alpacas & dahlias
Ever since expanding the alpaca farm into a seasonal cut flower farm, I’m constantly amazed by the natural synergy between the two.
I use the alpacas manure as the sole amendment & fertilizer in each garden bed.
That sh!t is magic, I tell ya!
But beyond that, I’m learning by trial and error the multitude of other ways the alpacas benefit the garden.
Every spring we shear the alpacas. I use the area along the back and sides — the area where you’d put a saddle on them — for our luxury knitwear collection each year. This fiber is the most uniform in terms of fineness (softness) and length.
The neck fiber is equally soft but has some variation. It’s just as long and very beautiful. I’ll often hand spin it into yarn just for my own personal stash.
But with a herd of 25, I always have more than I could possibly hand spin in the winter — the only time of year I can dedicate the necessary time to do that.
Since having it professionally processed into pristine yarn is quite costly, I’ve been on the hunt for alternative uses.
I make my share of dryer balls with it.
But there’s always a lot left over. I’ve used it as mulch — which is as beautiful as it is effective — but it usually ends up in the compost after that. And that’s never easy to see!
One fall, as I was digging my dahlias I had a lightbulb moment!
What if I used it as packing material for my dahlia tubers?
After all, it is super insulating and naturally hypoallergenic — could this be the best mold-resistant packing material yet?!
Well I had to test it out.
In 2020, I stored my tubers in cardboard boxes with holes drilled in for ventilation.
Then I layered handfuls of the scrap alpaca fiber and set in clumps of tubers as well as pre-divided ones.
I stacked them in the loft of our unheated, but mostly insulated, garage. I covered the stack of boxes with frost cloth and left them totally alone all winter. We had our normal range of winter temps as always. A mix of warm days interspersed with weeks of freezing temps. There was snow, ice, sunshine and even a fake-spring.
Unboxing them in early 2021, I’d say I had an 80% survival rate. Not bad!
In 2021, I had acquired some bulb crates so that fall I repeated the same process using them instead of cardboard which molds easier.
The crates have considerably more holes than the ones I drilled into the cardboard boxes, so I doubled the amount of alpaca fiber.
But this time, I stored them in my uninsulated, unheated farm store. I’d like to say I did this for the sake of R&D, to see if there was a difference from the shop, but the truth is I didn’t want to lug them up the flight of stairs to the loft : -)
I knew this was decidedly more risky, but 2021 was a tough year and I was exhausted come fall. I figured I could just buy more tubers if it was a total flop — spoiler alert — I still bought a few new tubers.
I stacked them on a pallet so they weren’t directly on the cold concrete — especially since it leaches a bit of moisture on those extra snowy/rainy winter days. Then I wrapped the whole lot in home wrap because…well we had it left over from the house renovation that summer and it seemed like a good idea.
We saw temps as low as -8 for several days, along with multiple consecutive weeks below freezing.
I did throw a rather dirty and gross old sleeping bag on top for extra protection, but that was it.
I treated it like an expensive dish of No Peek Chicken and I have to say, this Chicken lucked out!!
Because we sure saw every shade of winter that year!
Not only did they survive, but some of them began to sprout by the time I unboxed them all!
I’m pre-sprouting them now in an effort to take cuttings so that I can double or triple my stock in time for spring planting.
If things continue in this positive way, I’ll probably have some baby dahlia plants to share!
Who’s ready to see some of these alpaca-assisted flowers?!
