If I had to make a quick list of things that are
getting a lot of attention right now (in the news or
social media or whatever) it would look something like
Donald Trump, flamingos, and enamel pins. It seems
like I can't open up my Instgram feed without
seeing a picture of someone on a flamingo pool
floatie (but I will be honest, I totally bought a donut
shaped pool floatie so I'm not immune). Either way -
you know what I think should get more
attention? ALPACAS!
The smaller, cuter cousin to the llama - the alpaca
is totally adorable! How do I know you might be
wondering? Well, it just so happens that we went
to an alpaca farm this past weekend. I randomly saw
this Fourth of July event being advertised on an
Instagram account I follow. So, we trekked down
to Marysville to meet the alpacas, eat some dinner,
and generally decided to move it out to the country.
I'm not kidding when I say that it was genuinely
so amazing to be surrounded by these animals.
The farmer gave us a tour of his barn (where
he will stock pile 1200 bales of hay) and where
we met his herd of 53 alpacas and one llama.
They were very shy at first...but got more
curious when they noticed that I had a cup
full of food! That was all it took...and then
I was their favorite!
The farmer (his name was BJ and his wife, Donna) - explained
that they shear them once a year in May. Then they comb
out the fur and sell the fiber on Etsy! They have also
recently started selling alpaca poo because it makes
a great fertilizer (and because they have so much of it!)
The real highlight was seeing the two week old
alpaca baby. We got to see it up close
and even touch it....and guys, it was so soft. I'm in love!
It looked like a giant teddy bear!
Farmer BJ said this is very common - they are
quite curious about things that are smaller than them.
At one point Rob put him down and they all
came right over and leaned into him sniffing
the top of his head and cocking their
eyes to get a better view.
The two alpacas above were out front
and Max must have went over to "check" on them
at least ten times! He would say, "oh they have water"!
Or, "let's go see if they are eating".
The brown alpaca would lean it's head out
from beneath the bars to try and get closer to us!
The alpaca farm is called "eieio farms" and they
share their property with a Master Gardner named Jason.
Jason is the expert behind "Burnt Toast Farms".
Burnt Toast Farms does flower and vegetable
growing. Jason also offered Max
a free hay bale ride which Max was pretty happy about.
For a random Saturday evening activity - this turned
out to be pretty great. The farm is just getting started
with their social events. In fact, they just hosted their
first wedding the weekend before this. It's an amazing
property and I hope they give more tours soon!
Before leaving for the evening...we gave Max the
camera. He thought this was pretty great - and he actually
got the subject matter correct about 50% of the time.
The other 50% were selfies of half his head
because the camera was turned around.
He did manage to take the below picture of Papa Rob
and me...by holding down the button and taking
a burst of about 216 photos.
Bless his little aspiring photographer heart.
This one's a keeper :)
xoxo
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