Christmas Thank You

Thank you to everyone who supported us throughout the year. Your support helps our farm grow and keeps dollars in the local economy.

Merry Christmas!

Definitley not within baseline....

I have just finished a program on chronic pain and one of the main pillars in pain management is you can do whatever you want as long as you do it within your baseline. Baseline = intensity & duration without causing the body to scream "stop it, stop it NOW!"

So, my task for today was to bring some firewood to the porch. No problem it say, half hour tops.

Then I realized the most efficient thing to do would be to use the trailer. Oh, wait! The trailer needs to be emptied.

Step 1 - Dig out the barn doors after the snow/rain that fell on Sunday.

Step 2 - Hook up a full/heavy trailer to the tractor.
Step 3 - Drive tractor to the access to the field.
Step 4 - Assess the snow situation, should be OK after all I have the snowblower attached.
Step 5 - Blow my way into the filed and fling manure out of trailer while wondering where my baseline is.
Step 6 - Attempt to blow my way out of the field. Not so easy...no chains on tires.
Step 7 - Detach trailer, shovel snow from under tractor. Apparently my baseline was quite a while ago.
Step 8 - Back tractor all the way out of the field.
Step 9 - Tractor is stuck again, damn the baseline, shovel the tractor out again.
Step 10 - Pull the trailer across and out of the field by hand through the snow.

Finally I got the empty trailer attached to the tractor.

Now to haul and stack the wood!

Latest creation

I know, I know - Christmas creep is getting worse every year. As an artisan & crafter we do have to plan ahead though.

Here's a shot of our latest market & website offering, hand knotted Christmas wreaths.

Wild Goose Chase

This morning we took off to find a couple of errant geese , a  Barnacle Goose and a Pink Footed Goose.

We had great success, the birds were there in a bunch of about 2000 other geese.

Barnacle Goose

 Pink Footed Goose

A Masterpiece!

Check out this masterpiece created by the balloon artist at the Truro Farmer's Market.

A balloon alpaca!

Durty Boyz Soap Collection

We love making soap at Rocaro Alpacas and have developed a (mostly) men's line called Durty Boyz.

We have crafted Pub Crawl Beer Soap, Gone Fishin' Atlantic Kelp Soap, Borning Buzz Espresso Refresher Soap and not to leave the Ladies out, a Luxury Lavendar Shea Butter Soap.

Available on our website.

Another season ends

Another busy season with the helpers draws to a close.

It was great meeting you all; Dirk, Terry, John, Caroline, Sophie, Nicole, Margaret, Alvero, Rebecca, Selina and Zoe.

Your help was amazing and we hope each of you had as much fun being here as we did hosting you.

Finally finished!

The new barn and pasture area is finally finished and the guys are on it until the weather is too cold to supply water. There were a lot of hands involved in making this happen, many thanks to you all. It's wonderful to see the critters from the sunroom and the kitchen table.

Welcome new critters

The new animals handled the trip from Ontario to Nova Scotia easily, but they were glad to get out of the trailer just the same.

Opulence, Caleigh, Rosalee, Prairie and baby Fresca

Atemu, A junior herdsire

New housing project

With a growing herd we find we need to open up some new pasture space for better rotation. This means     an additional structure to house animals away from the main barn. At 20 x 40 it will be versatile enough for some time to come.

Open Farm Day - Sept 15

Nova Scotia Open Farm Day is Sunday September 15th.

Rocaro Alpacas is participating this year as usual. Come visit us between 10am and 4pm

We will have a couple of animals available for touching so you feel the soft luxuriousness of this fiber. There will also be some displays on the caring for the animals and the processing of the fiber.

Additionally the shop will be set up so you pick up this years pair of socks or treat yourself to one of our unique hand woven scarves or rugs.

Rustic Magazine

Here is an article about our farm in Rustic Magazine

Final Cria of the season

This cute little fellow and his Mom Rocaro's Alteza will be off to Arriba Linea at the end of August.

More construction

The summer shed for the guys is a bit on the small side so we decided to add a covered "porch" on one end.

Rob with Helpers Caroline and Rebecca

Bird Baths

This summer the birds are missing the pond that we filled in last year. We had a couple of sheets of copper hanging around and thanks to Rebeca and Caroline they became artistic hammered copper bird baths.