Poop Scoop

Serena Settling in at Her New Job

Thu, 3 May 2012 10:48:02 -0700

Serena is settling in very nicely at her new farm in Watsonville, where she is guarding over a rare breed of sheep, the Soay, and some goats.

From the looks of things, she has been transported to a slice of heaven here on earth.

NOW GO OUT AND GUARD, SERENA!

Gio’s First Day on the Job

Sun, 29 Apr 2012 11:17:35 -0700

Michael, Lauren and family picked up Gio today. Were calling him Gio temporarily until they choose his name once he gets “home”. Gio is going to a farm in Napa where he will be guarding goats. We are thrilled for Gio, as Lauren and family seem so excited to have him and very eager to learn all about the Maremma Sheepdog breed.

Congratulations Gio, on your new home. We know you will be the perfect guardian there. Write back to Brookfarm now and again and let us know about your adventures. Tessa, Maurio, Nicco, and the alpacas will miss you; but they all have work to do too. Mark and Debbie will miss you, but are proud that you have such an important job. We know you will do great at it.

WISHING YOU ALL THE
BEST, LITTLE BOY!

Serena’s First Day on the Job

Sat, 28 Apr 2012 16:40:41 -0700

Maria picked up Serena today. Serena is going to a farm in Watsonville where she will be guarding over a rare breed of sheep, the Soay. We are thrilled for Serena as Maria seems so excited to have her and very knowledgeable and inquisitive about the Maremma Sheepdog breed.

Congratulations Serena, on your new home. We know you will be the perfect guardian there. Write back to Brookfarm now and again and let us know about your adventures. Tessa, Gio, Maurio, Nicco, and the alpacas will miss you; but they all have work to do too. Mark and Debbie will miss you, but are proud that you have such an important job. We know you will be great at it.

WISHING YOU ALL THE BEST, SERENA!

Shearing 2012

Tue, 24 Apr 2012 23:27:34 -0700

Our Harvest is in:
43 alpacas, a crew of ten (as well as spouse and kiddos), a 9-hour day with a 45 minute break, 95 bags of fiber, approximately 285 pounds of fiber.

Girls ready and waiting Dena bringing in the Yearling boys

Before After

Serious business & hard work. A beautiful white fleece.

Tessa and the pups aren’t quite sure what is going on.

Ingrid, a future ranch hand -- wondering if we should shear the dogs, feeding the chickens, and kissing Dakota (below)

Fiber, fiber, everywhere!

Now everyone is ready for summer.

Many hands and lots of hard work paid off!

A Color Champion

Sat, 21 Apr 2012 19:02:29 -0700

It felt so good to get back into the swing of things this year and attend the California Classic Alpaca Show at the Alameda County Fairgrounds in Pleasanton, CA. It has been a year and a half since we’ve attended a show, the last being the 2010 Gold Country Classic that Fall. It is true, breast cancer has a way of putting your life on hold for about a year.

But this was a fantastic way to return to shows, with a Color Champion in the Fawn Female class for our beautiful yearling, Rocky’s April Sunshine. She is out of our own Brookfarm’s P. Rock of Gibraltar, aka Rocky.

As you can see, we actgually got a ribbon in just about every color possible.

Rocky’s April Sunshine

The three girls that scored Rocky a 3rd Place in Get of Sire

Rocky’s Rochelle peaking over at all the pretty ribbons.

Rochelle takes 2nd Place right behind Sunshine. Sue and Tom fine tune decorations for the Saturday night Suare.

Gate Keepers, Jan and Michael

And then we had all six alpacas shorn at the show so we would have a manageable number to shear the following week when we tackled the entire herd.

Penny Rochelle and Sunshine waiting in line for shearing. Rochelle and Penny (shorn).

Good to be back in the swing of things!

Lovely Easter

Sun, 8 Apr 2012 13:03:18 -0700

One very hectic week ended with a lovely Easter Sunday at Brookfarm with lots of family, a fun Easter egg hunt, a yummy dinner, and just lots of chatter and laughter.

