Oh, it's easier to make a vow than to keep it.
I promised myself that I'd be much better about posting once our shearing weekend was over. Which it is. But I still waited until it's almost too late for me to post. That's the next thing to work on.
I dread shearing weekend. It's a lot of work for preparation, during, and cleanup afterwards. (We still have to clean up outside; we'll have to get on that tomorrow.) It also involves a lot of people: we had 20-25, depending on the day. Only the shearers get paid; everyone else volunteers, for which we're always extremely grateful. For our part, we feed them two snacks and lunch both days, plus dinner on the first day. There's also plenty of water, juice, and soda available throughout the weekend. How well things go depend on the weather and the work crew. This year our work crew was great, but the weather was ridiculously hot. We always shear the same time every year - the second-to-last weekend in May. We've had years when it was cold; years when it was raining like crazy; this is the first year that it was hot. As stressful as shearing can be for the alpacas, they were very, very happy when it was done and they were no longer buried under several pounds of thick fleece.
I was stuck in the kitchen during the whole thing, so I don't have any pictures. I much prefer to work the shearing tables, helping to calm the alpacas, but lupus pretty much put the breaks on that one for the most part. Not that the kitchen was that much better an option this year. I'm still having a rough time dealing with fatigue, and that colors everything I attempt. Thankfully, Dar's daughter was back from college, and she was a huge help with the kitchen madness. Dar did most of the prep baking and cooking, so we did mostly set up, getting the food ready, some cooking, keeping everything filled while people were chowing down, clean up and then prep for the next meal. We were busy most of the time, but at least I could sit for a few minutes here and there, and I got to stay out of the sun.
Dar just posted some pictures from shearing on her FB page. You can see them here. Assuming that link actually works :)
I'm still really wiped out. I have to call it a night and try this again tomorrow. It's a start, though. I'll get back into the swing of things again.
I dread shearing weekend. It's a lot of work for preparation, during, and cleanup afterwards. (We still have to clean up outside; we'll have to get on that tomorrow.) It also involves a lot of people: we had 20-25, depending on the day. Only the shearers get paid; everyone else volunteers, for which we're always extremely grateful. For our part, we feed them two snacks and lunch both days, plus dinner on the first day. There's also plenty of water, juice, and soda available throughout the weekend. How well things go depend on the weather and the work crew. This year our work crew was great, but the weather was ridiculously hot. We always shear the same time every year - the second-to-last weekend in May. We've had years when it was cold; years when it was raining like crazy; this is the first year that it was hot. As stressful as shearing can be for the alpacas, they were very, very happy when it was done and they were no longer buried under several pounds of thick fleece.
I was stuck in the kitchen during the whole thing, so I don't have any pictures. I much prefer to work the shearing tables, helping to calm the alpacas, but lupus pretty much put the breaks on that one for the most part. Not that the kitchen was that much better an option this year. I'm still having a rough time dealing with fatigue, and that colors everything I attempt. Thankfully, Dar's daughter was back from college, and she was a huge help with the kitchen madness. Dar did most of the prep baking and cooking, so we did mostly set up, getting the food ready, some cooking, keeping everything filled while people were chowing down, clean up and then prep for the next meal. We were busy most of the time, but at least I could sit for a few minutes here and there, and I got to stay out of the sun.
Dar just posted some pictures from shearing on her FB page. You can see them here. Assuming that link actually works :)
I'm still really wiped out. I have to call it a night and try this again tomorrow. It's a start, though. I'll get back into the swing of things again.