Well nobody obliged us with three in a row, but I am sure they will arrive when they are fully cooked! All the girls seem to be enjoying the lovely weather, munching and lazing around. They especially like the paddling pools to have a cool off in. But some do hog it!!
Well just to bring everyone up to speed on what we have been doing, no we haven't been sat around with our feet up! We have indeed been very busy.
We now have a great team of show boys, who happily go out to fetes & fayre's etc meeting and greeting the public giving them chance to get up close and personal to these amazing animals, giving them a chance to walk an alpaca and have their photo taken, this certainly has gone down a really well, people love it.
SHOW TEAM - From left to right: Yanis our Suri boy (who will sadly be moving to Stafford sometime in September), Xavier (zavvy) in the middle who is next to his new Mummy and will be moving to France sometime next year and then there is Nemasis, he wont be going anywhere, his sire was a lovely Snowmass male and we have kept Nemmy back to start stud work this year (he did have a little taster back end of last year, so we are eagerly awaiting this arrival!)
They make a great team and people love to see the two different types and then look at the fleece which we have taken off them this year.
Then there is the "Walk with an Alpaca". We now do this at shows as well as at home now, at it is going down a storm.
Here is one of our happy walkers, a little boy who came to a show and didn't expect to be walking with an alpaca, that's something to back to school and tell his mates.
Here's Cosmo going out for a walk down the lane with some more lovely farm visitors.
Our Adopt an Alpaca Scheme is also very popular, some people just adore alpacas and want to get close to them, and some have been given it as a surprise gift (including a wedding gift, a 10th birthday gift, a surprise birthday gift, a 60th birthday gift). It lovely to see the person arrive with no idea why they have come and their face when they see the Alpacas (we quite often have tears of joy).
That was just a few more of our lovely visitors :) the Alpacas are always happy to make people welcome, especially if they bring treats :)
Along with the WI talks, fleece/spinning demonstrations, things have really taken off!!
Our Alpaca experience days are also becoming more popular we are happy to fit it to peoples needs, last week we had a lovely family come to visit, it was a surprise 60th birthday gift from the ladies daughters, they arranged for mum to come along to adopt an alpaca, have lunch sitting out in the field with the alpacas, they bought along a nice bottle of bubbly, then after lunch to finish the afternoon we looked at the fleece, and some of the products we have produced from our hand spun wool, we then went onto the process of getting the raw fleece to the yarn, from the fleece in the bag, the carding, the spinning, plying right up to the finished skein, followed by a taster spinning lesson for Mum. Finished off with a nice cup of tea and cakes, before heading off home. (I am awaiting photos, so will post them when they arrive)
We have also had a film crew in to film us, this film is about local small business's and will shown as a precursor to the main event at the Evesham Regal (all very exciting)
So that's what has happened, now to what is happening or about to happen - We are now in the process of arranging an open day (lots & lots of requests for this) and alpaca birthday parties.
Oh sales, can't miss this out!!! this is also going very well, having sold quite a few home bred boys and girls (some staying here on livery which is even better, I still get to see them every day - although some will sadly be moving on very soon!! but they are going with some lovely people) we have met some lovely people and now have some lovely new friends as a bonus, we are still getting enquiries so the sales side really is going in the right direction.
I always saw the main stay of my business to be breeding of these gorgeous creatures, never consider how popular they would be to other people, so the business is blooming into something more, bigger than I could have imagined and I have got to say I am really enjoying sharing the amazing animals with other people.
Phew tired me out just typing this blog, (hope it doesn't tire you too much reading it!!) things are definitely moving in the right direction (oh forgot the latest!!! we have been approached to see if we would like to put some of our wool and products into a newly open department store in Evesham, a great idea from two men who want to help and support local crafters sell their wares, with nicely hand made, unique and unusual gifts- how exciting!!!!)
And the biggest thing of all, we have every thing crossed as we will be shortly putting in planning permission for a proper house!!!!!! don't get me wrong the mobile has been nice and cosy but we are quickly outgrowing it with all these things we are doing. So keep everything crossed that the planners can see what a wonderful business we have built up and hopefully give us the chance to keep on growing.
That's all for today folks, two blogs in one week after such a long time!!! will try to keep you up to date more often, especially with all the impending births.