White Mountain Llamas

Animal Science Day at the Cooperative Extension!

2011-04-11T09:53:00.000-07:00

Hana and I took the llamas to the Grafton County Complex this past Saturday for the Animal Science day that took place there for students under 18. There was a horse, a pair of steer, some of our Angora's offspring (very exciting!), a lamb, and us! We brought May and Bell with packs and brushes to teach about grooming and packing.

Here's the llamas by the County Farm.
They got lots of attention and lots of grooming done!

Here is Hana with one of Snowflake's silver bunnies!

Thanks for visiting our blog!

Shearing Day!

2011-03-27T11:47:00.000-07:00

Wow, it was pretty warm out today so we all went outside to harvest rabbit fiber. Here's Merlin hanging out with Bella at the picnic table.

Here's Hana harvesting fiber at the picnic table. Merlin, Arethusa, Bella, and May are keeping her company. And its time for me to get to work!

Me and May
Merlin got sick of hanging out with Bella so he hopped of and ran around the picnic table while we were brushing rabbits. He jumped on Bella, on the table, and bugged us when we had does in our laps. What a character!
Thanks for visiting our blog!

May's Day

2011-02-17T15:25:00.000-08:00

Today, May had a small lump of fatty tissue removed from her foot. She cut her foot pad open and the fatty part of her foot cushion came out and was obviously hurting her because she was not putting weight on it. The vet came and anesthetized her for the procedure. Here is May just as she came out of it. Hana poses with the bit of her flesh in a jar.
Pain killers haven't worn off yet, she puts her weight on it here....how will she feel tomorrow?
Bella saw May down and immediately came over to watch from behind the gate. After a while she laid down right next to May's head and did not budge until May woke up, walked over to Bella, and gave her a kiss. What a good buddy!
"Awe, May! You would have done the same for me!!"
It was luckily very warm out today so everyone was comfortable - Hana and I, the vet, and May!
Bella's just hanging out, making sure that May is okay.
"Hey, are talking about me?"
Arethusa did her thing in the background, watching from the picnic table.

May is awake and alert!! I wasn't sure about her weight, so I told the vet 375. He gave her enough to keep a 375 pound llama out for 20 minutes - and she didn't stand up for an hour after going down. Woops. My bad.
May is perfectly happy now...I hope she isn't in too much pain when the painkillers where off...
Lean in for the kiss!! "Oh, I love you too, Bella."
What do you keep on our back porch? We have llamas on ours! Dig in, Bella (oink oink!). I think she found some old cabbage head in a box....spring cleaning should be fun.
Here's Arethusa. Sometimes I think that Arethusa is the most beautiful llama I know (but don't tell May I said that).
Thanks for tuning in! We'll keep you updated with the recovery!

Driving Llamas!

2010-08-27T14:49:00.000-07:00

If you would like to see pictures of Bella and Hana driving, please go to our gardening blog at www.proposintea.blogspot.com - I accidentally posted it to the wrong blog! Thank you!

Angora Bunnies for sale - ready July 1st.

2010-05-29T18:47:00.000-07:00

Here are some of our latest litters that are for sale! We have a littler that is 3/4 Angora and 1/4 short hair. By breeding short haired rabbits with the Angoras the fiber color may be richer for fiber arts! Its our first littler like this - so we will see how it goes! We currently have 10 full blood Angoras for sale - 4 white does and one white buck, three chocolate does (with interesting white markings), one black doe and one chocolate tort doe. The short haired crosses are all brown agoutis, blacks, a silver, and a black otter. Silver, otter, one black, and one brown agouti are bucks and there are a black and brown agouti doe. Look on and enjoy.

Thanks for visiting our blog and enjoy!

First Angora Rabbit Litter of the Season!

2010-05-04T15:15:00.000-07:00

Here is our first Angora litter born this season! These bunnies are 25% German and 75% French. Their mother has great wool density and their father is a chocolate out of a colorful litter! There are two chocolates in this litter, one fawn, one black, and several REW (red eyed white). We are now taking reservations for these bunnies. Please email Erika with more information @ whitemountainllamas@hotmail.com. We will also have more Angora litters in about a month or two to be ready for sale at the Vermont Sheep & Wool Festival in Tunbridge, VT in October.
Thanks for visiting our blog!

Winny's New Home

2010-04-18T11:22:00.000-07:00

Here is Sasha, Winny's new pasture mate, getting a haircut upon arrival. A before picture would make you really appreciate how pretty this little llama is! She has a nice long hair that grows up to 8 inches all along her legs and neck.
Here is Winny, not so sure about getting used to Sasha. Sasha is such an easygoing llama that Winny does not intimidate her!

Winny is going to have to get used to Sasha - she's not as overpowering as her sister, Bella! :)
The two girls relaxed to the field after a haircut. They were quite content with their fresh spring grass!

Good luck to Winny and Sasha with their new owners!

We will be having Angora rabbit litters for sale in the autumn and short haired rabbits for sale all season long. We may also have some short haired cross-breeds with Angoras to get a deeper color for sale as well! Just email whitemountainllamas@hotmail.com for more information!

Angora Rabbits 2010

2010-03-06T15:28:00.001-08:00

Hello happy fiber fanatics! White Mountain Llamas is planning on having one or two litters of Angora rabbits this year to be ready by October for new homes. Erika and Hana are planning to attend the Vermont Sheep and Wool Festival to sell them. You may also contact us directly for more information at whitemountainllamas@hotmail.com

The litters will most likely have fawn/tort, chocolate, white, and black coloration. They will be ranging in breed from 100% French to a mixture with French and German in a hybrid. The hybrid rabbits will usually closely resemble either the French or the German physiological standard.

Thanks everyone and happy fiber arts!

New Breeding Stock

2009-11-20T15:08:00.001-08:00

I'm proud to announce that White Mountain Llamas has purchased five new Angora rabbits (three bucks and two does) to use for breeding. Two brothers were purchased with similar genetics to our past litters - a chocolate and a chocolate agouti. Their names are Espresso and Apollo respectively. They are from Woolly Friends Angoras. We originally got Apollo for fiber and Espresso for breeding because we wanted to yield chocolates, fawns, and whites this year. They were born on August 12 and 13th of this year and they 100% French. We also purchased an unrelated doe that is 75% German and 25% French. She is a white and we have named her Vanilla! She was born on July 1 of this year. Vanilla came from Acres Acres Angoras, which is also where we purchased our first buck, Ethan Allen. The last two additions came from Smith Family Farm, breeder Katie Smith. We purchased a new doe, Spang's Ivy and JG's Santonio. Ivy is a 100% French Pearl Sable and Santonio is a black otter, 68.75% German, 18.75% French, and 12.5% Tan. I would highly recommend each of these rabbit breeders for rabbit and fiber related questions.

Here are some pictures of the new additions being welcomed to the herd!

See how big Ivy is! She weighs 10 and a half pounds in full fiber!
Here, she meets the herd!
Bella gets a nose full of fiber she snuffles Ivy so much!
Winny is excited to meet Tony. She is the first to greet him. She seems to say, "You're a pretty small llama, I like the ear tassels though!"

Seen above is Aurora. She is not new to us, she is actually from Dusty and Ethan's litter of 2008. Her owner did not have enough time for her and sent her back to us. She's a very sweet rabbit, has lovely color, and we will most likely use her for breeding this coming year.

Below is Apollo, our three month old buck. He is a 100% French chocolate agouti. His fiber has red, brown, and gray rings in it - he is beautiful!
Here is Apollo's full brother, Espresso. We will be using him for breeding this coming season. He is a chocolate.
Here is one of the new hutches Pop helped me make this past week. Its light weight and spacious. Dust Bunny will have a place to raise a big litter this spring!

Thanks for visiting our blog! I'll get pictures of Vanilla up ASAP.

Yarn and Scarves for Sale!

2009-11-03T05:38:00.000-08:00

White Mountain Llamas (Fran, Erika, and Hana) will be at the Neskya Movement Arts Studio in Franconia, New Hampshire on December 5th of this year. We will be selling our yarn, hats, scarves, and greeting cards. If you are interested in our products, but cannot go to the Holiday Crafts Bazaar at Neskya, just sent me an email and I can send you the product you wish to have.

Please email me with any questions about our products: erika.wml@gmail.com
We price our hand-spun yarn by the ounce. $8 for >49% Angora, $6 for >49% llama, $5 for >49% wool. For a general hat or scarf, 100 yards of yarn is needed. We recommend going to the Yarn Garden in Littleton, New Hampshire to get a pattern or lesson!

E33
2.25 ounces 50% Angora 50% llama
36 yards

H07

4.375 ounces 100% llama

73 yards

H18

3 ounces dyed silk/Marino wool

88 yards

E15

2.375 ounces 50% Angora 50% Icelandic Sheep Wool

51 yards (more skeins of this)

H17

4.625 ounces 50% dyed silk and Marino Sheep Wool mix 50% Angora and Llama Mix

138 yards (more skeins of this)

E23

1.875 ounces 50% Angora 50% Beacon Down Wool

40 yards (more skeins of this)

E26

2.25 ounces 50% Angora 50% Llama

46 yards

E32

1.375 ounces 98% Angora 2% dyed silk

70 yards

E24

3.25 ounces 30% Angora 30% llama 30% mohair

58 yards

H02

4.5 ounces 50% Angora 50% llama

123 yards

E20

2.25 ounces 100% Angora

44 yards (more skeins of this)

E27

4 ounces 50% Angora 50% llama

33 yards

Below you can see some of our scarves. There are loose knit and tight knit ones depending on the style. You can see this from the photo. You can pick yarns for us to knit or crochet into hats and scarves. Scarves <>2 ounces $50, and >5 ounces, $65.

SH01

2.125 ounces Angora

51"X6"

SH08

3.125 ounces Angora/Llama

59"X4.5

SH07

1.75 ounces Angora

45"X3.5"

SH04

2.25 ounces Angora

46"X5"

SH05

2.75 ounces Llama

34"X8.5

SH06

3.375 ounces Angora/Llama

46"X5"

...Hats!

2009-11-03T04:17:00.000-08:00

Here are the examples of hat patterns that I can knit:

Below is a "checkered pattern." There are actually squares of knit and pearl going up the hat. This is an example done with acrylic yarn. It has a single pompom on top.

Here is the knit/pearl brim pattern. It has several crochet loops as a pom pom. Here is a "whorl" pattern. See how the knit and pearl twists up the hat? It has three little crochet loops for a pom pom.

Here is a hat that was just knitted. These hats are nice because the brim naturally curls up. I put three pompoms on this hat. Here is a hat knit from baby llama fleece. Its all-natural color and has a single pompom on top.Here is an example of another scarf pattern. This scarf has been crocheted in a lacy pattern.The acrylic hats are $25 each and the hand-spun hats are $45 each. The acrylics are 8"X8" and the baby llama fleece hat has a 10" brim and is 8" tall. Each hat stretches.

Thanks for visiting the blog! If you are interested in our products don't hesitate to shoot us an email and we can give you more information or send our hand-made White Mountain Llama products to you!

Fryeburg Fair

2009-10-23T15:38:00.000-07:00

Our friend, Lynd Blatchford from Greenbriar Llama Karma Farm took the following pictures of us at Fryeburg Fair this year! Hana is seen below with Bella in the Pack Obstacle course doing a lovely demonstration of picking up a front foot. The next picture is the versatility class, Hana demonstrating how Bella and Aurora have cross-species relations!

Thank you Lynd for the wonderful pictures!

The next set of pictures are for our favorite part of the Fryeburg Fair Llama show - the costume class! Below is our poem that was recited at the fair while we walked around the ring! We hope you enjoy :D.

The Stitchy Llama Sisters

The Stichy Sisters love to knit

They made their very own outfits!

From their hats and scarves to the blankets and shawls,

The Stitchy Sisters never bought at malls.

They spin their yarn from animal fleece

Those of goat, rabbit, llama, and sheep.

And what do you know?

In their search for fiber

They found some Stitchy Llamas!

The Stitchy Llamas are sisters as well!

The two pairs are alike in more ways than you can tell.

Both pairs are 6 years apart

But they are always together,

Both love to crochet and knit,

And when they get mad, sometimes they spit.

The Stitchy Sisters barter and trade

Some llama fiber for blankets

That the two sisters made

This time of year what comfort and warmth

You can get from llama-spun garments like these!

After some practice the four sisters talents grew

And they decided to start selling their stylish garments to you!

So Hail! White Mountain Llamas

(for that is what the sisters are now called)

They travel all over New England

Throughout the fall.

Look for them in Farmer’s Markets and Crafts Fairs galore,

Or perhaps in some North Country Store.

