Fiber Fun ~ Alpacas, Camels and Sheep, Oh My!

 

Every year for the past 4 years I make sure to attend the two-day East Mountain Fiber Farm Tour. It’s interesting to visit all the different farms, see their set-ups, visit with the animals and people, learn about the different fiber/fleece/wool. And every year the Fiber Tour has a contest to win a huge basket filled with lots of great items for Fiber Artist. But the only way to get a chance to win is to visit at least 7 farms on the tour. There are usually between 10-12 farms participating, so it’s fun to choose which ones to visit.

You can see photos and the post from my first Fiber Farm Tour in 2008: Fiber Farm Tour

This year I almost forgot the date, but Val of Fantastyk Voyage called me up and said “Let’s Go!” So we piled into her car and headed out. First stop on our tour was Camelot Farm where I always make sure to pick up a skein or two of their super soft, natural camel wool for my upcoming winter knitting projects.

It’s always fun to photograph the odd and unusual looking camels.

The only camels they have now are Dromedary camels, which are one humped.

I was a little sad when I discovered that one my favorite camels, a young male Bactrian (two-humps) camel named Gobi, died last year when he became cast underneath a pipe rail fence trying to reach some grass on the other side. I have a photo of him on my 2008 Fiber Farm post. His owner had given me a puff of his fiber that had blown off onto the ground. I’m glad I still have it now.

Gobi ~ Fiber Farm Tour  

There’s an even better photo of him (taken with my new camera) in this post:

Camel Ride

I’ve always had a soft spot for camels ever since I can remember, after learning about the military’s early interest in creating a Camelry Cavalry for forging new ground across the west in the 1800’s. So, I was sad to discover that the Rio Grande Zoo ended their 25 year contract with Camelot Farm due to budget cuts. The Ro Grande Zoo is the first place I ever had the opportunity to ride a camel.

In fact, I rode a camel even before I got back on a horse after my ACL surgery.

Do you remember my first camel ride? My post is here:

My Camel Ride 

 

They also had some friendly horses, too.

After leaving Camelot Farm we visited 6 more Fiber Farms, seeing animals such as angora rabbits, fiber and dairy goats, sheep, llamas, chickens, and lots of dogs, cats and kittens. Here are some of the photos from the Fiber Farm Tour:

Don’t you like this lady’s pretty hair accessory?

This is a carder, one of the steps to processing fiber.

And adorable cria, a baby alpaca.

This was the friendliest alpaca Val and I have ever met. She purposely wanted to be petted and sought out affection. Awww!

Same friendly alpaca.

This alpaca was in desperate need of a teeth trimming.

By the late afternoon, the winds picked up and the smoke and a few dried up, dark rainclouds blew in. The alpacas and this llama moved inside the barn and viewed the skies with interest.

Looking outside the barn through the doorway, you can see the foreboding skies.

Alpacas have the most inquisitive faces.

I really liked the salt and pepper markings on this Nigerian Dwarf goat.

This sweet Romney lamb was very friendly and soft, too.

This guard llama seemed very interested in me and my camera.

I bought my daughter Jen, The Chicken Girl a special gift at one of the farms.

It’s safe to say that she loves it.

 

After we visited our last farm we registered and entered the gift basket contest at the Yarn and Fiber Store and, because we were famished from all our farm-hopping, Val and I decided to enjoy a relaxing sit-down dinner at a local Chinese restaurant, before heading back home.

All in all, a really great day.

And thankfully the smoke wasn’t too bad on Sunday until late in the afternoon.

Speaking of smoke, one of the weird things I’ve noticed since the smoke from the wildfires arrived last week, is that during the day, it’s eerily quiet around here. Not a bird to be heard…or seen for that matter, except for a few ravens and a hummingbird or two. And the sounds that we do hear seem muffled somehow.

Isn’t that weird?

A resident of the west mesa, just above Albuquerque, saw my You Tube video of our smoky skies here on the other side of the Sandia Mountains, and sent me a link to his video to view. Wow! And I thought the smoke was thick here!

My First Ride!!

