The Hollyhock Blog

The East Central Minnesota Loonies came to visit last Wednesday!   They are a Red Hat group named after the Minn state bird and/or the antics of the ladies!   They won’t say which!

We started the day with coffee, tea, cookies and a chance to stretch their legs and shop a bit in the gift shop.   Then they settled down to learn about alpacas.  I talked for about an hour, showing fiber, yarn, products, etc.  Since the group was all adults, I included the reproduction discussion – very interesting!  Then we headed out the barn.   The ladies fed treats to the alpacas, took pictures and got to see and touch the crias.   They had lunch reservations at the local golf course restaurant, Peakes.   After lunch, the ladies each felted a bar of soap.

I had several colors of fiber to choose from and hand made soap from Caroldon Soap Company – a fellow vendor at the Elk River Farmer’s Market.   They look pretty serious, but don’t let that fool you!   There was plenty of laughter and a few bubbles flying!

Once the fiber was felted around the soap bars, the ladies let them drip a while and relaxed.  A few were interested in seeing my indigo plants, so we checked out the garden.    

It was a wonderfully enjoyable day.  I hope all the ladies of the ECM Loonies had as much fun as I did!  Thanks for visiting Hollyhock Farm! 

Aaacckkkk – summer is flying by and I can’t keep up!   I’ve only a short time to post, so here goes:

 1)  The Elk River Farmer’s Market has not moved, YET.  But there are plans to.  Hopefully by July 10 (no market on the 3rd).

 2)  I’m planning to add Amish Cinnamon Bread to my Farmer’s Market offerings.   While I don’t really enjoy baking, I thought the variety would help the market.  And my Mom gave me the starter and I don’t have enough friends to pawn off future starters on! 

3)  The crias now have nearly official names – it won’t be official until the registration is complete.   The black one will be named after my uncle George – Georgie, Georgia, Georgette, Georgene - not sure exactly what variation, yet.  The light fawn one will be Cloudette, named after my great uncle Claude.  What do you think?  

  4)  Georgie had a relapse.   She seemed to be fine, so we stopped the antibiotics and she went downhill again.   So she’s back on antibiotics.   She’s doing very well now - spunky as ever.  She’ll stay on the meds a while longer this time – to be sure we’ve got it licked! 

 5)  We hand sheared Cloudette.  We wanted to get the cria tips off – the ends of the fiber that get all fuzzy while in utero.  We cut nearly an inch off.   She will be cooler for the summer.  Her fiber will be better in the spring.  The fiber I trimmed off is just like a cloud.  It is almost impossible to feel.   And, thus the name!

6)  I spent last Thurs – Sat at Knitting Machine Camp.  More about that later!   It was too cool to breeze over quickly in this list.

7)  I have a Red Hat group coming to visit on Wed.  There will be pictures!  These ladies reach a new level of fun! 

That is all I have time for right now!  I hope you are enjoying the summer – it goes by so fast here in Minn and we got a late start!

We’ve been busy around here.  

Darryl, with the help of a friend, starting putting up corner posts for a new outside area for Vagabond, our herdsire.  Fencing is my least favorite thing about alpacas.  A necessary evil!  It is hot, heavy, dirty work that never ends! 

Last Thurs was the first week of the Elk River Farmers Market.  And it POURED.  The rain started at 3 – the same time the Market was to start!  I was packed up and ready to leave by 3:15.  Today looks better.  We did make a decision last week to move!  The Farmers Market will be at the Westside Liquor Store – on the west side of Elk River,  Hwy 10 and 185th starting today!   You’ll see us from Hwy 10.  Please stop by – there are cut flowers, fruit, veggies, salsa, soap, and my alpaca things.  It is good to buy from your neighbors – better for you, better for the environment!  Support a Farmer’s Market in your area. 

We had a sick cria this week.  Our little black girl, seemed ‘tired’ on Sat.  Just not herself.  On Sunday, she was not gaining weight and didn’t seem real interested in eating.   Monday morning I called our vet.  The poor baby had a high temperature, but the vet listened to her heart and lungs and declared them fine – thank goodness!  He couldn’t find any obvious infection externally either, but we started her on antibiotics and gave her something to bring the fever down.   I even held a cold compress on her tummy to help her cool down.  The antibiotics seem to have found the infection and sent it down the road.   She’s had a normal temp for 2 mornings and I even saw her running with her little buddy this morning!  And she’s eating like a trouper and gaining weight!  She’s still not 100%, but she’s getting her spunk back!  It is scary to have sick babies – whether human or alpaca. 

She’s a week old today!  Born May 27, 2008.   Standing by her Mom, Spotsie Dotsie.

She still doesn’t have a name, but Darryl has taken to calling her Pepper.  She’s a spunky little girl who likes to see how much pestering of the others she can away with before she gets in trouble.

And this one will be 3 weeks old on Friday.  Born on May 16, 2008.

She has been dubbed Salt.  She is very much a sweetheart. 

And together they are quite a site.  They sneak away from their Moms and race away, screech to a halt and race back. 

They can make anyone who sees them smile or laugh out loud at their antics.  A cure for a bad day!

On Saturday in a matter of hours, we had this:

I have small hands, so the hail is probably between dime and quarter size.  It put some holes in my hosta leaves, stripped a few leaves from the trees, but nothing very serious.

Then the hail and rain stopped and we saw this:

I was standing just outside our front door. 

So we decided to stick with our plans and visit the Sherburne Wildlife Refuge.  We spent a leisurely hour or more with a bowl of popcorn in the truck driving along the 7-mile trail thru the refuge.   Looking over one of the many ponds, Darryl took this:

And THAT is the weather in Minnesota!