They’ll be spinning and kitting away while they talk

To catch your eye while you’re out for a walk.

Please visit their blog and let them know what you think!

You can find their White Mountain Llamas email link!

After the show, you can find the sisters in the barn,

You should get their autograph, before they are gone!

We hope you enjoyed! Thank you for visiting!

Post Fair Season

2009-10-13T13:09:00.000-07:00

Well, its post fair season - what a trip! Hana and I did 5 weekends in a row and one double weekend to get our hand-spun yarn, Angora rabbits, and in some cases the llamas to Haverhill, NH, Sugar Hill, NH, Tunbridge, VT, Fryeburg, ME, and Bradford, VT. We will now have discounts on livestock, yarn, and apparel (scarves, hats, etc.) through the new year! Also see our drop spindles (pictured below).

Currently we have four French/German hybrid Angora bucks for sale. There are two black steel, one black tortoise shell, and one fawn. We also have one female yearling llama for sale and one non-breeding female for lease. We are planning on having unrelated Angora litters for spring and autumn of 2010!

As always, if you need any information on Angora rabbit and llama care, please email us and we will be happy to point you in the right direction. Remember - every Angora rabbit comes with a free fiber lesson! Remember to visit our gardening blog.

2009-09-27T17:37:00.000-07:00

Erika and Hana are going to craft fairs! We bring our White Mountain Llamas "Warmth, comfort, and style" fiber arts and Angora rabbits to the festivals. We were in Sugar Hill today doing a spinning demonstration and selling Dan's artwork, our hand-spun yarn, salves, and greeting cards.

We will be at Vermont Sheep and Wool Festival this weekend (October 3rd & 4th) selling our Angora bunnies (French hybrids, black steels, fawns, and black torts). We only have 6 bunnies left! If you need to reserve one email me! We will also be selling our hand spun natural-colored yarns from our llamas and rabbits and running the llama obstacle course.

On October 5th & 6th we will go to Fryeburg Fair in Fryeburg, Maine with the llamas for the show Tuesday morning 8:30 - noon. Come visit us at one of the largest agriculture fairs in the Northeast!

On October 10th I will be selling the last of whatever I have at the Bradford, VT Farmer's Market (rabbits, yarn, etc.). I will also be leading a workshop titled Alternative to Conventional Lawns. I will be talking about food and fiber production from lawns as well as a little landscaping alternatives. I hope to see you there!

Llamas for Sale

2009-08-31T14:33:00.000-07:00

White Mountain Winneweta (Winny) is for sale. She is a yearling female out of Fabyan and Queen of the May. She has a great disposition and will be great as a pet, pasture companion and guard, hiking llama, and more!I am looking to free lease Arethusa as a non-breeding female to a loving home (possibly the same home as the one that Winny goes to!). She is a pleasure to be around with a great personality. She is 13 years old and would be a good pet, pasture companion or guard llama. I would like to see her live out her days in peace and would be willing to do a free lease on an annual basis and would require access to her four times a year for foot and coat maintenance and to check up.Winny and Arethusa know each other well and would do well together at the same home. If someone wanted to get two llamas for the price of one - this would be a great way to do it!

Thanks for visiting our blog!

Angora Rabbits for Sale

2009-08-15T12:03:00.000-07:00

Here is our most recent litter of Angora rabbits. There are seven for sale from the litter by Dust Bunny X Ethan. They were born on June 20th of this year. They are hybrids: 51% French, 39% German, 9.5% Satin, and 0.5% English. This mix gives a high yielding rabbit with a dense coat that generally will shed their coat and can be brushed to retrieve the fiber. This is our favorite mix concerning fiber and animal care. These rabbits are $85 each. We will bring them to the Vermont Sheep and Wool Festival on October 3rd and 4th at the Tunbridge Fair Grounds.

There are two female black steels and two male black steels (color seen below). Their fiber color will be deep gray and will bring a deep colored dye like navy blue or burgundy (as apposed to blue and red).

There are 3 black tortoise coloration for sale. There are two males and one female. There is one dark male (shown below) and the other two are very light, almost fawn.

We also have two 3-year old non-breeding females for sale that are about 93% German. They can generally be brushed but need to be shorn at least once a year. They have friendly dispositions, have been to schools and fairs. We are selling them for $50 each or both for $80.Thanks for visiting our blog!

Cracker Barrel Bazaar in Newbury, VT: A Success!

2009-07-23T06:28:00.000-07:00

We had a fantastic day the Cracker Barrel Bazaar last Saturday, the 18th of July. We rented a tent and put pictures of the llamas and rabbits as the backdrop. We had yarn and blankets hanging in the tent and umbrella. We had soaps (made a Thyme to Heal Shoppe in Lisbon, NH), salves, yarn, felted items, our mother's woven blankets, rabbits, and sheep skins for sale. The happy rabbits we set up on the grass all day and we had children through the booth constantly giving them attention. We sold soap, felted items, yarn, hand made greeting cards picturing our rabbits and llamas, and even a hand woven blanket! All of these things are always available for sale through mail or visits! Just shoot us an email and we can set up an appointment!We finally sold our beautiful buck, Merlin at this show! He is a breeding quality German hybrid, but he was just too related to our rabbitry for us to keep. He is just as sweet as his father, our legendary Ethan Allen (known for his temperament). Good luck at your new home, Merlin!

Angora Rabbits for Sale

2009-07-15T15:46:00.000-07:00

Here are the three week old babies born on June 22nd. They are out of Dust Bunny and Ethan. We have 3 black steel, 1 black, 2 fawn, and 2 chocolate torts. One black steel has a white mark on his forehead. They are each $85. We haven't checked the gender yet.

We will also have mixed breed rabbits for sale as pets at the Cracker Barrel Bazaar this Saturday the 18th at the Newbury Commons in Newbury, Vermont. There are many cute colors! We will also bring adult Angora rabbits for sale to the Bazaar this Saturday.

Shearing and Weaning

2009-07-04T11:47:00.000-07:00

Here are Cocoa and her baby Cocoa Puff with their new looks! Hana shore these two lovely girls at Scenic View Farm in Whitefield, NH while I shore Crunch and Munch, the two appaloosa boys seen below.

Crunch and Munch:

Hana and I brought Arethusa and Winny to a new farm. We would like to breed Arethusa and Winny is being weaned from May. Here is Are with the newest cria on the farm!

Winny and Are hang out in this bigger girl herd.

Here is the big man, Mapsoot, that we would like to breed Are to. She is 14 years old and in excellent body condition. She would be fine having another cria, it would be her 5th. However, her last cria was 6 years ago and since camelids are induced ovulaters it may take her a while to get back on her cycles.

What a cutie!I walked out the backdoor the other day and found these silly turkeys sleeping like this! I had to take a picture, it was so funny!

Shearing time!

2009-06-26T10:23:00.000-07:00

Here, Bella and Winny will model their beautiful new "haircuts."This was Winny's first haircut and she did very well! She soon learned that standing still was important and didn't move while I shore her with hand shears. What a good llama!Arethusa is chilling out. She was shorn late last year, so will wait a year and get shorn early next year.

Thanks for visiting our blog!

Urban Farms

2009-06-02T15:00:00.000-07:00

Our first litter of the year was born to our black doe Terre Madre and our black buck, JJ. Here they are at about a month old. This picture was taken of them today! They have grown a lot in the past month. They are almost as bit as Terre. These rabbits are being rotated on our lawn so they can mow and fertilize our yard while also eventually providing a healthy source of meat for our family. We may keep the white one for future breeding - she has great big ears like her mother.

Our second litters were born last night to Louis and Dea seen below. Dea is a satin rabbit that we rescued and Louis was purchased from Scenic View Farm in Whitefield. We keep the does with litters close to the back door so we can watch them and you can see our other rabbit hutches just behind them. We have two litters of Angora rabbits due in two weeks. Here is Louis' nest. She had one white and two gray bunnies. We bred her with one of our small Angora rabbits, Twilight, and will see if any of these will have the Angora trait.

Here is Dea's nest. She has had multiple, spotted bunnies.

Here, you can see our cat relaxing in the shade with our pastured rabbits.

Here, our cat wants to be the center of attention when I take a picture of our multi-species back lawn with the rabbits in the foreground and our Embden and Toulouse geese, Louise and Toula, in the background stretching their wings.Toula and Louise love to graze. They are put out in their pen every day to graze and will go back into their shed at night by themselves. They feel safe their. For the first few days that we had them they were laying several eggs a week. They have stopped at this point. A friend of mine told me that geese only lay eggs in the spring. We will see if they lay any more at this point. They are excellent at mowing the grass and fertilizing the lawn.

Here, Toula is taking her afternoon bath...

Now, Louise wants a turn!
Here are our Cornish Giants. They are growing quite quickly, they are about two weeks old. I will need to get the chicken tractor ready in about two weeks so they can go on the rest of our lawn. We currently have 13.

We also are experimenting with bronze turkeys. We have two and they will most likely live with or near the geese. We have more electronet fencing that we can use to keep them in the yard.

And last, our favorites! Hana and I love ducks! We are considering breeding and raising Indian Runners as egg layers and meat birds. They are spectacular fun to have around the yard and love to eat pests like slugs.

Thank you for visiting our blog! We will have Angora rabbits for sale sometime in August and have a yearling llama for sale as well!

Spring is in the air...

2009-03-14T05:28:00.000-07:00

It's been hot here the past few days! The llamas are getting frisky! Soon they'll be out on their summer pastures and we'll be turning the yard (and llama/rabbit manure and waste hay) over for vegetable production! Animals create so much wonderful organic matter for our soils!

Back to School!

2009-03-14T05:24:00.001-07:00

Yesterday, Hana took our rabbit, Ethan Allen, to the elementary school that she mentors at!Hana explained that Ethan was used for his fiber and about the Angora as a breed.She told students that he was the color fawn and that is one of the reasons we picked him to be the "herd sire."I explained to students the difference between a rabbit and a bunny. Do you know? (Answer at bottom of entry).

Hana brought Ethan around to all of the desks so students could pet him. He is one of our calmest rabbits and remained so throughout his two hours in the elementary school and for the walk home with Hana and Hunter.A rabbit is an adult and a bunny is a young rabbit. Similar to an horse and a foal or a cow/bull and calf. Did you know that?

First Bunny of 2009!

2009-03-11T11:45:00.001-07:00

Our first Angora rabbit litter was on February the 13th. A single rabbit was born to our satin Angora, Lucy (sired by Twilight). It looks like its turning out to be a little buck and he is black. He's the sweetest bunny. Hana and I take him around with us through the house while we are doing homework, cooking, spinning, reading, or just hanging out. He loves the adventures! Hana has been calling him Usk.

Here is Usk with Lucy at a few days of age.

Here is Usk today (with Hana). Look how big he is! He's about one month old in the rest of the pictures.I was trying to show Usk with a little perspective. Here is is next to a mason jar.Here is Usk playing hide and seek. He thinks he looks like a banana...poor thing. Here Kitty and Usk are haning out on his Uncle Merlin's rabbit hutch by the llama pen.

Birds of a feather...

Thanks for tuning in to the blog!

More on Powershift

2009-03-11T11:42:00.000-07:00

Below is an essay that I am submitting to the Greater Appalachian Llama and Alpaca Association bi-monthly newsletter. You can find more information about GALA at http://www.galaonline.org/. Enjoy!

Powershift 2009

On February 27 a group of students from Green Mountain College departed from Poultney, Vermont at 6:00 AM to become part of one of the largest movements in United States history. Our destination was Washington, D.C., 8 hours later. The Convention Center held over 12,000 high school and college students from all 50 states. From Friday night to Sunday morning workshops and panels were lead to instruct students on the most recent information concerning climate change. These included topics like policy, environmental degradation, human oppression, and agriculture, to name a few. There is evidence that shows current large scale agricultural practices are producing environmental (soil, water, and air) pollution comparable to the transportation sector in the United States. The good news is that we, as farmers and consumers, have the power to change that!

I am in my fourth year of study at Green Mountain College. My focus is, “Sustainable Agriculture and Food Production.” In this course of study I have investigated the national organic standards, pasture management, permaculture (ecological systems), and biodynamic farming. One question I always strive to answer is: “What does sustainable farming mean to me?” Wikipedia characterizes sustainable as: “…the ability to maintain a certain process or state. It is now most frequently used in connection with biological and human systems. In an ecological context, sustainability can be defined as the ability for an ecosystem to maintain ecological processes, functions, biodiversity, and productivity into the future.” So far I think that to me, sustainability in agriculture involves soil fertility and pasture management. David Orr, an Environmental Studies faculty member at Oberlin College in Ohio, has coined two definitions of sustainability: technological and ecological. To further investigate these descriptions, lets look at the example of transportation. Technological sustainability would look like a hybrid car while ecological sustainability would be something that used less energy, like walking. He advocates for a change in technology and more importantly, a change in behavior. To me, the ecological sustainability looks like small family farms and farmers markets. (It also looks like a great marketing strategy: “grass-fed fiber,” “climate friendly fiber products.” The possibilities are endless).

