Alpaca Blog at Walnut Creek

Controlled burn

By Karen, on March 23rd, 2012%

Burning leaves by the alpaca pen

Every year I do a controlled burn to as much of our place as possible. I call the Forestry Services for Oklahoma and let them know what I’m doing and then they issue a conformation number for the burn. In fact most of southeast Oklahoma does controlled burning right before spring. To keep smoke to a minimum we only burn when the leaves are dry and the grass is just starting to come up.

The photo I took is a picture of the bottom of the alpaca pens. I rake the leaves away from the fence and then burn them. By burning the leaves and brush we help control ticks and meningeal worm.

I don’t burn all of the 380 acres for fear it might keep going. I usually burn about 150 acres on the west end because it’s very safe. The west end is surrounded by road and creek so it is contained with natural fire lines. The controlled burn when done right just burns the leaves on the ground and doesn’t harm the trees. I wish I could pick up all the leaves and use them for compost or mulch but on such a big place it would be an impossible task.

All in all we’ve had a healthier deer population, healthy alpacas, less ticks and less meningeal worm. In fact our county, Pushmataha County, has a wildlife management area and they also do a controlled burn every year. I found out the elk are also susceptible to the meningeal worm. We live way out in the country and burning every year helps keep everything healthier.

Crater of Diamonds

By Karen, on February 1st, 2012%

Raw yellow diamond

Dave and I took a little break away from the alpacas to visit the Crater of Diamonds State Park over in Murfreesboro, Arkansas this past weekend. It’s about a 2 1/2 hour drive, heading east, from our alpaca farm. It’s a diamond mine where they actually let you dig for diamonds plus you get to keep whatever you find!

We met with a geologist there at the mine and she explained why the diamonds are there and what to look for. There is an 83 acre funnel shaped crater that they plow every once in a while so people can look and dig for the diamonds. She said it wasn’t a kimberlite as they originally thought. They found out it was a lamproite by the rock types they find there.

No we didn’t find any diamonds but we did find agate, a tiny tiny garnet, and some other funny looking rocks. They let us keep the dirt we were going through so maybe there will be a diamond in there. We did get to see some raw diamonds that were there and they are absolutely gorgeous. I didn’t realize how beautiful a raw diamond is. I definitely prefer the raw diamond left in it’s natural state rather than a cut one. Oh and they come in differently colors too.

Colorful raw diamonds

Over the years thousands of diamonds have come out of this mine plus there have been some truly amazing finds at the mine… the Strawn-Wagner diamond which is so perfect they say it’s one in a billion. The famous 4.25-carat Kahn Canary diamond which was left in it’s natural state. The Kahn Canary is the diamond that Hillary Clinton wore several times. There are many other famous finds but the biggest one ever found there was a whopping 40.23-carat white diamond… now that’s a diamond!

The Crater of Diamonds is a state park that not only has a diamond mine but they also have camping, hiking, water park, and a wildlife observation blind. You can visit their website at Crater of Diamonds State Park.

Well we had fun taking the day off and exploring the diamond mine. I know diamonds and alpacas don’t have anything in common but I have to say they are both awesome treasures!

New Year

By Karen, on January 2nd, 2012%

Dave at Sardis Lake Dam

Dave, my wonderful husband

We hope everyone had fun bringing in the new year for 2012! We had a wonderful day that started at the Sardis Lakeview Cafe. I couldn’t think of a better way to start the new year than to eat at my favorite restaurant and visit with good friends. We were greeted with big smiles and great food… many thanks to Steve, Sherry, Karen and Bob!

Afterwards Dave said he would take me anywhere I wanted to go. I wanted to go to the Sardis Lake dam. I brought my camera along in hopes of getting a picture of the bald eagle that comes every year to the lake. There was an eagle at the lake but he was just a little too far away for my camera to get a decent shot. I had the 50-200 mm zoom lens on my pentax and it didn’t quite get the shot I was looking for. I guess I’ll have to break down and get that 300 mm lens that I’ve had my eye on.

Bald eagle flying over Sardis Lake

Well seeing that eagle flying over Sardis Lake is a wonderful way to bring in the new year. My favorite bible verse to start the new year with… Isaiah 40:31 But they that wait upon the Lord shall renew their strength; they shall mount up with wings as eagles; they shall run, and not be weary; and they shall walk, and not faint.

So wait on the Lord… He will give you strength and He will direct your path and mine too… happy new year!

Sardis Lakeview Cafe Calendar

By Karen, on December 12th, 2011%

Sardis Lakeview Cafe Calendar

Sherry and Steve Rogers are dear friends of ours. They own and operate the Sardis Lakeview Cafe. They also have a hobby farm not far from our alpaca ranch here in southeastern Oklahoma. Sherry and Steve take care of neglected animals. They have horses, dogs, cats, chickens, ducks and even a parrot.

