Tuesday, September 28, 2010

National Alpaca Farm Days!

This past weekend was the annual celebration of National Alpaca Farm Days (Sept 25-26) http://www.nationalalpacafarmdays.com/ . Though the weather was overcast on Sunday, after church we decided to visit Abenaki Acres Farm in Stockton NJ (http://www.abenakiacres.com/ ). So glad we did!
This clean and spacious alpaca farm offered an inviting open house tour, where you could get up close and personal with their herd of alpacas.
Our daughter was comfortable enough with the alpacas to have them eat out of her hand (a trick she taught me to do years ago!)
Gracious hosts Bill & Elizabeth Johnson were on hand to answer any and every question you could possibly think of about alpacas, and their staff was remarkably kind and helpful too! Naturally I was drawn to the fiber art offerings (an assortment of clothing, finger puppets, alpaca yarn, etc.),
My wife found an awesome poncho that looks like it was made for her, for a great price! And there were some people there demonstrating felting techniques, as well as spinning.
One of these days I will get a wheel and learn how to spin also. Our daughter seems pretty interested in the wheel every time we see one at various fiber events we go to, so it might be a good craft for her to learn as well. When I get one, I want the large old fashioned solid wood kind, though I'm sure I need to experiment with several kinds to see which one I might actually like best.
It was obvious that our hosts and their staff loved the alpacas and loved caring for them. Though it rained off and on during our visit, it didn't dampen our spirits and we had a really nice time.
Did you attend any alpaca farms this past weekend?

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