A fabulous spring fiber event is happening on Whidbey Island May 17 - 20th. Five farms and 1 knit shop from Oak Harbor to Clinton are participating in FiberQuest for 4 days in May. It's a chance to find all kinds of wonderful yarns and roving to stimulate your fiber creativity.  You'll find a variety of natural fibers:  alpaca, llama, pygora goat and blends with wool, silk and other fibers.

Fern Ridge will feature alpaca hand-spun and custom mill spun yarns from our own herd in natural colors. Plus, beautiful hand-dyed roving and yarns by Whidbey fiber artist, Heidi Jill Price.

At Fern Ridge Alpacas we will have spinning and felting demos in our farmstore in a yurt. And, of course, there are the adorable alpacas! They will love nibbling treats from your hand.

FiberQuest gives you the chance to visit the participating farms and knit shop on the island and fuel your fiber creativity. Get your ticket stamped at all the stops and be entered to win a gift basket filled with products from each participating fiber store. 

You can do FiberQuest in one day.....or you could make it a mini-vacation. Bring a couple of friends, spend the weekend and take in some of the other local attractions.

Spring is a lovely time of year here. Meerkerk Gardens, a woodland rhododendron garden near Greenbank, is in full bloom. Langley has wonderful art galleries and you could take in a movie at The Clyde, our beloved small town theater — or just walk along the beach and enjoy the quiet beauty. Whidbey restaurants were featured in last Sunday's Seattle Times.  What a combination... local food, local fiber. Check our events page for links to lodging on Whidbey. And download your FiberQuest ticket.

We look forward to seeing all of our fiber-loving friends May 17 - 20.

There are only 35 days until fleece harvest. Time is running out to see the alpacas before they become mere shadows of their former grandeur - and fluffiness. Click on the Before And After photo gallery to see just how dramatic a difference shearing makes.

We're open most every day and the alpacas love to take treats from visitors. This past week we've welcomed folks from Bothell, Everett, Edmonds, Seattle and several families from California.

And don't forget FiberQuest! For all you knitters, crochet-ers (is that a word?) and spinners...FiberQuest is our next farm event. May 17-20. Click over to Events page to learn more. 

Being a mom, I feel obligated to remind you Mother's Day is May 13th. Does your mom like to knit or crochet? We have fabulously soft yarns.  Mom doesn't knit? No problem. You can find other lovely alpaca wearables and gifts when you visit our farmstore in a yurt or online.  (a shameless plug for the farmstore and Mom's everywhere)

Nothing better than a relaxing day in the pasture.

Spring is finally here and we’re all delighted. That doesn’t mean we don’t have some rain, but the temperatures are in the low 50s. On a few precious days we enjoy 60 degree sunshine.  With only about 2 months until shearing the alpacas are getting quite fluffy. We’ve had a steady stream of visitors and Pedro has figured out he can almost fit through some gates. Here he appears to be the designated lookout for visitors with treats. On Sunday we found him in the upper boys pasture all by himself. He apparently squeezed through the gate and was in green pasture heaven with his buddies wishing they were as svelte (or adventurous!) as Pedro.

More yarn ready for your knitting needles! We have just received the latest custom mill spun yarns made from the fleece of our own boys and girls. If you’re looking for silky, rich black, dark chocolate, cinnamon brown and soft white yarns we have an array of choices.  We also stock yarns from our fiber co-op in various rose greys and heathers.

I'm currently spinning fleece from Rosaline, Giovanni and Finn into artisan handspun yarns. Some of these may end up in our dye pot using natural plant dyes to create beautiful subtle tones. It will be fun to see what we come up with. And, check out our Farm Events tab to learn more about the upcoming Whidbey Island FiberQuest... an event designed for the fiber lover!

We’re open most every day and welcome visitors to the farm. A quick call/email will ensure we are available to give you a proper tour. Can’t make it to the farm? You can see our offerings online under the Farm Store tab.

One of the great pleasures of raising alpacas is putting your hands into their fleece on a cold winter morning. It's silky and warms your fingertips. Then there's knitting with alpaca. Our friend Becky has shared a photo of the scarf she knit with Giovanni's fleece. This year his fleece was hand spun artisan yarn. We love what she did with it! 

If you have created a garment from Fern Ridge Alpaca yarn we'd love to share a photo. We will start a photo album of the wonderful knitted and crocheted items that our customers have created. Just send your photo to info@fernridgealpacas.com. 

