Two Crows Farm Alpacas

Morning shenanigans on the farm. Pronking llamas always make me giggle with glee!

Rakella with her margarita rim electrolyte bucket.

Thank you for a wonderful weekend at John C. Campbell Folk School celebrating Fall Festival! Thanks to Folkschool staff and Volunteers! Thanks to our fellow crafters for the fellowship. Thanks to all our fabulous customers who supported us so generously! This was a weekend of retrospective and celebration. I can honestly say that every conversation came back to the lives impacted by the recent storm in our mountains. Every dollar spent or earned this weekend made a potential difference in those lives. Continue to give, please and continue to hold our neighbors close in your hearts.

There is alot on our minds tonight. We are worried and sad for our fellow North Carolina Mountain Folk whose lives are changed in radical ways today. 550 miles from landfall was not enough distance. That is an amazing statement to make. Yet, here we sit. 100 miles away from the floods and land slides. Our pastures are again nourished with rainwater we needed. Our trees have the fuel to make the lovely colors we enjoy and that bring so many visitors to our hills every October. Our lights are on. Our water is running. The food in our refrigerator is cold. Our animals are safe and well fed. It is hard to express how grateful we are. We are also moved and grateful for you. So many have texted, messaged and emailed to make sure we are okay. Thank you. Indeed we are. Here are some of the adult girls playing in the pasture like crias. They are joyful, as they should be and I believe grateful in their own way.

The young swallows are leaving the nest. First flight under the watchful eye of mom and dad

A little pronking and chasing fun at the big barn after supper.

Bee activity is strong over here!

I am brought to tears of joy! Look closely as two 'shadows' cross the barn ceiling. One low and one mid-high. Not shadows at all... The first of the swallows is back! Life truly does go on.

Porsche happily chewing her cud on the black mat that absorbs that wonderful heat from the sun. Several of these are in our pastures and they are favorite spots in winter for alpacas and dogs. Today we warm up and the cold stress is behind us for a bit. Everyone seems to be doing great but the shepherd's job is to make sure. Sometimes an animal gives it all they have during a stressful event. You may not realize until after everything goes back to normal that they are struggling. For the next few days, our observation of the herd will be strategic to look for any behavioral changes and support any animal that depleted their reserves during this cold, cold week.

Queen of the farm. This is Lisa. Chewing her cud. Waiting for her breakfast. Lisa is in her 21st year but you would not guess she was a day over 18. Her teeth are not great. She gets 4 meals a day. When it gets cold and I come out with her coat, we save face for her by chasing her for just minute until she puts her head between the rails on the stall panel. That is her signal to me that she will stand while I put on the coat. She insists on sitting outside at least part of the night. These icicles are her badge of alpaca honor. I am not ready to take all of her choices away from her. After all, she gained weight for me in the fall so she would be at her fighting weight for winter. I figure she would be more stressed and therefore more compromised if I locked her in. We weigh the options day by day.

Most critters need a little mineral/salt supplementation at certain times of the year and under stressful confitions. While blocks and "licks" work for most, camelid tongues do not extend very far beyond those bottom teeth so they need a loose or granulated mineral. The alpacas and llamas all got refreshed mineral dishes today. One by one, they come by to indulge.