Sweet Harmony Farm

I hope all of you had a better Christmas weekend than I did.  I spent most of the time on the couch, sick with some sort of mild flu.  I only left the house in the evenings to go out to the barn with Dan to feed our happy little herd.  Standing among the alpacas, they radiate such joy and good energy it’s hard to feel sick.

I love New Year’s and the hope for new beginnings that it brings.  On New Year’s Eve Dan and I like to sit back and reflect on our past year and create our goals for the New Year.  Our reflections start with the good, i.e. all the goals we did accomplish or are completing, and then on to the setbacks.  But instead of dwelling on any bad experiences that we may have had, we talk about what we’ve learned from those experiences so that it may help us in the future.  And then we laugh and talk about what we are looking forward to, jot down ideas, and from there our new goals are formed.  It's the end of the year.  Every end is a new beginning.

With the alpacas physically here it will be much easier for us to visualize the direction our farm is headed.  I’m sure all farms sit back every year and say ‘Hhmmm, what needs to be fixed?  What do we need to buy this year?  What could we improve?’  Necessity and the budget usually dictate what will come first.  If the alpacas could speak, I’m sure they’d like us to keep working on a better pasture, free of rocks and roots, and filled with lush, green grass!

As I type, big, fluffy snowflakes are falling covering all the tree limbs, fence posts, birdhouses, and all the mud left by yesterday’s rain, once again transforming our cabin, yard, barn, pasture and woods into a Norman Rockwell-esque painting.  I love a fresh snowfall.  Everything looks so peaceful and new.   

Here’s to wonderful new beginnings!

Wishing you all a joyous, healthy, and prosperous New Year!

Bright Blessings,

     Mona

Merry Christmas Everyone!

And thank you for reading our little blog!

~  Mona, Dan, Stella, and the alpacas at Sweet Harmony Farm

Brrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrr....................................  Wow!  Is it ever cold outside!  With below zero temperatures it is quite a struggle to stay warm outside when doing barn chores or just walking Stella.  Stella and our indoor kitty, Gracie, are on the couch or the rug by the woodstove all day.  It got so cold so fast.  Dan is already wondering if we’ll have enough wood for the entire winter even though we’ve never run out.  It’s hard to imagine how livestock manages to stay warm, especially creatures that do not have a warm fleece like our alpacas have.  When I put my hand down in their fleece, their bodies are warm.

It was about 15 below zero with the wind this morning when I went out to the barn to bring down jugs of warm water and check on the alpacas.  They were all cushed, looking quite cozy.  I smiled, relieved.  Then, to my horror, the water bucket was frozen solid!  Some mornings it has skimmed over and a quick poke with my finger or an alpaca nose will break through, but not this time!  I apologized profusely to the boys, picked up the bucket, and all but ran up to the house.  Thankfully we have another unused water bucket in the garage where we also store extra hay and straw.  After a quick rinse out in the kitchen sink, I filled it halfway with warm water and back to the barn I went.  I added the two jugs I had brought down originally and the alpacas just stared at me, wondering what all the fuss was about.  Apparently no one was thirsty. 

Even though we put up a tarp to help block some wind, the boys generally cush in front of the 2 open stalls right around the hay feeders.  Last night we spread out more straw for them.  It’s funny to see their bodies’ imprints in the fresh straw in the morning, so we know that they were behind the windbreak at least for a short time.  We’ve been stuffing the hay feeders full, full, full, and giving the boys a little extra grain in the evening.  We’re going to pick up more straw and place the bales along the edges to help keep out drafts.  That almost sounds ridiculous because it’s a 3 sided shelter!  We still think every little bit helps.  

Julio has imposed a ‘no leaving the barn’ rule since it’s been so cold and windy.  Whenever one of the alpacas wanders out to the paddock or ~gasp!~ the pasture he runs out after them and noses them until they come back in.  Sometimes instead of a gentle nosing it’s more like a bullying push.  It’s nice to know he’s so protective but I’d prefer they’d all get at least a few minutes of sunshine!

Last week I posted about our unseasonable 65 degree weather in December.  On Saturday we had our first snow for the season, an easy to clear, 3 inch snowstorm.  My wimpy alpaca boys wouldn’t leave the awning and a grumpy crew they were in the evening at feeding time.  We only have the one pen set up, so the barn/awning is basically all open.  We moved the feeder inside under the awning for the winter so that the hay doesn’t get wet with snow but the boys still have 4 open stalls, 5 if you include the space in front of the tack room, and the pen.  One whole stall per alpaca is quite a lot of room!  We have no panels for stalls set up yet, so there’s plenty of space to pronk indoors!  We’ve been concerned about their water bucket freezing so lately I’ve been bringing out a gallon jug of hot tap water to add to it.  The nights it’s been windy I’ve added 2 jugs.  My mixture is about 2 gallons hot water to 3 gallons water from the pump.  It makes the water almost lukewarm and the alpacas just love it.  We put the bucket on the ground in the corner by the middle post and the pen wall and surrounded it with straw to help insulate it.  We’ve put plenty of straw down in the pen and 2 stalls for them to snuggle into to keep warm.  We’ll have to keep adding straw over the winter. 

On Monday Julio finally got brave and ventured out past the paddock, sniffing the snow on his way to the pasture gate.  He was in the other pasture for a good 10 minutes before the others slowly decided to play ‘follow the leader.’  First Coty and then Bo, followed by Arlo with Guinness bringing up the rear.  They all managed to find something to graze on but within a short time Bo skedaddled back up to the barn and so did the others.  Yesterday they played follow the leader again in the morning.  With the sunshine things melted a bit so they were able to graze for over an hour and play for awhile before heading back up to the barn.

Afterwards, they were still being wimpy and hid out under the awning for the rest of the day.  Last night they watched us intently as we put up a tarp over one of the awning openings for a windbreak.  We covered just one stall so the boys wouldn't be too confused.  Then for our added amusement Bo, Coty, and Arlo played 'Ring around the tarp' for awhile.  We will probably put up another one tonight or tomorrow.  I can't see into the barn from the house as well now with the tarp up, but of course it's more important that the boys be dry and warm enough!        

Today, today, we have a real New England storm:  it’s noontime, there’s more than 6 inches of snow on the ground, and it’s still coming down fast and furious.  Looking outside my den’s window, everything is covered in bright white fluff.  Snow is blowing around in the strong winds.  The alpacas were all in good spirits this morning while I worked in the barn, and very curious about Stella barking from the entrance gate. They all peered out from under the awning long enough to get their beautiful topknots covered in snow.  All except Arlo, who was much more interested in me filling up the hay feeder.  True to form, Arlo’s topknot is covered in hay.  No one has left the barn again today, but Coty has been happily cushed right between the wall and the hay feeder for hours, with a perfect view of the snowy outside world.