David with Sunspot and Sunny, Sep 26, 2011

Peaceful Heart’s Sunspot was born to our lovely Sunrise Surprise, “Sunny”, on September 25, 2011.  He is a lovely white boy, just like his full brother Solar Flare.  Sunspot got his name from the adorable little brown spot on his left ear, the only spot of color on his bright white fleece.

Sunspot, 1 day old

David with Sunny and Lystra, Sep 26, 2006

Sunny holds a special place in our hearts.  She was the first alpaca born on our farm, September 26, 2006.  It has been so fun to see the lovely crias she has produced each year.  Sunspot is Sunny’s third cria.  Her first was Solar Flare, who is now 2 years old, and has brought home several ribbons for his lovely fleece including a First Place at the MAPACA Spin-Off this year.  Last year’s cria was Ten Ten Ten, “Thirty“.  He is an adorable boy who sold before his first birthday.

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Powergrid (father)

For this year’s cria, we rebred Sunny with our award-winning white herdsire Powergrid.  We loved how Solar Flare turned out and are just as pleased this year with Sunspot.  We will look forward to watching him grow into a great herdsire like his sire Powergrid and his uncle, Sunny’s full brother Peaceful Heart’s Lord Tennyson.

Sunny and Sunspot are in the barn due to our very foggy, wet weather we are having this week.  They will be moving out to the barn pasture with Lightning Bolt and our other mothers-to-be as soon as the weather clears a bit.  We hope you can come by soon to see Lighting and Spot as well as our spring crias in the front pasture.

Lystra and Lightning Bolt in the Fog

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Wet Felted Scarves and Lariets

We had two great wet felting classes today.  We created lovely grid style scarves in the morning using alpaca fiber and accented with beautiful novelty yarns.

After a tasty lunch, we learned a completely new felting technique to make beautiful felted and beaded lariats which can be worn as necklace/scarf accent pieces or as belts.

Scarf and Lariat from Vesta's fiber

Vesta

The picture to the left shows pieces felted from the fiber of Vesta (pictured at right).

Next Saturday, October 1, we will be felting again.  In the morning, we will be designing and creating one of a kind purses.   You can see pictures of purses made in previous classes on our facebook page or on our webpage.  We just have a couple of spaces left, so contact us today if you would like to join the class.

After lunch, we will be offering a felted collar/shawl class for the first time.  You can find more information and pictures of next week’s classes here, where you can also sign up online.

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This Saturday, Sept 17, 2011, we will have a booth at the Bethabara Apple Festival in Winston-Salem from 10am-4:30pm.  The festival includes a number of artisans, many of whom will be demonstrating their work (we will be spinning and weaving), traditional music and food, particularly apples from local orchards.  There will also be colonial re-enactors, colonial games, and  horse-drawn wagon rides.  You can learn more about this festival at their website.

We hope you can join us for a fun day at the festival, or at the farm.  The farm and store will be open our regular hours, 10am-5pm.  If you are in the area, come on by and see our newest farm member, Lightning Bolt.

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Lightning Bolt and Lystra - Sept 14, 2011

Our first alpaca cria of the fall was born on September 14 to our champion producer Lystra.  He is a lovely boy with dense, incredibly shiny, white fleece.  Based on his looks at day one and his strong family history,  we expect Peaceful Heart’s Lightning Bolt to be a spectacular alpaca.

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Lighning Bolt’s sire, FG Powergrid, has a beautiful fleece that has won numerous ribbons and is maintaining (even improving) its incredible consistency as he is getting older; Powergrid turns 7 years old next week.  Lightning Bolt’s dam, FG Lystra, gives us beautiful, large crias each year with unbelievable fiber.

FG Powergrid

. On his dam’s side, Lightning Bolt has two multiple award-winning brothers, Reserve Color Champion Peaceful Heart’s Lord Tennyson and full sibling Peaceful Heart’s Asa Lee, who won highest scoring brown huacaya alpaca in spin-offs at two of the country’s largest alpaca shows this year MAPACA and AOBA Nationals.  His sister Sunrise Surprise is already producing first place winners of her own, and another brother Pirate’s Luck of Peaceful Heart has incredibly fine fleece (15.9 microns at 20 months of age).  Lightning Bolt’s brother from last year, Peaceful Heart’s Regal Copper, will enter the show ring this year and we expect great things from him.

Lord Tennyson

Asa Lee

Pirate's Luck

Regal Copper

Sunny and Solar Flare (2009)

As you can see, Lightning Bolt has a lot to live up to, but we are sure he can do it.  At just one day old he is strong and showing great presence and fabulous fiber.  You can see Lightning Bolt and his mom Lystra in our maternity ward pasture. The maternity ward has moved to the barn for our fall crias.  Our spring babies are still in the pasture by the store and are growing fast.  Come on up to the farm to see Lightning Bolt and our spring crias soon.  The leaves are starting to turn and it a beautiful time of year to visit.

Lightning Bolt at one hour

Bright White Fleece

Lystra is a fantastic mom

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I love mornings on the farm. The alpacas like to get out and graze early in the mornings up on the hill in our main pasture.  It is a pretty way to start the day, no matter the season.  I begin each day with a cup a tea and take a moment to look out at the alpacas in each pasture as the day is getting started.

