We finished planting the garden last month and now comes the wait. Summer is a time of waiting here on the ranch. While we are enjoying lettuce and radishes from the early garden, the rest of the plantings have to grow and develop. Our potatoes, squash, corn, beans, peas, and tomatoes are growing like crazy with all of the rain we have had over the last few weeks, but we wait for the fruit to develop and ripen. Come August and September, I will be crazy busy pickling cucumbers and zucchini, canning tomato sauce, and freezing beans, peas, squash, and anything else I want to preserve from the garden.

We are also waiting for the birth of our crias this month. Our girls, Ellie and Harmony are both due today, but like all pregnancies, this is just a date. Those babies will arrive when they are good and ready. The great thing about alpacas is that the babies usually arrive in the morning hours, so we spend a lot of time in the barn checking the girls for signs of labor each morning after I finish weeding the garden . Ellie has taken to running from me when I walk to the barn. She is tired of me staring and watching her. Harmony is rather stoic and knows that I will look then leave. She knows the baby will arrive when it is ready.

So as I wait for the garden and the birth of our crias, I am busy in the studio dyeing yarns, spinning yarn from our herd’s fleece and and weaving towels and rugs. We have have quite a few visitors since opening the ranch and studio in May. So there are always projects to complete to replenish the items we have sold here in the studio.

I hope everyone is enjoying your summer and getting out with family and friends now that the country has opened again. If you are in Santa Fe, NM, don’t forget to stop by the ranch and who knows, you may arrive in time for the birth of a baby alpaca.

Happy Summer

Rene and the herd here at Casa Alpaca & Fiberworks