Summer Matings

The hot weather seems to be upon us again but the alpacas are enjoying a cool breeze so they can continue with their sunbaking.
Last week we embarked on our Summer matings with Halcyon Ripperoo who is a lovely young male who is having a wonderful time visiting Nickelby as there are 6 girls awaiting his visits!

On the textile front, a friend and I last Friday did some wonderful "fibre sandwiches" in lovely purple, pinks and copper colours which was lots of fun and I am thrilled with the results. Just now have to work out how I am going to use all these creations. I am sure they will show up in the fasion parade here in March.

I am just looking our my door and can see Nickelby Fleur sitting by herself under a tree in the shade. She is due to have her first baby on March 23rd and more and more she is just enjoying time on her own away from the others. I think she will make a wonderful mother as she is so gentle. I hope she has a little girl, I think she would be very pretty.

The boy alpacas have been up to their usual tricks this morning with Hamlet and Nev having a bit of a disagreement. However after they had both had some time out, picked up their bottom lips from their sulking, they walked off together as though nothing had happened. They really do my head in!
Well had better fly, I have some water issues with my little pump unit I use to water the trees and I think I am going to have to water the olive grove this evening since tomorrow is meant to be quite warm.

A Sad Day at Nickelby

We have had a sad morning here at Nickebly. I walked up to the back paddock to gather the "girls" together to bring them down to the shop and I couldn't work out why they weren't coming down as usual. I thought it was because I was running late and the hay contractor was on his way to collect the hay so of course this would be the morning the alpacas decided they didn't want to oblige.

Unfortunately that was not the case. Getting a little closer I could see that Emma had given birth to her baby two months early. Of course it wasn't alive but Emma of course was rather distressed. All her friends decided that they need to lie down and they all started to hum. So whilst I was racing against the clock we had to stop for a moment and all feel sad.

It is early afternoon now and Emma has said good bye to her baby, so this afternoon I have to try and dig a hole in very solid dirt to bury the baby!!

On a happier note, I did promise that I would include a photo of the girls under the sprinkler. Here is a photo of Gracie enjoying the water on our recent hot days.

Out and about with the alpacas

Well the heat is on its way and now that the shearing has been completed the alpacas are enjoying sunning themselves inbetween sitting under the sprinkler! Afternoon Delight thinks the sprinkler is hers alone and chooses often to sit right on top of the water jets much to the objections of the other girls.
Being the school holidays, we are receiving many visitors to Nickelby At Darnum and the alpacas are coping well and are staying quite polite when meeting the visitors.
Even though it is hot over the next few days it is time for us to organise our events for our Palate of Passions Festival starting mid Feb. Here at Nickelby we are having two days of lunches on Feb 20th and 21st and we are again doing "A Taste of Alpaca" on March 21st. View our website for more details.
I am also very excited today because I have managed to secure a position at Fibres Geelong in September and also the workshop that I was after. I am off to Geelong to work with Sachiko Kotaka, one of the founders of Nuno felting and I can't wait.
If you are out and about why not call in and see us and all the lovely alpaca garments we have in our shop. Alpaca is not just for Winter, we have alpaca blended with cotton and silk for some very stylish summer garments.
This is just a new blog so photos of the alpacas will be on their way and we intend to update everyone on all that is going on at Nickelby At Darnum. We are very excited about all our planned activities.