If the farmer models natural ecological systems s/he can create appropriate soil fertility and pasture management that will keep nutrients in the soil and our food/fiber system. ineffective fertility management will lead to the eutrophication (algal blooms) of local watersheds. A prime example of the implications of nutrient run-off is the “Dead Zone” in the Gulf of Mexico. This is a huge area of ocean where there is no longer any life due to too much nutrients in the water. Land management will also decrease our dependence on chemical applications (made mainly with fossil fuels in large agribusinesses), which inhibit local natural systems and negatively affect people living around these chemicals. With appropriate land management, one may also sequester carbon dioxide in their soils, completely changing the recent agribusiness trend, emitting carbon dioxide into the atmosphere.

As animal husbands, we have a duty to our animals to give them a clean and safe living environment. Working with our livestock is fun but can it can be challenging. I like this model of healthy livestock (see the “pyramid”) because it breaks down essential body health. This diagram shows that the soil ecosystem (different plant species, microorganisms, and structure) is the most important aspect of your livestock’s health. The soil makes up their food and living environment. The model shows that if you keep your animals healthy, you are using preventative medicine as apposed to the “band-aids,” which represent pharmaceuticals, and are considered a last resort. I would encourage everyone who owns llamas and/or alpacas to do some research on pasture management. Some good resources are listed at the end of this article.

So what happened as a result of Powershift 09? Activists at the conference lobbied state senators and representatives to take immediate action on climate change challenges through policy. The new Administer of the Environmental Protection Agency, Lisa Jackson, addressed the conference attendees to let the youth of the United States know that they were going to focus on climate change and we were going to see pertinent policy as a result. The Secretary of Interior, Ken Salazar, told us about a new economy where we would all have “green jobs.” Van Jones, formerly of Green For All and Majora Carter of Green The Ghetto were also figures at the keynote address to open Powershift 09. They reiterated “Think Global, Act Local.” What am I going to do? I’m going to stay on this quest for sustainable farms after graduation and continue to keep the membership updated with ways to green our farms (the color that they were all along?).

I also want to encourage other members to write articles for the GALA newsletter. This is one of the best ways to pass along information and network aside from our annual conference. It’s also fun to get regional updates and share with the rest of the membership.

In the interest of our members, I have put together a survey which can be found on the first page of the February issue (featuring me on the cover!) or on the front page of the GALA website (www.galaonline.org). I will have a more updated conclusion to those surveys. The most recent update is as follows: for newsletters there is a resounding call for us to keep a physical newsletter. One idea was to change to a quarterly newsletter so there is more information in each magazine. For the conferences: keep them up to date with new ideas being introduced (like the South American perspective). For GALA education: the library, the conference, and the newsletters are the most important aspect of GALA because it is how we accomplish national llama and alpaca education.

Have an opinion? Please fill out a survey and send it to me or call me and talk to me about it!
Email: Erika.wml@gmail.com
Home address: 40 S Court St Woodsville, NH 03785
Phone: 603-667-3312

Resources:

Wells, Ann. “Sustainable Parasite Management for Goats.” Arizona: Springpond Holistic Animal Health, 2006 <>.
Nation, Allan. Quality Pasture. Mississippi: Green Park Press, 2004.
Murphy, Bill. Greener Pastures on Your Side of the Fence. Vermont: Arriba Publishing, 1998.
Ekarius, Carol. Small-Scale Livestock Farming: a Grass-Based Approach for Health, Sustainability, and Profit. Massachusetts: Storey Publishing, 1999.
Cornell University pasture management study: http://hawk.greenmtn.edu/exchweb/bin/redir.asp?URL=http://www.css.cornell.edu/forage/pasture/index.html

Notes from Powershift 2009, Washington, D.C. February 27

2009-03-01T11:41:00.000-08:00

The opening remarks were inspiring and led me to think critically about the underlying message of what different speakers were saying. Visit the POWERSHIFT09 website to view pictures and videos in addition to my notes!

Keynote Speakers for Friday Night:

Majora Carter told us that the acronym OBAMA stood for Officially Behaving As Magnificent Americans. Marjora provided me by far with the most inspiration of all the keynote speakers. She relayed a message from one of her teachers about both the oppressor and the oppressed being damaged. She was referring to Former President George W. Bush. Her message was clear: forgive and forget, do not let hatred cloud your thoughts. Majora leads a host of green jobs and initiatives in the South Bronx. Her project is called “Green the Ghetto.” She speaks for greening our local communities and to start from the bottom up, in particular by reaching out to and giving opportunities to our youth. She told us to not relax just because of a new administration, but to keep a close eye and demand what we want as citizens.

Mayor Rocky Anderson said that America’s youth were transforming from “sheep” to “power-shifting bull dogs.” We live in a culture of obedience and need to stand up for what we believe in (healthy food, for one). Without citizens reminding the administration that we are here they will “dither, delay, and distract” with spending money. He had us chant “no coal is clean coal.”

Van Jones told us to “use technology as tools, not toys.” He said that ten years ago being able to communicate in ways that we do with laptops and cell phones would have been thought godly. That we should use these tools to our advantage to involved and inform those around us. He said that we need to have a behavioral change as well as an infrastructure remodel otherwise we will fight wars with solar energy. He poses the question, “are we locusts or honey bees?”

Session I: Gardening For Climate Justice
Beth Schermerhorn
Permaculture speaks to a sustainable ecosystem within agriculture, but also to the lifestyle, “Least Change for the Greatest Effect.” Daikon Radish has allelopathy – good cover crop to turn in. John Jeavons – biointensive gardening. Recommended book: The Fifth Sacred Thing by Starhawk. Vermiculture is different from regular composting because the worms keep the mixture aerated and cool. It never heats up. You put layers of nitrogen (food scraps) and wood chips or leaves in with the worms in a dark, cool, tub.

Session II: False Solutions: The Mythical Benefits of Agrofuels
Kate Horner, Friends of the Earth, www.foe.org
Andrea Samulon, Rainforest Action Network, www.ran.org
-This panel was only talking about plant-based biofuels-
Biofuels – farm-generated fuels using technology that has been used traditionally on that farm, small-scale energy production.
Agrofuels – biofuels made with new technology by large corporations.
2nd generation agrofuels – using more of the plant to produce fuels

All corn in the United States would displace 10% of our current petroleum needs. The corn to exclusively feed on person for one year would make the ethanol for one tank of gas in an SUV.

Different crops for agrofuels include: corn, sugar cane, soy, algae, jatropha, switch grass, and others. There is a lot of promise and investments being made now for the future.

Why are agrofuels good?
Clean emission
Renewable
Creates jobs
Increased national security by being energy dependent
Decreased drilling

Why are agrofuels bad?
Inefficient (life cycle analysis)
Deforestation (mainly rainforests)
Government subsidies (which are only supposed to continue for a company that is starting off)
Food shortage (using arable land for fuel production)
Grain prices going up lead to food prices going up
Soil degradation
Water intensive (for southeastern countries like Brazil they are literally exporting water in food)
Genetic modification
Increased chemical application (yes with GMO’s)
Health impacts from chemical sprays (seen mainly in communities of lower class)
Fertilizer run-off
Per the life-cycle analysis – not sustainable

Life cycle analysis for agrofuels shows that to produce them takes more fossil fuels than using straight up fossil fuels. For example, the electricity, fertilizer, and fuel used to power machines in the field for the plant’s lifecycle and in processing to usable fuels afterwards equal more carbon equivalents in the atmosphere than using regular petrol-based gasoline or diesel fuels.

Policy
In 2007 the through the Energy Bill, a renewable fuel standard was suggested to increase agrofuel production 5X by the year 2022. Currently 5 agribusinesses own and control 80% of the United States grain. A monopoly is defined by one party owning more than 20% the produce to a market.

Their Combined Experience
In Brazil slaves and children are used in sugar cane fields. In Columbia the president wants to take the current 200,000 hectares of palm oil production and increase it to 6 million hectares in a matter of ten years. This will all be done in what is currently rainforest and land owned by local peoples. For years the military have displaced native peoples and now they cannot keep their land due to new laws about palm oil production. The United States gives ethanol producers $0.50 per gallon in subsidies.

Suggestions
This problem is complex and painful for many. They suggest that having public transportation and actual fuel efficiency will help lead to a sustainable future horizon. Their bigger goals are to take out corporations and want to localize. There is also biofuel legislation coming up. Also the EPA has been asked to define and find a place for agrofuels in the economy. Obama wants them to implement the agrofuel legislation. There may be sneaky use of grandfather clauses in the legislation so we need to find adequate social and environmental safeguards in all aspects.

Session III: Women Workers in Toxic Industries: How Their Health and Safety Will Change the Course of Climate Change
Amanda Wake, Asian Communities for Reproductive Justice, www.reproductivejustice.org
Reproductive justice – an individual’s right to have a choice about their own gender, body, or sexual rights.
Reproductive oppression – when an individual has no rights to have a choice about their gender, body, or sexual rights. The phrase, “Shouldn’t need green to get green,” describes the fact that those most affected by the pollution are not those causing it.
This session talked about relating the lifecycle of a toxic product (focusing on nail polish and workers in nail salons) life cycle analysis and how it hurts people and the environment every step of the way. Their model takes us through 1) extraction 2) production 3) distribution 4) usage and 5) disposal. Aluminum is needed in nail polish. Through extraction, the aluminum is mined, degrading the environment around that place and affecting people that live near there (usually native, low-income communities, or pristine wilderness). Through production workers are exposed to chemicals and pollutants escape into the environment to cause poor air quality and more health problems. When people use nail polish the fumes (acetone) can cause cancer, miscarriages, and a host of other health issues. Bottles that have nail polish left in them are usually brought to a land fill to further create environmental degradation. We broke into groups to talk more about this topic. My solution was don’t produce or consume nail polish. Other solutions were making nail polish from organic compounds and using bulk bottles like you would see at a coop for maple syrup or tamari sauce.

Session IV: Cap Carbon & Trade? Invest? Dividend?: A Conversation that Explores All the Options!
Daphne Wysham, Institute for Policy Studies
Mike Tidwell, Chesapeake Climate Action Network
Timothy Telleen-Lawton, Environment America
Tom Goldtooth, Indigenous Climate Network

The moderator began by describing the model that if there was an immediate cap on carbon trade in the United States that the rural Vermont electric bill would go up $100/month.

Mike Tidwell began a conversation about the three most supported carbon cap policies. He said that we needed a “strong, solid, realistic cap this year.” He gave a rundown of the three types asking the question of each, “Who owns the sky?”:
Cap and Trade – Corporations own the sky. This policy would make a cap on carbon equivalent emissions and then sell tradable permits for corporations to deal back and forth.
Cap and Invest – The government owns the sky. They would purchase all the carbon equivalent credits and then invest in things like renewable energy and green jobs.
Cap and Dividend – the legal U.S. citizen owns the sky. Instead of a complex system to charge companies for carbon equivalent emissions, they would charge the party selling the fuels at the first sale. That way when the resource was extracted in the United States or in a foreign country, at the first sale in the United States that party would pay a high “tax.” In the ideal model up to 90% the money collected would be sent to each citizen monthly. It would be like a monthly “carbon check” rewarding citizens for paying high prices on fossil fuels while we transitioned to a renewable energy system and grid.

Tidwell suggested that the Cap and Dividend posed the greatest solution to the common good. He said it was “durable, simple, and fair.” He says the sky should be a commons to all citizens. He said that this way will be transparent to the lay wo/man while a system like Cap and Trade would be complex, confusing, and give corporations power over the sky. Suggested book: Ignition by Isham, Waage, and McKibben. www.capanddividend.org

Daphne Wysham (earthbeatradio.org) talked about the solution needing to be transparent and free of manipulation so that the poor aren’t oppressed in the system. The present flaws in carbon policy are 1) political 2) mathematical and 3) definitional. Large corporations (like the World Bank) are getting the money, carbon credits and debits are not mathematically corrects, and the “clean development” consists of dirty projects that go against the original definition. The United States needs to stop subsidizing fossil fuels at home or abroad. They also need to stop biofuel production, rainforest deforestation, and international offsets.

