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Monday, September 26, 2011
A perfect day for a hayride!
Beautiful weather, fall colors, hay rides, great help, alpacas and visitors.... What a nice weekend we had at the Open House. Thank you to everyone who visited and for the nice follow up emails we have been receiving.... And a special "thank you" to Ben, Tori, Anna, Sara and David for helping us out this past weekend.
We are still waiting for our two last crias of the year to arrive... They should be here any day. Join us this next weekend for another Open House Weekend on Oct 1-2 from 10 am - 5 pm. Back to baby watch!
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Wednesday, September 14, 2011
In 2005, we decided to hunt for a hobby farm, where we could enjoy some acreage and keep Victoria's horse, Looky. After looking at many farms in the dead of winter in the southern Twin Cities, we found the farm we were after in Webster, MN.
We happily purchased the property and began work to prune trees, thin out brush, upgrade the barn and add white vinyl fencing for Looky to enjoy... Within a short time we brought Looky home... It was then that we realized he needed a friend. Katie, our full quarter horse mare, joined the herd.
After settling in at the farm, we discussed the possibility of using our small acreage for other animals - horses, cows, sheep, etc. But I wanted something I could care for easily and was apprehensive about animals we would sell for meat. (Too many city slicker genes and too much Bambi as a child.) While I enjoy hamburger, I knew I couldn't raise and name it and then eat it.
Several months went by. As a homeschool mom, I was always looking for new learning experiences for Victoria. After driving by a sign for an alpaca farm in our area, I contacted them to see if we could come to the farm for an afternoon. When Victoria and I stepped out of the car and saw those adorable alpaca faces, we were hooked.
After investigating and planning, we purchased our first 4 alpacas... 2 females and 2 males. So began an amazing adventure and the birth of our family owned alpaca farm.... Am adventure that has been filled with new friends, beautiful crias, tour groups, events and a wealth of fun.
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Thursday, August 25, 2011
If I am completely honest here, I guess I am technically a Suburb Slicker.
People often ask how we ended up in the alpaca business... Who would have ever guessed that a book-wormy city girl would ever end driving a tractor and delivering alpaca babies? I am told that many of my high school class mates still can't believe it. What a journey it's been. I thought I would share a bit of that story with you to begin our new blog....
I have very fond memories of visiting my grandparents farm in Byron, MN as a child... Hours spent with piles of purring kittens; watching Grandpa, my dad and uncles ride horses; the bull that seemed so big to me behind his metal bars; the windmill and water tank; the old apple tree we loved to climb; the big barn and bag swing that my uncles and dad enjoyed, the hutch "opening" in the farmhouse full of pies, the cows, the jingling sleigh and hay rides, the smell of leather in my Grandpa's harness shop ... Maybe that was truly where the root began to form.
I was born and spent my early years in MN, but lived in Illinois for a few years while my dad worked for Sears. He eventually left the corporate world to begin a second career, with my mom at his side, in homebuilding and we returned to MN and the small town of Spring Valley when I was a 6 weeks from the end of my freshman year in highschool. I left a class of over 500 to become a part of a class of 84. But I was still a "Town Slicker".
By the time I finished highschool, I had attended 6 schools. I was Salutatorian in my class. I finished college in 3 years graduating with honors and a major in Business Administration and a Minor in Music. During the summer after my second year of college, I married my highschool sweetheart.
But I'd never even heard of an alpaca.
Ron worked in IT for a Fortune 500 company. I took a job as a Group Underwriter for another Fortune 500 company. I stayed with that company for 5 years, also working in Product Development and eventually ending up as the member of management who was responsible for customer service training, employee morale, and employee meeting planning for a Division of approximately 1200 employees... still no alpacas.
While I enjoyed my job, Ron and I made a decision that we wanted to change the direction of our lives and I left corporate America to concentrate on home. Victoria was born a few years later. We raised and homeschooled her in the suburbs, moving to a small wooded acreage when she was about 9.
We still felt there was something missing for our daughter - the wholesomeness that comes from living in the country. And Ron was ready for more space after working in a metropolitan office everyday. Ron had lived on a dairy farm all of his growing up years and I remembered the visits to my grandparents farm as a child and the valuable and treasured memories of interacting with the "country" kids who went to school in Spring Valley.
After years of riding lessons, our daughter had her own horse.. a pony - though he was 14.5 hands. We planned to own him for just a while, then sell him to buy a larger warmblood for our daughter. But, we fell in love with that horse (Remember 'Mr. Ed' from the TV shows?) and after boarding him for a while decided it was time to find a hobby farm.
We bought our current farm in 2005 in Webster, MN after some intense searching. A lovely 14+ acre property still close to the interstate for Ron's daily commute to Corporate life but far enough out that people stopped in the middle of the street to talk.
By now your wonderfing... OK fine, but what about the alpacas? I'll fill in the answer on the next post. :-)
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