Is insanity for farmers a normal thing?  I received a message from my dear friend Maple at Northstar Alpacas a couple of weeks ago.  She was getting some alpacas brought to her farm.  She wanted to know if I wanted two of them.  For free.  Did she say Free? Yes!  First, anyone who knows me, knows I am always on the lookout for cheap (free is better). After processing the fact that I could get two more gorgeous fiber animals, for FREE, I had to stop and take a breath...and bat my eyes at Hubby. I had questions for Maple that I needed to know before I jumped at this.  I wanted to be responsible.  First we have a very, very, small farm.  Would it work?  I found out in researching and asking Maple that they don't need a lot of space.  Second, how much do they eat?  What kind of care?  Remember, we struggled to get hay this year because of the drought.  I found out that they will probably be the cheapest animal we have on the farm to keep.  More eyelash batting to Hubby.  We found the

Remember this garage sale find?  Well look at it now!  I am amazed at what a couple cans of paint can do for antique wicker furniture.  Now I have my "nook" corner in our bedroom.  I had to shear a lot of angora rabbits this summer due to the heat. I usually don't like to spin cut angora, we pluck most of ours for our homespun yarns. But, when I have to, I usually dye it and then run it through the drum carder.  Which is what I spun this week.  Here it is on my ball winder:  This is after I plied it:  (I used the one ball above and plied it into 2 ply)  Here it is on my needles.  The scarf should be done and in the shop today.  It is beautifully soft and colorful!

It has been over a week since we took our fall trip to Mackinac Island and I hadn't even downloaded the pictures yet!  We had a wonderful time as usual.  The weather even cooperated for the most part.  We were looking at rain and snow for most of the time we were there, and really only had one day of on and off rain.  We biked and hiked for MILES and still, after 6 years of going up there, we were able to find new places that we had never seen.    We saw snow going up and coming back, I have a feeling that winter is going to be much different than last year.  I can't wait!  We are all set here at the farm with extra hay that I never thought we would find due to the poor weather this year.  I did pay double for the bales, but I know that people in other parts of the country are paying so much more than that.   School has been in full swing and I am trying to keep it that way until Thanksgiving.  The Eldest has extra time off during that week, so we will be joining him a

    I don't know about things where you are at, but here in Mid-Michigan the fall color is glorious this year.  It has something to do with the overly hot and dry summer.  What ever has caused it, it has my favorite season blazing with color.   We are heading to Mackinac Island tomorrow.  Rumor has it the color north is even more spectacular.  What are things like in your neck of the woods?