Sherry’s passion is horses so she put together some of her favorite photos and made a calendar. She’s dedicated her calendar to the neglected and abandoned horses like the horse she has now, Buckie. Buckie is the lead horse on the front of the calendar.

Buckie was adopted in 2010 by Sherry and Steve. He was starved and abused. Today he is a happy healthy free roaming horse with their other horses on their farm.

Sherry has a great eye for photography. I always enjoy her photos and you will to so be sure to check out Sherry’s calendar. The sale of this calendar will help take care of these wonderful animals. Thank you for your support!

Phone trouble

By Karen, on November 3rd, 2011%

Can you hear me now?

Can you hear me now? We’re having trouble with our phone lines. The phone rings but it appears that no one is there or we can’t hear you. We called our phone company and they said we are not the only one having phone problems. They said the problem is in Oklahoma City and it has to do with AT&T and switches… whatever all that means.

Also I’m behind in posting cria pictures. I had a special needs cria that took up quite a bit of my time. I’ll post about him soon.

The crias in the picture are… on the left our boarder Gia and Dante’s girl and on the right is Jaide and Marcello’s boy, JB. He’s black and he’s beautiful and he’s Marcello’s first cria on our ranch.

Hopefully they’ll get the phone lines fixed soon. In the mean time if you’re calling about alpacas or just calling to say hello and can’t get through then please use our contact form or email us direct and we’ll get right back to you. Thank you!

Oklahoma Summer

By Karen, on September 17th, 2011%

2011 was the hottest Oklahoma summer on record. The alpacas are happy to see that summer is finally coming to an end.

Alpacas get sprayed with water

The alpacas are coming out of the barn and away from the fans. Our fall crias are starting to hit the ground. The crias are a little early but I’m so thankful to see they are healthy. It’s time to take pictures again!

Choctaw Nation Labor Day Festival

By Karen, on August 29th, 2011%

Our neighbor, Choctaw Nation, has a festival every year during Labor Day weekend at the Choctaw Nation Capital Grounds in Tuskahoma. Admission is free to the public! The festival starts on September 1st, Thursday evening and ends on September 5th, Monday at noon. Our alpaca ranch is only 10 minutes from Tuskahoma so it makes it very easy for us to attend each year. Unfortunately it’s a little too hot for the alpacas so you won’t see our alpacas there but there is plenty of other things to do and see there.

Choctaw capital Choctaw Nation Labor Day Festival

Choctaw Capital Building

Every year the Choctaw Nation Labor Day Festival starts off with the Choctaw Princess Pageant on Thursday evening. The district winners compete for the following titles… Little Miss, Junior Miss and Miss Choctaw Nation. We attended the pageant last year and I have to say I thoroughly enjoyed it. The girls were very talented and they put so much heart into their performances that everything they did was spectacular!

Choctaw princess Choctaw Nation Labor Day Festival

Choctaw princesses for 2010

Choctaw Nation adds something new every year. Last year it was a pleasant surprise to see the new arts and crafts building and it was fully air-conditioned! We enjoyed looking at the beautiful artwork and bead work that was displayed. The Choctaw people put so much of themselves into their artwork that it really touched me deeply. They are so rich in God, family, history, tradition, and their love and respect for one another. It pours out from their hearts in their artwork, music, dancing and singing. I am so blessed to live in this part of the country where I am surrounded by such a warm and loving people.

Ok back to the festival… there is so much going on during labor day weekend that I could probably write a book but I’ll try to keep it short. Please forgive me if I leave anything out. They have sporting events that include; fast pitch, horse shoe, basketball, volleyball and golf tournaments. They even have a domino and checkers tournament!

On Friday they have gourd dancing and in the evening an Inter-tribal pow wow right on the front lawn of the Capital Building. The inter-tribal pow wow brings people from all over to compete in the event!

They have a Choctaw Village were there is story telling, stickball exhibition, pottery making, flint knapping, and so much more.

Choctaw nation museum inside the Capitol Building… has information on the Choctaw Code Talkers, trail of tears artifacts, photos, artwork, and much more. They also have buffalo tours where visitors can see the buffalo.

buffalo Choctaw Nation Labor Day Festival

Choctaw Buffalo

Free Carnival rides for the children courtesy of Chief Pyle and Tribal Council plus a free meal on Monday at their new cafeteria. There are also many food vendors where you can purchase all kinds of wonderful food.

Free concerts on Friday and Saturday night. Bring a lawn chair and enjoy the music of some famous musicians.
Entertainers will be:
Friday 6:00 pm – Neal McCoy
8:00 pm – .38 Special
10:00 pm – Clay Walker
Saturday 6:00 pm – Ronnie Milsap
8:00 pm – Jamey Johnson
10:00 pm – Gary Allen
Sunday 7:00 – The Kingsmen 9:00 pm – Third Day

Don’t forget the worship services and Gospel singing on Sunday… a true blessing!

festival tiger Choctaw Nation Labor Day Festival

Tigers at Choctaw Festival

Last year they even had tigers at the festival. There are so many things to do and see at the Choctaw annual event. It’s a lot of fun for the whole family… see ya there!

