Over the past few weeks, Tom and I have had yet another exercise in patience. Due to a backlog of work after Covid19, the power company has been unable to work on our connection thus far – so we are still living separately to our block of land. This has been quite a frustrating experience – as we don’t have a choice of power providers – there is only one in the area – we simply have to wait until they are available to come and finish our connection. However, we have had plenty else to think about in the meantime…
After the initial addition of three alpacas to our Farmily, we ended up adopting another three! Tom became aware on Facebook of a couple who no longer had sufficient pasture to keep theirs, so we offered to add them to our boys. We now have a total of six alpacas: Carl, Albus and Lewie who are the original three, and Squeak, Lily and Black Sass who are our newer arrivals. Adopting these amazing animals has been very entertaining and enjoyable for us so far. I have managed to teach a few of them how to hand-feed (the second lot of three did this on arrival, and, with some initial hesitation, I managed to convince Carl and Albus to give it a go too – Lewie remains yet to be persuaded).
Another thing we have been doing is halter training – where we get the alpacas used to being put in a halter and (hopefully) taken on a short walk on a lead. This is good for familiarizing the animals to our touch, which becomes incredibly helpful when it comes to aspects such as shearing and routine health care. Some obviously responded better to this than others. The girls led the way with good behavior in the halters, and are easy to catch and halter once they are in the yards, yet much harder to initially herd in there. The boys are easier to herd, yet much more resistant to being put into the halters and led. Albus has already provided us with many hours of entertainment – whenever he is put into his halter, he simply lies down and refuses to move without being dragged. While the process of halter training may appear cruel to outside bystanders, we have already noticed a change in attitude with our alpacas – they are increasingly relaxed about being handled by us, especially if there’s a chance they might get a treat at the end!
Tom also became an “alpaca pedicurist” recently. Shortly after their arrival, we noticed that the new three alpacas had “toenails” that were way too long. After consulting the internet, we learned that this can lead to serious problems with gait, and that if you let the toes get too long, the blood vessels and nerves can grow into the nails, causing extra pain and suffering when they are clipped. So, Tom decided to have a go with a series of garden tools and clippers we bought for the job. We decided to do all six at the same time, so hopefully the next time we have to do this job will be along with springtime shearing. This was also the first time we had put them in a halter, which was received with greater tolerance with some more than others! Albus in particular was very fiesty, and had to have his feet gently maneuvered out from under where he was sitting on them to be trimmed. Tom, however, did a really good, professional job, and we noticed a distinct gait improvement among the new alpacas in particular. Next on the list is a tooth trim for Albus and Lily, however I think we may have to get a professional in for that one…
Winter has brought its share of weather-related issues along with it, both farm and house-wise. The weather has been especially wet for the past few weeks, which has led to increased humidity inside the tiny house. This initially caused us quite a major condensation problem, with it actually dripping down from the ceiling at one point. Fortunately, with the installation of a couple of extraction fans, and the retrieval of our dehumidifier from storage, it quickly became much more manageable. We are confident that the installation of our log burner, which will happen when we move our house onto the land, the house will be a lot warmer and dryer overall (our little fan heater has been struggling a lot more to take the chill off over the winter months).
The rain also caused an accumulation of water on our property, particularly in the swale, which is a depression in the land that lies on contour. Swales tend to slow and infiltrate water into the ground. We have one that runs through our property between the existing gateway and the barn and tiny house site. For us, this means that we will now need to think about putting in a proper driveway before we can move the tiny house on site – as Tom almost got stuck driving through the swale in his 4WD truck! We have also been busy clearing a site for the tiny house to sit on as well as leveling the floor in the barn – all of which we will have to be covered with gravel before we bring the tiny house in. As a result of these somewhat unexpected land development requirements, Tom and I have been putting some time into consideration of the overall layout of our block. We have had a lot of discussion around stock rotation, planting and placement of raceways throughout the property, and are on our way to designing a property that will (hopefully) promote biodiversity and harmony between us and our land.
Leveling the barn floor 
Leveling for the tiny house site 
The barn floor was still quite wet after leveling 
The land dips down into a swale 
The swale runs through the property making things quite wet in places… 
We also had Tom’s mum Jo and her partner Colin come down to pay us a visit and see the land. They stayed with us for a couple of weeks, and were joined by Tom’s brother Jack and his partner, Jule for some of the time too. It was lovely to have them around to help and provide ideas for our site. Jack was very helpful in getting us organized and doing research for the next stage of our project, and assisted with our liason with the power company too. Jo helped a lot with setting up our garden and shelter belt. She had brought some plants down with her, and we went to a couple of garden centers to find some new additions. We planted our boundary with some flaxes to provide a shelter belt from the dust and gravel from the road – being hardy and thick, they should do a good job of this. Jo and Colin also had a great idea with the row of tree stumps that run down the side of the property down from where the house will be. We initially thought we would get rid of these somehow – by pulling them out or burning them. However, Jo and Colin’s idea was to instead make them into a feature by planting in and around them. We found some plants that will hopefully spill out over the sides of the stumps and make them a beautiful feature once they are established. We also planted some colourful natives for added interest, as well as some raspberries, herbs and a heritage peach tree all given to us by Jo and Colin.
So, although things have not gone wholly according to plan, Tom and I have had, as ever, plenty to think about and do over the last few weeks. Our projects, land and animals continue to be a source of stimulation and entertainment, and we are still excited as we move forward through each step of the way. We have been lucky enough to have visits with our families, which is something people in many parts of the world still cannot experience at the moment. And, of course, there is the prospect of our ever-widening Farmily to look forward to – watch this space!
The Tiny People 