Fall is coming and we are all loving the cooler mornings. I went out yesterday with the alpacas and took pictures of the mist over the beautiful Blue Ridge Mountains. You can already see some leaves starting to change.  Plan a trip up to our alpaca farm this fall to enjoy this gorgeous time of year.  Right now, there are just hints of color here and there, which are fun to seek out.  The peak leaf season in our section of the parkway is usually around mid-October, but it varies a bit every year.  We’ll be putting up posts occasionally to let you know how the leaf changing is coming along this month and next.

If you want to see more pictures of our alpacas in the morning, visit our Facebook Page at www.facebook.com/Peaceful.Heart.Alpacas.  You can also see the pictures through the following link.

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We have some fun wet felting classes coming up in September and October.  All these classes are taught by local fiber artist Karen Simpson, and use washed and combed alpaca fiber and wool rubbed with warm soapy water to create beautiful and strong fabric.  There is no knitting involved in this type of felting, and absolutely no previous fiber art experience is required.

Felted Grid Scarf

Grid Scarf: Create a very “airy” scarf in this class ….ideal for “not so cold” weather or just a wonderful scarf to “class up” any outfit.  Sept 24, 9am-12pm; Grid Scarf Class $25.00 / $12.00 material fee.

Lariet Scarf/Necklace

Lariat Scarf: Scarf or necklace? This felted rope like scarf can be either! When you learn this simple technique, you will be able to go home and create lots more items….I’ll give you lots of ideas!!!  Sept 24, 1-4pm; Lariat Scarf Class $25.00 / $8.00 material fee.

Wet Felted Purses

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Felted Purse Class: You will have everyone stopping you on the street asking where you bought this purse! It is truly a piece of art! In this class you will make your own small purse from wool and alpaca fibers. We had so much fun at the class in July, that we just had to repeat it in time for making Christmas gifts!  Oct 1, 8:00am-12pm; Class $40.00 / $25 material fee.

Wet Felted Collar/Scarf

Collar-Scarf: You will make a fabulous decorative Collar-Scarf that will dress up any outfit… whether it’s a jacket, dress or T-shirt! Make it wild and crazy or elegant…your choice. This is one of my favorite class because they all come out so different and creative!  Oct 1, 1-5pm; Collar Scarf Class $40.00 / $20.00 material fee.

You can sign up for any of these fun classes online.  Lunch will be provided between the classes on each of the Saturdays.  We hope you can join us for one or more and learn some great new skills.  Register online today.

You can see pictures from our previous felting classes on our Facebook Page.

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Join us tomorrow at the Fancy Gap Apple Festival at Milepost 199.5, just 4.5 miles from the farm at Highway 52.  There will be music at the picking porch, craft vendors, and of course lots of apples from 10am-5pm.

The farm will be open our regular hours this weekend, Saturday 10am-5pm and Sunday 1-5pm.

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Two more of our sweet alpaca boys moved to a new farm on Wednesday.  Ten Ten Ten (known as Thirty around here), a beautiful junior herdsire from our Sunrise Surprise and a 5 time Color Champion sire, and Trixter, a fun loving gelding, will be joining the farm of Pat and Felice.  They will share the farm with a white alpaca named Shaggy and several other types of animals.

As always, we will miss the boys, but know they will enjoy their new farm and be well loved.  We still have some great pet/fiber alpaca boys for sale at our special two boys for $750 (more details here).  For those looking for breeding males and females, we have some wonderful boys and girls on sale now as well.  Check out our listings to see which alpaca would be right for you, and then give us a call or email to set up a time to come meet them in person.

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When we began our alpaca farm in 2006 and opened our store, people started telling us that we should participate in the annual Labor Day flea market in Hillsville.  We couldn’t imagine that our alpaca socks, sweaters and yarns would fit in with what we envisioned a flea market to be, but they assured us, “it’s not a typical flea market”.  Trusting our new neighbors we signed up and set up a booth in the VFW area of the flea market.  We’re they ever right.  We fit right in at the Hillsville Flea Market, which has everything you can imagine and many things you couldn’t have.  Over half a million people each year come to Hillsville, Virginia to shop for antiques, furniture, guns, toys, and now alpaca products.

Hillsville Flea Market

We invite you to visit our booth at the VFW.  We set up each year in spaces 503-505, row 4 (from the main snack bar, we are on the row directly in front of the women’s restroom).  This year we have some great discounts on alpaca yarns and alpaca socks as well a selection of our alpaca clothing from hats and gloves to sweaters and coats.  We also have several alpaca blankets to choose from, and lots of alpaca plush toys.

The flea market is open this weekend, Sept 2-5, Friday-Sunday from 8am-6pm and Monday 8am-4pm.  Parking is easily accessible from Highway 52 in the VFW parking lot next to Victory Way Baptist Church.  To avoid traffic, we recommend coming in from exit 8 (Fancy Gap) off I-77.  Exit 14 (Hillsville) gets pretty crowded.

Hope to see you there!

The farm will be open our regular hours Monday-Saturday 10am-5pm & Sunday 1-5pm, so be sure to stop by to see the alpacas while you are up this way.

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