Dog Tired!

Our dog Sultan is getting old and tired. He often will lie down wherever he happens to be and fall fast asleep for long periods. This can be a bit of a problem as he will fall asleep in the middle of the kitchen or in a doorway. He is deaf and cannot hear us asking him to move.

Recently I found him fast asleep with his head in his water bowl. Needless to say the bowl was empty and the water was all over the floor.

Oh to be able to sleep so soundly!

Turtle Time

It's early June and we have seen the first of the Painted Turtles on the property laying eggs. They wander onto the gravel trail near the lake, dig holes about the size of a Twoonie and deposit the eggs. We counted 9 turtles the other evening.

Two things I have recently learned about Painted  Turtles: they live in every province (but not Territories) of Canada and although they are a bit smaller than a dinner plate in size they typically live up to 50 years.

Cold, wet May

We are suffering through a cold, wet May in Nova Scotia.

We were fortunate here at Rocaro Alpacas to have two wonderful helpers from Australia this month. While we are not able to get much of the outdoor work started, let alone completed we are making great headway with inside chores. We have labelled all of the new shipment of socks and yarns, felted over a hundred bars of soap, made rope wreaths and made soap too.

We are having a great time - here the gals are enjoying some time in front of the woodstove.

New residents

This past week we started to see Tree Swallows hanging around the farm. We hurried off to get some Swallow houses and the birds were moved right in the next morning.

The tent went up and the tent came down!

We spent most of last Sunday constructing the 10 x 20 tent to provide our growing male herd with some additional shelter in the summer pasture. The wind was howling and the day was an exercise in futility.

Eventually we got the thing in place and well anchored down, or so we thought.

On Tuesday we came home after a dat in town only to find the wind had taken the tent down again.

Safely back from the trip

We returned safely from the trip to the show in Ontario.

We placed as suspected, with a third and a fourth in the highly competitive white class. We had a great time connecting with old friends and doing some wheeling & dealing with respect to alpacas.

Oreo went to Arriba Linnea, and we brought home his replacement Naycoyo to introduce some new bloodlines into the herd.

Spring fever!

The guys and the girls lined up along their respective sides of the fence to check each other out.

Spring is definitely in the air!

Extreme eating

The girls are out enjoying a spring day.

Off farm adventure

There is a rare bird (for these parts) hanging around. A Crested Caracara, native to Mexico, and points south. Somehow it has arrived in Nova Scotia and naturally we had to take a trip to see it.

On the run

We introduced 2 teenagers to the male herd today. There was much chasing around as they settled out their new pecking order. It's established now and all is calm.

It's Spring

Finally it feels like spring.

We are busy training the alpacas that will be travelling to the Ontario show in April.

As part of the preparation I took a radio to the barn to get them used to some new sounds.

I tuned it to what I thought was a middle of the road station, turned it up and left it on for the day.

Later in the afternoon when I returned for evening chores, I notice that the radio is blasting opera music and the alpacas are all laying in the barn looking very peaceful.

Quite the cultured bunch!

Happy St. Patrick's Day!

Happy St. Partric's Day!


A different version of the traditional blessing which I personally love;


May the road rise to meet you

May the wind be at your back

May the sun shine soft upon your face

May the rain fall soft upon your fields

And may you be half an hour in Heaven

Before the Devil knows you're dead!



And for the true Irish among us - Chocolate Guinness Cake. Yum!!

Market Day Sunday Feb 10

Caroline has been busy weaving rugs and scarves. The mill has made us some more socks. The knitters have provided some new items as well.

So just in time for Valentines Day we will be at the Halifax Seaport Market on Sunday February 10th.

Hope to see you there.

Winter So Far

The winter time is a quiet period for us on the Alpaca Farm. We were virtually sold out of all our product after a busy November and December so we took a break from the markets. Thank you for your support of our business.

I am about to go into my busy time at work so we did escape to Costa Rica for a week at the beginning of January. We did an ecotour with Air Canada Vacations. Recommend it to anyone who enjoys warm tropical places and the opportunity to see variety of birds wildlife and scenery.

Since then Caroline has been busy weaving rugs and scarves and I have made a few hats. The animals do not mind the cold and snow but the waterers do sometimes freeze and moving the snow and disposing of the manure becomes a challenge. This January and now February has had more day below -10 than normal for Nova Scotia.

Keep Warm!

Christmas is coming!

Elwood is excited and getting into the spirit!