lisa for all your help. I think they actually enjoyed the day. Usually we don't get repeat help

The picture is of a little guy named speedy. Wish we would have taken an after picture. He is adorable and is going to his new home with 1 of our other alpacas this week. I will miss seeing the little guys go they are so much fun to watch playing in the field.


So now we are on to a crazy schedule of  shearing Llamas & Alpacas around the state. Every weekend and some weekdays for the next 6 weeks.

BUT... We also have gardening on the mind

We always have a garden that's almost to big to handle and definitely more then we can eat so we have decided to have a community garden.
3 lovely lady friends of ours will be helping with the garden this year. We have lots of land and lots of fertilizer (alpaca, chicken, pig poop & we know where to get horse & cow poop if necessary)
Together we have great plans for the future & others that would like to join in. Sharing a garden for the 1st time we are going to start with just a small group and see how things go.

We did buy a new toy for the garden (Paul loves new toys) It's a 5 ft. rototiller for the back of our 1951 john deer tractor. We are hoping but not completely sure that the tractor will be strong enough for the tiller. We'll find out this week. Wish us luck

Spring 2014. Ahhh happy words

Finally the longest coldest, snowiest winter that I can remember has said good by and spring has sprung:-)
We have spent the past few months dreaming and planning and now it's time to get busy.

Alpaca & Llama Shearing Season starts this Saturday April 26, 2014 We are starting with our own Alpaca herd. If your interested in coming out to watch & help out with shearing and harvesting the fiber, please give us a call or email. We will have fiber for sale right off the animal and we also  have roving for sale.

Then we will be in full swing going throughout Michigan shearing at Alpaca & Llama farms with as few as 2 animals and as large as 60 plus Alpacas & 40 plus Llamas.  So excited to see all of our Alpaca & Llama friends and get our hands on that wonderful fiber.

Holiday Fair in Fremont MI.

The Alpaca Corner will be set up at the Holiday Fair in Fremont MI. tomorrow. November 9, 2013 from 9am to 3pm. It's located in the old Fremont High School. It's a huge event with about 150 exhibitors. Hope to see you there.

Some new members of the White Cloud Alpaca family that you'll meet at our Open House

Our 8th Annual Open house will be here before you know it. In case you forgot, the date is set for Oct. 12, 2013 from 10 to 4pm
Here are a few new faces you'll see on our farm this year

2 little pigs- we have not named them and they are still a little shy

Our 2 Turkeys Tommy & Gretta- very curious & friendly Almost 4 months old they have gotten very big.

This little guy is just over a week old. Maybe you can help us name him. He's doing great!

Our old gal Maggy is not so new. She's the oldest member of our farm

Here's another new guy. Just born in this picture, he's not quite a week old. We also need help naming him

This is Little Ms. Patriot. She was born Nov. 7, 2012 (election day)

Fall Events & Open House

Just a quick post to let everyone know about some upcoming events for the farm.
Next week we will be at 3 different farm markets with our Alpacas. We'll also have some Alpaca clothing, books, fiber, etc. with us. Just in time for the cold weather.

Market dates:
Sept 18th     We'll be at the Sparta Farmers Market  2-7pm
Sept 20th     Big Rapids Farm Market  8am-2pm
Sept 21st      Howard City Farm Market   9am-2pm

Also, Please Save the date for our 8th Annual White Cloud Alpaca Open House

October 12, 2013 From 10am to 4pm
As always we hope to see old friends and meet new ones.

I'll be posting soon with more info on our Open House and to fill you in on our wonderful summer full of new animals-turkeys & pigs and our daughters wedding.

Shearing Time

Well we are all ready to start the 2013 shearing season, BUT the weather just is not cooperating. April 20th we are scheduled to start shearing at a few farms north of our place. The high is suppose to be 39 or 40 degrees. Those poor Alpacas will be freezing. I think we will be putting them off and working longer days once the weather does brake.

Shearing for our farm is set for May 4, 2013. We will be shearing at a small farm in Morley in the morning and should be back for our Alpaca shearing by 1 o'clock in the afternoon. We are not having a big to do for shearing day this year but people are more then welcome to come help with the harvest. Please call or email if interested.  It's also a great time to get your hands on any of our Alpacas that you may be interested in purchasing or purchasing fleece right off the animal. We have a list of several good mills that you can send the fiber off to, to be processed into roving, yarn or made into socks, clothing, etc.

Maple Syrup: The weather may not be good for shearing but it's been a great year for making maple syrup

 Here are a few pictures of our evaporator. It takes about 38 to 40 gallons of sap from the maple trees to make up 1 gallon of syrup. It takes us a full day of boiling to make about 1 1/2 gallons of syrup. We like to refer to it as liquid gold. Unfortunately our day jobs don't allow for syrup making during the week. We hope to someday be able to make enough for more sales but right now we are just having fun making our own supply and a few extra for gifts and sales.

Gardening Season is also just around the corner: We love to garden and have grown our own veggies since marrying almost 31 yrs ago . We seem to expand our garden by a little every year and have also planted many fruit trees. We always have more then enough for ourselves, our family and a few outside veggie sales. We also hope to have enough for more sales in the future.
Since purchasing our 1st Alpacas 11 yrs ago this coming summer, we have ONLY used Alpaca dung to fertilize the garden. It is by far the best fertilizer we have ever used.
We bag and sell the Alpaca dung $8.00 a bag if we bag it. If you are interested in purchasing some and would like to bag it yourself or bring your pickup truck out to the field, we have reduced pricing.  Check out our blog from March 2012 for fiber analysis compared to other animals.

Stop by our store-The Alpaca Corner, located in This Old House Antiques. Downtown Newaygo and pick up some fiber for the birds.It's the fiber from Alpaca neck & legs. Not soft for clothing but it has great uses.  The birds love it for their nests. You can put some in a bird cake holder and watch the birds take it away. a small bag full free with any purchase.

Winter Clothing Sale

   The Alpaca Corner located in This Old House Antiques, downtown Newaygo is offering 20% Off all capes, wraps, shawls and sweaters through the end of February.


Also, watch for new merchandise coming in. The Alpaca Wool blend blankets are sure to keep you warm and cozy throughout the winter months!