Hey you guys- WE HAVE ALPACAS!

So, you know a few weeks ago, when I wrote about a Big Major Deal Changer happening to Gillis Gardens?

We were given an alpaca farm.

No – I am not kidding.

And when I tell you how this happened, you are going to be like, “No, it did NOT happen that way.”

And I am here to tell you, this story is completely true and not a work of fiction or hyperbole or anything remotely removed from the absolute truth. And I have receipts and witnesses.

So ladies and gents, sit back as I tell you the tale of how we became an alpaca farm.

It all started on August 12th. It was a beautiful saturday, and we had a family thing to go to in town. We decided to go early because we knew a local lady that owns a store was having a sale and I told MrGillis that I wanted to go grab some cool stuff (mostly some Danforth shirts, because adopted home town pride and all.)

We were looking around, exchanging pleasantries and talking homestead and such, when out of the blue she asks “You wouldn’t want my alpacas would you?”

If you could have seen my face at this point… it was a race of emotions – longing, disbelief, nervous excitement…

I looked at MrGillis, and I know my whole set of crazy emotions was right on my face because he immediately was like “WHOA – we are not buying an alpaca farm”

And that is when the lady looked at him and was like “no, I’ll GIVE you my alpaca farm.”

She then proceeded to list everything she would give us, if we would just take care of the animals.

7 alpacas- 5 females and 2 fixed males ranging from ages of 3-10
their house, a 12×20 Amish built barn with two additions
a month of feed and medications
a good deal of fencing
AND THE FIBER FROM THIS YEARS SHEARING and the seconds from the year before

She also mentioned that she’s been trying to re-home them for months to no avail, and if she couldn’t find a good home soon, she didn’t know what she was going to do. I could feel my heart literally break dancing in my chest cavity.

This is not a drill – this is not a drill thisisnotadrill

So MrGillis and I spent about 24 hours talking about it (which was really more me reading out loud about care taking and money making possibilities and just straight up begging).

By that monday morning we were making plans to go meet them and after we met them we were making plans on how to bring them home.

These are pictures from our first time meeting them.

The second time we met them, we took 250 feet of their fencing and brought it home – then we had some help putting it back up in the side pasture MrGillis had worked so hard to clear.

The last week of August and the first week of September was a whirlwind of getting ready for our new family members – we had to finish the fence, submit a building permit to the town, talk to an accountant, contact a guy about hauling the house, make plans on dismantling the two additions before it could be moved….. It was a lot of work, but every moment was a learning experience AND NOW WE HAVE ALPACAS!

Here are a few pictures from this last sunday when we had a local handy guy help MrGillis take apart the additions.