She suggested that the U.S. adopt a policy like Germany’s Feed in Tariff which allows a decentralization of energy giving people the right to plug into the grid with their renewable energy and get paid for it, no matter how much they make. This allows people to produce more energy than they consume, sell it back to the main grid, and make a profit after several years. Germany is going to reach 45% renewable energy by 2030.
Timothy Telleen-Lawton was promoting the Cap and Invest policy. He wanted the government to take the money and invest it in clean energy and green jobs so people can switch from the “dirty” petrol and coal based jobs to renewable energy jobs. He said Obama is in favor of the Cap and Invest.

Tom Goldtooth that the United States is “the belly of the beast,” inferring that we are the main part of the problem. He said that the UN is really only concerned with money and that we should think about policy in our communities. He said that we would be the elders in 2050 when our policy had an impact Mother Earth. He asked us to protect the water, air, and genes. He talked about the ice-climate people being forced to make adaptations as the Arctic ice melts at a faster rate than predicted. He wants to make sure there is accountability and will be enforcement and monitoring for the new climate policy. He was in favor of other market-based solutions like Cap and Dividend. He wanted to know which communities would receive the money, expecting only rich, white people to get it. He said that up until now the communities on mountain tops, of color, and low-class were oppressed and did not get equal rights. He wanted to reduce the use of coal and reduce the international dependence. He wanted to ban all oil, gas, and coal plants, and start the legislation now, when our voices are the strongest. Someone working with Goldtooth gave the audience this website to address the issue further: http://www.holmeshummel.net/ClimatePolicyDesign/

Session V: Decolonizing Our Minds: How Colonization Affects Us Today
This workshop was supposed to be only open to native people and it was to be used in a more therapeutic way than an educational opportunity for non-native people. However, the pamphlet did not communicate that in a good way, so it ended up being a room of more than 100 non-native people and about 30 native people. First we asked the native people to discuss the positives and negatives at reservations and then defined some terms.

Positives: tradition, language, more community indigenous practices, ceremonies, preserving land, elder knowledge passed down, organized, learning from children

Negatives: border towns lead to alcoholism, rate of suicide increasing, food racism, sexual violence, diabetes, domestic violence, NIMBY, nepotism, internationalized oppression, drugs, gangs, no economic development, cultural exploitation, loss of language, culture, and land.

Decolonization – Unlearning all information forced onto natives by colonists. Colonization has a rapist mentality.
Colonialism – European nations exploiting native people to gain power and money for Europe.
Colonization – The process of devaluating native people to exploit lands.
Colonial Mind – The imperialistic mindset that the colonizers must teach native people to exploit themselves and Mother Earth (male and religion dominated).
Oppression – Results in classism, capitalism, and the rich people get rich at the expense of the poor.
Racism – White supremacy at the expense of colored or indigenous peoples.
Patriarchy/Sexism – The notion of the man possessing all of the power.
Heterosexual – In the native community there is a role for every person, regardless of sexuality.
Ableism – The opportunity posed to those with able bodies. For example, a native person that speaks English will be more “able” in today’s society, than one who does not.
Nepotism – Favoring those close to you to exploit them.

Native Students:
One student spoke about the displacement of men in society because they no longer had a traditional role. In native cultures men fit in and had certain duties. Now they are confused and the tribe becomes unbalanced.
Another student spoke about the indigenous people’s commitment to environmental equality for the past 200 years. He said that natives think in circles. The square buildings of the white man make no sense, and do not mimic nature. He said that the circles of the white people and native people’s paths have crossed and that its time for us to start working together.

Three types of oppression:
Institutional Oppression – governments and corporations forcing oppression. For example the introduction of the square in place of the circle. The western culture was totally backwards from the indigenous cultures.
Interpersonal Relationship – oppression between people within groups and outside groups. For example a family feud over boarding school and gangs and exclusion. When native children were sent to boarding schools the maids and missionaries spoke to them in harsh tones, demoralizing, condescending tones. This taught these people to grow up and speak to their own children in this manner, having parents being authority figures instead of teachers providing guidance.
Internalized Oppression – putting selves down, believe that they are a devalued race

Native Students:
One student pointed out that it was difficult to address 400 years of colonization and oppression in one hour.
A member of the non-native audience asked what we (as non-natives) should do about colonization and its effects. A native student answered by saying that non-natives should figure it out for themselves because native people “have enough of our own shit to deal with.” He said that non-natives need to go on our own journey and find our own niche in the world. We have the power of choice. He told us to read the book by De Las Casas and that the history taught to us in public schools is wrong. He said that the American flag should be the color of two shades of blood, for the killing of the native people. He said that by the late 1800’s only 2% of the native population of America was left. At that point 1% was youth – they were sent to boarding schools to be taught European religion, language, and culture and were punished for practicing their own traditions. After students were sent to these schools, only half were still alive. He said that the residential schools were a model to Hitler. He pointed to two other male native’s around the room and showed us that he knew they were from three different tribes, that they were not all one race. He ended with the opinion that love is our movement. It doesn’t matter who your nation is, that you should love all children like your own.
One native made the point that America consists of all native people – from all of North America to all of South America, and Mexico. He said that in his native tribe there was an incident similar to the Columbine shooting, but now news station covered it. He said the government has always wanted to suppress the native people so they believe that they have no power.
Another asked how many had been to the Smithsonian exhibition on Native Americans. He then asked how many had been to Pine Ridge (all natives raised hands). He said he found it ironic that the government could spend millions of dollars on a museum when people in Pine Ridge had no running water.
One young man came back up to say that throughout their history outsiders had come into the native culture for lack of cultural identity and learned languages and replicated their culture through clothes and ceremony. We would take it and exploit it somewhere else. He said that non-natives need to learn their place in the world and “stop taking our stuff.”
A young woman came up and said that she attends one of these boarding schools. She says that until recently one would not receive a high school degree from the school, only a certificate of trade or housekeeping. Now the school is beginning to teach tradition, she has to take classes in her native tongue and “Native American Studies.” She said that the word for people is “all my relations” that all people are connected. She said that they don’t point fingers at others, only claim responsibility for themselves. Until recently non-natives thought that the word for “greedy” was the word for “white man.” She said please, “don’t take what makes us.” Recognize history and be respectful.

Other book suggested: Kill the Indian, Save the Man: The Genocidal Impact of American Indian Residential Schools by Ward Churchill

White Mountain Llamas - More History!

2009-01-14T13:28:00.000-08:00

Our mom found some photos from 1998 the other day. The llamas seen below, Fabyan and Silace Bumpas were the first two llamas that Hana and I had in our yard. It was an experiment for us to see if we liked having llamas. It turned out to be quite successful - we went to our first Fryeburg Fair the following autumn to show Fabyan, Lizzy Bourne, Lucy Crawford, and Wannalancet.

We kept our first two leased-llamas in the middle of town on our small portion of property. Since we only kept them there during cold seasons they did not need a lot of space (for grazing). Hana and I would take them out for walks, pick up their feet, and trained them how to respond to us.

We would even have neighborhood children come over with their families to visit with the llamas. We took the llamas to visit the librarians regularly because they were right up the street from our house. They purchased Storey's Guide to Raising Llamas for the library and honored Fabyan and Silace inside the front cover.

Here I am, age 11, showing a the llamas to Kyle.Here are Hana and I, age 5 and 12 at our first every Fryeburg Fair!Here I am helping Hana to get ready for her first class in the show - the costume class! Hana and Lizzy are dressed as scarlet macaws.

Cross Country Skiing with Bella and Winny

2008-12-27T05:50:00.000-08:00

Driving!

Hana and I took Bella and Winny to "the meadows" which are a series of hay fields on the edge of town that follow the Ammanoosuc River. Bella carried Hana's skis for her on the way down. What a good llama!Bella was unsure of the deep snow but Winny jumped right in!Ah, we're there!

Winny looks at our yellow lab, Sam. Sam wants to go skiing too, she's jealous that Hana is playing with Bella and not her!

Ready for the skis?After a couple tries and learning where Bella wanted to go - away they went! We learned that it helped if Winny led for Bella to follow. Bella is very good at the command "whoa" which is one of the main reasons she is so good to ski with. When Hana falls, Bella has to know to stop quickly!
Kerplop!
Bit the snow!

Here, Winny is taking notes while Hana is training Bella! I recently took my exam for a course called the History and Application of Draft Animals. Part of my final exam was to drive Green Mountain College's two oxen, Bill and Lou. VPR interviewed us and you can listen to that program here. After listening to Kenneth's explanation of "gee" and "haw" it helped Hana to remember which side is which. Now Bella and Hana are a little better at general steering and directions! We both encourage you to listen to it!

Again, Winny is leading so Bella sort of knows where to go. Bella is very calm around cars, so we were able to keep going on the snowy parts of the street/sidewalk back home.Wee!

Bella loves pulling! She goes right up the hill with Hana - no problem! One of the most important things in a driving llama is one that enjoys moving forward. In the beginning Bella did not really understand being asked to "walk on" from behind when she was used to Hana at her side. If you want a driving llama it is good to start young so you do not need to re-train their leading knowledge.

Behind Hana and Bella are the old train station and Opera Block of Woodsville. This town was built on the railroad systems that connected us to other parts of New Hampshire. Only the old railroad bed remain today - but they make excellent cross country skiing paths!

Peacable Kingdom...Continued!

Our yellow lab, Sam, is a little wary of the llamas. The llamas love to see her though!Here is Ollie again! He's looking for his escape route...

Ollie enjoys sitting in the llama pen in their hay - right next to the bird feeder.

Often Bella or Winny will visit with Ollie when he's snuggling into their hay. He likes to sniff noses with Winny, but Bella is a little more persistent about her kisses and sometimes chases him out of the pen!

Retreat!

Winny is sticking her tongue out for the camera!May and Winny are almost identical - how cute they are!

Thanks for visiting our blog and happy holidays!

Peacable Kingdom

2008-12-24T06:49:00.001-08:00

Here our rabbit Tiger Lily and cat Ollie snuggle up during a storm. Originally Ollie went in at feeding time to get some water from Tiger, but then he decided to stay a while and snuggle. It's so wonderful living with so many animals and being able to observe how they all interact!

We have three cats. One ignores the rabbits, one pounces on and plays with them, and Ollie prefers to snuggle! Our yellow lab, Sam, also loves playing with the rabbits. The llamas like sniffing and giving the rabbits rides. What fun we are having this holiday season!

Thanks f0r tuning into the blog! Happy Holidays!

The Herd

2008-12-18T09:37:00.001-08:00

This is Birch Tree! She is a little doe from Ethan's third litter this year. She is a fawn, like Ethan. You can identify this color by a light orange body color with white ears, nose, eye rings, and under body.
Here, Winny is being inquisitive about my camera! She followed me all around to see what I was doing and let me catch and pet her while I was visiting.

Bella is teaching Winny about neck-wrestling. Usually two males will neck-wrestle to see who is dominant. It involves biting of each other's legs and underside and then chasing each other around. May and Bella did it when they were younger and in nice cold weather! Today Bella was playing in this fashion with Winny. First she put her ears back and "attacked"!

Winny pulled back: "Ugh! Bella! What are you doing?"

"Hey, get away from my feet!""Mom! Tell Bella to stop!"

"Don't come to me! You tell her to stop!""All right! I'll get you now!""Oh yeah?""I don't know if I like this game any more." *sulks*"Hmm. Is she going to keep going?"

"Does this mean we're at a truce?""For now!"

Arethusa watches all this from the hill, grinning.

What a fun winter day! The llamas love the cold weather because it means they can play!

Ice Storm

2008-12-15T09:25:00.000-08:00

Here are some pictures of the ice storm we had here last week! Good thing the llamas had shelter!

Llamas Depart

2008-12-05T17:23:00.000-08:00

Today the llamas left Green Mountain College. After four months residency at the college, everyone had been down to the farm to see them, or spotted me walking them around campus! The phrase I heard most often when taking them for walks was "Only at GMC!"

I'm glad they were received so well. They had a wonderful time here. They are now back home with a nice roomy shelter and lots of delicious second-cut hay. They are still browsing on grape vines, lilacs, plum trees, and other tidbits they can find around the yard. Winny enjoys pronking up and down the hill!

I will include pictures soon!

Thanks for visiting our blog!

Winny's Training

2008-11-15T17:21:00.000-08:00

I haven't had the experience of training a young llama since 2002 when Bella came to our herd. What fun it is to learn about how little Winny reacts to her training! Until she was about five months old she did not enjoy being touched by people but walked wonderfully on a halter. I respected her personality and age and decided not to push her until she was six months old when she was a little more developed. Last week I started walking Winny around school by herself and training her to the command "stand" when people wanted to pet her. To my delight, she stood perfectly still and was quite content to be touched. This week I took her out for about 10 minutes and introduced her to getting her feet picked up. She stood still and kept her ears up the whole time! We ended on a good note - I picked up each foot twice and she was very good about it!

