Kimberly here from Big Red Alpacas, checking out the new blog....just making sure even the challenged of us can access our fiber blog!!

Yes, along with Herb, I too am praying for rain. I have a 40# bag of "Custom Blend" for my alpaca pastures and no rain in sight to encourage it to grow... This could be good, it will keep me from seeding too soon, as I am want to do, however I am so busy with the show this weekend, the Northeast Alpaca Expo in Syracuse, NY, and the Washington County Fiber Tour next weekend...and family in town for the following weekend...that when will I have time to plant or water? And how do you water "pasture?" I think you just mulch like crazy and pray for rain and warm sun! I was really hoping to get it down and mulched this past weekend....hmmm...easy to make a plan, hard to keep to it!!

Big Red Alpacas has 16 alpacas...several of whom will be attending the show this weekend. Twelve of these 16 were shorn a week ago and have weathered the cold and rain, only to be baked out over the past 5 days...and inundated with a blackfly hatching. My partner, Carolyn, has pinned fly tape up all over to dissuade the little buggers.

The juveniles have moved up the road for "hardening off" from their moms....in preparation for show....I call it separation of stresses. They are lead training and bonding in the process. Hopefully, when they get into the trailer to go to the show, they are a little tighter and more confident group than they were a week ago!!

Please join Big Red on the Fiber Tour. We'll have alpacas, raw fiber, and handspun yarn on site as well as some extra activities for the kids. Hope to see you Mother's Day weekend!!

Washington County Fiber Tour: May 9-10, 2009. 10-5pm, Rain or Shine

The Washington County Fiber Tour, is a free, self-guided driving tour that takes place every Spring throughout the green hills of Washington County, NY. Local fiber producing farms, will open up their back 40 for visitors to meet the animals and the people behind the operation. Many farms will offer goodies in the form of refreshments, activities for children and families, and items for sale, including but not limited to: fiber in all stages (raw-processed roving/yarns), handspun yarns, and handknitted/crocheted/woven items, or other cottage industry style merchandise! There is definitely something for everyone, and anyone would love this tour! It is also very special in that it takes place on Mother's Day weekend. May 9-10, from 10-5pm.

Email:washingtoncountyfibertour@gmail.com, for questions or more information!

Fiber Tour 2009

As we all know, the fiber tour is encroaching (I mean...approaching) upon us quickly ;) Welcome to our new blog! A place where we can all write freely about our lives on the farm, or about our animals (but not about your spouse...unless it's nice stuff, of course). It is an online journal to record anything that you would like the public to know about you and your farm, within the bounds of propriety and descency. So..here's to you all! Get your front yard cleaned up and muck out your barns...it's fiber tour time!

Good luck this year...fiber tour 2009!

I am Jessica Trombley of The Community Baa Farm, in Argyle, NY. We're new to the tour this year, and are very much looking forward to it! This blog should help to enhance awareness of our tour and what we do year-round on our farms. Think "Leaves of Grass." Hopefully it will inspire some people to participate yearly on the tour, or motivate some to get a small farming operation going (like it did for our family), to increase local revenue. We can only hope....My contact email is jtrombley@live.com. Please visit my blog @ www.thecommunitybaa.blogspot.com, or my online store @ www.themermaidsbraid.etsy.com