Alura & Nico try out some of their found eggs. Grammie, Gaige, Alura & Nico after a successful hunt. Grandpa & Gaige relaxing after dinner.

Did I mention there was fish nets and kids skimming the bog for polywogs and frogs, as well as hugging Maremma puppies.

Charlotte & Eddie relaxing after dinner. The cousins having fun at the dinner table.

A GREAT DAY WAS HAD BY ALL!

Spring Time at Brookfarm

Thu, 5 Apr 2012 08:49:16 -0700

This has been a very busy week on the farm. Not only are we preparing for the California Classic Alpaca Show late in the month by halter training six alpacas every day so they behave on lead in the show ring, we are caring for two very active Maremma pups who require feeding now that mom is attending to them less and less.

Dr. Josephine McGrane, of Arroyo Veterinary Hospital, gives the Maremma pups an A+ on their check up, and Serena peaking over a hay bale just before they were introduced into the alpaca pen full time.

Halter training April Sunshine and Penelope

Life is good with puppies and alpacas.

Then there is hosting the family for our Easter gathering, egg hunt, and dinner this Sunday. And not to mention that Mark returns home tonight from being away for three days, Debbie has homework for a a weekly quilting class she is taking. And then there is shearing right after the show. So of course every day is go, go, go from dawn till dark.

One of the blocks in the Dresden Plate Flower Power Block of the Month for Broadway Quilts; and
the Rail Fence quilt top for the Beginning Quilting at Village Sewing Center.

And, amongst all the farm fun, Debbie gets to spend time with the sweetest two boys in her life, Nicolas and Gaige. They are the light of her life.

Grammie having fun with Gaige and Nico.

We are looking forward to our family Easter and welcoming back brother Eddie, who is finally well enough to enjoy the day. He will be reunited with his daughter, Charlotte, for the first time since his serious illness caused him to be air lifted him to the Bay Area in October. It will be wonderful to have most of the family together for the day. AND... I hear we will have good weather, too!
WISHING YOU ALL A WONDERFUL EASTER!

MAREMMA PUPS ~ 4 Weeks Old

Fri, 16 Mar 2012 09:05:19 -0700

Here they are at just three weeks old with eyes barely open.

The Maremma pups are now 4 weeks old and at 10+ pounds already. They are walking around and playing with each other, and can now crawl out of their whelping den and run around in the straw. They are right next to the alpacas but we won’t introduce them quite yet. They have started eating puppy gruel, dog food which is softened to a mush with water, and are loving it.

We spend time with them each morning and night, touching their mouths, each toe, and just socializing them a bit.

Here you can see how close they are to the alpacas now. Tessa is still a bit protective of them so we will wait another week and then introduce them to the most gentle alpacas slowly.

We hope to know their names soon so we can begin to use them when working with them.

THERE IS NOTHING BETTER THAN A SWEET PUPPY!

Farm Breakfast

Thu, 1 Mar 2012 12:44:50 -0800

We love our eggs. Mark watches over the hens and truly mourns when that Bobcat takes one from us. We collect eggs two times each day and carefully wash and sort them... the beautiful ones all of similar size set aside for our customers, the others saved for family.

Gypsy fried eggs, like my my mom use to make.

Mark’s Valentine Gift, almost complete ~ A quilt wall hanging.

The cold of winter is always hard because the hens need longer hours of sunlight to produce their delicious eggs. So we get down to just one to two eggs a day then. The hard part about that is not so much not having eggs to eat, but needing to continue to buy the same amount of feed for the hens, even though they are not laying. We have to turn away our regular customers and explain they we need to take a couple of months off, hoping that they won’t find another farm to supply their needs -- we want and need them as customers when the eggs are back, which is right now.

So you see, farming is a balance -- a balance of nurture and nature, a balance of income and expense, a balance of sun and dark, a balance of joy and sadness. But it is all good and we feel that we are the better for it.

