The end of an era... and thanks from TOFT Alpacas

I must apologise, I have been very remiss this past month or so in not informing all our friends and fans that Linda Newport our herdswoman of 15 years standing has left Toft to take up a career elsewhere. We have been so busy since she announced her sudden departure I haven't had time to spit let alone keep this blog up to date.

Linda will be sorely missed at Toft as she has been working with us as part time herdswoman for as long as most of the kids can remember and has played an absolutely vital part in our success over the past fifteen years.

When she joined us we had around thirty alpacas and around 15 acres of ground to look after, nowadays we have 70 acres  and  200 alpacas and whole lot besides with the Toft Coffee Shop and Studio onsite and the online activities expanding on a daily basis.

I was trying to get a half decent photograph of Linda to accompany this announcement but she was always expert at hiding from the cameras. I enclose a few shots to pay tribute to her time with us and jog a few memories.

We thank her for her massive contribution to Toft through her years of dedicated service and wish her well in the future as she retires from the farm work and moves on to pursue an indoor life so that she can spend more time with her Grandchildren and family. We shall all miss you, Linda, and hope that your change of path brings you all the happiness you deserve.

TOFT Woodsman badge for me

Windy but mild day at TOFT today but best of all a dry day. Perfect for 'doing' in the woods.  I must confess I am addicted to woodsmoke. The second it hits my nostrils I'm 11 again and on my first Scout Camp, running around in shorts and plimsolls wetter than a duck in a storm, desperately collecting kindling, blowing embers to get the dinner on and loving every single second of it. 

50 years later and I'm busy chopping, sawing, burning and clearing as you do... and within seconds I am there again. After a day of 'doing' I'm also as mucky as a chimney sweep and smell like an old kipper - Perfick !

Out with the old...

Just when you think there is time to take stock we are off again. The contractors arrived a couple of weeks ago to dismantle the old hay barn and prepare the ground for our new storage shed. Yesterday the new shed turned up and like magic the steels spring into the air and suddenly we can see what's coming. Excited? Oh yeah, just a little. This shed will make a huge difference to TOFT in the coming years as we reorganise yet again. Weather permitting we'll start moving our stuff in in by the beginning  of November. Watch this space...the roof should be on by the end of the week.

A harrowing we will go...

It's that time, when we can get onto the grass job and catch up with the month we lost earlier in the year through the wet and bitterly cold weather. Everywhere you look in the countryside there are tractors buzzing around ' doing' and we are no different here.
I popped up to Whitchurch in Shropshire last week to pick up a chain harrow that I bought of a man called Roy on E Bay. This is the first big thing I have ever bought on E Bay but it won't be the last.
Sad alpaca farmer that I am I am very very pleased with my newish chain harrow. so much so I took some pictures and immediately put it through its paces raking the grass in the Draycote field. It did the job fine and will serve us well over the coming years.
The grass harrow, levels up and molehills, rakes out the dead grass 'thatch' and rakes the surface of the soil allowing air to get around the new growth coming through. You are what you eat and we like to feed our alpacas mostly on grass and hay so it's really important that we grow as much good grass as we can.
This week we are fertilising and scarifying and cleaning the paddocks behind our alpacas which are all moving this week onto fresh pasture. Hey ho and away we go - only a week until shearing and two Neil the first cria hit the ground!

Daffs broke out but still no spring...

The Daffs broke out in abundance yesterday all over the Manor despite there being no sight yet of any warmth in the weather. They'll stand alone in the grey grass as a reassuring beacon of hope that we will eventually see the grass turn green and grow again. Do you think the alpacas know this? No chance!