Pamelamas Blog

Sept 25 – Punkinfiddle at Laudholm Farm in Wells. We’ll be there for the day with a couple of alpacas and yarn, socks, and other fibery stuff for sale.

Oct 16 & 17 – York Harvestfest at York Beach. We’ll be vending both days.

11/13/09   I’ve just (finally!) added a Sock Testimonial to the Photo Gallery.  This is from a customer who wore the Extreme Alpaca Socks on his climb up Mt. Kilimanjaro in Africa more than a year ago.  He was kind enough to send me a photo of himself wearing the socks, and to send me a testimonial quote.  Thank you, Andy!     

I’ve added a few more photos to the Photo Gallery – new female cria, Chalice, born 8/20/09, our first born with our partners at Full Moon Alpacas, and a few Farm photos.  Also added pics of my very first weaving projects – nothing worthy of selling yet, but I’m still plugging away at it and improving.     We have a new male cria, born 10/10/09 and as yet unnamed (no photo yet), with our partners at Long Plains Alpacas.   

We took Victory and Thrilla to Punkinfiddle at Laudholm Farm (Wells, ME), in late September.  Between the two of them they ate about 5 pounds of carrots (I’m not kidding).  It was a fun time, and we will do it again next year.

We’re partnering with Long Plains Alpacas  for the Portland Flower Show again in March, 2010, so be sure to stop in to see us while you’re at the Flower Show.

It’s been busy, busy here for the past few weeks. Shearing was on May 3, and most of the fiber has been sorted by Pam Harwood from Longwoods Alpaca Farm (certified sorter). All the whites and fawns have been sorted – still have the dark browns to do.

Now the BIG news – I’m a weaver!!!!! I took weaving lessons from Deb Bergman at Purple Fleece in Stockton Springs, ME. I now have a loom (a Baby Wolf, aka Wolfie), and have completed (almost) my first project – a scarf. The fringe is not quite finished.

I’ll be getting a photo in my Photo Gallery as soon as it’s 100% completed. I’ve started planning the next project. The most time-consuming part of weaving is warping the loom, so I’ll warp for two scarves to save a little time. The Farmer’s Market has gone well so far this year – I even sold a rug last week. I’m playing hooky this week because of the threat of rain.

Oh my! It’s way past due for an update!

10/13/08 Jada presented us with another male – that’s 4 boys in a row for her. Joji (pronounced jo-je)is doing just great. The next weekend Jada’s daughter, Janevra, (who resides at Long Plains Alpacas in Buxton) produced a female. Her name is Janessa, and she is a beauty! We’ve had a good winter (tongue in cheek- good if you like lots of snow). I think we’ve had at least 3 mud seasons so far this spring, but I do believe we are on the dry side of things now.

Pamelamas and Long Plains Alpacas partnered again this year to vend at the Portland Flower Show a couple weeks ago. It was a heartening experience, as in spite of the tough economy, our sales were up 23%. We were very pleased.

To throw a little color into our herd, we have partnered with Mike and Darlene Reardon of Full Moon Alpacas, and we now co-own 3 females with them – 2 blacks and a beautiful auburn. We’re looking forward to a spring breeding for one, and the birth of a cria in August from another.

The weather gods did not cooperate for us for Open Farm last weekend, but we had visitors both Saturday and Sunday in spite of the rain. Little Rumble in the Jungle was a big attraction for our visitors. There’s nothing better than a week-old cria on Open Farm days.

We are on watch now for Jada to give birth. She’s due Tuesday, Oct 7. She’s had one female, then 3 males in a row, so I’m sure you can guess what we’re hoping for. We’re also getting ready for the Coastal Classic show in another 2 weeks. We’ll be taking Aurora, Royal Victory, and Thrilla in Manila. For more info on the show, go to www.necoastalclassic.com.

Arwen delivered her fifth cria yesterday. There was a possibility that her due date could have been Sept 30 rather than Aug 22, and when she hadn’t delivered by the end of Labor Day weekend we were sure the date was Sept 30.

She had a beige male, 17.2 lbs, and we named him Pamelamas Rumble in the Jungle. I guess you can tell by his name that he’s an Evander son. We’re now on watch for the last cria of the season – Jada is due Oct 7.

We are still waiting for Arwen’s cria-this is the one I was positive would be early or right on the due date. Hah!! She had other plans. I seriously believe it will be tomorrow morning. Her only prior cria that was after her due date was 7 days after the due date. That’s tomorrow!

I just figured out how to load photos in the Photo Gallery. I only had time to do a few tonight. Have a look.

We are currently waiting and watching for Arwen to give birth. She was due 8/22/08, so we are on daily alert for any signs of impending birth. This is her fifth cria. Twice before she has given birth on her due date. We were positive that she would do it again this year, but as with many things “alpaca”, as soon as we think we have something figured out-we learn that we don’t. So, Arwen is merrily grazing, lounging around, sunbathing, etc – doing all the things that alpacas do – as we watch and wait. Keep checking back here for updates.

Pamelamas LLC has acquired 1/2 interest in a Hemingway/Alpamayo grandson. Clifford is co-owned with K&K Alpacas, and he is boarding at Long Plains Alpacas. We will be adding him to our website soon. He is currently available for breeding at $1,000 for the first 10 breedings.

Poco gave birth to a female cria on June 6, 2008. She is a Ravi Divine daughter (Shakelton granddaughter) and solid dark brown. We’ve named her The Divine Miss M.