I'm very pleased with the way Winny is coming along in her training. It's fun to learn about how each individual animal reacts to certain training techniques and circumstances that arise while we are training (for example flags, skateboards, and bicycles - all of which Winny is now quite accustomed to!). She is so much fun to work with!

New Addition to White Mountain Llamas

2008-11-10T18:07:00.000-08:00

Today I traveled through wind and rain and snow (for real!) to pick out our new angora bunny. In September I brought WML's fawn buck, Ethan Allen, to visit Autumn, a tort doe at the Smith Family Farm. Autumn had a litter of 8 bunnies, all torts and fawns. My sister and I love this beautiful golden-red color and have picked out a bunny donned "Birch" as our newest addition. You can see Birch and her siblings at Katie Smith's website. We are so excited about our new baby bunny! We will pick her up around Thanksgiving.

Rabbits in the Classroom - yes please!

This past Friday I took our buck, Ethan, into school for a presentation in experiential learning. I showed a slide that said the following:

•Angora rabbits are soft
•Adult Angora rabbits are a large breed of rabbit
•Angora rabbits have a friendly disposition
•Angora rabbits produce fiber that can be spun into yarn

I said each one out loud and asked everyone to repeat what I had said. Then I took Ethan out (all 9 pounds plus fiber) and said the same things again. I showed them how to spin his fiber and everyone saw how friendly he was.

I asked everyone if I would have taught them with the slide if they would have remembered the information tomorrow? How about a week from now? I then asked if they would remember the same things through the encounter with Ethan tomorrow or a week from now. They all said that feeling how soft Ethan was experiencing him in the classroom would help them remember information about angora rabbits in the future. I also pointed out that many more questions were generated when I took Ethan out to show people. With the slide I had to stimulate questions and I only received one. What an exciting experience! More on experiential learning later!

Recollections from the Milk Maid

2008-11-10T18:03:00.000-08:00

Here is an essay that I wrote reflecting on the last one and a half years I have spent learning about pastured dairy cows and the raw milk business in Vermont:

Recollections from the Milk Maid

If you would have told me in my Freshman year of college that I would own my own milk business as a Junior, I would have said “Hey, anything’s possible.” I’ve really learned how true that statement is with the range of opportunities that bump into you as life flows by.

There were three things I was certain of sophomore year: 1: I hated living in college dormitories, 2: Working on the college farm kept me in a healthy routine, and 3: I loved being awake to see the sunrise over the hills. You could throw all those sunsets to the hopeless romantics that cherish the evenings for all I cared – morning beauty was all I wanted to see.

When my friend, Teep, told me about an educational opportunity at Morningside Stable over in Wells (8 miles down route 30S) I said, “tell me more.” It was the start of a beautiful relationship between the Larson family and myself. The most prominent part of the Larson’s existence is their “win-win” mantra. Basically, any relationship they have with other people needs to be beneficial for both sides - a symbiosis (for those ecology buffs). Cynthia and Rich are the parents and educators to their eight wonderful children. The family had experienced different farming systems from commercial scale dairy (milking over 90 Holsteins on silage-based diets) back in the 90’s, to grass-fed Black Angus beef, (their specialty) these days. Cynthia’s venture in 2006 was restoring a community around food and getting into the “localvore” movement. She was going to start with small-scale, high quality, affordable milk. She had one obstacle – she needed a person to take on the project, and she needed to create a win-win relationship with that person.

Today, I would say our relationship is above and beyond what we had ever hoped it would be. Learning about sustainable agriculture at college was fantastic – but do Vermont farmers really believe in quality and community over high yields? Cynthia and Rich devote all their spare time to learning about the newest innovations of carbon sequestration in sod (hence environmentally friendly animal products) and nutritional benefits from grass fed meat, dairy, and eggs. Animals that can live purely on the pasture polyculture are supporting an intricate ecosystem that is unable to be used by humans as a food source. Grass-fed animal products have also been proven to contain balanced and healthy essential nutrients. Rich and Cynthia also asked me to help them form an education relationship with Green Mountain College, and now they have had students visit their farm for workshops from courses like Food Preservation and Society, Fundamentals of Organic Agriculture, and an intensive marketing class. Those farmers put all sorts of crazy ideas in my head while I was away from campus! (To top it off – there are more of them – all over Vermont!)

The learning didn’t stop there. After a few visits, I thought I might as well make the whole experience really beneficial and take advantage of this educational opportunity. What did I do? I designed my own class and called it The Pastured Dairy Cow. It worked as an upper level distribution course for my ENV concentration and it totaled 4 credits! I went with Cynthia on NOFA-VT (Northeast Organic Farmers Association) sponsored pasture walks (which are pretty cheap for GMC college students because we are members!). These pasture walks are held by professionals at different farms in Vermont. I learned about transitions from conventional to organic dairy farms and about pasture management for dairy animals. Did you know that you have to manage pasture for dairy differently than you have to for beef?? I learned so many cool things!

Have you ever started your own business? How would you like to get paid an average of $2 every day to spend two hours hand-milking cows and washing equipment? Would you try to find more customers? Yeah, I had the incentive. Every day, when I finished cleaning up, I would think to myself: Vermont law allows me to sell 25 quarts of milk a day. That is 6.25 gallons. If I sold 6 gallons every day at $5 per gallon the total amount would be $210 per week, or an average of $30 per two hours each day! Now that’s pretty good. Except… Rich and I figured out that it costs about $6.05 to care for a cow each day (that includes feed, vet, and utilities). It also cost about $1.16 a day to own a cow – that’s the cost spread out over her productive life (we buy old cows, so hope for about three years). Now, that profit margin goes down. Cynthia and I worked out a win-win deal though. Instead of me buying the cows and paying for their food, I rented them and their food for 40% of the milk money. So let me try to explain what a fantastic opportunity this was for Cynthia and I. Cynthia wanted someone to expand a local market that wants affordable, healthful, grass-fed milk and create a community around that idea. She gets the person to do all the labor, run a business, bring the customers/community members to her front door-step and she gets 40% of the milk money! But wait, there’s more! Erika gets the educational experience of starting her own farm business without taking the risk of owning the cows and land and learns from a top-notch dairy-team about the ins and outs of dairy cows while receiving 60% of the milk profits! Also this partnership makes both Erika and Cynthia want to get more milk customers because Cynthia finds her community and Erika (a “starving college student”) gets money for gas to get back and forth to school.

The benefits don’t end at community, carbon sequestration, and money. The Larson family and I have use of all milk and cream that does not get sold. That means old milk can feed the pig, new milk can make pies, soup, bread, cheese, yogurt and other cultures, and be consumed as is. My favorite thing to make is cultured butter!

There’s something very different about how a cow thinks in comparison to any other animal. When you gather up the cows to milk in the morning you are almost performing a dance. The two partners (driver and cow) have to know exactly what the other expects for it to look good and flow well. It took me one week to learn how to milk a cow with my right hand. It took me two weeks to learn how to milk a cow with my left hand. It took me three weeks to learn how to coordinate milking with both my hands. It took me four months to learn how to coordinated that “perfect dance” with my Jersey girls. There’s something about those big brown eyes and those fuzzy ears that I can’t resist now. When I drive through Vermont and New Hampshire and see those wide open spaces filled with dairy cows, I run down the farming systems in my head. I think about what kind of milking parlor they have, whether they use rotational grazing or not, and what feeding ratios they use concerning silage to soybeans to hay. I had a whole new world open up to me.

Have you ever hand milked a cow? It’s relaxing and gives me a time in my day to contemplate life – and someone who will listen to me do it! Sometimes, I sing in the barn, early in the morning. Sometimes I think about the most beautiful things in life and sometimes I think about the ugliest. There’s one thing that happens no matter what, when I’m about halfway done milking. I look up through the big picture window in the end of the barn (right above my “milking station”) and see the morning light begin to trickle in over the mountains.

Why am I telling you all this? I have two messages for you.
Get out there and experience it! You may never get the chance to figure out what works for you if you don’t take the initiative to find out.
2. I’m a senior!…which means I am leaving the Larsons this May. They need a new intern and would love to work with you.

(Since last year Vermont State decided that small raw milk producers should be able to sell 50 quarts or 12.5 gallons per day and Erika found more customers and is no longer a “starving college student”).
Please direct questions and comments to Erika at krausse@greenmtn.edu

Chillin' with the llamas!

2008-11-05T16:54:00.000-08:00

May and Bell love it when I hang out with them! It doesn't matter what I'm doing with them, they are always interested! I needed some llama time in the picture below and was giving May a good long scratch on the withers and she thought that was great and nestled into a pile of hay so she could relax while she was being scratched! My llamas are so spoiled!Bella got jealous and came over for some love!Look at this cute llama! Winny is out of Fabyan and White Mountain Queen of the May (pictured above with the spotted face). She was born on May 25, 2008! Her mother, May, is beginning to wean her now. She is now ready to go to a new home. Winny is for sale and if you know anyone that wants a llama to add to their home or farm please email me at whitemountainllamas@hotmail.com. Llamas need companionship because they are naturally a herd animal. However, they can stay with other species of animal than a llama. For example, some people keep one llama with a flock of sheep. Llamas will do best in a herd of llamas, but will learn to have a good relationship with other animals as well. Please see the beginning entries of this blog for lots of good llama information!

Winny would make a great pack llama, beginner show llama, breeding female, guard llama, or pet! She has lovely fleece and has a fantastic personality!I invited someone else to come in and visit with the llamas....who is it?Its Dawson! Whoa! A bunch more people! I guess that big pile of hay with fuzzy llamas on a beautiful autumn day out in the sun gets pretty appealing with Vermont winter just around the corner!

Here's some pictures of Merlin that my friend Rachael took for me a few weeks ago when I forgot my camera:He was having a grand time hopping around in the leaves!

Merlin just had his second coat harvested as a 6 month old. He was shedding the top half of his coat, which yielded about a quarter of a pound. when he sheds around his belly and legs it will probably be another quarter of a pound. This means that Merlin, the rabbit, might be producing about 2 pounds of angora fiber per year that I can spin into yarn! To give you some perspective, my llama May, had a barrel cut (shorn around the middle) this year and also yielded about 2 pounds! Rabbits are super-producers!
What a cute bunny!

Thanks for visiting White Mountain Llamas blogspot!

Back to School!

2008-10-15T11:05:00.000-07:00

The llamas are back at school! May and Bell are old hands at this. Arethusa (pictured below) and Winny are still adjusting. All these people! All this commotion! I put their pen right in the center of things, which is where they like to be, so they can always see whats going on! Here's the new group hand out spot!

Here's Winny and Mom (May) sharing an evening snack.
I'm so happy to have them back at school! I went for a llovely walk with Winny and May this morning, getting Winny used to people and the campus. I'm going to see if I can incorporate Bella's enthusiasm into a harness and get some pulling done around the farm!

Thanks for visiting the blog! Stay tuned for updates!

Fryeburg Fair 2008

2008-10-09T10:03:00.000-07:00

Hana and I had an excellent time at Fryeburg Fair with our four girls this year! We show with a number of different people, mostly from Maine. Our friend, Lynd Blatchford, of Greenbriar Llama Karma Farm, took some pictures for us!

Below are May and Winny, in matching halters, right after the dam and cria exhibition. Kathy, our judge, said she was a good looking little girl and very friendly. How exciting to catch the attention of the judge! Everyone loves her color! Winny is a fourth generation female in this particular pattern. She was born black and white, but it looks like she will turn into a dark brown and white. We are still looking for a new home for Winny. If you know anyone that is interested in buying an all-purpose llama, give them our contact! whitemountainllamas@hotmail.com!The highlight of our day was definitely the costume class! Hana and I were the bringing of seasons and the llamas were the four seasons! Below is Hana, bringer of the chills with Arethusa as Autumn and Bella as Winter, pulling a "Christmas tree."
Here is Winny, as spring. Below is Erika, bringer of warm seasons with Winny and May as spring and summer. I will add our narration to the pictures soon!

Thank you for visiting our blog! Enjoy the pictures. We will have more soon!

Sheep and Wool Festival!

