It was an ordinary day. We are visiting the Golden Glen Alpaca Farm with our grand daughters Courtney and Camille. Terri K. owns the farm with her husband Andy. They started the farm four years ago on a 10 acre tract in the north end of Lititz, PA. Terri is a secretary at Neff Elementary School in Neffsville, PA and I do a little of the printing for the school, so I got to know her a few years ago when she started at the school. I recently made a visit to her and saw a photo of this cute little critter named Jake hanging by her desk. I inquired and found out she raises alpacas. I asked if I could visit sometime with my wife and grand kids to see them and she put out the welcome mat for us. Terri and her husband have been breeding the Alpacas for the last four years and now have 15 grown ones and 2 that have been born within the last couple of months. They raise the really neat animals to sell and also for
their fiber. The fiber is the hair that the alpaca has. There are two breeds of alpaca. The Huacaya breed which has fiber that pulls tight to their body and the Suri breed which has fiber that hangs in locks from their body to the ground. All of the animals that Terri has are of the Suri variety. Courtney and Camille fell in love with the animals as soon as they saw them. They had many questions about them and their coats. Terri gave them a small bag of the fiber which is extremely soft. About as soft as mohair. She showed us two Teddy Bears that had been made with the fiber. You can't imagine how soft they felt. I was impressed. When we first arrived, all of the alpacas were in
the pasture feeding. We went into her home to see some of the products that she had made from her fiber and when we returned to the barn, they were cooling off if front of the fans she has set up in the barn for them. We got a closer look at Jake, who is about three months old now, and Hawthorne, who was born three weeks ago. Alpacas have a gestation period of about a year. People who would like to raise alpacas must now buy them from breeders in the US, since the government has stopped allowing importation of the animals from South America. Courtney and Camille had a wonderful time and talked about their trip to the farm for the rest of the day. I love all kinds of animals so it was a treat for me and Carol will enjoy her new pair of socks that she bought while we were there. She is also hinting about the beautiful sweaters that Terri has for sale. Christmas is still a few months off I reminder her. It was another extraordinary day in the life of an ordinary guy. PS - bottom pix shows three week old Hawthorne with mother
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