acornacresfarm.com

I'm pleased to announce that our farm stand website, www.acornacresfarm.com is up and running. Please check out our selection of hand spun alpaca yarn, roving, and knits.

ok, I realize I may sound like "the crazy alpaca lady"

but isn't this (poorly recorded) video the CUTEST?

fall has fallen

It's that time of year. Time to shut down the farm, and buckle in for winter. Every year, we do the usual pulling of the garden, and trimming back the perennials. This year, however it takes on a new spin as we prepare to winter our alpaca and chickens.

We've noticed that the alpaca have really "fluffed up" recently. As some of you may know, alpaca -like sheep- are shore once a year, usually late spring. That way, they carry their biggest fleece through the winter, when they need the warmth, then spend the summer cool and comfortable (and skinny!) Nature is an amazing being. The cool weather comes wafting in. . .and right on cue, the alpacas start to "buff up" for winter.

So . . . . cold weather. . . .here we come. At least we know the alpaca will be warm :)

the arts farm

I'm so happy to be able to share with you all my parents beautiful new website:

The Arts Farm in Deering

don't mess with my boy...he's READY TO GO!

geese flying south

My plan to stave off fall is to just ignore being cold. I think this should work, if I just refuse to turn the heat on, or even wear a sweatshirt, then it really can't get colder, right? When I saw mums for sale in mid August (middle of a heat wave, no less) I thought "my goodness, what are they thinking, too soon!" then the white hydrangeas started to tip pink, and my theory was "oh, they must be turning early this year, from all the rain we had in june" (I admit that one was a stretch)

However today on my way to bring the boys to school, I saw a flock of geese flying south. I suppose I can deny it no longer. sigh. I guess fall is here.

acorn acres rainbow

I realize a picture of a rainbow always falls completly flat- but the sight in person took our breath away

can't hear alpaca?

note on that video- you have to pause the music on the blog (left hand side) to be able to hear the humming over the tunes :)

what does an alpaca say?

Poor quality from my phone, but a cute clip of my alpaca "humming" :)

tagg's baby

You never know what kids will play with!


A few weeks ago, Tagg was out walking with Grandpa, looking at the fruit trees. Watching from afar, my mother and I looked onto a precious bonding time between the two. Walking back up to the house, Taggart clutched something in his hand (and, as a mother of boys, I'm always Leary of my children coming inside holding something- you never know what it might be)

He bounced into the house to show me his treasure. A peach that had fallen off the tree early. Well, technically, I suppose it was a peach, even though it was little more then a pit covered with golden fuzz. He told me it was his "baby." I asked him what he was going to name his baby. After looking quizzically off into space, he told me:

"Peachy the Cucumber"

Ok, so now the fuzzy pit has a name. Peachy the Cucumber. For the next hour or so, he plays with Peachy the Cucumber at my parents house. Giving him (or, hmm, her? Never can tell the sex of peach pits) rides in his trucks, and tucking him in for a nap at one point.

Obviously, he brings his baby home with us after our visit. He and Cooper are buzzing around the driveway, riding bikes and playing in the sprinkler. Well, out of NO WHERE, a leghorn chicken (who had clearly been stalking this pit) flies right up against Tagg, and snags Peachy the Cucumber out of his hands. Tagg shouts: "MY BABY!" as the chicken wobbles away, content with it's prize pit. Cooper, the valiant big brother that he is, starts chasing the chicken telling his brother how it's going to be ok, he'll get the baby back.

So, picture this. Tagg is laying on the driveway, sobbing. Cooper is chasing a VERY fast chicken around, who desperately wants to keep his stolen treasure. Finally, Cooper out turns the chicken, and rips the pit out of his mouth, while shouting to his brother "Tagg, I got your baby back!"

Tagg was thrilled to be reunited with Peachy the Cucumber. Even though the wrestle match with the chicken left the little pit all scraped up and wet. Tagg had his baby, and his brother had save the day :)

we're officially farmers!

The alpaca came home yesterday, with much anticipation and excitement. It's really been an easy transition for them, they seem to be doing very well. Curious, as alpaca are by nature, they follow us everywhere outside. If we're outside, they are outside, closest to us as they can be. If we're in the barn, they are in the barn. They think the chickens are fun to chase, and they are very interested in Carlos (who, being scared of everything, is pretty much ignoring them) check out the pictures!

pictures

next weekend...

We will be official alpaca farmers! :D Our boys come home to live with us next Saturday. It's been a whirlwind of a summer preparing for their arrival. I am amazed at what Aaron and I are able to do together, the work we've done by ourselves is astonishing.

Also on the farming front- we've been getting eggs from our chickens for a few weeks now. We're up to a dozen a day, so Aaron's been bringing eggs to work, and we've been supplying my family with farm fresh eggs . They're delicious!

