Alpacas and Daylilies

 

I love my alpacas.  Not only are they gentle, passive, interesting, majestic creatures each with their own personality, but they provide beautiful, luxurious fleeces that allow me to engage in many creative endeavors using their fiber, which then helps to feed my family, but best of all feeds my soul ...

 Pasqualena

Okay, that was deep!  Alpacas also produce manure, and it is great stuff ...  I have used it as fertilizer many places on our farm, some of which I wish I hadn't, as I now have enormous bushes around my house that have grown so fast they'll probably have to be dug out sometime soon.

I also have beautiful flowers, thanks to my alpacas.  And I learned a little about daylilies today...

Stella d'Oro Plant

  

This is the now-famous daylily that started the race to the "rebloomers." The name Stella d'Oro translates to "Star of Gold".

Today, it's a national trend, and "Stella" is the number one daylily in the country.  Many gardeners say their "Stellas" are in bloom practically all summer and fall. And this is why this variety is planted almost everywhere now--you'll see them in median strips on interstates and in almost all good commercial landscaping, even at gas stations and fast food restaurants.

This all tells you that this is a no-maintenance, and I am into no-maintenance, easy-bloom perennial--what better reason to add it to your garden!

 It all started with the original "wild" orange daylily. Many Americans think the tough old orange daylily they see in old gardens and along roadsides is a wildflower, but it really isn't. No daylily is native to North America; most hail from Asia. 

Daylilies are not really "lilies." In fact, they are quite different. True lilies grow on tall stems with flowers at the top.

Daylily flower stems (called "scapes") are generally much shorter, and grow from a fountain of grass-like foliage at ground level.  

Daylilies don't grow from bulbs like true lilies. Daylilies form a mass of thickened, fleshy roots. These unique root systems hold so much moisture and nutrients, the plants can survive out of the ground for weeks. This survival system, making them tough, and really easy to handle, is one of the reasons they're so popular today. They're also dependably hardy, so once you have them, you have them for years.

The famous old orange daylily and the well-known old Lemon Lily are not the only "wild" daylilies, just the most famous. There are 20 daylily species, worldwide. Today from those 20 plants, more than 20,000 hybrids have been created, to satisfy gardeners who love daylilies, and just can't get enough.

Today's craze for reblooming daylilies all began with Stella d'Oro, the now-famous yellow dwarf daylily that blooms once during late spring and then again in late August and into fall.

Esmerelda Gives Birth

At about 9:30 am I checked our "Spring maternity ward", and all six soon-to-be-moms again were up grazing, no sign of anyone being in labor.

I got company about 10am, we watched the alpacas out the kitchen window for a few minutes, then sat down to visit.  At about 10:45am, I glanced out the window and saw a new cria, already up and walking and looking for something to eat!  That was fast, easy too!

 Our guard llama, Lacy Lady, sits nearby as is typical when there is a new baby.  

 Seeing Lacy sticking close to a pregnant female is a sure sign she is in labor. 

 Lacy stands watch until the baby is born.  Once she sees all is well, she goes on about her business.  It is uncanny how she knows and does her job.

Esmerelda was born on our farm and my daughter named her. 

The other alpacas are always curious and excited to meet the new kid.

Her mom is Duchess and her dad is the Prince of Ghiradelli.  Isn't he a handsome male?

Esmerelda had a hole in her heart when she was born and we were told she'd never be able to have babies.

At a visit to Ohio State University, we learned the hole had grown closed.

Now she is mother to three, first two boys, Eli and Ezra, and now a girl!  Maybe we'll call her Eliza . . .

SGAR's Peruvian Zumaya

And the daddy!

 

Shearing Day Is Behind Us

Today is Thursday, we sheared on Monday.  I just now feel recovered! 

 

We were scheduled at 10am Monday morning.  Sunday night we received a call and were told the time would be changed to 2pm.  I contacted our helpers and hoped they would still be able to come.  Considering the forecast of 100% rain we thought this might actually work out better.  We would be able to get alpacas in and fans on in an effort to get them dry.

