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Kelvin in the snow, March 2009
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15th
Annual Virginia Classic, Lexington, VA - March 14-15, 2009.
None of our juvi's were old enough to show in March, so we attended this
event as a vendor to catch up with all our breeder friends! Magnus won
another blue ribbon out of 6 yearling fawn entries in the SpinOff
competition.
April Shearing Tour: March 31 - April 23, 2009. This year we
organised shearing for over 1500 alpacas at 43 farms in Virginia. This is
the eighth year we have scheduled the shearing route in this area. If you need help with shearing in
2010, please email us
before Thanksgiving 2009. Thanks!
13th Annual MAPACA Jubilee, Harrisburg, PA - April
22-26, 2009. At the
largest alpaca show in the US, our alpacas won a first (Iris) and two seconds
(Brigit and Lady) out of 256 entries in the SpinOff. Iris and Brigit won
first and second place against all the male and female dark brown
yearlings in the competition, and our pinto male, Cedrych, placed third in
the fleece show. We exhibited as a vendor again this year, selling yarn and socks made in the US from US
alpaca, plus
needlefelting kits and rovings. For more
information about this huge alpaca event, visit www.mapaca.org
and don't forget to check out those cute little girls in hula skirts on the
"Past Results" Show page!
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Meri showing off his performance skills |
36th Annual Maryland
Sheep and Wool Festival, West Friendship, MD - May 2-3, 2009. We
enjoy exhibiting at the Maryland fiber festival every year, offering our
colored french angora rabbits for sale, and selling natural fiber yarns,
rovings and craft kits made from our own fiber animals. For
more information about the largest fiber festival in the U.S., please visit www.sheepandwool.org
PAOBA Breeder's Showcase, York, PA -
May 8-10, 2009. We attended
PAOBA as a vendor again this year, and if you were there, you may have met our
eldest daughter helping out with the shearing throughout the weekend! For more information, visit www.paoba.org.
National Alpaca Farm Day at the State Fair of Virginia, The Meadow Event
Park, (next to King's Dominion), Doswell, Virginia:
Saturday 26 September, 2009, 10.00 a.m. - 6.00 p.m.
We brought our show-quality
alpacas to the State Fair of Virginia to celebrate National Alpaca Farm
Day and joined with local 4-H groups at the
new State Fair location in Doswell, VA, to demonstrate some of the
performance and showmanship skills our children and alpacas have learned
together this year. Visitors experienced the luxury of natural alpaca fiber
and had the opportunity to purchase craft kits, socks, yarn and rovings for display and sale,
all made from fiber grown and processed right here in the U.S.
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Meri, Reserve
Champion VAOBA 2009 at only 11 months old.
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22nd Annual Fall Fiber Festival of
Virginia, Montpelier, VA - October 3-4, 2009. What a perfect
weekend at the Virginia Fiber Festival this year! Sunny and mild with a
gentle breeze - we really enjoyed meeting so many of you. We brought our
daughter's show alpacas Meri, Cali and Meliora, plus a selection of our natural
fiber products, all grown and processed entirely here in the U.S. For more information,
please visit www.fallfiberfestival.org
4th Annual VAOBA Expo, Lexington, VA
- October 16-18, 2009.
We were proud to Sponsor this show for the
third year and had a really great weekend! Meriadoc won a Reserve
Championship banner in halter at only 11 months of age, our eldest
daughter won Youth Champion in the performance classes, all 5 of the
alpacas we took to the show ribboned in their large halter classes (Meri
1st and Reserve Champion, Prince 2nd, Cali and Raspberry 4th, Meli 6th), and
our children all earned a ribbon in every performance class they entered
with their alpacas. For more information about the largest
alpaca show in Virginia, please visit www.vaobaexpo.com.
3rd Annual Thistledown
Alpacas "Champion Production Sale" - began October 16, 2009 and
ended December 31, 2009.
Check out our "Sales"
page today to see the alpacas available this
year. Scroll through our "Sold"
page, if you can bear to see what you missed! This sale was so successful
last year, we took Holly off our sales list to keep her Spring 2009 Nikos
cria, Heather, who won many ribbons her first show season and was chosen
to be in the Breeder's Edge Auction at Double "O" Good Alpacas,
August 27-29, 2010. Thanks so much to all
our customers - we truly appreciate your confidence in our breeding
program over the past 9 years and remain committed to breeding quality,
colored alpacas for the future. Check back soon for updates to our sales
list!
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Thistledown Halloween Open House, November
7-8, 2009
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3rd Annual Thistledown
Alpacas Open House,
Manakin Sabot, VA:
Saturday 7 November, 2009 - 12.00 p.m. until 5.00 p.m.
Sunday 8, November, 2009 - 12.00 p.m. until 5.00 p.m.
Thanks to everyone who came our Halloween Open house, and our
November rain date to get "up close and personal" with our
beautiful, friendly alpacas here on the farm. We really enjoyed your
company! It was a great opportunity to make an early start on
your Christmas shopping - we offered craft kits, socks, yarn and rovings
made from our own alpacas, which make unique and environmentally- friendly
gifts, each for under $20! We also have a selection of fiber males
available - $500 each, two for $800 or three for $1,000 - as well as
show-quality colored alpacas for your breeding herd. As always, you are
welcome to call and arrange a personal farm visit at any time to learn
more about alpacas. NO DOGS PLEASE. They
scare the alpacas, plus we have working Great Pyrenees livestock guard
dogs, who live with and protect our alpacas 24X7 and do NOT welcome other
dogs!
Our neighbors at
Brookview Farm, 5 miles west of Thistledown, also celebrated their
Fall Open House on Saturday 7, November, from 9 a.m. - 1 p.m., with hay
rides, pony rides and sustainably produced food and farm products.
Visitors were able to enjoy some healthy outdoor activities at two
Goochland farms this beautiful Fall weekend! Visit www.brookviewfarm.com
for more information and directions to their farm.
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Alpaca pirates, a.k.a. Cali
and Meri, VAOBA 2009
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OABA AlpacaFest Spin-Off,
Columbus, OH - November 7-8, 2009.
Our 2 entries, Meli and Kieran placed second and third in this huge
competition.
LA Deep South Alpaca Show, November 14-15,
2009.
Raspberry and Meli, our only two entries in this competition,
placed first and second!
Alpaca Holiday
Celebration and Pen Sale
Saturday 12, December, 2009 - 9.00 a.m. - 5.00
p.m.
We got together with our alpaca breeder friends
in Elberon - Windswept Farm, Endless Farms, Courthouse Pastures,
Cornerstone Farm and more - for a unique holiday celebration. Thanks to
everyone who came to take their picture with an alpaca and purchase one-of-a-kind alpaca yarns,
scarves, socks and toys from local farms, for those special people on your
Christmas list! Door prizes and raffles added to the fun at this pen sale
and Christmas open house. We all offered alpacas for sale at
wonderful tax-effective, year end prices, from fiber quality males, all
the way up to top-ranked, award-winning breeding stock.
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