Alpacas and…dragonflies?

“So, why alpacas?” everyone asks. “Do they come when you call them?”

Umm. Well, not exactly. Hardly ever. Unless, of course, I have a bucket of grain in my hand.

“Do they know their names?”

Umm. Well, they HAVE names. I call them by their names all the time, and sometimes they look my way when I call them but, mostly, when I have a bucket of grain in my hands.

“Do they show you affection? Do they love you?”

Umm. Well, they do show me affection, some of them, a couple of them, one of them really shows affection…to everyone who comes to visit! And I read once where they remember you for six months after they move to another farm! But…after six months… you’re history – literally!

Truthfully, I care more about what my alpacas have brought to my life than what I have brought to theirs. I bring them much: a regular feeding program of top quality grain and hay, good fresh water daily, a roof over their heads if they want one, guard dogs to keep them safe, regimented health care, a smiling face if they happen to glance my way, and unconditional love, even when they spit. But they bring me more, and what they bring isn’t measured by dollars as some entrepreneurs might suggest. It’s measured in joy, and that’s truly immeasurable.

Alpacas have brought me pride. Who knew my husband and I could design and build a barn? Not me! Who knew we could fence in five acres, and then another six? Not me! Who knew I would be able to give shots, deliver babies, scoop poop, drive tractors? Never, never, never me. But… oh yes I can, and do, and the kicker is – I love it!

Alpacas have brought me something to do I truly love. I love taking care of them. I love planning the breedings, deciding who should mate with whom, what each will bring to the offspring. I love the birthing, even if I do forget to breathe for just a while when that nose first starts poking out. I love the smell of hay, the chomping sounds as they munch on grain, the sight of cria and their moms pronking through the fields. I love tiptoeing into the barn early in the morning and catching them sleepy-eyed. I love to see them play with one another, show affection to one another, nurse their cria, strut their stuff for their women. I love this life alpacas have brought me to.

Alpacas have provided me another outlet for my “cria-tivity.” Once I felt the softness of spun alpaca fiber, I knew spinning was something I would learn to do. Several hours into that first spinning lesson, I remember the instructor yelling at me in exasperation, “Can’t you feel it? Can’t you feel what that fiber wants to do? Stop holding it back!” The lesson finally ended. She gave me a large pile of roving to take home to spin, and confided to her husband, unbeknownst to me, that she was certain she would never see me again. Sometime around 11:00 that night, I felt it, and the feeling brought goose bumps. It does even now as I recall it. One moment I was “lumping” my way through the pile; the next my fiber began drafting smoothly through my fingers and I knew what she was talking about. I merely had to stop forcing my will onto the fiber and let it twist its own way into that wonderful yarn. I arrived at my teacher’s home early the next morning, the entire pile of roving spun into decent, respectable yarn. She greeted me at the door in astonishment. When she looked into the basket and saw what I had produced, she smiled openly and said, “Welcome, spinner. Let’s go make some more yarn!”

Alpacas have brought me an opportunity, a chance to retire with money in the bank. I’m a teacher; having money in the bank is a foreign concept to most of us. I spoke the other night with a financial consultant. He wanted to know how close I was to having 6 months take-home salary in the bank. “Not very,” I remember mumbling into the phone. Then he shared with me my debt ratio and advised me to start a home business to take advantage of tax opportunities. That’s when I shared with him that last year I only paid taxes on $7,000 thanks to my alpaca business, that my retirement was, as we spoke, grazing contentedly in the fields and that, if all went well, the next sale this year would pay off a credit card debt and start the building of a second barn. He hung up (but I bet he looked up alpaca farming on the internet)!

Oh, and one more thing alpacas have brought me. Dragonflies. As my husband and I toiled in the fields today putting up more fence, the dragonflies were everywhere. Do you have any idea how many color combinations they come in? If alpacas are nature’s most color diverse animals, dragonflies have got to be number one in the insect world. Greens. Blues. Yellows. Patterns. They are gorgeous!

Out of nowhere, one landed on my hand, and I wasn’t even holding a bucket of grain! If it weren’t for alpacas, I wouldn’t have been in the right place at the right time to have a dragonfly land on my fingers and stay a while to watch me. I would never have known how lightly, how softly, they sit on your skin. I would never have understood the word “gossamer” as well as I understand it now that I have gazed through a dragonfly wing. “Dragonfly” would have remained just a word in a dictionary.

So why alpacas? If for no other reason than to experience the beauty and wonder of dragonflies! But take it from me, the reasons why are almost as numerous as the colors of the dragonflies.