  

We didn't pen them in the night before because we thought we'd have time to deal with wet alpacas first thing in the morning.  Instead, at 7:30am we received another call saying the shearers would be there at 10am.  The owners of the farm scheduled at 7 were not home when the shearers arrived, so this put them ahead about 4 hours!

 

We shifted to high gear, contacted our helpers, brought the alpacas in, set up pens so they could spread out, and turned on the fans!!  

All's well that ends well.  Suris dry more quickly than huacayas, we learned that!  

 Trying to stay organized, keep helpers organized, and shear alpacas in an orderly fashion we started with our light colors, shearing suris first, then moved to browns, multis, and black.  

 Because we are working with a certified sorter apprentice this year and hoping to learn how to do this ourselves, the fiber from all alpacas was taken off and carefully laid on a sheet of plastic, then rolled up so it can later be unrolled on a skirting table. 

 Head, tail, and belly can then be more easily identified and coarser fiber skirted away, versus throwing it all in a bag and having finer fiber contaminated by coarser fiber. 

It was a great plan except that at the end of the day, all our neatly rolled blankets had to be unrolled and spread out on the barn floor to dry!  The best laid plans . . 

 

Several days later they were dry and have been rolled back up until next week when they will be unrolled again and sorted!

 

And now the alpacas all look a little silly.  Several days of cold weather followed shearing day.  I am sure we had some cold alpacas.

I would rather err on the side of having some cold weather than go into June with pregnant females still in full fleece.  With fiber that is warmer than wool, they get hot!

Teeth, toenails, topknots and tails are trimmed on shearing day.  It's kind of like a day at the spa, well not exactly . . .

Today the sun is shining.  It is warming back up and we have a herd of happy alpacas!

And lots of beautiful fiber!

We'll be sorting next week, then making decisions about what we will do with our crop this year.  All grades of fiber can be used for something!  Check out 'Paca Fiber on our website if you're interested in purchasing raw fleece before it goes to the mill.

 

Earth Day and Alpacas

Earth Day Founder Gaylord Nelson passed away July 2005 at the age of 89.  He believed strongly that education is the key to changing people's attitudes about the environment and he devoted much of his energy to that challenge.

All About Earth Day

 

Earth Day is a day designed to inspire awareness and appreciation for the Earth's environment. It was founded by U.S. Senator Gaylord Nelson as an environmental teach-in held on April 22, 1970 and is celebrated in more than 175 countries every year. Earth Day is celebrated in spring in the Northern Hemisphere and autumn in the Southern Hemisphere. Many communities celebrate Earth Week, an entire week of activities focused on environmental issues. While the first Earth Day was focused entirely on the United States, an organization launched by Denis Hayes—the original national coordinator in 1970—took it international in 1990 and organized events in 141 nations. Earth Day is now observed each year on April 22 in virtually every country on Earth. Earth Day is now coordinated globally by the Earth Day Network. World Environment Day, celebrated on June 5 in a different nation every year, is the principal United Nations environmental observance.

I had no idea when or who started Earth Day and found this interesting.  We can even be knitting green and be using alternative fibers that are more friendly to our planet.

Alpacas are earth-friendly, just another reason I love alpacas . . .

Alpacas have been domesticated for more than 5,000 years. They are one of Mother Nature's favorite farm animals. They are sensitive to their environment in every respect. The following physical attributes allow alpacas to maintain their harmony with our Mother Earth.

 The alpaca's feet are padded and they leave even the most delicate terrain undamaged as it browses on native grasses.

 The alpaca is a modified ruminant with a three-compartment stomach. It converts grass and hay to energy very efficiently, eating less than other farm animals. 

 Its camelid ancestry allows the alpaca to thrive without consuming very much water, although an abundant, fresh water supply is necessary.

 The alpaca does not usually eat or destroy trees, preferring tender grasses, which it does not pull up by the roots.

 South American Indians use alpaca dung for fuel and gardeners find the alpaca's rich fertilizer perfect for growing fruits and vegetables. 

A herd of alpacas consolidates its feces in one or two spots in the pasture, thereby controlling the spread of parasites, and making it easy to collect and compost for fertilizer.

An alpaca produces enough fleece each year to create several soft, warm sweaters for its owners comfort. This is the alpaca's way of contributing to community energy conservation efforts.