Alpaca Beans
I have met some friendly and knowledgeable gardeners as I am sharing the extra plants from my garden.Last weekend I met a wonderful lady who also raises alpacas on her farm. She said she would give me some alpaca beans in exchange for all the plants I gave her. Off to trusty Google to find out what these were all about. Turns out alpaca beans is the fancier name for poop from alpacas.
Alpaca beans are somewhat lower in organic matter than other types of manure, and I have to say the smell is a whole lot different, hardly any at all. You spread this directly on your garden without it damaging the plants. I put the bagful on one part of the front garden and spread the beans around quite a bit. I'm also going to add some compost dirt and mix it all together and hopefully the soil will be improved next year.
If you live close to me and want to purchase some you can contact Alpaca Lunch Farm and find out all about it.Now if only I knew how to turn the alpaca fleece into yarn. That will be my next project to research. If you live near me and know how to do this or you know someone who does, please let me know.I'd also love to hear from you if you have used alpaca beans on your garden.
I have never tried Alpaca beans...sounds like a good alternative for when I run out of compost. I like that it is called beans...
ReplyDeleteThat should be an interesting experiment. Let us know how it works out. V
ReplyDeleteThanks Linda for your kind words! The plants are doing well and I have spread some alpaca beans around them to help them take. I'd also love to know how your beautiful garden fares with the addition of alpaca beans!
ReplyDeleteIn PA where I am from originally, the farm had llamas and alpacas, along with horses. You are right the smell is much different and you would be amazed how neighboring farms would come relieve is of all the manures. They even offered to pay, but we were glad they just took it.
ReplyDeleteHere I am, learning something new again. I had never heard of alpaca beans! You are meeting some interesting people in your garden-sharing adventure.
ReplyDelete-Karen
Linda, Nan Ondra (Hayfield) raises alpacas and can probably give you some advise. She's on Blotanical and may even have some info on her blog that might answer your questions. Good luck with it!
ReplyDeleteThanks for that info Cathy, I'll check it out.
ReplyDeleteYW... she is very sweet and an amazing gardener. I've got pretty much every one of her books!
ReplyDeleteThat's a new one on me. There were alpaca in Orkney when we lived there but they must have used all the beans themselves. Sounds easy and pleasant to use.
ReplyDelete