Farm Yarn is In. Beautiful yarn from Hermes and Felix are now in stock. You can purchase online or in our farm store. Hermes' yarn has that shiny licorice black luster that makes him such a standout in the pasture. And, Felix produced silky dark brown/black yarn. My husband calls it the color of bittersweet chocolate. yum!  Click here to see Hermes and Felix yarn.

Students Visit Farm in February. Our photo gallery has been updated with pix of the visit last month from our latest group of Waldorf students. This was a wonderful class of third graders who attend school at Whidbey Island Waldorf. They spent the morning doing farm chores, handling haltered alpacas, helping to harvest worm castings and trying their hand at drop spindling and fibercraft.  It was a joy to have them on the farm.  We say thank you to their teacher, Laura Berkley Boram and their fiber teacher Christi Rosenberger.

Fiber Lovers Take Note!  FiberQuest is coming this spring - May 17-20. Check out the Farm Events page for more details.

Soft and Warm Alpaca is Perfect for Snuggling with your Valentine.  An alpaca blanket or alpaca-filled duvet will luxuriously wrap your sweetie in warmth. How about a cushy pair of alpaca socks to keep toes toasty? A special heart pin cushion or alpaca/llama motif jewelry make perfect gifts for your Valentine. Order soon...Valentine's Day is just one week away.  Click on Fern Ridge FarmStore.

February 27th is Mystery Weekend in Langley. And the town will be all abuzz with the whodunit. A local writer creates the murder mystery while Langley residents take on characters and give out clues. The weekend culminates with a gathering of all the participants to witness the unraveling of the crime and putting the perpetrator in custody. If you'd like to participate or just come and watch the fun download this How To Play pdf.

MysteryWeekend (33 KB)

The sky darkened, the temperature dropped and a soft snow settled over the farm. The critters took refuge in the barn and all was quiet for the night.

But the next morning the boys were pronking and chasing each other in the snow. This being her first winter, Asa took a good roll in the white stuff and was covered with snow.  For us it means hauling warm water to the troughs and breaking the ice on top so they can have a drink. It's been staying at just about freezing during the day so the snow is still with us for a second day. The trees are still covered and the road icy.  And they are predicting more for tomorrow.

Click on the gallery to see more of alpacas in the snow!

As we head into 2012 our thoughts are full of gratitude for all of our farm visitors. We thoroughly enjoy sharing the alpacas and our farm life with others. And without the generous help of our volunteers we couldn't have had such a successful Whidbey Island Farm Tour event in early September.  Nearly 200 families came to the farm and enjoyed plenty of photo ops along with weaving, spinning and felting demos and educational displays.

We had 2 beautiful new cria this year. . .Kuro and Asa. They have delighted visitors with their soft fleece, adorable faces and curious natures. Much bigger than when this photo was taken...they will be preparing to wean from their mom's by mid February.

We had a surprise visit from 2 women on a 5,000 mile cycling trip. They spent the night on the farm and told us about their goal to raise money for an inner-city girl's school through their journey across the country. To follow their blog or make a donation to support their cause go to their website:  www.anothermileanotherstarfish.com

This year we also had visits by 2 classes of 3rd grade Waldorf students from Brightwater School in Seattle.  One group came in the spring and one in November.  Again, our fabulous volunteers made it both fun and educational for the students.

FiberQuests happened twice this year. We collaborate with other local fiber farms for this multi-day event. Fiber lovers from both the island and the mainland visit all the farms and have a chance to win a basket of fiber products. We'll be doing another FiberQuest in spring 2012. Watch for the notice and get in on a fun Whidbey Island fiber event.

4H and the Island County Fair was another highlight of our summer. We had 6 fabulous young people (ages 8 - 16)  work with some of our alpacas  and a llama on halter training and obstacle course work during the year. Their work culminates at the County Fair during a lively competition open to the public.  The Fair is a great community event and we get to chat with many of our friends as they come through the alpaca barn and enjoy the fair.

For the New Year . . . we've been working on an upgraded online store. Please click on Farm Store navigation button and take a look. Products are frequently changing and expanding so it's good to check back now and then to see what's new. Let me know how it works for you and let us know if there's something you'd like to see in the store.

Our family wishes you all a very Peaceful and Prosperous New Year!