We just got back the last of our 2010 yarn!  It is absolutely gorgeous.  We a vibrant true black that is just stunning and a super soft gray yarn that is made from 4 cria fleeces.  We also have a very limited amount of fawn yarn, however, I believe it is already spoken for.  I am waiting to hear back from one of our customers that expressed an interest in it earlier.  



We are very proud of the quality of our yarn and a great deal of care goes into our fleeces before sending it to the mill.  Our mill is Autumn Mist and they do a fantastic job.  Because they do such a good job, however, there is a wait up to 12 months depending when you submit your fleeces.  So this batch is probably the only batch we will have for the rest of 2011.  We are having an open house March 26, 2010 if you would like to touch and see the newest yarns.



   

As 2010 closes, I feel a need to reflect on the things that went well and things I wish to modify or change.  In January we were a few months into our new business, www.criacoats.com  Because this was our maiden year in this business, I worried that there would not be enough business to justify the expenses we had invested or that we would be overwhelmed and unable to keep up with the demand.  In reality things turned out just right.  The busy season was October through April, however, we had orders every month (even June, July and August).  When we had down time, we tried to build up an inventory of some ready made coats to offer on http://www.etsy.com/shop/nobellaalpacas   We also have tried to make a commitment to turn every order over within 7 to 10 days.  So far we have been able to keep that commitment.

In September, we lost our dear friend and fellow alpaca breeder, Ben Clark to brain cancer.  I miss him a great deal, however, I can't help but smile when I think of him.  He was always laughing and joking and his enthusiasm was contagious.  September also brought about our season of crias.  We have loved and enjoyed these crias a great deal, but have decided a late Spring/early Summer birthing season works best for us.  We have 4 girls bred for May/June cria.  We will utrasound in May and then begin breeding our Fall delivery girls for a Spring/Summer 2012 season. 

November was the initial year of the Maryland Alpaca and Fleece sale hosted by Maryland Alpaca Breeders Association, MABA.  Our maiden year of that was a tremendous success thanks to so many Maryland breeders pitching in to showcase their alpacas, fiber, and products.  Great educational opportunities were provided for the participants at this event. 

December was a busy time at Nobella Alpacas.  We opened for Christmas shopping for the 3 Saturdays before Christmas and had a great turn out.  Because our Christmas open houses were so widely attended, we are going to open two weekends in January and see how that works.  Previously we attended an outside market in Annapolis January through March.  This year we are going to try and promote the farm locally.  To our customers and friends, thanks for your love and support.  We look forward to a prosperous and happy new year.

Our winter this year has had an unprecidented amount of snow.  Before Christmas we got about 12 inches and during the last two weeks we have had snow with 10 or more inches.  This snow was the biggest yet with 24 inches.  Here are some pictures of the farm.

 



The alpacas stayed in their shelters until the storm ended.  By mid day Sunday the were out soaking up some sun.



It looks like Redford is dreaming of warmer, sunnier days.

Our 2009 yarns have arrived!  Currently we have white, light fawn, medium fawn, and dark brown.  The yarn is a 3-ply, heavy sport/worsted weight.   It turned out lovely.

 

This weekend our farm hosted a Camelidynamics Seminar with Dorothy Hunt.  We learned how to lead alpacas, complete herd health with less stress, set up fields and barns, and how to develop a relationship with our alpacas.  We learned Ttouch as a way to relieve stress and create a relationship with our alpacas. 

Here are some pictures of our weekend.





Here is the gang all raring to go.



CJ and Elvis.  Dorothy coaches Ruthie when she tries the Ttouch technique.





Ruthie takes Leonardo over a jump.  Jill takes Gaston through the maze.





Phil takes Slingshot through the maze.






Dorothy encourages the participants.  Dorys is walking Redford over the tarp.  Patty is walking Wildfire in the trailer.  Gina and Merit wait their turn.



Leonardo practices his jumping skills.  Jill walks Gaston through the maze while Phil leads Slingshot to the next station. 



Vickie takes Elvis over the tarp.  Sara and Leonardo are next.



Dorys lead Ophlia while Mary and Wildfire, Gina and Slingshot, and Sara and Elvis walk the maze.

We had a great weekend!  Dorothy provided us with many new tricks to try out.  The group was great about encouraging one another and switching animals so everyone got to work with different alpacas.

Jill, Phil, Vickie, Dorys, CJ, Sara, Mary, Ruthie, and Gina you were awesome and I had a great time with you! 

We have finished shearing our alpacas and had our open house.  Both were a lot of fun and provided opportunities to meet new people.  My friend, Ben Clark and I have traditionally sheared together as a team while my husband, Marty did blade sharpening and changing.  Unfortunately, Ben was sick and unable to help me this year.  Fortunately, Brian and Nicole Tait along with Nicole's stepdad, John from Pilgrim's Reward were interested in learning how to shear.   So the Taits came to our rescue and rolled up their sleaves to help.  I am not sure they realized just how much they would be doing, but they never complained and just jumped right in.  By the end of the day I turned the 3 of them loose to shear an alpaca all by themselves and they did a great job.  I think they are ready to do their own shearing.

