High Summer on the Farm!

Even up at the pond there is sometimes a line for the outhouse..........

But Rowdy wonders why Sam didn't make it a 
2-holer!







Summer is keeping us busy.  We have been doing "weed-control" on the pastures, which is also known as mowing them, since the alpacas are choosy about what they will eat.  Pastures usually need to be mowed 2 or 3 times a year to keep the undesirable vegetation at bay.

I also made a 480 mile round trip earlier this week to pick up female alpacas at farms where they were being bred.  In one day I saw Canton, Akron, Cleveland, Youngstown, Pittsburgh and Stuebenville.  Rowdy, my devoted companion and ride-along-dog accompanied me on my travels.

The pond has been a big hit.  We had lots of family and friends out the last couple of weeks using our guest house and playing in the pond.  A friend of my brother's who visits us every year on Labor Day sent us a big trampoline float for the pond.  Very fun!  It was a hit with my niece and nephews and their friends who were here last weekend.

 


As the photos a the top of this post show, we now have an outhouse at the pond, which has enough room in it to also act as a changing room for those who are modest.  And the picnic pavilion is also finished.  It was so nice to sit up there with my sister-in-law and her friend last weekend and watch the 5 kids wear themselves out in the water!  All we needed was a waiter to bring us Pina Coladas!


And what, you ask, do the alpacas do in 90 degree heat?  Well they spend a lot of time sitting in the barn in front of their fans 






Until someone (Me) comes out and gives them a "Hose Party"!
 Alpacas absolutely LOVE to be hosed down on a hot day.  They fight and squabble like a bunch of kindergarten kids to be right in front of the hose.  I have to stay on the other side of the fence during all this or I am likely to get stepped on, run over or kicked in the confusion!

 
Once they are nicely cooled off and wet, the next favorite thing to do is to go roll in the dust bath and then sunbathe.  Isn't that what YOU would do??

We have had our first ripe tomatoes from the garden with more to come.  I have finished canning the beets and the squash plants are taking over!  I have butternut and acorn squash planted and the vines have gone crazy.  We will have our first butternut squash soon, I think.  If only my son the chef was here to make us some more totally awesome soup.  YUM!

I have not had much time to devote to fiber the last week or so.  Between visiting family and humane society duties (I am a co-director of our local shelter, it just happened one day), but I have spent a lot of time thinking about what to do with some of that fiber.  On the 7th of August, my spinning guild is having a "Dye Day" at one of the members' farms.  We will all get together and eat and drink and dye yarns, rovings, etc.  So, I think I need to prepare some white fiber and rovings to take along and see if anyone wants to try out some alpaca!