The incredible dung beetle

Note - You can see from this picture that the Dung Beetle is rolling an Alpaca bean towards the hole he has dug out.

A little background history:

When we first purchased our foundation herd I had researched the communal dung pile and the statistics that Alpacas leave a deposit on average of one pound of Alpaca beans per day. My foundation herd consisted of 4 females and 2 males which would result in a daily "gift" of six pounds of excrement per day. I knew that shoveling the beans would be a daily chore and one I was not looking forward to. After about one week I noticed that the bean pile was becoming smaller each day and there were small clumps of fresh dirt in and around the dung piles. I studied the piles at various times of the day and found that early in the morning there were small bugs about the size of a quarter in and around the dung piles. They reminded me of scarabs that were in the movie The Mummy.

My first thought was to eradicate these scary little bugs but I thought I should do a bit of research first and I am so glad I did. The dung beetles that have made my farm their home fly from pile to pile mostly during the night and dig holes so that they can roll the Alpaca bean down into the hole where the female takes over. She puts the bean in a burrowed out cavern and lays her egg. When the egg hatches the larvae eats half of the bean to survive and then when he is old enough he leaves the cavern and the remainder of the bean is left to fertilize the ground. There are many types of Dung beetles and the scarabs we have adopted are known as traveling beetles.

Basically what I have is an ecosystem that cleans up the communal dung pile and fertilizes the surrounding ground. As Martha Stewart would say, "It's a good thing".

Here is a good link to the Dung Beetle:

http://www.absoluteastronomy.com/topics/Dung_beetle

It's never big enough :-)

We started out with a two tone pole barn that wasn't quite what I envisioned at Casa Del Paca. Items on the wish list were a front porch for shade and to help keep the elements out as well as two wings to add tractor storage and more stalls for the male alpacas.

With a few tweaks and a bit of cash we were able to turn a standard equipment building into a red barn that was not only nice to look at but fit all our storage and alpaca needs. Notice how kind the hubby was to install a wagon wheel so it appeared to be more "barn like". :-)

The after picture shows our "new barn" with the facelift. I opted for the Rustic Red with white trim instead of the standard red. Here is the new barn that measures at a robust 70' wide by 50' deep.

It all begins at the front door

My long list of to do things keep getting longer but I thought the best place to start would be the front door. To me the front door makes a home more inviting and immediately informs the guests who visit what kind of home you have. I chose a color that I have always loved called Bearclaw by Valspar. It's a deep rich rust color that tells your guests that they are about to enter a home that is different.

Now I needed something a little different that would add a touch of distinction to the door so I took the plunge and visited my daughters favorite website called Etsy.com. When I typed in door numbers I found a wonderful site that cuts and prints rub on house numbers. To tell the truth, I was a bit excited. So excited that I instantly ordered them and then remembered that I had a glass front door and not a solid door. This was a strong hint that we have owned too many houses. :-) I didn't cancel the order out of guilt and thought maybe I could use them somewhere other than the front door. When my little package arrived it was in an adorable little tube with directions and a handwritten message. So cute! I am used to Ebay where you get your item in an old shoe box wrapped in duct tape and stuffed with old Famous Barr ads for padding. If you happen to go to Etsy.com be sure to check out the seller named Singlestory. You will be glad you did!

After reading through the directions. (well, I skimmed the highlights and looked at the pictures) I proceeded to add my house numbers to the bottom of the door. I love the look! Now on to the next project!!

Where to start?

Where does the list start and where does it end? Change our lifestyle? Check. Buy a farm? Check. Bring the Alpacas to the farm? Check. Renovate the farm? Totally unchecked. Perhaps unchecked for years to come but we are going to take it a day at a time.