And we are so looking forward to the next few years, when our new grandsons, Nico and Gaige, are out there running around the farm, getting up the nerve to slide their hand under a warm setting hen to check for eggs, climbing on JD (the tractor), helping to fill a water bucket or scoop some poop into the wheel barrow, holding a new Maremma pup before it goes off to its new working home.

Nico and I on our weekly walk

L: Nico, (6.5 months) R: Gaige, all smiles (4 months)

Life is good and we are so thankful to be where we are at this moment in time. We hope that things are good for you, too, right now.

Eat farm fresh eggs ~ get those needed Omega 3’s!

MAREMMA PUPS ~ 1 Week Old

Sat, 25 Feb 2012 19:21:25 -0800

The maremma pups have doubled in size, each weighing about 4 pounds already. Look at those full bellies. They are doing marvelously well.

MAREMMA PUPS ARRIVE

Fri, 17 Feb 2012 11:10:00 -0800

Tessa’s litter of Maremma pups arrived Friday night. I started staying with her at 8:30 pm. By 2:00 am it appeared she had finished delivery, and the pups were nursing well and looking very healthy. But we came back out at 4:30 am and 6:30 am to check in and be sure that all was fine with Tessa and the puppies.

They are gaining very well. Considering it was a small litter, they don’t have too much competition so are getting plenty of nourishment.

We have one boy and one girl available for purchase. Pups should be ready for their new working homes late April. Please contact us if you are in need of some excellent protection for your stock. The pupplies will have their first puppy shots, be microchipped and registered with the Maremma Sheepdog Club of America. So far we have placed pups as far away as Georgia, and our pups are guarding alpacas, sheep, goats, poultry and miniature horses.

Sad Goodbyes

Tue, 14 Feb 2012 18:08:18 -0800

We said good bye to a dear friend today. A friend to all the Brookfarm critters. A friend to the entire Dallara and Emery family members. A friend to the UPS and FedEx delivery people. Just a wonderful, dear friend. Lance, also known as Sir Lancelot of Brookfarm.

It was over twelve and a half years ago that I/Debbie brought Lance and his litter-mate, Rhody, home one fateful day. You see, our dear sweet yellow lab, Blondie, had passed a year or more before; and I so wanted to bring another lab into the family. I had preferred a female, and started to do some research, much to Mark’s concern. Both Alura and Sarah were now gone from the nest and the thought of bringing another pet dog into the family concerned Mark. I mean, how would that be for the family pet being alone all day long waiting for its master.

So after doing some research, I found a local breeder with four male pups available. At first I decided not to go see them because I know myself too well and was concerned if I saw them, I’d bring one home. Since I wanted a female, I kept looking. But I had no luck so did go to see this litter. And, as you can imagine, I brought the two boys home, unbeknownst to Mark. When I drove up to the driveway, Sarah came out to greet me and see what was in the box in the front seat. She was home for a visit from college. Mark had guessed there was a pup in the car. But when I called him over to see, and he looked into the window to see two yellow labs, he was in shock. I think he didn’t speak to me for a bit after that. But of course, in time, he was in love as I was.

And it wasn’t long before the dog he had named, Lance (after Lance Armstrong of course), bonded to me. And the boy I named, Rhody, bonded to Mark. They were both sweet lovable dogs who have been our good friends for nearly 13 years. Rhody passed two years ago just before Christmas. He had some health years for over a year before he left us. Lance did not have any issues until about a year ago when an old wrist injury, and then a new fatty growth on his right shoulder made it difficult for him to walk and was becoming painful.

Lanced is now in doggie heaven with Rhody, with a little help from our local vet, Doc Wagner and an assistant. They came out to the farm and were so sweet and caring. Lance has a nice spot to next to Rhody and Sarah’s bunny, Stormy.

The oddest thing happened as I was walking down from doing chores that evening after we buried Lance. It is Valentine’s Day so Mark ran to the store to get something nice for dinner since our plans to get away and play for the day were postponed. There next to Lance's grave, Noah (our ban kitty) was sitting looking down towards the creek, as if he was on guard over Lance. Funny thing is that Noah has been distant the last couple of days and wasn't anywhere in sight when we buried Lance. But he may have seen him laying in the carport while he was there for a few hours as Mark dug the grave this afternoon.