2008-08-27T12:13:00.000-07:00

I encourage anyone interested in fiber and fun to check out the Vermont Sheep and Wool Festival which is being held at the Essex Junction Fair Grounds in the first weekend of September! There are llamas, angoras, sheep, and much much more! Hana and I and our friends from the Smith Family Farm, Philo Mountain Llamas, and Northern Vermont Llama Company will be helping us do llama demonstrations. "What's a llama demonstration?" you may ask. Well come and check it out! It will be a blast! Katie Smith from The Smith Family Farm will be selling our angora rabbits for us! Katie has been breeding angora rabbits for more than 5 years and is an excellent information source if anyone is interested in purchasing angoras or breeding. Here updated pictures of the litter from 7/15/08. The two little girls that were born on 5/25/08 are still available!

A chocolate tortoise female:A self black male:

Look forward to seeing you there!

Getting ready for Fryeburg Fair!

2008-08-27T07:07:00.000-07:00

As we near Fryeburg Fair (September 28 - October 5, 2008 in Fryeburg, Maine) Llama Show (September 30, Tuesday 8:30AM - 12:00 Noon) we begin to practice changing pace on a lead rope and going over obstacles. Our llama Bella is very smart and learns that in a show ring if she refuses twice then she does not have to do the obstacle. We get her in shape by having her walk over a boardwalk and through "scary things" as you will see below.

Here, Hana works to get Bella to walk over the boardwalk with all four feet, either behind or next to her. Its important to simulate real-life. In this case Bella has a pack on with 20 pounds in it and needs to go over slowly, as if walking on a trail with Hana. In the show judges look for a loose lead, and a calm, attentive llama. A pack llama needs to move slowly so that there will not be possible injuries out on the trail. Here, Hana take Bella through a scary obstacle! It is simply a suspended tarp that she needs to walk under and have the tarp brush her on the way out. Llamas are not naturally acclimated to obstacles like this and its good to get them used to rustling and bustling, especially if you take llamas into public place for show or therapy. "Are you in there Bell?"
There she is!

With llamas, you don't always work! Bella needs a break lugging 20 pounds up a hill - and Hana gives it to her so she doesn't get frustrated. Bella hasn't carried weight in over a year and she needs to get conditioned. Once she is used to the weight she may be conditioned to carry up to 100 pounds! Llamas are incredible athletes! Currently, she is cart training!Here are Bella and Arethusa. Bella is conditioning and Arethusa likes to hang out. She will be involved with showing and hopefully will be ready to have a baby in the next year. Arethusa is a beautiful llama that is chestnut brown with lovely black tips that highlight her face and legs. She has lots of fun going for walks around the fields and is getting used to the topography of her new home!

And they bound into the goldenrod!
Bella smiles for the camera!Hana walks the 20 pounds to the fence, so she does not have to carry it far to the car! Bella can walk with only a firm grip around the neck - in this case a strap from her pack will do.
Hana asks her to stand so she may take Bella's pack off. What a great day!

We want to have May and Winny participate in what's called the "Dam and Cria Exhibition" at Fryeburg Fair this year. This is not a class, but an educational exhibition to show how a mother and young llama look and behave. Winny needs to walk nicely on a halter for us to be successful. Hana and I took her for her first walk last week. We took all four llamas up the hill and through the tall grass! Winny jumped as she walked to see above it and follow May! It was very cute! Now we are done with play and I train her for less than 20 minutes at a time. I teach her to stand when being handled (like being brushed or having her face touched). She also walks with me under the tarp house and over the boardwalk! She is very willing and friendly. Its important when teaching a young cria to walk on a halter to not overdo their training. Llamas can have a bad experience and not enjoy walking on a halter. I never train Winny for more than 10 minutes at a time. I will stand with her on a halter or take her for a walk for longer than that if I see that her mental and physical self will deal with it in a healthy way. If she shows any signs of discomfort or boredom I quickly end on a good note and take her halter off. When llamas are older they can stand longer training sessions, but as youngsters you must be careful to make sure that they are always having fun. Winny always has her ears up in our exercises!! She will do wonderfully at Fryeburg Fair! If she were old enough to be in classes at the show, as her name suggests, she would "Win"!

It's important to always keep a loose lead when training a young llama, or walking a trained llama. This means the llama you are working with is following willingly and is generally much happier than a llama that is being dragged. So what happens if the llama won't move? Well when training an animal I use the "pull and release" method. In this way of training to the halter, the release is the reward. You can see below I am nudging Winny by pulling the lead rope to show her where I want her to go (in this case to follow me). When she takes a step or two I release and let her stand to think about it. For the most part Winny follows right along being me. She catches on quickly. When training a llama you should walk forwards with the llama on your right hand side. Here, I teach Winny to stand while I brush her! Look at that loose lead! What a good girl!

To Killington and Beyond!

2008-08-13T18:59:00.000-07:00

The bunnies got to expand their minds and open their hearts at the ASD convention in Killington this past weekend!They joined the closing ceremonies with Hana and I in our figure eight around the Labyrinth and the Medicine Wheel. They had a terrific time and were on their best behavior all morning through classes. They got to romp and play on the grass in the afternoon and were adored by all!Charles Hubbard, pictured below, wrote a book called Sacred Stewardship. Early, this year, I purchased the first copy that the ASD Bookstore was sent, hot off the press. I then, with the help of my sister Hana, and the following farmers and family members: Anne and Jack Lazor (Butterworks Farm), Dough and Barbie Flack (Flack Family Farm), Trauger and Alice Groh (Temple-Wilton Community Farm), and my Oma and Opa (grandparents: Guenter and Erika Knoernschild), to name a few, conducted a project. I interveiwed and studied a topic that has greatly interested me for a few years: Biodynamic Agriculture. It was a very interesting venture and even after class (Homesteader's Ecology at Green Mountain College) I am still learning so much about the natural cycles of the Earth and how to farm in sync with them.

I was so excited to get to talk to Charles Hubbard and Joe Gleason this past weekend at Killington!

Angora Bunnies ready for new homes!

2008-08-04T07:36:00.000-07:00

Here are Dust Bunny and Ethan Allen, with their offspring.

Dusty is still nursing these eight bunnies. They will be ready to go in a few weeks! Soon, they will begin to grow long hair like their parents! Enjoy these pictures and please call Erika or Hana at 603-747-3453 if you are interested in purchasing one of these bunnies! There are 4 blacks and 4 chocolate agouti. The bunnies from this litter are $85 each and come with a free fiber lesson!

Our newest addition!

2008-07-30T18:00:00.000-07:00

Here is our new llama! Arethusa is Bella and Winny's grandmother. She is 13 and is a good mother and is in great physical shape. She is a dominant llama so it is interesting to see her enter the hierarchy with our girls. Bella and her are learning a lot about each other. Winny's knowledge of other llamas has expanded by 50% since her arrival and is fascinated in Arethusa. It is good for Winny to meet other llamas to learn about proper herd etiquette. She is very touchy with May and Bella - and not all llamas tolerate that! Its cute to see Winny follow Arethusa around. When Arethusa turns around Winny turns tail and runs to May to nurse.After only a few hours, Arethusa took over the shelter and the hay pile! We will expand the shelter soon for the four of them :DWelcome Arethusa back to White Mountain Llamas. Look for updates in October about how she does at the Fryeburg Fair!

The Arethusa Connection:
When Hana and I were 4 and 10, our mother home schooled us, enabling us to go to work with her. In the spring, she cared for the gardens at the Bungay Jar Bed and Breakfast in Easton, New Hampshire. The owner at the time, Kate, told us to run around the side of the inn and meet the new guests. Hana and I did not know what to expect. We came to a tall fence, face to face with two llamas: Arethusa (at the time, Tosha) and her half sister, Tangiers. They were the first llamas Hana and I had met. Later that year they had crias, Fabyan (then Black Powder) and Salvador Dolly Llama. Arethusa stayed at the Bungay Jar until welcomed to the White Mountain Llama herd in Jefferson, New Hampshire, about two years later. When the original owner of WML passed away Arethusa went to live in Charlotte, Vermont on the Smith Family Farm. Our Two Sisters Gardening and Landscaping business has allowed us to expand our food and fiber production. Arethusa was generously given to us at a time when we can afford to care for her and welcome her back to the herd! Arethusa and May and Bell were all in the original WML, herd five years ago.

Lots of thanks to the Smiths, Deb, and Joanna for helping us with our growing business! Thanks for visiting our blog!

Want an Angora? Get a free fiber lesson!

2008-07-30T15:00:00.000-07:00

Here, Hana is giving Gabby, a first-time rabbit owner, a lesson in rabbit care. Hana is holding Terra Madre (Gabby's new bunny), while Gabby holds Orion. Hana is showing her how to clip Orion's nails and how to care for her fiber.

Pictured here are Hana, Gabby, Sarah, and Sage. We had such fun with Vinca, Orion, and Terra Madre during our fiber and rabbit care lesson!

Here, Gabby learns to card wool. She is working with wool we brushed from Vinca.
Now Gabby learns how to spin! She gets her drop spindle ready... look at her yarn!
She practices with sheep roving, and it gets longer... and longer!
Now she is ready to try spinning the angora wool!

Good job Gabby!

They opened thier eyes!

2008-07-29T04:31:00.000-07:00

Here are a few of Dusty's first litter, a little more than one week old! Their eyes are open and their ears stand up! There are 5 blacks, 1 brown, and 2 agouti - all for sale! (We cannot tell gender until they are older).

White Mountain LLambs!

2008-07-28T04:50:00.000-07:00

Gabe and I went to retrieve lambs this past weekend! We were generously given three lambs, 2 male, 1 female. They were born in February, so are already quite large. These lambs are part of a project for school. It will allow me to study heritage breed animals - by raising them! I will do an oral presentation on my experiences for the class Biodiversity in Agriculture, this autumn.

Picture below is Connie, one Mom, with her two female lambs. Here is Polly with her two male lambs:
Here is Polly next to one of her lambs - he is almost as big as she is!This is their friend the turtle, that lives next door. Gabe and I went down to get them, not knowing how to bring them back. Between a few professor's advice and the Green Mountain College junk wood pile and tools, we managed to scrape together a few panels to keep the sheep in the truck on the ride back. It turned out to be quite strong, and combined with a rubber mat underneath (for maximum hoof grip), it made a pretty good little travel "crate" for the three lambs. There was even still room for our bikes in the back!
The lambs were quite bewildered when we put them in the truck. They were quite calm the whole time and welcomed the pastured when they met the llamas at 8 AM. Here are the sheep in the truck:

After much debate and cruising the pasture with the sheep, the llamas, Hana, and I, we decided on a lovely spot on top of the hill that was flat enough to put the sheep fencing. Until we put up the sheep fence they hung out in the llama fence for a few hours enjoying the company and free-choice grass.

The sheep get a little cracked corn in the morning, enabling Hana or I to stand near them while they eat, getting them used to us. The lamb below is the female whom I have dubbed Clover. The next down is Valentine (to remind me of the experiences I had in Italy). The largest male is named Lego (short of Leg 'O Lamb).

Hana and I have been experimenting with sustainable and grass-fed fiber production systems with our llamas and angoras for the past five years. In the summer of 2007, we also began to experiment with food production with rabbits, chickens, and ducks. This past year at college I took animal husbandry courses, specializing on raising grass-fed livestock. So this year we have expanded. These sheep will be slaughtered sometime this autumn, along with several chickens, and with success, several rabbits as well. If you have any questions about how we slaughter or our food production, feel free to email us at whitemountainllamas@hotmail.com.

Thanks for your support!

First Day with the Halter!

2008-07-16T14:43:00.000-07:00

Today, I was catching up on grass and weed clipping. We took care of a few chores that were not taken care of for the past few weeks while we were traveling. We decided to try a little halter on Winny for about five minutes today. She was very good about the experience and I think we left it on long enough for her to not get upset while wearing it. Usually llamas are not halter trained until about 4 months of age. I am eager to walk may and Bella out of the pen and get them grazing in other places. In order to do that safely, I would like to be able to have a halter on Winny as well. Her training has officially started! She is taking all of our handling of her very well, and she is a sweet little girl who comes up to visit every time we come in the pasture! She has a great personality thus far!

Here is Winny, getting used to her new halter: Here, Winny puts up with me hanging on to her to remove the halter:
Here is proud Mama getting a nice scratch and massage! We had a good reunion!

Please see the advertisement below for our angora bunnies.

Rabbits for Sale!

2008-07-16T09:43:00.000-07:00

White Mountain Llamas proudly presents two Ethan x Rosie bunnies. These angoras were born on May 25, 2008 and are ready to go to new homes! The coloration are agouti and black. Both are females. If you are interested please email us a whitemountainllamas@hotmail.com. Each rabbit comes with a free fiber lesson of choice (from spinning and felting to knitting or weaving).Here, Hana presents the agouti female: Here, Hana introduces the black female:

Thanks for tuning into our news!

