Always busy at the farm

Today was a very productive day at Hidden Pond Farm! Rick and I had all the animals watered and stalls cleaned, one pasture cleaned, and we gave Ivermectin shots and trimmed toenails on a group of five alpaca boys -- all before 9:00 a.m.

Later we picked up a load of hay and put it up in the loft. Then we fed everyone dinner and cleaned two more pastures before calling it a day. It seems as though everyone loved the "new" hay so we'll see if we can buy another load next weekend.

My computer died on Thanksgiving Day so until I figure out what's wrong with it I'm temporarily (hopefully) using an old computer. Even this simple update is taking me forever as I wait for the computer to catch up with my typing! I hope to be back up to speed by the end of the week at the latest.

Time Correction!

This is very late notice because I just found out myself... The vendor fair at Little River Country Club tomorrow (Nov. 21) begins at 11:00 a.m. I apologize for any inconvenience.

Thank you to everyone who has come out to see us at the vendor shows and for stopping in at DewHill's to buy sweaters. We're adding alpaca scarves to our inventory at Dew Hill's in Marinette so visit them again for some coffee and check out the scarves!

I hope to see you out at our Holiday Beauty & Bazaar this Sunday, November 22nd. See my last post for details. Another correction from my last post regarding the times for the Mary Kay facials...we will also be doing facials at 12 noon (as well as 10 & 11 a.m. and 1 p.m.).

In addition to Hidden Pond Farm alpaca clothing, there will be a great variety of other vendors, including Dove Chocolate at Home, Homemade Gourmet, Tastefully Simple, Scentsy,Pottery, Wildtree, Crafts Murals & Accents, Pampered Chef, Purses, Tupperware, and Just Jewelry.

I'll be busy baking this weekend for the bake sale. Non-perishable food donations and proceeds from the bake sale will be donated to our local St. Vincent De Paul.

HPF around town...

I had hoped to discuss something different for this post, but I've been running in a lot of different directions lately so I haven't had time. I did want to mention where we'll be selling alpaca garments over the next couple of weeks.

Look for our Hidden Pond Farm alpaca sweaters, gloves, hats, scarves, etc, at these upcoming events:

• Saturday, November 14th at Best Western (corner of Hall Ave and Riverside in Marinette) from 10:00 a.m. to 3:00 p.m.
  
• Saturday, November 21st at Little River Country Club, N2235 Shore Drive in Marinette, from 10:00 a.m. to 4:00 p.m.
  
• Holiday Beauty & Bazaar -- Sunday, November 22nd at Holy Family Parish Center, 2715 Taylor Street in Marinette from 10:00 a.m. to 2:00 p.m. This event will include a vendor fair with great gift ideas, a bake sale, and skin care information presented by local Mary Kay consultants. As a new Mary Kay Independent Beauty Consultant I invite you to stop in for a free facial/mini-makeover at 10 a.m., 11 a.m. or 1 p.m. Visit my Mary Kay webpage at www.marykay.com/ewoodky to view the latest products or to contact me to reserve a time for your facial! Walk-ins welcome. Bring in a non-perishable food item and enter your name into a drawing for a great prize! Food donations and proceeds from this event will benefit St. Vincent De Paul in Marinette.

Thanks for your support!

Our sweater sales went really well this first weekend at DewHill's Gifts and Greetings in Marinette! Thanks to everyone who stopped out and bought a sweater or gloves. We'll have our alpaca clothing items there throughout the winter so feel free to check in now and then for different colors as we restock our inventory.

Tis' the season for craft shows and vendor fairs and we're scheduled to be at two of them during the next two weekends. You'll find us this Saturday, November 14th at Best Western in downtown Marinette. Next we'll be at Little River Country Club on Shore Drive in Marinette on Saturday, November 21st.

Well, we trimmed toenails on our older boys on Sunday and a couple of them really needed it! It seems that some of our alpacas grow out their toenails a lot quicker than others. All is well on the farm, but we are watching the newspapers for hay ads. Our supply is running down and we need to stock up for the winter.

Alpacas and llamas need only grassy hay (similar to horses) rather than alfalfa hay. It's okay for them to have alfalfa but they really shouldn't be offered too much of it. We've found it much easier to get alfalfa hay than it is to get grassy hay and you can really see a difference in their fiber when they get too much alfalfa. I've heard it referred to as "fiber blowout" where the fiber (hair) is more dull and puffed out due to the extra protein in the alfalfa. Don't quote me on any of this because I'm writing this from memory and my memory isn't always that great. I'll read up on this topic and fill you in with the correct information on the next update.

If there are any blog readers who live in Marinette or close by, send me a note if you have grassy hay, preferrably small square bales, available for sale. We'd really appreciate hearing from you!

Looking for holiday gift ideas?

Victor (left) and Matthias have been really growing. Although they don't actually play together, they do spend time out in the pasture grazing. And when we bottle feed Victor, Matthias likes to come over and nibble on Victor's ears!

I mentioned yesterday that we'll have alpaca clothing items displayed at DewHill's Gifts (and Coffeehouse) this weekend. On Friday and Saturday (November 6-7th) they will have special operating hours of 6:30 am to 3:00 pm.

I'm happy to announce that you'll have plenty of opportunities to buy our alpaca sweaters, hats and gloves all winter long at DewHill's. We will have items available there for purchase for the whole season so feel free to stop out and buy some luxuriously soft alpaca gloves and more for everyone on your Christmas shopping list! DewHill's is located on the corner of Main and Wells streets in Marinette.

DewHill's regular store hours are:
Monday - Thursday 6:30 a.m. to 4:00 p.m.
Friday 6:30 a.m. to 2:00 p.m.
Saturday 7:30 a.m. to 1:00 p.m.

Feel the warmth of alpaca this holiday season! Stop out at DewHill's Gifts & Greetings (and coffeehouse) to check out our selection of great alpaca items!

Selling alpaca garments at DewHills - Nov. 6-7th

Warm up this fall with soft, luxurious alpaca clothing -- sweaters, hats and gloves! Where can you get them, you ask?

Dewhill's Gifts & Coffeehouse, located at 1609 Main Street in Marinette, WI, has invited us to display and sell our alpaca garments this coming weekend, November 6-7th. Stop in for a delicious gourmet coffee and browse through their store for cards, gifts and alpaca garments from Hidden Pond Farm.

More details to come!