Happy 12-12-12

I know I have neglected the blog. I am so sorry. Life just seems to get in the way and something has to give, which ends up being the poor blog.  I do try to post pics on both the ranch's Facebook page and on the Twitter feed. So if you follow us there, at least you get to see some cute pics. 

To get everyone caught up of what we have been doing... well we had a few more visitors this fall.

Melissa Fleis, finalist on this season's Project Runway.  For those of you who do not watch this show, it is about designers competing to win a lot of money, equipment, and publicity to start their own clothing lines. The 3 finalist of the show, get to show a collection at fashion week in N.Y.C. Meilissa Fleis is from Rogers City, MI. She resides in San Francisco.  She came "home" after the show and was honored by her hometown.  We invited her to meet us and the alpacas here at the ranch. Her and her family came out for the afternoon. It was a lot of fun and we really enjoyed their visit.

Melissa meeting Thing 2

We also had some fun with the Girl Scouts from Rogers City. The troop came out to the ranch to meet and learn all about Alpacas.

Girl Scouts feeding grain to Abby

Then a couple of weeks later I attended one of their troop meetings at the Rogers City High School. We did a fun project of felting soap with the alpaca fiber. After they were done with felting the soap, they even created Alpaca Soap commercials and performed them for me. What a "hoot".  Well done girls!  I really enjoyed it.

Girls Scouts hard at work felting their soap

I have been busy with all aspects of the fiber side of the business. I belong to spinning and weaving guilds. So I clean and card fleece for them to spin,  I also am filling orders for fleece, yarns, and finished projects. I am working on knitting an alpaca jacket, that I hope to get done soon as it is a Xmas present.  I have towels on on of my looms that I need to finish.  I did finish my alpaca felted slippers. I did a post about this project when my spinning guild visited the ranch. Here is a picture of my slippers.

Felted Slippers

Now we are finishing up anything that needs to be done outside, since our winter is starting here in Northern Michigan. It seems we are never fully prepared, but we do try.  I surely cannot end this post without a picture of some of our alpacas. Everyone take care and I hope you all have a safe and happy holiday season.

Good Bye

Wintertime is here

Winter did finally arrive here in Northern MI. It has been a very strange winter. Above average temps and little snow. Gary & I were enjoying it as far as working outside and doing the chores. But it finally turned into winter with a big bang. We had a snowstorm a couple of days ago that dumped on us here locally about 14 inches and now it has been snowing every day since the storm. We also have been experiencing very cold temps, with wind chills below 0 at times. It is a good thing the Alpacas have their nice warm fleece to keep them warm.

Qtip

I do so much love their soft and silky fiber.  You might be interested in some facts about Alpaca fiber based on a study by the Alpaca Owners & Breeders Association:

 1. Alpaca is flame resistant, meeting the standards of the US Consumer Product Safety Commission's rigid testing specifications as a Class 1 fiber for use in clothing and furnishings.

2. Alpaca is resistant to external water penetration like wool, but can slowly wick away perspiration because of its unique ability to act like cotton in moisture regain. These factors are what makes alpaca feel lighter than wool, but warmer than cotton in cool, damp conditions.

3. Alpaca is water resistant, making spills easy to clean up before water saturates the fiber allowing stains to develop. It is also adsorbent to oils, meaning that the oils do not penetrate the fibers, but merely cling to the fiber for easy cleaning without harsh chemicals.

4. Alpaca is free of lanolin, and thus can be processed without the need for high temperatures or harsh chemicals in washing.

5. Alpaca is a natural renewable fiber with a wide range of applications.

There are of course many more wonderful facts about Alpaca's fiber. You can read more here at Wikipedia about Alpaca Fiber and it's wonderful benefits.

Thumper with snow on his nose.

White Cria is Snowflake

 The girl alpacas staying nice & warm.  The standing white alpaca is our spring cria Snowflake. Baby Alpaca Fiber is the ultimate softest fiber. I just love it.  Enjoy the winter and stay warm.

Sunday Pics from Sundown Alpaca Ranch

Well Sunday's weather was a little warmer and sunnier than Saturday.  We had a few more visitors along with friends and family at the ranch.  My  "Aunt Betty" was dressed as a clown. She passed out ballons and suckers to the children.  They managed not to stick any suckers in the fiber of the Alpacas.  All in all we had a great time visiting with everyone.  Thanks for coming out.

National Alpaca Farm Days Open House

Sundown Alpaca Ranch is hosting an Open House the weekend of Sept. 25th & 26th, 2010.
Sat. from 11:00  to 6:00 & Sun. from 12:00 to 6:00
Follow this link  National Alpaca Farm Days and do a search for MI farms and you can get a map to our ranch.

This is a good time for all of you that expressed an interest in seeing our Alpacas to come out and visit us this weekend.  And a special offer for all of you spinners, knitters and weavers, as we are going to offer you something exciting for next years Alpaca fiber harvest.  We are now a CSA Alpaca Ranch. CSA stands for Community Supported Agriculture. Our fiber CSA will allow you to own a share of our alpaca herd and receive yarn and/or roving from our herd as if you owned the alpacas yourself.  When you purchase a share of our 2011 fiber harvest, you will not only receive a selection of fiber or yarns, you will also be invited to participate in the life on the ranch. You can come out for Ranch Workdays during the year (actually working is optional, of course!), and attend special events held here at the ranch. There will be more information and what other benefits you will receive with your CSA purchase next weekend during the open house.  Of course there will be a limited amount of shares to be sold so everyone will receive a lot of fiber and yarn.  Once the shares are all sold, you can be placed on a waiting list for the following year.  So come on out and visit the alpacas and see where your yarns and fibers will be coming from.