Sweet and gentle

By Karen, on June 28th, 2012%

mother son 239x300 Sweet and gentle

Sweet gentle alpacas


The alpacas are such sweet animals and they are truly a joy to photograph. The other day some friends came to visit us. They asked if they could take pictures of our alpaca crias. I grabbed my camera as well and we all went to the pen where we keep our babies. I only took a couple of pictures because I was too busy talking and visiting.

I wanted to share this photo because I felt it captured the sweet gentle nature of the alpacas so beautifully. In this picture the alpaca cria, Farren, is kissing his mother. The expression on her face is priceless. It looks like she is so happy and proud of her boy.

This sweet photo brought a smile to my face and I hope it brings a smile to all of yours as well… enjoy! icon smile Sweet and gentle

share save 171 16 Sweet and gentle
Comments are closed   Photography   ,  

Kiloh running free

By Karen, on June 22nd, 2012%
1going out 150x150 Kiloh running free

Going out to run free

Kiloh now runs free with our other horses that run free on 380 acres. Our horse colt Kiloh was gelded a few weeks ago. We waited until he was completely healed before letting him out with the other horses.

I’m so glad alpacas are easier going than the horses when it comes to introducing a new member into the herd. The alpacas will greet a new member and welcome them into the family. However with alpacas the pecking order becomes obvious when they are at the food trough otherwise there’s not much action.

The horses on the other hand are tough when it comes to introducing a new member to their herd, especially the geldings. I knew when Dave was ready to turn Kiloh out that there would be some action so I ran for my camera. The following is Kiloh’s story…

2meeting Kiloh running free

Kiloh meets the other horses

Dave let the other horses come up to the fence so they could meet Kiloh. Stormy, Susie, and Woody were the first ones to come up and greet him. We have really sweet horses but unfortunately there is a pecking order and it’s tough when you’re low man on the totem pole in the horse world.

3making friends 150x150 Kiloh running free

Making horse friends

 

Kiloh’s been wanting to run with the other horses for a long time. We couldn’t let him out until he was gelded. The long wait was over and he was so happy as he went through the gate.

 

 

 

 

4reality Kiloh running free

Pecking order reality


Dave had to get out of the way quickly. Ike is the gelding with his neck bowed in the front of the reality picture. Ike thinks he’s a stud horse. He didn’t want Kiloh around at all.

5bite kick 150x150 Kiloh running free

Biting and kicking

 

Ike jumped up and bit Kiloh on his back. Then Woody turned around and kicked Kiloh as well. He was getting beat up from all sides. The whole time I was yelling “Run Kiloh run!”. I knew it wasn’t going to be easy for our colt.

 

 

 

6run away Kiloh running free

Run away

Kiloh couldn’t get away fast enough. He ran away from the herd.

 

7no friends 150x150 Kiloh running free

No friends

8banished 150x150 Kiloh running free

Kiloh banished from the herd

Maggie and the other girls stood there and watched. Poor Kiloh wasn’t welcome in the horse family. Instead he got the cold boot or should I say the cold horse shoe!

Ike ran Kiloh off into the woods. He was banished from the herd.

Poor Kiloh… oh my heart just broke as I watched him run away. He wanted to make friends and be accepted so badly. The sad reality is there is a pecking order and lets face it he’s at the bottom of it.

It will take the horses quite awhile before they accept Kiloh into the herd. Over time the herd will let him get a little closer and eventually he will be accepted. In the mean time he has to keep a safe distance. We’ll keep a close eye on him to make sure he’s ok. Life is tough sometimes but he’ll get through it.

share save 171 16 Kiloh running free
Comments are closed   Our Horses   ,  

Pressure Canning

By Karen, on June 18th, 2012%

pressure cooker 150x150 Pressure Canning

Pressure canner cooker

My pressure canner cooker finally arrived. I’m so excited about getting started canning. It’s one heavy duty cooker and I’m proud to say it’s made in the USA! You’ll never guess the name of this pressure cooker… it’s the All American Canner Cooker, what a great name.