I'll be sure to post lots of pictures next week of our alpaca's homecoming. :)

wedded bliss

Eight years ago Aaron and I took that long walk down the isle. I don't think either of us truely grasped what a perfect choice that was.

:)

how does cooper feel about the weather?

After what seems like a summer's worth of rain, the weather pattern has changed, and it's finally swimming time. Cooper is all pumped!

mommas night job

With private lesson enrollment down (I don't think I need to tell any readers that the economy stinks!) I decided I needed to get a part time job. To avoid paying a sitter everything that I make, I decided to look for a second shift job. Apparently I'm not alone in looking for shift work, because it wasn't as easy to come by as I thought (and yeah, I don't need to tell any readers how tight the job market is) Well, I got a part time, second shift job at Robin Hill Farm- a residential facility for brain injured adults. The hours are 3-11pm, perfect, as I only need a sitter for a few hours until Aaron gets home.

I thought this would just be an in and out summer job, but actually, I LOVE working there! It's great to work with adults rather then kids all day (hey, I love my students, it's just nice to be able to curse every now and then should I choose to!) I enjoy the residents, and my co workers. I thought I would dread any job outside of the teaching field- as I've NEVER had a job outside of music and or teaching my entire life- but I'm really enjoying working there.

Now, I've realized for some time now, that I've enabled Aaron in the cooking department. I've cooked every breakfast lunch and dinner he's eaten in our home for eleven years now. Granted, I enjoy cooking, but Aaron's gotten to the point that if I'm going during a meal, and don't leave something out for him, he'll just go hungry till I get back (when did we turn into my grandparents?)

Not only is this job good for me, and good for finances, but it's been great for Aaron and the boys. They were all definitly grumpy about me leaving at first (ok, mostly Aaron) but last Friday night was the first time I didn't leave a "heat and serve" dinner, for them. I left Aaron all the ingredients for American Chop Suey. He was sooooo pissy about having to make dinner (and really, we're talking about three ingredients. Doesn't get much easier) But when I got home from work later on that night, I peaked into the fridge to taste the leftover Chop Suey- it was GREAT! The next morning Aaron went on and on and on about what a great meal he made (yeah, he was kinda a pain in the ass about it, but I let him brag because he earned it)

So we're all learning lessons about living in a difficult economy. I have learned I can stay up past my bedtime. The kids have learned that it's possible o go to sleep without Momma tucking them in. And Aaron has learned that the pots and pans in the kitchen actually won't self destruct if anyone other then me uses them :)

throwing in the towel. . er. . .post hole digger

From day one, Aaron and I have been all about building our farm by hand. Our motto has been "why do with machine what hard word can do by hand?" The paddock is a great example. Each post hole was dug down three feet by hand. We stand back and look at the paddock with a good ol farmer "ahhhhhh" on our breaths. It's beautiful- and we did it ourselves, with kids pulling at our pant legs.

T O T A L L Y overrated. This is BEYOND hard work, it's near impossible. At this pace, we'll be bringing our alpaca home by 2011. Being the queen of savings, I hadn't even though of hiring someone to put these post in. What kind of weenie farmer does this? um. . .smart ones?

The biggest hurdle with our fencing (with any fencing) is driving in all those posts. Well, I sucked up my pride, and found out what it costs to rent a post hole driver. Yes, they make such a wonderful piece of equipment.

I've been a compete chump. We can rent a post hole driver to FINISH our project in less then a day. So yes everyone, sometimes you can work smart, not hard, and not sell your soul.

congratulations Uncle John!

This past Friday, Aaron's youngest brother John, graduated basic training from the US Army. We are all so proud of him :) He's off to AIT, then has some time off to come home before airborne training. In celebration of this big day in his life, I gave all the boys a good military haircut.

We love you, and are SO proud of you Uncle John!

digging post holes

Seriously, how did New Hampshire settlers dig post holes for their livestock fence by hand without power tools? Oh, I know, they DIDN'T. They built stone walls, because building walls out of granite was easier then digging three feet into New Hampshire soil.

We're slowly plugging away at all the fence posts needed to build the paddock and fencing in the field, Generally, the auger only gets us 18 inches or so down, then the rest is hand digging, as rocks and hard packed clay bind up the auger easily.

We tried to focus on one fence post at a time, but it's easy to get overwhelmed at the total number of posts that need to go in. There is no doubt about it, this is hard work. But you know what they say, anything worth having isn't easy to come by.

my alpaca inspired truck

So, I decided I was annoyed at asking Aaron to use his truck for picking up fencing/chicken feed/alpaca related stuff. My van was up for inspection next month, and it would cost us (once again) nearly as much as it was worth to have it pass inspection. As lovely as it was to live car payment free, we decided to take the plunge and get a new (to us) truck for me. A quick "we're thinking about getting another truck" phone call to my brother resulted in an immediate trip to Maine auto to see this truck. I'm in mad truck love :)