And then I went out to check after dark around 7:30pm, and Noah was back at Lance’s grave. I cried at the thought of their friendship and how Noah must have been grieving too. Such a sweet kitty.

Lance would have been 13 on May 28, 2012.

RIP SWEET LANCE.
WE MISS YOU ALREADY.

Camp Brookfarm

Mon, 13 Feb 2012 11:43:18 -0800

This weekend we found one of our barn kitties who has been missing for over 3 months.

Lutsie joined Brookfarm back in November. Our daughter, Alura, and her hubby had just welcomed their first child, Nico, to the family and it had been getting harder and harder for them to manage two dogs, two cats, and a new baby. So the plan was to bring Lutsie to Camp Brookfarm for a test drive as a barn cat for the farm. You see, Lutsie had already proven herself as a great hunter, spreading rodent parts around the house from time to time.

So Lutsie came to Camp Brookfarm. Once we introduced her here, she and Noah, our other barn cat, had sort of a stand off, and Lutsie disappeared. So we kept waiting for a call from a neighbor, since Lutsie's collar had two tags on it, each with a phone number ~ ours and Aluras.

After the holidays were over we had begun to give up hope and think the worse. When Alura called this weekend to say she had just received a message from someone about a mile away from us, we were totally surprised. I returned the call. This person had been cat sitting for her neighbor and found that Lutsie was entering through the kitty door and keeping the owner’s kittys away. She mentioned that Lutsie had some sort of injury to her side. So she closed Lutsie into the bedroom so I could pick her up Sunday morning.

When I arrived, Lutsie was very thin. The serious injury the “finder” had described turned out to be a wound from where Lutsie had put her left arm through her collar so that now the collar was wrapped tightly around her neck AND under her left arm. This was wearing away at the skin under the arm to create a nasty wound. My first attempt at retrieving Lutsie was not successful as the walk from the house to the dog crate I had prepared for her made Lutsie nervous to the point that she scratched me and escaped. So I left with the plan to return later that day or night once Lutsie returned to the house for food. Which she did right away.

Mark and I returned to the house after chores to get the message that Lutsie was now contained and waiting for us. So I drove down the hill again to retrieve Lutsie. This kind “Lutsie finder” had contacted a nearby vet at her home that Sunday, and the vet had already bandaged Lutsie’s wound and started her on antibiotics.

So now Lutsie is home recuperating. We have confined her to the dog crate indoors for the time being so her wound can heal, we can change the bandage regularly, and give her the antibiotics. We hope by the time she is ready to go back to work as a barn cat, that she will be more familiar with Brookfarm and will enjoy staying around.

GET WELL SOON LUTSIE!

Spinning Day Off The Farm

Mon, 6 Feb 2012 18:25:32 -0800

Today was a spinning day off the farm. My good friend Moz hosted Jen and I for a day of spinning, knitting, whatever we wanted to do fiber wise, actually.

She prepared a lovely soup for us. So we sat by the fire and spun and knit, broke for a yummy lunch and some we surfing and laughing, toured her fabulous sewing/fiber room “to die for”, and had a tea-tasting. I couldn’t have asked for a better day of friends, fiber, and fun!

Thanks Moz and Jen! Thanks for a great day!!

HAPPY MONDAY !

A Day on the Farm

Sun, 5 Feb 2012 08:44:06 -0800

Maremma puppies in a couple of weeks. Tessa is showing signs by filling out and slowing down a bit.

Saturday was a herd management day. All the young ones were weighed, toe nails trimmed, vaccinations to those that were due for them, and DNA blood cards for new kids that need to go into the ARI Alpaca Registry system in anticipation for Spring show season. Then we removed the cria crib panel for the three crias who are now weaned and moved them into the pen with those that are just a few months older.

Next task will be to set up Tessa's whelping area soon.

ALL IS WELL AT BROOKFARM !