The Farmall-H Arrives!

Happy Valentine’s Day!

My sweetheart gave me a beautiful red Farmall-H tractor.OK, so that is a bit unconventional, but I couldn’t be happier!

This tractor is going to be perfect for the picnic and play area on our interactive farm.

It has the greatest bouncy spring seat—so fun!

There’s plenty of engine work and cosmetics to attend to before spring, but we’ll be ready.

This tractor will join Eddie’s Ford 8N in the play area. We’ll post more pictures as we go through the restoring process.

Colby's Birthday Party

Whoopie Pie had his first birthday party adventure today! He was invited to Colby's 6th birthday party.


The party began with a short lesson about llamas.




After the kids had learned the proper way to meet a llama,
Whoopie came into the house for a visit.

Here's Hunter getting a llama kiss!








Then it was off for a walk around the neighborhood. Colby and his friends each took a turn walking Whoopie.

Colby & Whoopie



Ethan, a llama walking pro, takes a turn!

Isaiah seems to like me MUCH better
when I have a llama! Maybe I should
bring Whoopie to church on Sunday!


Derek is another great llama walker!

We even paid a visit to Colby's grandparents!

Whoopie Pie did the most interesting thing! After walking quietly for at least 20 minutes, he began humming frantically. We quickly realized he was upset because some of the boys had run ahead to play on the snowbanks. He definitely considered it his responsibility to keep an eye on the kids and settled right back down as soon as they came back near him.
Good job, Whoopie!

Then it was time to say goodbye and load back up into the van. The kids finished the party making felted bouncing balls and Whoopie was ready to head home to his friends. On the way we took advantage of a $5 special at the car wash. Whoopie LOVED the carwash and followed the spray around the car! He is most definitely a public relations llama!

Whoopie at the Car Wash

Two Young Visitors to the Farm

We had some fun young visitors today. Nate and Gabe came with their friend, Pati, to check out the llamas.
These young gentlemen knew all about how to meet animal friends and the llamas rewarded them with lots of attention and llama kisses. They ended their visit by taking Mexia for a walk around the yard. We were all happy to enjoy the warmer weather!

2009 Farm Show

Danny played hookey from school today (well, actually we pre-arranged it with his teacher) and joined me (Nancy) at the Vermont Farm Show to work at the Vermont Llama & Alpaca Association booth. We had a great time! Since it was our first experience there, we decided not to bring our llamas. We had fun with some friendly alpacas though. We did set up a display advertising the farm and even sold a few felted products. We met lots of great people (hopefully some of you are here checking out our blogspot!) and look forward to having them visit the farm this spring and summer.

Tuesday evening Nancy attended the VLAA meeting and potluck. It was a great opportunity to meet lots of llama and alpaca folks! We found out about some upcoming events...a llama parade in Montpelier in June, the Vermont Sheep & Wool Festival in October. Lots of exciting adventures ahead!

This week's llama adventures

It's been a busy--and cold--week, but we've managed to have a few adventures nonetheless. Yesterday Whoopie Pie made a practice run to the site for his first Birthday Party gig. He spent more than 20 minutes in the house and was a perfect (and inquisitive) gentleman! He also visited VT Copy & Ship on Main Street and Brochu's garage! The chief of police even took his picture. Unfortunately we hadn't brought our camera or we could have had an awesome shot of Officer Fields showing Whoopie his set of handcuffs!

Today Sam and I took Willie and George for a nice long walk. We went up the road and then through the snowmobile trail to come back. It was cold, but a great walk. Both guys did really well and seemed to enjoy the change of scenery. We met two sets of snowmobilers on the trail who were definitely more surprised by the llamas than the llamas were by them. We passed each other without any trouble and came back home again.

This coming week is the VT Farm Show. We'll be displaying some info about the farm and having some fiber crafts for sale. We decided not to bring any of our llamas this year as it is all so new to us and we'd rather not be that far from home the first time we do something like that.

Stay warm everybody!

Enjoying a Vacation Day

Everyone enjoyed having a day off today! The boys had friends over and we used the opportunity to practice some PR work with the llamas. Whoopie Pie continued his birthday party preparation by coming in the house and hanging out for awhile. He's getting more and more comfortable inside and really took a liking to looking out the picture window!

We also visited out in the barn. Danny's friend Rylan is a particularly patient and gentle guy and stood perfectly still while the llamas investigated him. They found him most fascinating!

Yesterday we did a little more clicker training--just beginning steps--with Macey, Kitty, Anakin, Ande, and Lolly. It's been nice to have it be just a little warmer. Not much was accomplished when it was 35 below zero! We've moved Kitty and Macey into the warmer part of the barn as we await the birth of Kitty's cria. We THINK she is due anyday, but we'll have to wait and see.

Clicker Training

Guess what--more snow today. Church was canceled, so we had a surprise day off. We all watched the video on clicker training that we borrowed from the GALA library. Then Ed, Nancy and Danny headed to the barn to try it out. We managed to have 15 minute sessions with 5 llamas before our fingers got too frozen. Ed worked with Macey, Nancy with George and Whoopie and Danny with Anakin and Willie. All the llamas caught on to the idea that the click preceded a reward. Interestingly, the younger llamas progressed more quickly and started working on targeting. It's a fascinating method and we are excited about trying new things with them once we get the hang of this.

Thanks for the clickers, Julie. Did you ever try them out with anyone?