Winter Newsletter

Its November now and I'm still working! I just cleaned up an overgrown yard yesterday and will be doing forest management into the snowy weather. I've also started working in a woodshop part time and will soon be working at Loon Mountain part time in Lift Operations.

As you all know, I'm a great handy person to have around in all seasons - so I invite you to hire me for odd jobs around the house. If you give me a call or email I can let you know when I'm available.

I look forward to working with you!

Gardening in Sugar Hill

In September a client asked me to make her a garden. There had a been a garden there once before and she wanted it revitalized. I told her that I'd never done anything like this before (hand excavation to the max!) and had no idea how long it would take. The next couple of pictures is what I had to start with:

Overgrown was an understatement. So, I got out my spade, and began. Eradicating the golden rod and the fern from the selected garden area was the most challenging part. After everything got turned, it began to look like a real garden! Below you can see my progress in stages:

This is "Garden #1"There were existing plants in both gardens for me to work with and around.

Here, I move onto "Garden #2"

What progress! All of this took be approximately four days to complete and I will still need to go back for a little touch up. This is where the fun part begins. I've recently got the soil test results back and will not need to amend the soil dramatically per the recommendation. Now I will be making a design for the following spring. So far it looks like I will be installing black plastic edging around all the perimeters and the design is still evolving. I've been in contact with several local nurseries and have been doing research in landscape design genres, native species to New Hampshire, and hardy varieties of perennials that will thrive in Northern New Hampshire. I'll have finished pictures up come spring!

Thanks for visiting the blog!

Autumn Beds

I am currently taking appointments to cut beds back, plant bulbs, transplant, and do all those other things that our beautiful gardens need before the cold weather sets in.

I'm currently designing a landscape to be planted next spring. If you would like to have a landscape designed or help with new garden ideas, don't hesitate to contact me!

Happy Gardening!

Hana and I will have our White Mountain Llamas booth at Vermont Sheep and Wool Festival at Tunbridge, VT fairgrounds this coming weekend. We will be selling Angora rabbits, llamas, and doing the llama obstacle course demonstration Saturday and Sunday! We will have the llamas at Fryeburg Fair, Maine State Fair that Monday and Tuesday. I will have a booth at the Bradford, VT LEAF (Local Energy Alternatives Festival) on October 10th and give a workshop on Alternatives to Conventional Lawns from 2 -3. I hope to see you all over the next few weeks!

Today we were at the Sugar Hill Festival doing a spinning demo and selling Dan's Artwork (see next entry), our fiber art (mostly yarn), salves, and greeting cards.


With Hana in school, I (Erika) have been working as much as I can. I have been digging out a lot of sod, putting in a new garden and am doing some design work. Time to put the gardens to bed! Call or email me :)

Thanks for visiting the blog.

This Week

I was in Haverhill this week tending some gardens that had gotten out of hand. I pruned a lot (where I could reach) and pulled back sod and weeds that were taking over. Now the desirable flowers will be able to settle in nicely for the winter.There was lovely landscaping with rock walls and shrubbery:

A client in Littleton had his driveway wash away in the recent rain downpours. I helped unload 4 yards of material from a pickup truck and made burms to channel water to the sides of the driveway. After I shaped the burms, the customer packed it by driving his truck or tractor over it and then a final shape and walah! It came out great.

Moving driveway material can get tiring. When I am worn out at the end of the day, I garden for an hour or so.

We keep the blueberry patch spotless!Thanks for visiting the blog!

August Newsletter 2009

Landscape and Garden

This season has so far been a big success for Hana and Erika. They have been busy and working hard, never losing stride despite the rainy weather. They have remodeled and designed, maintained and resurrected customer’s gardens. To see some of the works these sisters have produced over the summer, visit their blog at proposintea.blogspot.com!

Autumn Services
Hana and Erika would like to remind you that gardening is a seasonal occupation. They’ve stuck by you through the spring and summer – they won’t leave you hanging for the autumn months! Here are several things that fall is prime time for:

Raking
Pruning
Landscaping
Transplanting
Planting Bulbs
New Beds (for 2010!)
Mulching & Cutting Back
New Design! (Consulting)
Applying Nutrients (compost!)
Cutting Trees and Moving Rocks
Email Erika and make an appointment!

whitemountainllamas@hotmail.com


Garden and Landscape Rates 2009
Erika first hour: $30
Erika after 1st hour: $20/hour
Erika & Hana 1st hour: $40
Erika & Hana after 1st: $30/hour



Back to School?

Hana is going back to school at the end of August to begin her Junior year. This means that Erika will be working solo for much of the autumn months. Hana is excited about school starting again, she is happy about her science classes and starting her 3rd year of Latin! In her spare time, Hana will continue her clothing and jewelry projects. Hana is a artist – from fiber to fabric and paper to bead, she paints and sews her way through life. Hana works hard no matter what the subject – school or gardening. Full gratitude goes out to her for always doing her best this summer!

A Gardener’s Dilemma

The single dilemma of a gardeness in New Hampshire is: What will she do during the winter months (other than hibernate)? Erika is currently thinking of creative ways to work while the plants are dormant. She will definitely be spinning and creating fiber arts from her llama and Angora wool. Erika also has had the opportunity to be an Art Agent, selling hand carved wooden bowls and sculpture (see more on the next page). Will that be enough? If you have any grand ideas about how Erika should keep busy during the winter months, please let her know!