Garden and Landscaping/ Italian Updates

2008-06-05T09:11:00.000-07:00

If you would like to preview pictures of Hana and Erika's gardens, or see updates of Erika's internship in Italy, please visit our other blog: http://www.proposintea.blogspot.com/.

Erika will leave for Italy on Thursday, June 5 and return July 16. She will be studying permaculture and heritage breed livestock.

May's new haircut

2008-06-04T15:27:00.000-07:00

What a beautiful day!

Summer Getaway!

2008-05-31T17:39:00.000-07:00

Here are May and Winny, excited to go to the summer pasture!Here Winny hides in the tall grass
May goes to Winny to make sure all is well
Here is May, Bella, and Winny's apple tree.

It provides shade, twigs, leaves, and delicious apples for them!

More Babies!

2008-05-31T11:00:00.000-07:00

Here are the one week old angora bunnies that our doe, Rosie had on May 25. Their father is Ethan, pictured below.

Rosie:
Ethan:

Expansion!

2008-05-31T10:37:00.000-07:00

Below are a few new editions to WML: Dea. Her name is Latin for "Goddess," Deus, Kibus, and Terre Madre.
She is a future breeding doe for spring meat rabbits. I will have a rabbit tractor ready to go in the May 2009 grazing season. She is a mixed breed Dutch coloration with blue eyes! We also have several other does that we purchased from Scenic View Farm to get some meat rabbit production under way.

Await pictures of the chicken tractor, chickens and grass-fed lambs to come!

Cria's 4th Day and Bunny Surprise

2008-05-29T06:10:00.000-07:00

One of our first angora rabbits, Rosie, had a litter of bunnies a few days ago. Here she is (below).Here is the cria on its fourth day (below):
Below is a video of the new rabbit mama eating some wild greens.

Below is a video of the cria's fourth day. She is beginning to run up and down the hill. The llamas will be moved to their "wide open spaces" later on this week.

First Poop!

2008-05-26T15:11:00.000-07:00

It is important that a few things happen in the first 12 to 24 hours of life in a cria (baby llama). The first priority is nursing, the second is defecation. When the fetus is in the womb a plug is made in orifices of the body because all actions take place through the umbilical cord. When the cria is born it needs to pass a plug before it can begin defecating. Its sometimes difficult to push out for a newborn baby. Our little cria passed that plug today about an hour ago, or 36 hours after birth. How do we know it was her first time? Let's take a look:

This is what her "plug" looked like. It is soft, striated, has almost no scent, and is has mucus in it. Her regular stool should look more like little llama pellets, or like rabbit pellets. If you don't know what llama or rabbit poop look like, then google it.

Llamas also all defecate in a few specified areas. This is similar to habits in wild camelid species, like the guanaco, from which the llama was domesticated. Here (below) the cria learns to defecate in the "poop pile."

When the cria is first born the bones and ligaments have not all set completely. She will look a little crooked for the first few weeks until she grows into her body. Here (below) is a picture from the front, to show her wobbly legs.

Another picture demonstrating how stretchy the newborn cria is:

While the cria is wobbly, her strength is astounding. She climbs up and down the hill all by herself within 24 hours:

Last, but certainly not least, here is a video of some "baby steps":

A new day!

2008-05-26T06:41:00.001-07:00

Here she is at 24 hours! She is all dried off and vigorously nursing!

Below is May getting some extra breakfast (make that milk Mama!)

Below are May and daughter standing on the hill in the backyard.

Daughter nursing!

The cria is just as soft as she looks! No matter how many births I see, each one is a miracle. This birth was no different. May carried this little cria for 11 months and is not vigilantly caring for her. I hope that every person may have the chance to whitness a birth.

Thank you everyone for checking in with White Mountain Llamas! We appreciate your support!

Congradutlations May! Its a girl!

2008-05-25T20:00:00.000-07:00

This morning between 8:00 and 10:00 White Mountain Queen of the May gave birth to a 35 pound female cria. The cria's sire is Fabyan (see the history entry of this blog). She was standing within minutes and nursing within hours. May is proving to be an excellent mother. Auntie Bella is very supportive and they both watch over the young one like hawks.

The three llovely llamas will be moved up to their summer pasture on the outskirts of Woodsville in a week or two. Please feel free to stop by and visit our new baby!

Below is May and her Cria after a couple attempts to nurse. Both rest after such a new experience. This pictures was taken at 11:00 AM.

2008-05-10T09:12:00.000-07:00

Addition to White Mountain Llamas!

2008-04-30T05:29:00.000-07:00

This beautiful llama is Arethusa. She is Bella's grandmother. She has been welcomed back to the White Mountain Llama herd. This girl has given us a range of wonderful possibilities. She is a very nice breeding animal, she shows well, and she has beautiful fleece! We will see what the next few years has in store for her!

She may take up residence at Green Mountain College in the fall, helping to utilize extra grass that cannot be efficiently grazed by the other livestock.

Welcome to the herd Arethusa!

Spring Pictures and Update

2008-03-24T08:38:00.000-07:00

Shearing season is upon us! If you would like to have your llama or sheep shorn please contact Erika and Hana. We will begin shearing after May 19! A little "spring foot clip" never hurt either! We offer training, information, education, and services. Don't hesitate to contact us!

Here are some wonderful spring pictures that our Aunt Sue took for us. Thanks Aunt Sue!

Here is a beautiful contrast of colors: Brooke and Rosie are resting on Bella's back for a break between excursions in the snow

May visits with her good friend, Rosie

Bella greets Rosie as well

Hana scoops up Brooke - what a poof ball!

Bella scoops up Brooke!

Bella looks back at Brooke for a quick kiss!

Bella and Hana visit with Rosie
Ethan explores the snowy wonderland

Brooke plays in the llama hay pile

May and Bella give Brooke kisses

And more kisses!

Thanks for visiting our site and supporting our farm! Have a wonderful Spring!

Erika and Hana

Spring in the White Mountains

2008-03-12T19:24:00.000-07:00

This spring White Mountain Llamas is one of the first flowers to bloom. Hana and Erika are drafting a business management plan (our first ever). Gee, is it fun! We are setting goals and guidelines for what we want to accomplish. We are looking at prominent animals from other farms to bring to our herd to start breeding for athletic, public relation, and healthful animals that produce lots of and a variety what we love - fiber!

Animals that strike my interest for a future breeding program are resistant to parasites and are healthful throughout their aging years with proper exercise and nutrition. Its important to have a breeding program that embraces healthy animals, and not just good-looking or high-producing ones. It is convenienc that many times an animal that is put together well (has nice confirmation) will be a healthier animal throughout its life.

Erika will be graduating college in about 14 months and we are beginning to look at llovely llamas for our new farm! As a strong advocate of animal shelters and rescue efforts, White Mountain Llamas will probably go to shelters to adopt most farm animals other than the breeding llamas we will be working with. In the future there may be alpacas, llamas, sheep, and perhaps a haflinger or a dairy goat added to the farm if the management plan, feasibility plan, and other aspects of our environment allow it to happen.

What a lovely spring this is turning out to be! Best wishes to everyone for a happy and healthful spring!

Happy New Year

2008-02-11T09:59:00.000-08:00

Hana has been spinning like a whirlwind since Christmas came with her new spinning wheel and we are going to start selling hand-crafted scarves and yarn! Here are some pictures of our scarves and some of the animals that used to be attached to the wool!

2007-12-01T18:59:00.000-08:00

The llamas are thoroughly enjoying Vermont. Getting used to the cows has been their biggest challenge so far...they made wonderful hawk-like noises the first few times they came across one!

May and Bell:

Bella:

Bella, next to the calf hutch:

At Home in Vermont

2007-11-29T19:47:00.000-08:00

White Mountain Llamas participated in a Farm to School Day today at the Poultney Elementary School. Ethan Allen and Dust Bunny, two of our angoras went to the school and we brought llama wool, two sets of carders, and home-made drop spindles to show the students how to spin! It was a very successful day with each class spending 15 minutes going to whatever station they chose. Many new children know how to spin today as a result! There were farm animals, food comparisons and tasting, butter making, and much more!

The llamas are residing with Erika near Green Mountain College currently and are having lots of fun in their newest residence hanging out with cows! The llamas are very vocal around the cows and are a riot to watch interacting with these strange new creatures!

As a strong advocate of food security and learning White Mountain Llamas c0-owner, Erika, has been learning and teaching about local, historical food preservation at Green Mountain College. So far workshops that have been done are apple sauce and sauerkraut, milk preservation, meat processing, and animal husbandry.

"Food is the vessel of Life.
Because Life is another name for God,
Food could be called "the vessel of God.
If you truly respect and revere the Spirit
Then shouldn’t the first thing you do
Be to build a shrine within your own body?"

Eiwan IshidaGenmai, (Tokyo: Japan Pub. 1989)
www.southrivermiso.com

Hand made soap and herbal products

2007-07-05T14:16:00.001-07:00

Hana and I are beginning a new side business called Pro-Pos-In-Tea, which is an abbreviation for pro-positive intentions. It involves making soaps and herbal products like lotions. If you would like to know more about it please visit our other website!

Thank you for visiting our site and have a wonderful day!

Farmer's Market, Littleton, NH

2007-06-05T14:20:00.000-07:00

Starting on June 17th White Mountain Llamas will have their first stand at the farmer's market in Littleton, New Hampshire (downtown by Rockie's Video). We will be bringing our wool products!

Our angora rabbits, Rosie and Brooke

We hope to bring llamas and angoras to the stand every Sunday! We will also be hosting a myriad of classes. A trait that White Mountain Llamas prides ourselves on is the diversity of events we can plan and give information about. An example of a few classes we can offer are:

From the Farm:
Spinning and Wool Processing
Origami for Health and Wellbeing
Knitting, Crocheting, or Weaving
Dry/Needle Felting
Wet Felting
Jewelry making
Llama or Rabbit Husbandry
"Llama Whispering" (can be applied to other animals)

Dowsing Theory Classes:
Agriculture Dowsing
Husbandry/Pet Dowsing
Dowsing Chakras
Dowsing Herbs
Dowsing Earth Leylines/Crystals

If you are interested stop by the Littleton Farmer's Market or email us at whitemountainllamas@hotmail.com

History of White Mountain Llamas

2007-03-19T18:57:00.000-07:00

White Mountain Llamas used to be situated in Jefferson, New Hampshire right in the heart of the White Mountains. Nestled in the valley with a view of Mount Washington and the Cog Railway were the original White Mountain Llamas. Our two llamas, May and Bella grew up there. This wonderful farm was owned by Joanna Fyon, our friend and teacher.

In 1998 Joanna got breast cancer and needed to find a home for her twenty or more llamas. It was difficult for her to find so many homes so our parents let Hana and I invite two of her yearling llamas, Silace and Fabyan into our backyard for the winter. That was our introduction to llamas. Hana and I took care of them as diligently as a 5 and an 11 year old could. Joanna would come often to help us learn how to work with them and get them ready for a happy life full of people and good interactions.

Joanna recovered from cancer that winter and all her llamas came home. That was the first year that Hana and I got to show llamas. Joanna took us to Fryeburg Fair and we won versatility championships with Fabyan and Lizzy Bourne for a few years.

We went to Fryeburg Fair every year for the show and helped Joanna around the farm. In 2001 Joanna's cancer returned and she gave us three more yearlings, May, Jazzy Lamb, and Marcel Marceau. We had another spectacular winter with the boys and May. We took them out into the community and in the fall we took them to the Fryeburg Fair and had a great time. We continued to help Joanna with the farm as she was losing physical strength.

In the summer of 2002 Joanna and I took a trip to New York to bring Jazzy Lamb and Marcel to a new home. We stayed over at Green Mountain Llamas for a visit on our way. At Jazzy and Marcel's new home they had their own "llamasairy" and their own flock of guinea fowl and peafowl! It was one of the most fun road trips I've ever been on. We slept out in the pasture with them the last day we were there.

In 2003 May came back to us and Isabella Stone (Lizzy Bourne and Fabyan's first born) came as well. Joanna gave them to us as our very own first llamas. It was the first fall we showed our own llamas.

In January 2004, Joanna passed away. She was always there for us and a few days before she left she gave Hana and I beautiful llama trail packs and a driving harness, among other things. She also let us carry on the White Mountain Llamas farm name. Along with carrying Joanna's legacy of amazing devotion to her animals and always giving optimal care, we have a few White Mountain Llama traditions as well.

The Importance of Names
Joanna always named her animals after historical figures of the White Mountains. We are starting out with Isabella Stone and Queen of the May. May's name is after the holiday of Beltane on the first of May. Its a celebration of spring and the Queen of the May is the beauty of the town who is recognized on that day. Bella is named after a historical figure who lived in the White Mountains in the late 1800's.

