Me and two of the new arrivals
Well – they’re here at last! Thak God for that as I don’t think my nerves could have stood much more. Yesterday (arrival day) I was awake at 4 am as all a stream of increasingly dire scenarios rushed through my mind, mostly involving Gassie the Setter. Alan reassuringly told me that he understood why I was anxious as “the opportunities for disaster are fairly huge.”
It was a lovely sunny spring like day and I got the garden as ready as it could be, I put a heart shape on the gate and a flower above their stall to welcome them, as I know that is what the Quecha indians do in Peru. OK I am not a Quecha and we’re not in Peru, but I wanted to invoke some positive energy!
I wore my Mum’s gold bangle, so she could be part of things in spirit, and was delighted when a little robin appeared as my sister and I always think a robin is Mummy. Good to know she was looking down on me and no doubt enjoying the whole thing. She knew I wanted alpacas so I’m glad I got them. She would have loved them.
Arrival
Hilary arrived with the trailer at 3pm and we unloaded my four new friends, who seemed pretty laid back and delighted to see the grass and trees. I learned to halter and unhalter them (if that is the right expression), we made a catch pen and practised herding them in and out of it, then we let Gassie out from the house, the moment I had been dreading. After racing up and down the other side f the fence he calmed down. The alpacas, meanwhile, just stood there and looked at him. What a relief!
Happy alpacas grazing in the garden
Then Hilary was gone and I was on my own. I stood outside as the weather got colder and colder, just watching them. Never would I have imagined alpacas in my garden and yet here they are. And they just seem perfectly right, like they have always been there.
When metal detecting at the bottom of the garden I unearthed chains and stakes which had been used to tether animals when the garden was a vineyard, many many years ago, so it is nice that things have come full circle and la Vigna once again has a few ruminants- albeit quite a long way from home.
Know just what you mean, I had the same mixture of excitement and trepidation when I got the donkeys. Are your girls OK grazing freely, or is the garden all totally fenced in? My boys will bolt to explore as soon as they are let out of their paddocks! And are alpacas OK with trees? Again, the donkeys will strip a tree in minutes flat, they love chewing the leaves and wearing their teeth down on the branches, so fruit trees and other specimens we want to keep have to be fenced off when they are out and about! Looking forward to following your progress! By the way, Alan sounds as interested and involved as Shack is with the donks (i.e. not very! or am I being unfair to Al?)
Hi Anna,
The garden is fenced and then fenced within that, so dogs can have their own bit and alpacas get the largest bit. So yes, they a grazing freely and so far have shown no interest in the trees, just grass, grass, grass.
Alan is tolerating this latest scheme and does want to meet them once it stops raining!
Well done Fiona. Looks like a lot of fun and hard work. Ciao Ben
Actually not too much work Ben, but lots of fun yes!