Erika and Hana would appreciate it if you could spread the word and let your friends, family, and neighbors know about the two sisters. Erika will be available through the autumn of 2009 for your home and business projects!

Livestock at White Mountain Llamas
Hana and Erika own 4 llamas, Arethusa, May, Bella, and Winny. Our newest addition, Winny, is for sale. She is a yearling female, ready for a new home now! Erika and Hana will attend the Maine State’s Fair at Fryeburg on September 28 – 29. They will be entered in the annual llama show and perform in demonstrations for public awareness of llamas. Winny went last year and behaved very well! She is pictured in the lower right hand corner.

A Little More Bunny in Your Life
White Mountain Llamas currently has 7 Angora rabbits (French hybrids) for sale! It is a litter ready for new homes in August (black torts and black steels). There are also two 3-year old does, a white and gray for sale. Angora rabbits are an inexpensive way to get luxury fiber for spinning and felting. We have Angoras in a variety of extraordinary colors! If you’re interested give us a call! We will also have a booth at the Vermont Sheep and Wool Festival (www.vermontsheep.org/festival.html) in Tunbridge on October 3 & 4. Please visit us there for a great weekend of fiber arts!

Products
Hana and Erika care for Angora rabbits and llamas that produce fiber all year round. The sisters process the fiber into beautiful hand-spun yarn, scarves, hats, and other specialty garments. Currently some of our yarn is being sold at the Yarn Garden in Littleton, New Hampshire. We do not dye our yarn so one of our major purchase goals for animals is color! You can purchase any of our naturally colored fiber products at anytime. Just call or email Erika for more information! Erika and Hana also provide fiber lessons. If you want to learn how to spin or felt with animal fiber we will provide materials and can do individual and group lessons!

Art Agent? What Next?!

Erika’s Uncle, Dan Cadreact is a woodsman. In work and leisure, he always has en eye out for for the best pieces of wood to carve with. He is an inspirational artist and intriguing to work with. He’s given Erika the honor of selling his art. Dan specializes in bowls made from everything from bird’s eye maple to birch burls. He has an eye for color and pattern and spends hours hand carving his bowls to meet the perfect form. Of all shapes and sizes, Dan has many. Erika will be putting pictures of different bowls on the blog at proposintea.blogspot.com for your viewing pleasure and bringing samples around in her car for further inspection. Please ask about Dan Cadreact's hand-carved bowls and sculpture! If you have friends and family that collect or are interested in hand-carved, local art from New Hampshire’s forests, let them know about this art. It is certainly an opportunity you do not want to miss!

Need to do holiday gift shopping?
Want yarn for your next knitting project?
Interested in purchasing a rabbit?
Excited about supporting local business?

Email Erika!
whitemountainllamas@hotmail.com

Thank you!
We want to thank you for supporting our business! We appreciate working for you and hope to continue providing you with quality service into the future!

Driveway Maintenance

From frost to plow trucks, the winter season will heave and throw cobblestones. Hana and I took kinks out of stones while also weeding this customer's driveway. A little driveway maintenance goes a long way when it comes to an aesthetic drive leading to your home.

This week: trail maintenance

We trekked down into the woods with our tools in my backpack. I had brought the tamarack boards down (2x6x10') two weeks before with the four wheeler. Today Hana and I just nailed them in place.

Here, we made a wooden bridge for the brush hog. Its set perfectly to fit the wheels.

Oh, what good models we make!The same people who need work on their trails raise show dogs. This is the puppy area and I needed to put more stone in the bottom and put barriers up around the base so they couldn't get under the ramp.

Hana and I moved more than 3,000 pounds of stone! Phew!

This work tood us three man-days.

Franconia this week

One of my customers went on the WREN Garden Tour and saw something she liked: hastas planted around the trunks of trees. She asked me to create what she saw and this is what emerged:

I dug out a garden in the sod 3 feet in radius to the trunk and transplanted three types of hastas opposing each other in six places around the trunk. I then put mulch down that the customer had purchased.

The lovely thing about this garden is that it has a circular garden behind it in the lawn and a possible other circular garden around a tree just to the right of it. The landscaping ends up being just beautiful with all these matching circles. The second thing that I accomplished was an herb garden that outlined one side of the driveway. Its a beautiful spot, incorporating rocks into the plantings. Its a wonderful way to invite guests to your house, by having a beautiful garden that sends you to the house.

The customer purchased plants for me to put in. Various kinds of herbs like lavender, rosemary, chives and flowers such as creeping phlox. Again, I mulched it when through, the perfect touch.

This work took me 6 hours.

A Day on the Trails

I love gardening. Sometimes it's nice to do something on a little larger scale. So instead of planning for one garden, several hundred square feet, to plan acres of "garden" or a woodlot. When I work at this particular place I get to learn about forest/land management, in this case for wildlife. I also get to build boardwalks on trails! This gets me off my hands and knees for a few days and allows me to spend some solitary time in the woods (when Hana has a day off). When Hana and I make boardwalks together we life the bigger planks out across the streams and come up with fun tunes to sing while we do it. Today was a beautiful sunny day, one we haven't seen for a while. It was a particularly enjoyable time.

Here's the quad runner loaded up with the trailer and ten foot planks.

Here is the trail as it leads down to a section of 8 foot boardwalks. This is my favorite place in the trail system. There is something sort of mysterious about this particular place.Here, begin the boardwalks. I had begun to put them in last year and could not finish when I had to go back to school. I finished them today, making the boardwalks have different colors!

What a fun day! Thanks for visiting the blog!