2021, January Last year we took on a task. We started hatching to breed our Marsh Daisies (MD for shorter) back up to standard. We marked our hatchings, tagged our chickens, we had a good number of birds and very good specimens matching the specifications of the breed. We also had a few impurities afterContinue reading “Bird selection”
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Checking out the crias from 2021 -Part 1
Today we have gone to the field with scissors, needles and syringes, a bottle of a sc vaccine, and a sharp eye for anything unusual with the alpacas. When we need, we give our animals medicines. A vaccine in this case. Nevertheless, as my mum says, “en casa del herrero, cuchillo de palo”. Therefore, weContinue reading “Checking out the crias from 2021 -Part 1”
Food for thought
A few days ago we clicked on this zoom link to learn more technically about feeding alpacas. And after nearly an hour of nutrients and gut physiology and lots of technical words, someone said “water”. Honestly, the most important thing I learnt was about water. We have always been very careful about what we feedContinue reading “Food for thought”
Perfect gift
I have been all year thinking of this calendar. Every time I go out to see the animals I carry the camera. I take thousands of pictures. No one single one of them captures the real beauty, the touch, the sounds, the character… The pictures are only a bare approximation to the real experience. AndContinue reading “Perfect gift”
Work or work
Trying to decide if the career path you chose when young and hadn’t got a clue is the right one, is one of the trickiest things to do. Not just you have already invested all that time and effort. Sometimes your parents time and effort. Sometimes you can even blame your siblings for your success.Continue reading “Work or work”
Our humble herd prized
Prized, as in given a prize. A show prize. A recognition to the standards we are breeding towards. I am exhausted at work. At some point I was supposed to give it up and live out of some other thing. It is leaving me no time for the farm. The other half takes care ofContinue reading “Our humble herd prized”
March 2017. Fake Soil.
Microwave. Bike. Tyres. Filing cabinet. All sorts of unburnt metal in the burning pile. And tons of torn plastic bags, bottle lids, tags. Bags of some animal food. Food trays, Broken plant pots… How did I not see all this when I first visited the farm? At the end of the fields, there was anContinue reading “March 2017. Fake Soil.”
Shearing
We acquired our first nearly one year old alpacas already sheared from a farm not too far from here. That was good. However I did not know yet that it was good. Maybe the first thought was “we could have done with the fine first fleeces” of that group of animals. The lovely super soft,Continue reading “Shearing”
Orchard riches
Today I was asked if I voluntarily wanted to take part in a survey about orchards. It is not the main topic of my writings. However, when thinking about the answers to each question I was asked, the Orchard definitely seems to be a very important part of my farm -so, our lives. It mightContinue reading “Orchard riches”
Moving to the farm
When we arrived to West Kestle, sometime around midmorning on the 28th November 2016, we had no idea of what kind of lifestyle we had signed for. This “move back to the country” was full of bumps that we would discover along the journey. We moved from a busy working week’s schedule in a busyContinue reading “Moving to the farm”
Kestle Alpacas 