Other than the day of my wedding or the birth of 2 of the 3 kids!!!!!!
Today was the best day ever!! Not only did I pick up my daughter, Dare (who I haven’t seen for four months since she has been working in Alaska), from the Kansas City airport but we got to go on a tour of an alpaca farm! (ED. NOTE – They plant them in rows!!!!) After picking up a coffee, we headed to an agritourism farm, YaYa’s Alpaca Farm in Garden City, Missouri about 45 miles miles south of Kansas City. They offer 3 tours a day, 7 days a week for anyone interested in learning, hands-on about alpacas. (ED. NOTE – How could she pass that up?!?!?!?!?) There is a minimal fee and they ask that you register online so they know how many to expect.
As you can imagine, there were quite a few families with small children there but I was happy to see another 3 adults who were there just for themselves (like ME). (ED.NOTE – Apparently, she’s not the only one!!!) We drove past YaYa’s home to the barn behind it and went in. The front section of the large room held items that had been made with fiber from their alpaca – socks, fingerless mitts, coin purses, and more. There was also yarn made from the alpaca’s fiber in its natural brown color and some dyed a rich purple. Fun fact – alpaca yarn is incredibly soft – which is why it used to be called the “poor man’s cashmere”. This yarn did not disappoint!
People were already sitting on the benches located in the back half of the room petting two alpacas! Feed baggies were given to anyone interested and the alpaca were very comfortable coming up for a snack.
He certainly can spin a yarn!!!!!!
YaYa came to own alpacas in just the last 7 years and alpaca have become his passion. He started with a small herd of alpaca and has now grown that to somewhere around 30 plus. YaYa gave us an educational talk about alpaca; where they come from, their physical features (they don’t have top front teeth and they grow continually!), what their fiber is used for, their daily schedule and many fun stories about their antics around the farm. He was good at drawing the kids in by asking questions and it didn’t bother him at all as they roamed around the room, following and hugging the alpacas as he talked.
We had a “photo session” afterwards with Eddie, one of the studs, and the snowy white cria (baby alpaca), Snowflake. I managed to wait until all the children and families took their pictures before going up there myself….
It’s some kind of secret language or something!!!!!
When everyone had finished taking pictures, we headed out the back of the barn into the yard, each of us with a feed bag. The males were pinned up on one side of the yard but the females and cria were in the main yard. Since tours are part of the alpacas day, they immediately knew a treat was in store and came forward eagerly to be fed. Most of us put some feed in our hands and the alpaca ate it right out of our palms, others (Dare) let the alpaca eat directly out of their bags! Most of the alpaca were very calm and didn’t mind being petted and hugged on, others just wanted to eat and didn’t particularly want to be touched (just like some people!). They made a humming noise for different reasons – YaYa said he could tell what they wanted but we just thought it was a cute sound 😊.
There were 5 or 6 cria around the yard and they are just the cutest little animals! 
So that’s what he meant!!!!
Alpaca are part of the camelid family and do sometimes spit. Before we went outside, YaYa told us that usually only the males spit and it is usually at each other over food. We were able to feed the males over their fence, so I strolled on over to give them a little attention. They crowded around quickly and I stuck my hand through the fence with a little food. One bushy topped brown alpaca started eating immediately and another wandered over to eat out of my hand with him (the females had done this without any issues). All of a sudden, I heard a loud hurrmppping noise and felt something fly into my face! Mr. bushy top brown alpaca had spit his food all over me – after wiping my face with my hands, I looked down at my shirt and saw it was covered with small bits of corn, grains and whatever else was in their feed – YUK! Dare, of course, couldn’t quit laughing and YaYa came over to apologize for his cranky friend. I just figured it was all part of the experience!! (ED. NOTE – Hahahahahahahahaha!!!!!!!!)
Yeah, let’s let the kids play with the needle machine!!!!!!!
After our fun with the soft, furry animals we headed back inside to see what they did with some of their fiber. Alpaca are sheared once a year, their fiber gently washed and some sent off to be made into yarn for hand knitters, some sent off to be made into socks, mittens, hats and scarves and some they keep for needle felting at their farm. Mrs. YaYa dyed some of the locks and the kids were allowed to feed them into the carding drum which turned into colorful roving. After taking the roving off the carding drum, the kids fed the roving through a needle felting machine. The machine has several rows of needles, as the roving goes through the machine, the needles punch down into the roving. This process felts the roving into a stronger piece of fabric that can be cut or made into different items. It’s amazing to watch the process and the kids were enthralled with all of them wanting to take home a piece of the finished fabric they had made.
This was a really fun experience for me and so nice to have my daughter with me! (My kids are very sweet to indulge my fiber fun, as long as I’m willing to put up with the ribbing!) I had seen different alpaca farms earlier this year out west but never was around on a visiting day – now I finally got to see them up close and personal! (ED. NOTE – Finally, now I can cross that off the bucket list!!!!) (Nope! All alpaca farms are different – there will always be more to see!!)