Saturday, April 14, 2012

Infamous Llama

Thirty some sheep.  Three dogs.  A cat.  A Clydesdale. And two of us.  And some barn mice I suppose.

But the Llama is the legend.

I bust butt on sheep management, breeding, feeding and I even ride a Clydesdale for pete's sake!  Nothing.  Tell my students I have a llama, and it's "Oh my gosh! You have a llama!"

Quick recap.  St. Drogo, the Parishioner of Shepherds, we needed a guard llama for the flock.  He needed a name... hench Drogo. (Drah-go)

He looks at you with ginormous eyeballs, all pupil, dark as night; contrasted with his locks of bright white hair (former name White Lighting, yes I'm serious).  And on a good day, he rocks his emo bangs.    He is simply a character and a half.   He walks up to you slowly, whenever anyone approaches the fenceline.  Cautiously, two toes at a time, he stares through you.  Judging.  Oh he is totally judging you.  To the point one starts to question himself.  Is there something on my face? Do I smell bad? What is it? Why is the llama looking at me like that?

It's just Drogo.  So uber confident, he makes even the best of us question ourselves.

That's Drogo the guardian of the flock, where the new lambs often leave Mom just to follow the pied piper.  Countless times I have seen Drogo, with two or three lambs in tow, followed by restless ewes chasing after their young.  Drogo is a rock star.
So much in fact, that Drogo has now gone A list on us.  An event that takes place tonight (4-14) in the the Grand Traverse Region, highlights local fashion designers and their abilities to resuse materials (once heading for a landfill) and turn them into promising, wearable fashions.  It is quite the event!   DJ, lights, stage, runway, bands.  It's one of those, you have to see it once in a lifetime at least.  And to think of the work these students from all over the area put into their pieces, it is really cool.  Well, Trashion as it is called, will sell trendy t-shirts to all of the people that attend.  Retro, trendy, fashionable, all key words when selling the marquis wearable item from Trashion.  And this year's 5th Anniversary design?  Well, a pop art version of Drogo of course!

Did we really doubt his abilities?  I think it was just a matter of time.  So while some of us here at the 'knob are in it for our five minutes of fame, don't forget there are still a slew of us that are working for a living.  Our class act of ewes did wonderfully on the lambing season, giving us a tremendous group of lambs for 2012 (including a bunch of ewe lambs).  And our spring shearing gave us quite a variety of colors including signature Moorit, grays, a black and of course the classic white fleeces such as Vera Lyn's, which was photographed just before being skirted (cleaned of all secondary wool and vegetable matter).    We have plenty a supply of yarn and fleece products available, so please feel free to contact us for anything on your wish list including yarns, roving, raw fleece and of course, lambs!  All from right here, our home in Leelanau County.     
Vera Lyn's 2012 Spring Fleece