So Wednesday, I got a call from a woman telling me she had an alpaca farm. I thought she had got the wrong number but had asked for me to begin with. We continued to converse and she told me she needed her alpaca wool marketed. I was a bit confused I must admit as I was wondering if she understood the concept of Tru Irish as an online initiative to support local crafters and champion craft and design in North Monaghan. I decided there was nothing to lose by going to meet her so we had organised to meet the following morning.
The next morning, I ventured down to Glaslough, Co. Monaghan and followed the directions I was given. As I crawled up the lane to the house, in the distance in the field opposite me was two Alpacas enjoying the sunshine.
I introduced myself to Ann and Jack who showed me there wool collection from their own alpacas. We discussed more about the wool and then Jack decided to take me out to see the Alpacas myself. As he asked what footwear I had, we all looked down to my White converses. Perhaps not the best footwear for tramping round fields.
I went out to grab my camera from the car and as I returned to the house I was welcomed by a pair of grey wellington boots with yellow flowers populating the front of them. We all slipped on our boots and headed for the nearby fields where we were welcomed by two male alpacas. As we entered the fields, I was reassured that they were harmless and very friendly. I began taking a few snaps of the animals and to my disbelief I began to believe that the Alpacas loved getting their photograph taken as they stood up proud, in my direction for a photograph. Who would have thought?
We continued to the next field where the rest of the herd was. Multiple pairs of mothers & crias (baby alpacas) continued to stick together like glue as we trampled through the grass taking more photographs and talking about these photogenic creatures. As I left the office that morning, never did I think I would be popping on the wellies to trek round some fields to feed and photograph a herd of Alpaca.
On my drive back to the office, I was excited to get back to tell my work colleagues of my adventures and to introduce the Alpaca wool to our Tru Irish customers.
Jack & Ann's Alpaca Wool come in two undyed colours - grey and fawn, and come at the reasonable price of €15 per 100g for this high-quality, soft wool. For all you knitters out there, this wool is great to create your favourite patterns this winter.