Importance of Community
Joanna always served her community and her friends first. As owners of White Mountain Llamas, Hana and I are always looking for ways we are needed. We take our llamas to local schools and events giving presentations on agriculture and animal care. We also love to promote these amazing creatures!

I am also now an officer of the Greater Appalachian Llama and Alpaca Association so that I may help spread the word and help any new camelid owners.

Hana and I have been making home visits to shear llamas, trim toenails, and help owner and llamas with general training for the past three years now, and we continue to make a business out of it.

Showing
Since the first show in 1998 Hana and I have not missed a llama show in Fryeburg. While we are there we give presentations on the uses of llamas and we bring spinning wheels and felting to show what you can do with their wool. For 8 years in a row Hana or I won the Versatility Championship with one of our girls and Hana and I have both received the Joanna Fyon Youth Memorial Award showing stewardship of our animals. We have lots of fun promoting llamas and being with our girls.

Here is a picture of Joanna's prized show llama Fabyan on top of his "mountain." He often stood on his mountain to be on the look out for anything that might come along to threaten his herd. He is an amazing llama and now resides with Joanna's dear friend Lindsay at Northern Vermont Llama Company. After Joanna left we became wonderful friends with Lindsay and Deb and they have helped Hana and I keep growing with our new farm.

I can give credit to only a handful of people who have altered my life in the same capacity as Joanna has. All of our memories were of loving, learning, and happiness. From buggy rides with Fabyan through the back roads of Jefferson to spring time when all the crias were born, to showing and shot time the memories are extensive. Joanna has given me a gift that I can pass on forever in life and in farming and I will always remember her for that and thank her.

WML - Up to Date

2007-03-19T18:00:00.000-07:00

These days May and Bell are hanging out at the Green Mountain College's Cerridwen Farm. Cerridwen is the Welsh Harvest Goddess of Fertility. Their neighbors are chickens, Black Welsh Mountain Sheep, two Oxen and a few ducks. I have them here at school with me along with my angora rabbits. May and Bell are here making campus and the farm a little more diverse. We are doing projects with wool and community. Last year we went to the Poultney High School for a home-ec class and to the Poultney Elementary School for an interactive assembly with grades K through 4.

I have been doing spinning workshops and plan on doing felting workshops in the future.

Poultney High School spinning demo

This isn't the best picture of me but it shows how versatile these animals are. May and Bell had run of the room (after removing the potted plants:) and the teenagers could walk up to the llamas and brush them and feed them carrots with no problems.

This is Hana and I at the Welsh Harvest Festival that our College Farm has every year in October. There was traditional food, apple cider making, dancing, music, and merriment.

Here is Hana with one of our angora rabbits - Rosie. This is also at the Welsh Harvest Festival.

May and Bell the campus llamas (I'm in the blue hoodie)

Here is my llama May Here are May and Bell outside our Ackley Theater

More of May and Bell on campus

This is May and Bell in front of Griswold Library

These last two pictures were taken by my wonderful friend, Toby, who also works at the Cerridwen Farm like I do. These are pictures of May and Bell this winter on the campus farm.

WML - Business

2007-03-19T17:00:00.000-07:00

Hana and Erika

Hana and I just got our first business card made and we are very excited. We have been offering our services as a traveling llama beauty shop as well as traveling llama school.

We have been driving all over New Hampshire to help people learn how to work with their animals. Llamas need to be shorn once a year because they suffer easily from heat stress and they also need their toe nails clipped, much like any other animal. We have been working with animals with T-Touch with our animals for a long time. We strive to work with our animals and teach others to do the same.

Hana and I are a great resource as a first llama owner. Please feel free to contact us at our email address: whitemountainllamas@hotmail.com

Farm Goals
Hana and I have many goals in our every day lives and that includes the farm! We are always striving to take our environment and surroundings into account with our farm. We strive to feed our animals organic or whole foods and we are always trying to make our world a greener place. We use rotational grazing for pasture management and we buy local hay for the winter. May and Bella are very proud of their ecological footprint as a result!

We are proud to support propeace communication at all times. I made up a new word the other day that I really liked the looks of: proposinty. It is a combination of the three words pro-positive intention. We have the intent there that is positive and always supportive of others to be positive. With this kind of attitude anything you want accomplish is possible.

Outlet for Knowledge
Hana and I both have a wide knowledge of green things. We garden and prepare food from out land and the woods and meadows and marshes. We also know beginning herb lore. I am learning about organic farming and sustainable grazing and grass-based feed. We love to share, so please email us with any questions.

Wool For Sale - Updates

2007-03-19T16:30:00.000-07:00

Currently I have two fleeces for sale. I have a white fleece as well as a baby black/gray fleece. They are raw and I would be willing to wash and card by hand for extra money. Please email me if you are interested in purchasing some llama wool from White Mountain Llamas.

Upcoming:
May and Bella will be shorn this spring so coming up will be a cinnamon brown fleece as well as a beautiful light gray fleece.

This summer Hana and I will have a stand with Mom at the Farmer's Market in Littleton, NH. We will be selling anything from felted, spun, knitted, and raw fleeces. Below is a bag that I felted, it is reversable, brown on one side and gray on the other. I like to say May on one side and Bella on the other!

If you are interested we will be doing more felting in the summer time.

Llama Uses

2007-03-19T16:00:00.000-07:00

Llamas are a very versatile creature, here are some of the things they can help you with in ever day life:

Guard Llama
Llamas have a natural guarding instinct. A llama is a fight animal versus a horse, which is a flight animal by nature. A llama will stand ground and chase a strange canine or feline that is trying to attack their herd. The great thing about a llama is they will accept their herd to be sheep, cows, chickens, even horses. A llama makes an impressive alarm call when it sees something out of the ordinary. They will know a friendly canine (AKA a pet dog) if they are introduced properly. My friend, Marla, uses llamas to guard her fainting goats. You can visit her website here.

Packing Llama
Llamas are great pack animals. They can carry up to 100 pounds if conditioned and have a correct llama pack on. A llama's back is structured differently from a traditional riding animal, therefor they need a pack that takes pressure off of their spine and are not usually ridden for that reason. They will follow dutifully in a pack string or just along a trial and they are a great companion for the outdoors.

Therapy Llama
A llama is a great therapy animal because they are a versatile animal that will go into nursing homes and schools. A llama will defecate in certain places in the pen, and therefore if they do not see other llama's feces they will usually not use hallways as a bathroom. I've been bringing my llamas inside since they were six months old and we've never had an accident!

Driving Llamas?
That's right! Llamas can be taught to drive - pull a cart that is. They don't wear a bit like a horse, but respond to voice and nose pressure. There are many great competitions you can enter with a llama and a cart and there is nothing more rewarding then traveling the country side back roads with your llama or being pulled on cross country skis across fields after a good snow!

Show Llamas
Like any animal llamas are great fun in the show ring. They can do obstacle courses, and there are also many competitions involving their fiber and conformation.

Llama Wool
Llama wool is a fine fiber that is also warm at the same time. It contains little or no lanolin so it is not itchy. People who are allergic to wool can be allergic to the lanolin, and llamas have none - so you can wear llama wool! Llama wool is a pleasure to spin and you can felt it as well. Weavers, knitters, and crocheters will always have fun with a wide array of llama colors!

Family Pet
A llama that is treated correctly makes a great pet for the family. A llama always needs a buddy (usually another llama, but can be other large animal) so you need to buy in pairs! Having a llama for home spinning, or for walks is always a pleasure. They are an economically feasible large animal to own because they do not need as much food as a larger animal like a horse. My two full grown llamas eat about 120 bales per winter as apposed to 300 per one horse.

Llamas and Spitting?

2007-03-19T15:00:00.000-07:00

Do Llamas Spit?
Llamas and most members of the camelid family (alpacas, camels) have the ability to chew their cud. Chewing their cud means they chew their food once, then regurgitate it to chew it again at another time to get the most nutrients out of their food. With this ability they can also spit the half eaten food as projectile with quite good aim at about up to eight feet.

Now - that does not make a llama sound like a very likable friend. However it works both ways - if you are good friend to a llama then they will not be a bad friend back.

Llamas use the action of spitting as a hierarchical mechanism, mostly among llamas. It is like a horse kicking or a dog growling. Dogs growl more at other dogs than at people. Well, a llama that is used to people will realize that a person is not who they should spit at. Llamas will spit over food, or over mates or friends. Llamas will also spit to protect the herd, or a cria (baby llama).

Do my llamas spit at me?
My llama May is a Smart Alic and when she doesn't like me doing a certain act near her, she will spit right over the top of my head as a warning. Its a lot of fun being near such humorous creatures because they will play with you, but they also respect you. May has never spit directly at me before and Bella has never spit at me period. They are a dynamic due though and its funny to watch them spit at each other in their food fights.

A llama will spit if:
It feels threatened
It is cornered
Its not used to your presence
There are extraneous circumstances

Information

2007-03-18T11:46:00.000-07:00

For more information you should try these ideas:

1. Llama organizations! Two I am on are GALA (Greater Appalachian Llama and Alpaca Association) and NHLA (New Hampshire Llama Association). Its a wonderful place for networking and getting information. GALA also has a wealthy library of books and movies on topics from packing to diseases that you can borrow if you are a member.

2. Books! My llama bible is Storey's Guide to Raising Llamas. It has llamas a-z in it.

3. Internet! You can find great info on the Internet, but as with all sites, some are less helpful than others. I find the best sites to be those of Llama farms. A few I would recommend would be:

General Information

Guard Llamas

Leisure Acres Llamas

Philo Mountain Llamas

Northern Vermont Llama Company

Home at Green Mountain College

2007-03-17T20:53:00.000-07:00

I think it is wonderful to point out the amazing community here at Green Mountain College where our llamas live with me during the school year. There are amazing people that help at the farm and the animals are a fun community as well. This is where May and Bell stay with me during the school year and these are their friends and neighbors (My good friend Toby took these amazing pictures, I hope you enjoy them as much as I do):

Its fun to see the different phases places go through. Whether its a sunny afternoon in late August or a foggy morning in November, the farm is always a fun place to be.

Here are the Black Welsh Mountain Sheep. We have a strong Welsh heritage here in Poultney, Vermont and lots of slate!

Our little flock of ducks will always brighten up your day!

The laying flock is let out onto fresh pasture every morning.
Bill and Lou are visited frequently by members of the community. The following pictures are from our Welsh Harvest Festival.
Community always ends with fun and dancing!

Lambing here at College

2007-03-15T13:28:00.000-07:00

Its lambing season here at GMC. What a fun time of year!

White Mountain Llamas

Animal Science Day at the Cooperative Extension!

Shearing Day!

May's Day

Driving Llamas!

Angora Bunnies for sale - ready July 1st.

First Angora Rabbit Litter of the Season!

Winny's New Home

Angora Rabbits 2010

New Breeding Stock

Yarn and Scarves for Sale!

...Hats!

Further Reading

Fryeburg Fair

Post Fair Season

Llamas for Sale

Angora Rabbits for Sale

Cracker Barrel Bazaar in Newbury, VT: A Success!

Angora Rabbits for Sale

Shearing and Weaning

Shearing time!

Urban Farms

Spring is in the air...

Back to School!

First Bunny of 2009!

More on Powershift

Notes from Powershift 2009, Washington, D.C. February 27

White Mountain Llamas - More History!

Cross Country Skiing with Bella and Winny

Peacable Kingdom

The Herd

Ice Storm

Llamas Depart

Winny's Training

New Addition to White Mountain Llamas

Recollections from the Milk Maid

Chillin' with the llamas!

Back to School!

Fryeburg Fair 2008

Sheep and Wool Festival!

Getting ready for Fryeburg Fair!

To Killington and Beyond!

Angora Bunnies ready for new homes!

Our newest addition!

Want an Angora? Get a free fiber lesson!

They opened thier eyes!

White Mountain LLambs!

First Day with the Halter!

Rabbits for Sale!

Garden and Landscaping/ Italian Updates

May's new haircut

Summer Getaway!

More Babies!

Expansion!

Cria's 4th Day and Bunny Surprise

First Poop!

A new day!

Congradutlations May! Its a girl!

Addition to White Mountain Llamas!

Spring Pictures and Update

Spring in the White Mountains

Happy New Year

At Home in Vermont

Hand made soap and herbal products

Farmer's Market, Littleton, NH

History of White Mountain Llamas

WML - Up to Date

WML - Business

Wool For Sale - Updates

Llama Uses

Llamas and Spitting?

Information

Home at Green Mountain College

Lambing here at College