Grasshoppers everywhere

By Karen, on July 12th, 2011%

This has been one rough summer. We have so many grasshoppers that it looks like one of the plagues from the bible. I took a picture of one of those little hoppers. When he’s all by himself he doesn’t look so tough but when he’s with his friends and family… look out!

grasshopper 240x300 Grasshoppers everywhere

Grasshopper close up

Now I’m usually not one to complain but this is getting to be a little bit too much. It’s so hot we’re burning up here. I can’t believe how long it’s been since we’ve had rain or the last time the temperature was below 100 degrees!

Corn and garden destroyed

Total grasshopper devastation to our garden. Here is a picture of what’s left of our garden and I was so looking forward to that sweet corn… maybe next year.

Cache blade found

By Karen, on June 19th, 2011%

Cache blade or preform artifact

We hardly ever take a day off because we still need to feed the alpacas and horses. We get so busy that we forget to take time off for ourselves. However the other day Dave and I took a break. We took the afternoon off and went for a walk and cooled off in the creek.

While we were walking around I found the most amazingly beautiful artifact lying right on top of the ground. It looks like what they call a cache blade, a biface or a preform artifact. It’s made of the beautiful rare green chert, a colored flint, from right here in the Potato Hills.

From what I have read… the ancient people would work down a piece of rock and then use it later to make different things. So in other words it’s only an unfinished piece of chert but it sure looks pretty!

We’re in southeast Oklahoma so it’s possible that this piece was made by some of the indigenous Native American tribes i.e. the Caddo, Wichita, or Osage. This part of Oklahoma is now home to the people of Choctaw Nation. I’ll have to write more about the Choctaw people in another post. They are wonderful people and I’m honored to live right by them in this part of the country.

Oh and I almost forgot… Happy Father’s Day to all of you Dad’s out there!

Walnut Creek

By Karen, on May 22nd, 2011%

Our horses at Walnut Creek

People always ask us why we named our ranch Walnut Creek Alpacas. Well Walnut Creek runs through our place and it seemed like an appropriate name. Walnut Creek runs all year long and is a major creek that empties into the Kiamichi River. Our alpacas don’t get out to the creek but our horses enjoy the fresh clean water from it.

Last weekend when we were out on the ranch I took this picture of some of our horses stopping at the creek for a drink. They love the creek and they’ll get in the water and splash around. We swim in the creek too… it’s so refreshing on a hot summer day.

Emu Rescued

By Karen, on May 10th, 2011%

Emu trapped

When you live in Oklahoma on a ranch it seems like everything and anything can happen and it usually does. We took Mother’s day off to take a break from shearing the alpacas. Although even when we take a day off we still have to work.

In the morning Dave went down to Walnut Creek to fix the water gap. We’ve had so much rain lately that most of our water gaps are down. If we don’t fix them right away our horses will get out. While fixing the fence there was an emu there watching him. He had some horse feed with him so he gave it to the emu. She was hungry so she ate some of the horse feed. This emu was trapped between barbed wire fence and briars. He knew he had to get her out of there or a big cat or coyotes would kill her. He couldn’t get her out by himself so he came home to get help.

Emu free at last

It took four of us to herd this one big bird out of the briars and across the creek. She was so thirsty and once she was out she drank and drank for quite a while. She followed our 4 wheeler for a little while and then she went on her way. I’m not sure where she’s going but I hope she finds her way home.

So we did our good deed for Mother’s day and now at least the emu has a better chance to survive.

Oklahoma Redbud

By Karen, on March 23rd, 2011%

Oklahoma State Tree

Every spring I see beautiful delicate lavender colored flowers on small spindly trees all around our alpaca pens. Dave said it was the redbud. I’m not from Oklahoma but it seemed kind of silly to me to call a lavender flower a redbud. Why not call it a purple bud? This year I finally looked closer and took pictures of the redbud in full bloom. Ok now I feel silly… the bud is actually red and the flower’s petals are lavender to pink in color.

Much to my surprise I also found out that the redbud is Oklahoma’s state tree. Oklahoma designated redbud (Cercis canadensis) as the official state tree in 1937. The redbud tree’s blossoms brighten the landscape throughout the state.

Alpaca Blog at Walnut Creek

Controlled burn

Crater of Diamonds

New Year

Sardis Lakeview Cafe Calendar

Phone trouble

Oklahoma Summer

Choctaw Nation Labor Day Festival

Grasshoppers everywhere

Cache blade found

Walnut Creek

Emu Rescued

Oklahoma Redbud

Alpaca Website

Calendar

Outstanding Herdsires at Walnut Creek

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