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We Hope You Can Visit Soon
 VISIT
THE GIFT SHOP AT LUCKY ACRES FARM Last
Summer we attend an estate auction at an old pecan farm near us and Joe bought this building. He said it would make
a nice place to put my things for sale. I was not so sure as it didn't look like this then. He fixed it up inside
and out and now it is a wonderful little gift shop and we have had wonderful commnts about it. Please come and see our selection of goods from raw fleece to wonderful alpaca clothing, rugs and other things from
the farm. There is a wide selection to choose from and new articles each spring and fall. I am constantly working
on something new. Alpaca makes really nice special one of a kind gifts. Prices are discounted when shopping at the gift shop on the farm. There are also products not listed
in the catalog as well as in season goods grown at the farm.
 This is SweetPea and her new cria Stella. When it was time for breeding, about 2 weeks after birthing, we moved them and the herdsire to a seperate area. The stone pile is screenings we got during the very wet winter to help with keeping mud areas passable. It seems that alpacas like to be "queen of the hill" whenever they get the chance. A little later the second cria, Theresa and Stella had fun chasing each other up and down the hill. Alpacas are very good climbers with a soft pad and two toenails on each foot. We have complete health records on each of our alpacas. Each one is given a microchip and ARI registered at six months of age. This is done by DNA blood test so there is never any questoin of parentage. We also do a histogram with a fleece sample at shearing. This is another tool that helps us to learn about our animals. It shows the micron count, among other details, that lets us know which alpacas have the finest fleece and therefore yarn.
 We had a very bad last year in that 3 or our 4 dogs died. Our much beloved Lucky died at 12 years of age to cancer
and a stroke. It was very heart breaking for me to see him decline. Then a short tme later Lucy died due to unstoppable
cancer despite surgeries and chemo treatments. She was the youngest and about 6 years old. Our oldest dog Lady
died at 14. She had come with us when we moved from NY and loved it here as we do. It was very hard to see her
decline and we carried her in and out for the last week of her life. We love our dogs and now are down to 2, one very
old girl Gussie about 15 who Joe rescued from abuse and the newest one Duke. He is a stray that came to us just 3 weeks
after Lucky's death. They look so much alike that it is almost unreal. I came home from work and Joe said that
he saw a dog that looked a lot like Lucky here and when I went outside there he was. Of course Lily wanted to keep him
and named him Duke. After a trip to the Vet for a health checkup and found no michochip we decided to keep him.
He now is about 3 years old and a very wonderful pet. He is very affectionate and we really love him. Now we have
1 dog and 1 cat in the house and numerous cats outside. We pride ourselves in the fact that others think we take
good care of our animlas. We have had comments like "when I die I want to come back as one of your dogs". At our
fall fest the comment was made that they had been to visit another alpaca farm that had a very professional web site and did
very expensive advertising. When they visited the farm the animals were not cared for as well as ours.
 These are our spring 2011 crias. All are male. Tanner is the beige one and the oldest. Skeeter is the next and he is white. Troy is the black one, and the biggest but born one week later. All seem to be doing well and it is a joy to watch them playing in the pasture. Tanner's mother Talena, and Skeeter's mother Sabrina are first time moms and did very well. We try to limit our births to no more than 3 at a time due to the small size of our farm. Because the little ones are so cute and a big hit with visitors we try to have crias born in the spring and fall. Joe has wonderful alpaca fertilizer available for $5.00 a bag. Or he will fill your truck with the backhoe if requested. It has been a popular item this spring and we have had wonderful results in our flower and vegetable gardens. Several people have returned for a second year to get some. We clean the pastures with the lawn mower and a vacuum system that grinds up the beans to a consistency that breaks down easily and we compost this for the next year. We also make a "tea" from the beans for watering plants. This works well for my porch plants and established gardens.
Fall 2011 - CALENDAR OF EVENTS Saturdays June 4 - October 15 - Fair Play Marmers Market - 7:00-11:00 (when available, not at another event) Saturday, September 24th 10:00-4:00 Birchwood Center Arts and Folklife Craft Show, Table Rock State Park Sunday, September 25th 12:00-6:00 Celebrataing Alpaca Open House at LAF Saturday, October 1st 9:00-5:00 Belton Standpipe Festival (Gloria) Saturday, October 1st 9:00-5:00 Pendleton Fall Festival (Niki) Tuesday, October 4th-Saturday October 8th Carolina Foothills Heritage Fair, Fair Play Saturday, October 15th 4:00-6:00 Double Springs Fall Day at TES Saturday, October 29th 10:00-5:00 Heritage Festival at SC Botanical Gardens Friday November 4th (evening), Saturday, November 5th 9:00-6:00 Mistletoe Market at Anderson County Museum Saturday, November 19th 9:00-5:00 Barnyard open house at Split Creek Farm Saturday, December 3rd and Sunday, December 4th 12:00-6:00 Holiday Open House at LAF Saturday, December 10th 10:00-4:00 Holidays in the Village, Pendleton Sunday, December 11th 1:00-4:00 Christmas Market, Pendleton Saturday, December 17th 10:00-4:00 Holidays in the Village, Pendleton
Please join us for these events.
 I have worked hard on this web site. I hope you enjoy it. Computer work is very difficult for me. I would much rather pick up the knitting needles or crochet hook. Please tell us how we can make it better. It is difficult for me to find time to do all of the things that need to be done. Thanks for your feed back. e-mail Gloria and Joe Williams at info@luckyacresfarm.com |
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