 

If someone would have told me my first ride was going to happen in this way, I would have laughed and thought they were crazy.

I had my own visions of what my first ride would be like, where it would be, how I would feel, and on who I would ride on, and with.

And technically, I’m not even supposed to be riding yet (shhhh!), but when opportunity knocks, who am I to turn it away?

  

One of my twinlings, Jem, offered to ride with me, which took some of the fear away. He’s my little rock and is always understanding, thoughtful and helpful. And Jem is loads of fun and can make me laugh, too.

They had a platform to step off of, onto the bareback pad, but I had to mount off the left side, which was very difficult for me because I'm not able to put all my weight on my left knee. But I managed to carefully settle myself onto the blanketed back all by myself. But dismounting would have never happened if it had not been for one of the helpers, a weightlifting teenage girl, of about 19, who basically took all of my weight on her arm as I lifted myself off of the animal’s back. If it had not been for her, I’d probably still be riding around that oval arena right now. hah!

Which would have been fine with me, because I thoroughly enjoyed my first ride. It was very comfortable, slow, quiet (well, sort of…..) and relaxing.

I kept thinking about Esther from Ishtar News, and her own similar ride a few months ago. What fun!

And, maybe my first ride wasn’t on a horse, but it was on a four-legged creature that eats grass.

 

Last year, I made friends with some folks up here in the mountains who own a small herd of camels on a farm they call Camelot. They were listed on the East Mountain Fiber Tour and as they only live about 10 minutes from my house, I was excited to have another source of lusciously soft fiber to spin and knit. Camel fiber, in my opinion, is just as soft and downy as alpaca fiber and feels wonderful against the skin. Last summer I bought only one skein of a natural colored camel blend yarn from the folks at Camelot Farm.

From that skein, I made my friend Val a scarf and a hat mixed with a turquoise colored cotton, as well as a scarf and a hat for me, mixed with a peach colored alpaca blend yarn. That skein sure went a long way.

Well when the fiber farm tour was held again, a few weeks ago, I just had to go, visit the camels and purchase some more camel yarn.

(This is Gobi, a Bactrian, or two-humped, camel.)

Another wonderful, and convenient, aspect of camels is that they don’t require shearing. They actually shed out their fiber, which can easily be combed off, or gathered as it begins to fall.

And this is one of Camelot’s Dromedary camels, which means one-humped camel (sorry, his name escapes me). An easy way to remember the difference between Bactrian and Dromedary is: "Bactrian" begins with "B", and "Dromedary" begins with "D"; "B" on its side has two humps, while "D" on its side has only one hump.

Poor guy is old and suffers from arthritis of the legs, so he had a challenging time standing up or laying down.

So, when I discovered that Bev and Bill of Camelot Farm lease out several of their camels to the Rio Grande Zoo, in Albuquerque, for camel rides, I decided on our next visit, we had to say Hello. My good luck, Mr. Bill was there and very friendly and nice to talk to. We spent about 15 minutes discussing wool, fiber processing, and the Taos Wool Festival. And then he offered to pose for a photo with two of my kidlets, and a fuzzy camel, too.

That was pretty awesome, I thought. What could be more amazing than that?

Well, being offered a complimentary camel ride easily topped the fun photo op, for sure!

And since Jenna didn’t want to ride the camel, who was I to just pass up such a unique opportunity…..or to “look a gift camel in the mouth”? hehe!

Ok….so I know it’s not a horse, but I did ride it. haha! 

From the Tower of,

Fiber Farm & Studio Tour~Day 2

On Sunday I headed back out with my daughter to check out two more farms: one a camel farm and the other a feather and natural dye farm.

I was very excited about visiting the camel farm, as I've always had a 'thing' for camelids, which include: camels, llamas, alpacas, guanacos, and vicuña. I actually own an authentic camel saddle that I was given as a gift over 20 years ago. And when I volunteered as a docent for the Rio Grande Zoo, about 13 years ago, I used to handle the alpacas on a weekly basis taking them out to show the public in what was called "Alpaca Cruising". I loved it!
And of course, the first time I saw the 'Push Me-Pull Me' on Dr. Doolittle, when I was 9 years old, I just knew I wanted a llama of my own one day.

