BLESSINGS!

We have had a very blessed year! There have been a lot of ups and downs, but God has taken care of us! We have done a lot of work on our barn. My husband is making it look like a new barn! We were worried about how we would get the building supplies we would need to get some structural damage fixed on it. Preston is a carpenter, and work has been very slow! We just started working on it with nothing, trusting that it would be provided. We started out by using some telephone poles my husband had saved up that the electric company had given us through the years to fix the rotting posts on the north side that had been exposed to the weather for several years. We also recycled a lot of the barn wood we took down around the feed room. It used to be a corn crib that went almost all the way up to the roof of the barn. We lowered it and put our loft above our now, feed room. So, we ended up with lots of boards to fix the north side! We were also given some barn tin, by a farmer we know, to close up the east side of the barn.  I prayed that we would be provided with the materials, and little by little, they came! There is still a lot of work in progress, but it will be wonderful when it is done! I am so thankful for my husband. The barn is something that I have wanted to improve for a long time and he has done a great job! We have always used just one side of it for our alpacas. Now we are able to use the whole barn! And it is even more wonderful because last November we acquired 5 new alpacas!! We have a new herdsire, his name is Johnny Cash. It was so amazing and he was meant to be here because, we LOVE the real Johnny Cash! He is a beautiful, all black, award winning, suri alpaca! He will have his first cria on the ground, here, at our farm, in the Fall. We are looking so forward to that! Not only will we be having his cria, but we will be having 2 more crias born here in the Fall also! Our new girls are Melee, Cascada, Shake Rattle N Roll, and Motley Too! They are all so sweet! And they make me so happy!

I have been working at perfecting my spinning. I learned how to ply my yarn this winter. I made my first skein of yarn a few weeks before Christmas. It meant a lot to me because it was made from Egg Nog and Theoden's fiber, and that I made it myself! It wasn't a very big amount of yarn, but my daughter promptly took it and crochet a muffler for me. 


We are planning to participate in the MOPACA fiber arts show in March. It will be in Kansas City again. My daughter, Sarah has had a lot of success with her business. She has her fiber art in 2 businesses and her 2 online shops. Easter is coming up soon, and I will be posting some of her Easter creations on our blog and Facebook pages. Sarah has also been teaching her felting in the same shops. In January we were invited to speak to the Quilters Guild in Higginsville, MO. We talked about raising our animals and the fiber they produce. I demonstrated my spinning for them as well. The ladies found it very interesting and seemed to love all the things we showed them that can be made with our fiber. It was fun!


I have been using a drum carder to get larger batches of our fiber carded. It is a wonderful thing to have if you have lots of fiber to card. Sarah has been after me to speed up the yarn making process! She has lots of things she wants to make. I homeschool my son, so sometimes it's hard to find time to sit at the spinning wheel after a busy day. I'm trying to make myself  work at if more often. It is hard to stop, once you start.


We still have a ton of work to do to get things the way we want them to be. We have been very lucky to have such a mild winter. It has helped us keep busy working outside. Next, will be spring cleaning, and getting our garden started. I am already planning to get my peas planted this weekend if the weather is nice. We are waiting for the arrival of our new Brauma chicks and Heritage turkeys I ordered from a hatchery in Lebanon, MO. They are due to be delivered in the mail on May 2. Last year, we lost a few of our hens, due to the heat. I have ordered pullets and 1 rooster so that we will have plenty of eggs and eventually have chickens to raise for eating. 
I will keep you updated on any other news! 


Lara