Alpacas come home tonight. Unless I can find a way to get hay much more cheaply than the two bales I got to sample, ($140 a ton!!! that's higher than the second cutting alfalfa I used to buy, delivered!), I will have to keep it down to two alpacas, although at this point I have been offered at least four others. If I could work in exchange for hay, get broken bales for free, etc...then I could get a couple more, but I don't want a LOT of them. Generally, having more animals results in more stress for them and that produces behavior problems unless you have enough room and feed for them to all have enough personal space, feeder space to eat without being intimidated, etc.

I have wanted some Inktense pencils for quite a while (maybe a couple of years)...and am finally getting some. Can't wait to try them out!

Also....a fellow plant fanatic friend is going to give me a bunch of hazelnuts seedlings when they go dormant. It would be hard for me to spend the money of buying some for a place we don't own....but I had considered it. The concept of leaving a place brighter than you found it appeals to me. I don't always live up to that...but I try, especially when it comes to plants, trees, gardens, etc, and as we are not paying rent, it seems that I should leave something really nice and enduring behind. I will plant others as I can afford of find them...oh- she offered me berries as well, either raspberries or blackberries, don't remember which! Between the alpaca manure, the herb garden, the plantings and the garden beds, it will be a nice little permaculture farm in no time. :-)