Ever Wonder Who......... (the series)

Who are those Farmers that sell us the products at the Gettysburg Farmers' Market?

                 Well in this new series we will meet the farmers you see and    

talk too every Saturday morning on the Square.

 We are back again to introduce you to another vendor at the market,  

Julie Wysong, our market Vice President and Market Manager. 

You see her with her alpaca products such as yarn, roving, socks, scarves, hats, teddy bears and other alpaca products and clothing. Many of you would like to know where all this alpaca stuff comes from. Let's find out. Let's take a trip out to Quarry Critters Alpaca Ranch. 

Here at the ranch it's all about the alpacas and the hair they grow. The alpaca hair is called "Fiber".

Sarah

     There is a very important day in Spring called "Shearing Day" when all the alpacas get a hair cut on one day.  After the hair cut there are bags and bags of fleece that is ready to be turned in to yarn, roving, hats, scarves, and other usable products.
The  next step is to "skirt" the fleece. Skirting is where the fleece is laid out on a special table called a "Shirting table". There, all the undesirables, such as hay, dung or guard hairs,  are picked out of the fiber.

Once the fiber has been skirted the decision  is made of what will become of the fleece.  

Some will be sold right away to hand spinners eager to make their own yarn, or roving for that special project they have in mind.

Most will be sent to mini mills to be cleaned, carded, and spun into yarn that you will see at the market or in the farm store.

Still other fiber will be sent to the co-op and processed into socks, hats, gloves, scarves, insoles and more. These are items also found at the market. The co-op and their mills are all here in the USA, most often right here in PA.

Watch the video to see more about Quarry Critters Alpaca Ranch 

                                             At Quarry Critters Alpaca Ranch, David and Julie Wysong breed their alpacas for resale. You can schedule a farm tour and see their alpacas and the new cria. Oh, a cria is a baby alpaca look how cute.

Thanks for visiting us on the square and reading about us on the site.
See you soon on the square.