My daughter, Gina, and my friend's son, Andrew, were a great deal of help.  They had the advantage of youth (both are teenagers) and good physical fitness so they were a big help with the alpacas.  The day after shearing we set up the farm for an open house to sell the yarn from 2008, freshly shorn raw fiber, and alpaca products.

The day was unseasonablly warm for April and the alpacas were feeling good about their new haircuts.  This weekend, we sorted through our fleeces to decide what to process ourselves, what to turn into yarn, and what to send to the AFCNA.  I also attended the Maryland Sheep and Wool festival and stocked up on some new dyes, silk, and felting needles. 

We will help 3 small farms do their alpacas and one llama over the next week or two (if it ever stops raining), but the big all day shear jobs are done!    

Well, I have been wanting to dye our yarn or fiber for awhile.  I even bought 3 colors of dye at the 2007 Maryland Sheep and Wool, but I haven't taken the plunge and tried to dye- until today!  Over Christmas break Charlene, Rose, and I went to Rosemary Bailey's to see how she does some of her felting fiber arts.  Rosemary is an artist who displays her work at the Heron Gallery.  She works primarily with merino sheep fiber.  We wanted to see her work and said we would share some of our alpaca fiber with her.  While we were visiting she showed us her crock pot dying.  It looked easy enough so I got my spinning wheel cranking and made some white alpaca yarn for dying.  Once I got my yarn spun and plied, I put it on a warping board so I could make an 8 foot long skein.



I made it 8 foot long because I want to use two colors.  I want to use purple and pink.  I will use mostly pink and just a bit of purple.  I am using Gaywool dyes.  I put 2 teaspoons of pink and 1/4 teaspoon of purple.  I have mixed this in the crockpot my friend Charlene gave me.  Thanks Charlene.  Here is how it started.





After an hour I added more water and a splash of vinger.  The purple is really spreading.



It now cooks for about 8 hours.  In the morning the purple had spread throughout the dye bath and the yarn looks primarily purple, but it does have a bit of magenta/pink highlights.  I am not sure it was really necessary to create a long skein on the warping board.

  

There was a thread on the Alpacanation website about alpaca feeders.  People were talking about feeders that did not rub the fur off of noses and kept the hay out of the fiber and off the ground.  My husband, Marty, built me a hay feeder that has met these requirements for our alpacas.  We did put a horse trough under it because initially the alpacas would lay under it and bump their backs and heads on the feeder.  They probably would have got used to it and worked it out, but I just wanted to insure their safety and an upside down horse trough was an easy solution.  It is mounted on a fence and the hay is loaded from the back. The roof has a hinge and it lifts up for easy hay loading access.  He built it about 3 years ago and it has held up nicely.  We should probably varnish the outside roof and sides to keep it longer.  The green rods are the plastic rods that gardeners tie their plants to.

Well our open house turned out very nice in spite of the wet and muddy conditions.   We had a great day with very inquisitive visitors.  Many people often ask, "Why alpacas and are they profitable?"  We love the alpacas and enjoy them immensely, however, it is also an investment and we do sell our alpacas.  My advice is it does require daily work and should not be entered into unless you love the animals.   However, we are entering into our 5th year and are seeing the fruits of our labors.  Last year we sold 6 alpacas and had 3 births with 2 more scheduled in the next 60 days.  Our herd growth is study and stable and the sales are coming in.  Interestingly, The Wall Street Journal had an article about investing in alpacas this week.  Below is an excerpt from the article.

"Sales of exotic livestock are up. The U.S. Mint has seen a gold-coin rush.

Investors have long turned to hard assets in market downturns, the idea being that if you invest in something real, it won't disappear, even if its value declines. But analysts say this downturn is different in that real estate, the most traditional safe haven, is also sinking. Between July 2006 and July this year, home prices dropped 19.5%, according to the S&P/Case-Shiller 20-city composite home price index.

Peggy Parks, a 49-year-old auditor in Johnstown, Pa., turned to an unusual farm animal. "I've lost a fortune in stocks, and my 401(k) is falling through the floor. I feel comfortable in alpacas," she says. She invested $56,000 in a small herd that she believes has a better outlook than most mutual funds because of the animals' breeding potential.

The national Alpaca Registry Inc., in Lincoln, Neb., says registrations are on pace to rise 7% this year and currently stand at 140,297. Ms. Parks says a female of "medium quality" can fetch $10,000 and that prices have been rising, supporting her hopes that she'll see a profit on her alpaca portfolio in five years."

We are gearing up for another open house!  Since our last open house we have added more pasture space and another small barn.  Well actually the barn is a roofed shelter at this point, but it will provided shelter for the new paddocks we hope to get in this Fall.  We cleared and seeded the pastures last October so the pastures have had all Summer to get established.  We hope to get the post put in before the end of September and possibly some additional fencing completed.

At the open house visitors will be able to see our alpacas.  Our herd has now grown to 15 with the three summer babies growing up fast, but still looking  "Oh so cute!"  We also have two pregnant females- Madison and Shawnie that will be due in November.  I will be doing spinning demonstrations, whare I will show how alpaca fiber is made into yarn.  We will have alpaca socks, gloves, blankets, and yarn for sale.  We are even doing a drawing where the winner can pick a pair of alpaca socks or a special all in one hand tool.    We also have chickens and rabbits too!