Here's the deal...

I've thought more about this blog over the past year more than I want to.  Actually I didn't realize it had been the better part of a year since I've posted.  Alot has happened to me lately as it does to everyone, but we all go through changes and honestly this year was a biggie for me.

A little bit of history, I live on a small ranch is south central Oklahoma (115 acres) with my 58 alpacas, 20 head of Angus mother cows, 3 livestock guardian dogs, um-teen barn cats, and what ever other sundry varmits that have the huevos to hang with us. 

My husband (the guy is a saint, really) works in St. Louis and commutes home twice a month so that I can live out my dream and make us rich!!  Okay, so that was a joke.  He really loves his job and I really love him when he's in St. Louis!  Honestly, life gets a little iffy around here when I'm by myself.  I really hate throwing hay out into a pasture when there are twenty 1100 pound animals chasing you like they haven't been fed in a year.  Anyway....  I hope I get better at this......... 

Farewell Zeus

Today is a sad day, my Great Pyrenees LGD Zeus had to be put down.  As a LGD there wasn't any better, at 6 years old he still had a number of good years left in him.  I thought he may have been poisoned but the vet thought he probably had gotten a tick fever.

Zeus was the kind of Pyr that didn't want to be fooled with, he had a job to do and wanted to be left to it.  Now don't get me wrong, Zeus loved to be pet and liked his people, but don't think about fooling around with him.  Once a year we would wrestle a muzzle on him long enough to sedate him, shear, vaccinate and vet him.  That's about all you got, he delt with his own fighting injuries and coyote run ins.

We have a 25 acre conservation lake on the property and allow a few people to fish on it.  When someone strange would be on the lake fishing, Zeus would sit on the dam an watch them the whole time, never barking or aggressive, just watching.  He would also follow any children around that happened to be on the property.  You could tell by the look in his eye that he felt babysitting was beneath him but by gosh those kids wern't going to get in trouble or hurt on his watch!  In his 6 years we never once lost a cria or a calf to coyotes.

Due to the excessive rain this year, it has been a bumper crop for ticks and bugs.  The vet thought he had probably layed down in the pasture near a tick hatch and within a few days he was overcome.  Within 4 days he had become lethargic, weak and staggering.  In 20 years I've never had this happen to a dog.  So Zeus now has his place of honor in our animal burial plot next to our 33 year old stud horse Young Paul Bert.

Rest in peace my good friend, I will miss you....

Hello world!

When I first contemplated this whole blogging adventure, I didn't think I had very much to write about or why anyone would want to read about my life, struggles or musings.  After much consideration and encouragement from my beloved family and friends, I've decided to give it a shot, nothing ventured nothing gained, right?....

So for the past 8 years I have been raising alpacas, both suri and huacaya breeds.  I initially began with breeding stock only, and for the past 4 years I have been adding fiber production animals to my herd.   After this years cria (baby) crop I now total 58 animals, a far cry from the original 6 I started with.  My husband and I currently live on 115 acres of rolling pasture land in south central Oklahoma with our alpacas, small herd of mother cows, great pyranees livestock guardian dogs, a host of barn cats and one very spoiled miniature schnauzer named Otis.

Alpacas are strictly fiber producers in the U.S.  They are very hardy easy to keep animals and extremely easy on the land.  No kicking, digging, rooting or any other nasty habits other than spitting at one another as well as the occasional unfortunate human, a very unpleasant experience I might add.  Alpaca fiber can be as soft and fine as cashmere, is 3 times warmer than wool and has water resistant properties.  The alpaca's fleece does not have grease or lanolin in it which makes it delightful to handle and work with.

Over the past 4 years I have been developing my own line of luxury yarns and alpaca accessories.  These consist of natural colored and hand dyed 100% alpaca, as well as a number of wonderful blends including fibers such as silk, merino wool, bamboo, cashmere, mohair and many others.  This project has taken me on such an exciting journey of ups and downs, Ah Ha! moments and failures, sometimes I don't know whether I'm coming or going!  Thankfully the Ah Ha!'s far out weigh the failures at this point.

I absolutely love being creative, from the designing of the yarn blends and accessories to color theory, hand dyeing/painting as well as the sewing/crafting of my finished products.  I have an extensive background in art and fashion sewing, and as for the rest of it, well I just wing it!  Most of the ideas I get for my colorways come from nature and places I've visited.  To me its just very satisfying to create something from raw materials into a beautiful finished product.

Currently my product line includes commercial and hand-spun yarn, roving, quilting batts, as well as felted totebags, mini dog clothes, felted flower barrettes, baby booties and brooches.  You can find me on Etsy, Facebook, my Legacy Alpacas website, The Alpaca Legacy website (my fiber products), Ravelry and good old email.  Check me out there or drop me a line, I'd love to hear from you!

Until we meet again.

Cheers!