Like mother like son: Jasper takes blue at Alpacapalooza
Barnstorm Farm's yearling male, Jasper Storm, took first place at Alpacapalooza April 2-3 at the Clark County Exhibition Center in Ridgefield, WA. Jasper won in the "indefinite" color class – same class his mother Emelia won in four years earlier. Emelia is now a beautiful dark silver gray, always one of the first colors to sell out in our yarn. Jasper is the son of Sterling's Treasure, a dark rose grey out of Alpacas of Southfork Farm.Jasper goes to the 2011 Northwest Alpaca Showcase in Pasco, WA April 22-23. Blue ribbon photo below courtesy of John Yaeger of Alpaca Adventures.
We have three pregnant females due this summer: Emelia, our blue-ribbon winner, herd leader, and mother of Jasper; Amazing Storm (Mazie), a two-year-old (also out of Emelia), who placed fifth in medium browns at Pasco last year; and Estrella, a veteran mother out of Misty Ridge's champion The Rebel.
Sales of alpacas went well for us in 2010
Check out our sales and service page for information on alpacas for sale. Besides their obvious benefits as breeding stock, alpacas have value in keeping pastures down, as fleece animals for knitters who have enough pasture to "grow their own," as companion animals for other herd animals, and in adding pure delight to your life.
Festival of Family Farms invites alpaca fans to Skagit Valley Oct. 1-2
As a warmup to Fiber Fusion, Gary and Ruth Wiegand will again open their beautiful South Fork Farms as one of the alpaca representatives to Skagit Valley's popular Festival of Family Farms. This year's event is Oct. 1-2 from 10 a.m. to 4 p.m. Barnstorm Farm will be on hand to help along with several other North Sound Alpaca Assocation alpaca farms. CountryTime Alpacas of Sedro-Woolley will also be open for touring and will include fiber processing demonstrations.
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Fiber Fusion Northwest to showcase natural fibers Oct. 15-16
An early word for Fiber Fusion Northwest coming up Oct. 15-16, 2011 at the Evergreen State Fairgrounds in Monroe, WA. The goal is to promote the remarkable benefits of all natural fibers, to showcase fiber arts and to provide marketing opportunities for local breeders, fiber artists and all who are interested in natural fibers. For more information, visit Fiber Fusion Northwest or North Sound Alpaca Association, the sponsoring group.
Our animals will get sheared in late May and we plan to send two full blankets to Fiber Fusion.
Barnstorm Farm's century-old barn gets historical recognition and dance
Barnstorm Farm's gambrel-roofed barn, circa 1906, was named to the Washington Heritage Barn Register. Some 150 friends (coming from Australia, Oregon, Montana and across the road) joined us for a good old-fashioned barn dance that featured 87-year-old fiddler Lee Stripling