A "No-Kill" Alpaca Fiber Harvest

This past week, a friend spent several hours at our farm. She is a very good spinner and had reserved several fleeces from my herd of alpacas. Compared to many skilled hand spinners, I remain a rank amateur at this ancient craft. Maybe that is why I feel such pleasure when my farm's fleeces are purchased by gifted fiber artists.

Comments from the general public have generally expressed interest and appreciation. Of course, the average person has no use for raw alpaca fiber, but it is rewarding to hear my hard work acknowledged.

Not all comments have been positive. For example, once, when I sat behind my booth at a craft festival, a young woman passing the booth glanced at the mounds of soft alpaca fiber for sale. She glared at me and hissed,"Murderer!"

Murderer? "What prompted that hostile outcry?" I thought, quite taken aback by the the visitor's verbal assault. It finally dawned on me that the young lady believed I killed the alpacas to harvest their fiber.

I do not! The alpacas are very much alive—and vastly more comfortable!—when they leave the shearing station located in one of the barns.

On May 19, I will be at the Burlington County Farm Market in Moorestown with some of our farm's "no-kill" alpaca fiber harvest. It's a great market, with a good variety of products offered by local farmers.

Thank you for your interest in my blog. I can be contacted through my website www.stormwindalpacas.com.