The camel farm, aptly named "Camel Lot Farm" is only about 7 miles away from my house, so it was a quick little drive over there to visit the camels and see what the hoohah is on using camel fiber for knitting and fiber arts.

But first, did you know that camel down is the soft warm inner down of a camel and has a fiber structure similar to cashmere? The down is usually 1-3 inches long with a micron count of about 15-22 microns.

The dromedary, one-humped or Arabian camel has a single hump, and the Bactrian camel has two humps. They are native to the dry desert areas of western Asia, and central and east Asia, respectively.

And I bet you didn't know that camels can run up to 40 mph in short bursts and sustain speeds of up to 25 mph. My llamas are pretty fast like that, too. And they literally fly when they run, because all 4 feet are off the ground at once. It is awesome to see!

And contrary to common belief, camels do not store water in their humps; they are actually a reservoir of fatty tissue. When this tissue is metabolized, it acts as a source of energy
Their ability to withstand long periods without water is due to a series of physiological adaptations related to their red blood cells.

Besides their use as meat and fiber animals, camel milk is a staple food of desert nomad tribes and is richer in fat and protein than cow milk. Camel milk cannot be made into butter in the traditional churning method, but their milk can be made into yogurt.

This handsome fella is a Bactrian Camel. Bactrian camels have two humps, they weigh about 1600 pounds and stand about 7-9 feet tall at the top of their humps. Their gestation period is between 370-445 days and give birth to calves weighing 80-130 pounds. Their life span is 40-50 years! Bactrian camels have two coats: the warm inner coat of down and a rough outer coat which is long and hairy. They shed their fiber in clumps consisting of both coats and is normally gathered. They produce about 5 pounds of fiber annually.
I also discovered that Camel Lot Farm provides the camels that the Rio Grande Zoo uses for their daily camel rides. Pretty cool!

Notice how the wool just sheds off all by itself. No shearing is necessary! Of course, its quite the chore harvesting camel wool on very windy New Mexico mountain land. hehe
I enjoyed the camels in front of our beautiful Sandia Mountain backdrop. Did you know that a camels mouth is very sturdy, able to chew thorny desert plants and that their kidneys and intestines are very efficient at retaining water. Urine comes out as a thick syrup, and their feces are so dry that they can fuel fires. Weird!

I was told this guy's name is Gobi. I actually was invited to keep some of his wool that I found on the ground. Cool.


This is a Dromedary, or one-humped/Arabian camel.
I really enjoyed getting close up and personal with this goofy camel.
"I'm a very tired camel"
"ZZzzzzzzz". Check out all those callous pads.
"Do you mind? I'd like some privacy for my nap, please"

Now that's one relaxed camel! "Blublublublubub" Check out that rubbery loose lip. hehe

Now apparently I am a photo hound and have totally used up all of my photo allotment on Blogger.(gasp!) Yes, I can pay $20.00 a year for some extra space, but I'm going to try something different (and free) first. Let me know what your opinion is.....

Our last stop on the Fiber Tour was a to a farm that translated literally to "Hens of the Sun", Gallinas del Sol. This farm grows plants used for natural fiber dying.
They also raise chickens and heritage breed turkeys for feathers, as well as to sell to customers. This farm is located about 15-18 miles east of our house, in Stanley, NM, where the ground flattens out into the plains, but views of the mountains can still be seen.

While at the farm, I had another moment of realizing again what a close-knit local community our East Mountains truly are and how everyone seems to know each other or someone that knows someone else, etc.
The owners of Gallinas del Sol had actually been to my house last year to pick up a large rusty stock water tank I had offered on Freecycle. They had plans to use it as a pool for their ducks and geese.

Unfortunately they hadn't used the tank yet because of the fierce winds and the cold, hard ground and also because they need to get a backhoe to dig the hole for the tank first. But it was still kind of cool to see the tank there and to meet these folks again.

So, for more photos from our second day of the East Mountain Farm Touring,
click:
Fiber Farm Tour Day 2