It has been raining nonstop here on the farm. I think as a summer project I might build an ark. On the upside the grass is growing right before my eyes. On the down side the garden is still too wet to plant in many areas. What a change from last years scorching June!

The show season continued to be a challenge. The competition was fierce. It is hard to compete with farms that have 50+ babies to choose from each year. I brought everything that I had and was delighted to take home more than my fare share of ribbons.

Northwest Alpaca Showcase:

Cimarron, Autumn Diva (aka Munchin Martian), and Sage Prince (aka Buddy) all took home some hardware. Kahana and I were lucky enough to have Jeff's aunt along from Sun Valley to help with all of the animals and making sure we made it to the ring on time.


Columbia Alpaca Breeder Association:

Our best show, in my most humble opinion was the Columbia Alpacas Breeder Association the CABA Classic. Interestingly this show last year proved to be our toughest for us. Funny huh? Cimarron, Buddy, Diva and Summer all came away with ribbons. I was most delighted with Summers performance. White is notoriously the most difficult classes and we were able to pull off a fourth!!!! (White is challenging because there are a large number of breeders that breed only white. White fleece is most useful as it can be dyed any color.)
This was Luke's (my eight year olds) first show and he was amazingly helpful and a fine showman in the ring too!

Okay so we went to our first show of the year- Alpaca Western Extravaganza! My goodness it was very competitive!!!

We brought home the following awards:

• Autumn Diva: Our munchkin took a fourth in a very competitive class of 15. I was sooo proud. Thank you Kahana for showing her

• Wolf Den Cimmaron: Ahhh I haven't told you about him have I? He is a new boy I bought with Krystal Acres for stud. (He deserves and will get his own entire entry) He took a fourth also.

• Orcas Moon's Sage Prince: He took a fantastic 5th place in a tough field of 10. What a great result. Again thanks Kahana for showing 'Buddy'

Wow! What a great show for us.

Next weekend we are off to scenic (yeah right) Pasco, Washington for the Northwest Alpaca Showcase. This was a great show last year. We are again helping with color check of all the animals for the show. It is such a great opportunity to see, touch and look over a diverse bunch of animals from all over the West. I can't wait!

And yes I do have pictures to post!!

The girls and I decided that we were spending waaaaaay too much time training those pesky babies and that they needed a 'day of beauty' Maybe a new color for spring?

A Blessed and Happy Easter!

My girlfriend Maria and her family have a wonderful farm, Warm Valley Orchard. Right now they are smack in the middle of lambing.

Warm Valley Orchard is located just past the ferry landing. Anyone coming to the island passes it on the way to town. This time of year Maria and her family call Lamb-Jam season. Cars pull off the road just to see the newest members of her flock and cause quite the back up. I love alpaca cria but think the cutest newborn animal must be a lamb.

Every Friday I spend part of the afternoon in my son Luke's classroom usually working on helping the children with developing methods of conflict resolution and the like.

This past Friday we really cut loose and baked bread instead. To honor Saint Patrick's day we made traditional Irish brown bread and Irish soda bread.

These are both super easy and delicious recipes. Don't be tempted to leave out the caraway seeds in the soda bread they are what make it yummy!

Irish Soda Bread
Ingredients
makes 1 loaf

4 cups all-purpose flour
1/4 cup sugar
1 teaspoon salt
2 teaspoons baking powder
2 tablespoons caraway seeds
4 tablespoons unsalted butter, cold
2 cups golden or dark raisins
1 1/2 scant cups buttermilk
1 large egg
1 teaspoon baking soda
1 large egg yolk
1 tablespoon heavy cream

Directions

1. Heat oven to 350 degrees. Line a baking sheet with parchment paper; set aside. In a large bowl, whisk together flour, sugar, salt, baking powder, and caraway seeds until well combined.

2. Using a pastry cutter or two knives in scissor fashion, cut in butter until the mixture feels like coarse meal. Stir in raisins until evenly distributed.

3. In a small bowl, whisk together buttermilk, egg, and baking soda until well combined. Pour buttermilk mixture into the flour-and-butter mixture all at once, and stir with a fork until all the liquid is absorbed and the mixture begins to hold together. It should resemble a rough biscuit dough. Using your hands, press the dough into a round, dome-shaped loaf about 8 inches in diameter. Lift the loaf from the bowl, and transfer it to the prepared baking sheet.
In a small bowl, mix the egg yolk and cream together. With a pastry brush, brush the egg wash over the loaf. With a sharp knife or razor, incise a cross, about 1/2 inch deep, into the top of the loaf. Transfer to the oven. Bake, rotating halfway through, until it is deep golden brown and a wooden skewer comes out clean when inserted into the center, about 70 minutes. Remove from oven, and transfer bread from the baking sheet to a wire rack to cool.

Tasty but not as Tasty as the soda bread but probably a whole lot better for you.

Irish Brown Bread
Ingredients
makes 1 loaf

1 cup all-purpose flour
2 tablespoons sugar
1 teaspoon baking powder
1 teaspoon baking soda
1/2 teaspoon salt
1 1/2 tablespoons cold butter
2 cups whole-wheat flour
1/4 cup regular or quick-cooking rolled oats
1 1/2 cups plain nonfat yogurt
Milk

Directions

1. In a bowl, mix all-purpose flour, sugar, baking powder, baking soda, and salt. With a pastry blender or 2 knives, cut in butter until mixture forms fine crumbs. Stir in whole-wheat flour and oats.

2. Add yogurt; stir gently. If mixture is too dry to hold together, stir in milk, 1 teaspoon at a time, just until dough holds together; it should not be sticky.


3. Turn dough onto a lightly floured board and knead gently 5 times to make a ball. Set on a lightly greased baking sheet. Pat into a 7-inch circle. With a floured knife, cut a large X on top of loaf.

4. Bake in a 375° oven until well browned, about 40 minutes. Cool on a rack. Serve warm or cool.

If you recall from an earlier post I received fencing for my birthday...it is still not up all the way. Fencing, as Jeff and I learned is a big project. We are getting good at it though and as an added bonus we are still married. (just kidding)

First we had to measure and decide how much space we could dedicate to the new pasture, the shape and proximity to the existing run in. Our property is on a slope, one side of it is wet from late November until April. This is of course the side we chose.

Here are a few pictures that we took along the way.

Garett, myself and one of my favorite tools...the Brush Hog post hole digger. Garett and I butted heads a couple of times...ouch.

Even with the post hole digger sometimes the darn thing didn't want to drill.