I’m not cooking alpaca today… actually Dave helped me pick our Italian green beans. We had two sacks full by the time we got done picking not to mention a few chiggers too. I washed the green breans and then went to snapping them. They were so fresh… they were snappy beans!

snapped beans 150x150 Pressure Canning

Snapped green beans

I was a little nervous since it was my first time canning. I had to keep referring to the directions. I wanted to make sure I did everything right. It’s really not that difficult to can. It’s only difficult if you don’t fully know what you’re doing and that’s about where I was at. icon wink Pressure Canning

I actually did it… look how beautiful my green beans turned out. Dave kept looking at the jars in total amazement. He couldn’t believe I did it because he knows how much I don’t care for cooking. We picked more green beans and all in all we ended up with 19 pint jars of green beans. Our plants are still flowering so there’s a good chance we’ll have to pick more soon.

greenbeans 300x232 Pressure Canning

My canned green beans


I have to say I really enjoyed canning. It’s not quite like cooking. With canning you have something that will last a long time plus when I do cook I’ll have more choices and hopefully it will make cooking easier. Also it’s good to prepare for the future because you never know what the future will hold. I’m ready to find something else I can can! lol icon smile Pressure Canning

share save 171 16 Pressure Canning
Comments are closed   Homestead Living   ,  

Shearing baby alpacas

By Karen, on June 10th, 2012%

Why do we shear the alpaca crias? If the babies are not shorn they can get too hot during the summer plus the tips of the cria’s fleece is like velcro… everything sticks to it especially the very fine fleeces. By the following spring if they weren’t shorn then their fleece will most likely be ruined and unusable.

However when we shear our spring crias I worry about the possibility of their mom’s rejecting their babies. This year our crias and their mothers did just fine. We brought their moms in the barn while we sheared them. We tried not to use too much oil so when we were finished shearing they wouldn’t smell too different.

When the babies nurse their mothers instinctively smell their tail while they are nursing. This year we didn’t trim or touch their tails at all and I think that helped quite a bit. Plus we sheared their moms a few weeks ago and that helped because there wasn’t the problem of the babies not recognizing their moms after they were shorn.

One year we sheared a new mom and her baby on the same day. After they were shorn the cria nursed so we thought everything was fine. Well later that day the baby was standing right next to his mom and he was crying for her because he didn’t recognize her. The mother was crying for her baby as well because she didn’t recognize him. We put them both together in a small pen by themselves for the night. In the morning when we came out they were bonded once again. The baby was nursing… hooray! So yes I have reason to worry when we shear babies but this year’s shearing went off without a hitch!

share save 171 16 Shearing baby alpacas
Comments are closed   Our Crias   ,  

What’s cooking?

By Karen, on June 4th, 2012%

canned greenbeans 240x300 Whats cooking?

Canned green beans

What’s cooking… in my house usually very little. Anyone that knows me knows that I’m not much of a cook. My old way of thinking… I prefer to go out to eat rather than cook. So what does this have to do with alpacas? It has everything to do with country living and a simpler lifestyle. I’m finally realizing I need to change my way of thinking. I’m trying to get back to the basics of living off the land, farming, and raising my alpacas. I have to remind myself it may be a simpler way of life but no one said it would be easy. Let’s face it… it’s hard work but I love every minute of it.

I recently made friends with my neighbor Kathy and she offered to teach me how to can & cook country style. The other day she came over to let me know she was canning green beans and I was welcome to come to her house to learn. I was so excited and I couldn’t wait to get my first lesson in canning!

I found out it’s not that hard to can fresh vegetables… in fact she made it all seem so easy. We canned quite a few jars of green beans that day. Before I left she gave me a couple of jars of green beans and a jar of meat that she canned previously. I didn’t know you could can meat and it cooks right in the jar so basically all I had to do was make gravy and heat it up. With her simple instructions I was surprised how easy it was to fix the whole meal and it came out delicious too.

I took a picture of the jar of green beans… it represents my determination to learn to cook and can this year. We planted a large garden this year so I’ll be busy canning whatever our garden produces. I think some of our seeds got mixed up… there’s watermelon growing where the sugar snaps were planted… too funny!

Now I have to get busy buying all of the necessary equipment to carry out my canning plan… I’m going to have fun with my new adventure!

share save 171 16 Whats cooking?
Comments are closed   Homestead Living   ,