SNOW!

I love the idea of waking up to snow. After hearing about the snow predictions coming I was excited to see the results of the snow slowly piling up this morning. I also got to hear the soft taps of the snow falling on the roof at 5AM when my little pup, Nova, woke me because she wanted to go downstairs. I wasn't excited to be woken up so early, but I was happy to fall back asleep to the calming sound of the snow on the tin while cuddled up under several blankets.

I hope everyone else was also pleased to wake up to the winter...I mean fall..wonderland. My mother was off from school of course, so we took a walk in the woods this afternoon (one of our favorite snow-day activities). The dogs really enjoy running in the snow, eating it, and playing together in it. The llamas seemed to be shivering, they shouldn't have been cold though with their thick fleeces. Chester, the bunny, was sitting in the snow, unaffected by the cold. And you know I enjoyed it... Well, I just wanted to make this short post (between studying) and share some photos from my snow day. What did you get into today?

-The Farmer's Daugther

Coffee, Barn Building & Llamas

Common Grounds

Jason and I were in Lexington and we happened to be near Common Grounds coffee shop on Nicholasville Rd. Since I live in the middle of no-where I don't have frequent access to coffee shops, so they're always a treat. This Common Grounds location had a large selection of espresso drinks as well as smoothies. I was interested in the espresso drinks though and they would make any of their espresso drinks into frappes. I got a Snickers frappe (hazelnut, caramel & chocolate flavors) and Jason got Almond Joy (coconut, chocolate & almond flavors). They were both awesome tasting and fairly reasonably priced ($3.77 for 16 oz.). They were also aesthetically pleasing and even included a chocolate covered espresso bean on top! I will definitely be visiting there again!

Work

Dad and I have been working hard on the barn every morning. We're really beginning to see the progress, too. We have been putting tin up on the back side of the barn for the past week. I think we'll finish with the tin tomorrow (if it doesn't rain!) Check it out! I wish I had taken a photo every day so you could really see the progress.

Llama Shearing

It's that time of year. Time to shear the llamas! They never like being trimmed and we don't enjoy it very much either. We have to cut their hair so they can stay cooler in the hot summer months. Their wool is really warm! Just imagine wearing a wool sweater on a 90 degree day! We've only trimmed two so far. Emmie was very cooperative and didn't fight at all. Noah wasn't as cooperative though and kicked and spit at us nearly the entire time. His cut doesn't look as good and that's why! Many people use electric trimmers to shear their animals but we have found this is scary for the llamas and more trouble, so we cut them with large scissors. It takes a while and is tiring but since we only have 4 animals, it isn't too bad.

You may be wondering what we do with their wool. At one time my mother wanted to use their wool for spinning into yarn and then using the yarn to make things. We soon realized the llamas were going to supply us with much more wool than we wanted. There is also the added expense of having the wool cleaned and processed into rovings so it can be spun. So as of right now, most of the wool gets thrown away. We have so much of it we don't have enough uses for it. If you have any suggestions, feel free to tell us!

Some before & after photos: 

Before                                     Noah                                       After

Before                                        Emmie                                          After

The wool...just from Emmie.

Two llamas trimmed, two more to go!

Until next time...

The Farmer's Daughter