Yellow Wood Llamas, Inc.

We couldn’t have asked for better weather; cloudy and temperatures near 80. Perfect for the “AWoolGathering” fiber festival at Young’s Jersey Dairy in Ohio! We shopped the large circus tents and outer venues, purchasing roving and Peruvian handicrafts, and getting many ideas for future fiber and weaving projects. The Dairy features a sit-down restaurant, large “snack bar” and wonderful black walnut ice cream as well as many other flavors. Picnic grounds and the “Utters and Putters” miniature golf course were popular as well. The Dairy kept its identity with painted cow statues, the favorite being the “Martha Stewart” cow with her over-alls filled with paint brushes, flowers in her hat, and ankle bracelets!

Besides satifying our fiber addiction, we also got to meet up with friends we haven’t seen all year. Marlene and I compared our recent yarns returned from the mill, and discussed future processing plans, including a mohair/llama mix we have in the works. We got to say hello to Dawn with her llamas and spinning wheel on display. We spent time shopping and visiting with Tom, Judy and Mitzi, and caught up on all the llamas and their babies, and plans for the fiber and upcoming shows. Our friends then led the way to Yellow Springs, where we shopped the artsey town stores on a wonderful Saturday afternoon. We all made purchases at La Llama Place, a boutique specializing in llama, alpaca and imports from South America. Judy even got permission to buy the three foot tall llama on the grounds that it was one they would never have to clean up after!

By the time we left, we were tired from all the walking. We planned to get home before dark, but instead took a detour to Jan and Bob’s house. I have to apologize for not taking photos during this outing, especially of this beautiful old mansion that they are restoring. It is a two story brick farmhouse built during the mid 1800’s. They have added a matching two-story brick addition, and are busy installing a new kitchen and refurbishing the entire house with granite sinks, countertops and shower enclosures. They have selected antique woodwork and cabinets to compliment the existing house. The tall windows overlook the llama pastures and new barns. My favorite new structure on the property is their carriage house-style garage, with six overhead doors! Absolutely fantastic. It only pales in comparison to the brick mansion which will be a showpiece when the restoration is complete. I had heard about this house for two years, but I only now can appreciate how Jan and Bob were so taken with it; it is magnificent. I wish it had not taken us so long to get there to see it!

Right before that last hot spell, I took a little time to begin training Smoke Jumper for carting. He had no problems at all with the harness or walking with all that hardware and dangling lines. He is a very smart and calm gentleman and willing to try something new! We did have several minutes of confusion on both our parts when I first tried to “ground drive” him from behind. Normally this is a two-person job, but I had to try it alone. Still I was impressed that Smoky seemed to respond to the reins quite well in a short period.
After a couple more workouts, and Fred’s help, we were walking Smoky in the cart, and took a few photos. He is only just starting his training and we are certainly not ready to go solo, but already I can understand how addictive this activity can be!
Fred’s travel late this summer is taking so much time that we will probably skip a couple of shows that we had planned on attending. Hopefully those extra weekends will give us a little time to work with Smoky and perhaps bring along a couple other cart trainees. Rocko and Spot stand watching the activity from their fence, and I think they might enjoy the chance for an outing too!