Alpacas looking forward to your visit

The weather forecast is good and we’re all geared up for our National Alpaca Farm Days open house this Sunday afternoon. It’s 1-3 p.m. at Saint Mary-of-the-Woods, Ind.

You won’t want to miss seeing our newest cria, Providence Vincennes, or “Vinnie,” running around the pasture.

We’ll have fiber demonstrations and alpaca items for sale. Look for the small tent set up near the female alpaca pasture/barn, which is close to Owens Hall.

If it’s been awhile since you’ve visited Saint Mary-of-the-Woods, Ind., or you’ve never visited and need directions click here. Plugging this address into your GPS will get you to the north entrance: 3850 U.S. 150, Saint Mary-of-the-Woods, IN 47876. Here are the GPS coordinates for near the alpaca barn: N 39º 27’ 58.5” W087º 27’ 09.5”

White Violet Farm Alpacas has 63 alpacas at this time with Samantha due to give birth around Oct. 12.

Attend our open house AND two other local alpaca farms, Aris Farm Alpacas (4 miles south of Clinton) and Lookout Farm Alpacas (just north of Terre Haute) this weekend and get your name entered in a drawing for a basket of alpaca socks, gloves, yarn and alpaca manure (Alpaca Gold).

Aris Farm Alpacas is down the road from us at 129 West 1800 South, Clinton, Ind., 10 a.m. to 6 p.m. Saturday and Sunday, Sept. 25-26.

Lookout Farm Alpacas is at 5665 E. Rosehill Ave., Terre Haute, Ind. Their open house is 1-5 p.m. Sunday, Sept. 26.

Seton Hill University group visits

A group from Seton Hill University in Greensburg, Pa., is visiting White Violet Center for Eco-Justice and White Violet Farm Alpacas today.

They tell us they're trying to set up a sustainability program and eco-conference center, so they came out to learn more about this ministry of the Sisters of Providence.

Part of their visit here today also included speaking with Jim Speer of Indiana State University, Mark Minster of Rose-Hulman School of Technology and Sister Mary Lou Dolan of Saint Mary-of-the-Woods College to learn about sustainability efforts at those institutions.

Pictured above, from left are, Sister Maureen Freeman, director of White Violet Center for Eco-Justice, Frank Klapak, of Seton Hill, and his wife, Sharon Klapak, Sister Mary Elizabeth Lawrence, Sister of Charity, Michael Cary, of Seton Hill, and his wife, Eloise Cary.

Our alpacas helping animals in Gulf of Mexico

This week, about 50 pounds of alpaca fiber from White Violet Farm Alpacas of Saint Mary-of-the-Woods, IN is being shipped to Florida to help with the devastating oil slick in the Gulf of Mexico and beyond.

Our alpacas are sheared annually in May. That fiber is used in our fiber program to make hats, scarves and other items to be sold at our center and on the Internet.

As we watch footage and read the updates of the BP oil spill disaster we try to think of ways we can help. One way is to donate some of our fiber to clean up efforts through A Matter of Trust, a hair for oil spills program.

“We want to do whatever we can to help the eco-system down there,” said Sister Maureen Freeman, CSJ, director of White Violet Center for Eco-Justice. “This is a step we can take to help stop the oil from ruining precious marshland and destroying native species.”

Alpaca shearing 2010

We’ve had a busy week of shearing more than 60 alpacas at White Violet Farm Alpacas.

Tuesday, Wednesday and Thursday were long days as the shearing crew began early in the morning and worked well into the evenings. At our place, this happens once a year in May and usually takes three days to complete.

As each alpaca is sheared, the fiber is gathered and labeled with the name of the alpaca and the level of the fiber, such as “blanket,” “seconds” and “thirds.”

The shearing takes place at the barn, but the fiber room back at White Violet Center for Eco-Justice was also busy with staff members and volunteers skirting the raw fiber.

Skirting is a process that involves picking out all the bits of straw, hay and other materials from nature from the fleece before the fiber is sent off to be cleaned and carded. After it is cleaned and carded the fiber is ready for the fiber artists to spin into yarn and make fabulous hats, scarves and shawls.

A big thank you to all the volunteers who came out to help! The staff is ready for a weekend!

Click here to see lots of shearing photos from this week.

Fiber mill

We just received another shipment of our alpaca yarn from the fiber mill. Thanks to Candace for making the trek to Warsaw.

White Violet Farm Alpacas are sheared once a year in the spring. We send about 99 percent of that blanket fleece to the fiber mill to be cleaned, carded and spun into yarn.

Frontier Fiber Mill in Warsaw, Ind., is the mill we've used for about three years. Sister Jean Fuqua said the process can take anywhere between six weeks and three months.

See photos of yarn being made at Frontier Fiber Mill here.

First place alpaca

Providence Joseph of Carondelet received a first place ribbon in his class of 2-year-old gray males at the 2nd annual Heartland Classic alpaca show on Sunday, Oct. 4, at the Indiana State Fairgrounds in Indianapolis. He was the youngest in his class, having just turned 2 on Sept. 30. There were 10 in his class, so we're so excited to have done so well at this show.

Other winners from White Violet Farm Alpacas are: Providence La Luna with a 4th place, Providence Theodora with a 5th place and Providence Amber with a 6th place.

We also shared our alpaca fiber skills at this two-day show. Sister Jean Fuqua and Sister Maureen Freeman taught a fiber class on the first day that was well received.