TOFT Xmas Open day was a blast !!!!

Talk about lucky... After weeks and weeks of rain and damp the TOFT Xmas Open Day was blessed with dry weather. It threatened a few times but it never materialised and by 2.30 even the sun put in a guest appearance and warmed the cockles for an hour or so. Perfick!

The Tofties excelled themselves one and all. Kerry's pack of yarn hounds buzzed about like Santa's Elves on speed. Shirley and Caroline walked and talked their way around the puddles with the crowds. Uncle Keith combined his veteran car park duties with a stint as the man in red. Scott excelled as the TOFT happy Elf. Linda Freya and I kept a tight schedule moving with great aplomb on the alpaca walks. Tom, Adam Doug and Jules -the TOFT catering department jollied one and all into the sausage rolls and the atmosphere was... Very very Christmassy indeed. 

This annual Xmas fest seems firmly embedded in the calendar at TOFT. My wonderful mother in law and her daughter Sandra threw themselves headlong into Ding Dong Merrily the Bong. Auntie Lorna charmed one and all as the meet & greet lady. My Mum and Dad joined in the festivities toe ensure the octogenarians  were well represented and a great time was had by all. We had a great day on the ranch and judging by the reactions of our guests on Twitter, Facebook & Trip Advisor it would seem they did to - roll on 2016

A huge congratulations to Kerry and her ever expanding team of helpers and thanks to all those who came along to enjoy the day. Here's a few shots to cheer you up post Chrissy.

We hope you had a fabulous Christmas and wish you all a Happy and Prosperous New Year ! 

And finally in with the new....

At last I get the chance to spit and dish out a little shed envy. Our new shed is finished and I have been so busy trying to get it up and running in the lead up to Christmas that I haven't had tiime time to gloat. Not that I can really do it now as we still have a mass if internal work to do to get it all moving. 

We'd hadn't even got the LX in when Kerry and the TOFT yarn elves started to get busy moving the stock into the new packing areas. Christmas being the busiest of times for the TOFT Studio we have all been running around like Santas little helpers and it's hard to find time to keep everyone up to date. Anyway here's a few shots just to turn you a little green. Unless of course you've already got a great shed, in which case empathise with the workload. Internal shots to follow, when eventually we get tidied up in the New Year.

 

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.

Empty rafters at TOFT alpacas...good luck and Bon Voyage !

That's it they've gone and taken our summer with them. Ever since our first season at TOFT in  1991 I have loved sharing my summers with these incredible creatures. Every year they arrive in the first week in May and leave in the first week of September taking their offspring with them to teach them the way back to South Africa and along the way teaching them a methodology to memorise the route back to TOFT for next year. How they meet this challenge is beyond me. All I know is I eagerly await their arrival, enjoy every nuance of their season as they raise their brood, teach them how to fly and then leave as swiftly as they arrive. 

Last week I didn't need a calendar to know the date.  You could sense it was time  by the activity and excited noise in the rafters as they drew close to their incredible journey. What signifies it is time? Temperature change, moon phase? All I know is by Tuesday the rafters at TOFT were silent and the barn a lonelier place. 

For me their departure heralds the beginning of the end of the season and I make a mental note to relish the dog days of summer ahead as the land begins to change and wish our visitors well and 'au revoir' until next May when we shall welcome them back again.

And the winners were...

Supreme was a White - Houghton Damian owned by Alpakka Sigdal

Champion Light - Alpakka Sigdal's Amadeus from Alpakka Sigdal

Champion Fawn - Lille Angel from Lille Alpakka

Champion Brown - Ambersun Selma from Alpakka Enghaugen and Ambersun Alpacas

Champion Black -Ankalterud Ivar from Alpakka Enghaugen and Ankalterud Alpakka

Champion Steel Grey - Alpacajoy Tresor d'Argent from Alpacajoy of Norway

Champion Rose Grey - Othelies Rose of Ace from Othelie Alpakka

Judges choice was an 84 point white fleece -CCNF Hyperion owned by Alpacajoy of Norway

Norwegian National Fleece Show....

Fantastic few days in Oslo over the weekend with Shirley judging the first Norwegian fleece show. Loved every minute of it. Line Werner of Alpaca Enghaugen organised the event with great enthusiasm and application it rang like a dream. The final presentation of the winning fleeces looked superb and really did justice to the quality fleeces which were exhibited. I gave a fleece workshop on the Saturday to finish off the proceedings and all in all it was a full on three days of sharing and learning with the Norwegian breeders. We had a great team of volunteer stewards helping and a lot of fun was had along the way as they worked through the process in a very professional manner.

Our hosts Eileen and  Sven-Erik train Alaskan Huskies and run a beautiful visiting farm in Asker called Bergvang where the event was held. They truly looked after us all like Kings and Eileen's mother in law delighted us with a never ending stream of wonderful home made cake. 

A huge TOFT thanks to Line and the Norwegian Alpaca Association for inviting us to judge and to all the volunteers who helped make this first show a great success and to Eileen and Sven-Erik for giving us a truly memorable alpaca weekend. We wish all the very best as you continue with your alpaca adventures and see you all again soon.

Busy weeks of summer

There's been no let up at TOFT this past few weeks with animal deliveries and shows taking up the whole of August. Last week we took a lovely trio of pet males up to North Berwick to fulfil a long standing dream of the new owners. Those boys are going to be spoilt rotten up there in Scotland. Along the way there we dropped off a few females for mating and on the way back picked up a few that had already been mated. All told a round trip of amost 800 miles. No sooner had we got home and we were off via Copenhagen to Oslo to judge the first Norwegian Fleece show- more on that later.I'm sat now in Copenhagen airport writing this and catching up after a fabulous three days in Oslo. Much more on that later. Needless to say we are both looking forward to a solid week on the farm to catch up with our alpacas. It's been a blast these last three weeks but a little downtime is now needed in earnest to recharge.

Boys yo to Scotland....

For a warm if soggy welcome...

Girls back down to TOFT with just enough time to pack and head to Norway to judge the first Norwegian fleece show. We wouldn't have it any other way!!!!!