About sageflower:
Sageflower LLC officially launched on November 8, 2014 when our first trio of alpacas arrived at our mini-ranch in Ft. Lupton, Colorado.
We were introduced to alpacas during a vacation in California in 2010, where we attended a county fair in Napa Valley. The usual cast of critters were there to enjoy, rabbits, goats and chickens, but also several pens of graceful alpacas. Jan and her sister-in-law went from one alpaca pen to another, quizzing the owners and admiring the animals. It was difficult to tear ourselves away. Their gentle manner, thick soft fleece and large brown eyes were irresistible.
After this initial experience, we began to research the alpaca industry in earnest, and eventually began planning a new and simpler lifestyle that included creating luxury fiber products and living closer to the natural rhythms of the land. We read articles and websites, attended alpaca events and seminars, interviewed alpaca owners and visited local alpaca operations, listened to podcasts. We began shopping for a small acreage property and selected three mature female alpacas as our starter herd. And then we moved to our current home in Fort Lupton, Colorado October 2014.
Jan retired from the corporate worklife in November 2014 and Mark continued to work a part-time job in automotive repair. During 2015 we set up our organic garden, beehive colony and flock of chickens in addition to caring for our first 3 alpacas. Jan studied beekeeping, chicken care, fiber preparation, spinning, and fiber dyeing.
It takes a big village to train up greenhorns….no joke. There is a strong communal and personal satisfaction in meeting so many new friends and supporters in the rural, artistic and land-based occupations. It would be a very long list to name all the people who have been part of our “education” learning curve. We will try to recognize them in time, in the blog segment of the website. Overall, it is not exaggerating to say that every one of these folks were patient generous and kind, and enthusiastic about the common topic – whether it was alpaca care, fiber and spinning, beekeeping, accounting for small business development, real estate, etc. etc. And it has been so satisfying and rewarding to make so many new friends.
As I am typing this up, I paused to glance out of the window, to see one alpaca snoozing in the sun with her head resting all the way down on the ground, while the other two were standing guard, calmly standing watch. And then there is never a dull moment, because the flock of chickens came dashing into their pen in a rush with their hoppity-skippity trotting gait and some of them with a little wing-flapping to assist velocity. The alpaca snooze ended. They crack me up every time. Hilarious.
I digress. Okay, so during 2015 and 2016 we were dedicated to experimenting with as many skills and aspects of this venture as possible to learn what direction to focus upon. We found that chicken keeping was fun and rewarding, and the eggs are delicious and nutritious. We found that we deeply enjoyed beekeeping, but that our location is toxic for bees. The local farms do a lot of heavy aerial chemical spraying all summer, and they have mostly mono-crops (corn, or beans) instead of diversity. So…we are putting beekeeping on a back burner until we find a better location to put hives where they will have diverse food sources and no overhead chem-spraying. Having kept a small garden for several years, the organic gardening is just an automatic, must-have project.
Granted that the learning and experimenting never ends, at the moment we have found that fiber preparation, dying and spinning yarn seem to be the sweet spot for us. Great credit is due to Jan’s mother (Virginia) and volunteer-grandmother (Mandy) for this result. As both of them had taught Jan to knit at a young age, seeding the desire and skillset for future yarn making !
After many weeks and months with using the fiber tools and spinning wheels, Jan began producing consistent yarns. She sold her first skeins in early 2016, and listed many more on the sageflower website when it launched in early 2017.
Our plans for the future are open to wherever creative inspiration may lead us. Thank you for visiting our website, and for shopping with us.
Blessings and good wishes to you all.
Sageflower LLC officially launched on November 8, 2014 when our first trio of alpacas arrived at our mini-ranch in Ft. Lupton, Colorado.
We were introduced to alpacas during a vacation in California in 2010, where we attended a county fair in Napa Valley. The usual cast of critters were there to enjoy, rabbits, goats and chickens, but also several pens of graceful alpacas. Jan and her sister-in-law went from one alpaca pen to another, quizzing the owners and admiring the animals. It was difficult to tear ourselves away. Their gentle manner, thick soft fleece and large brown eyes were irresistible.
After this initial experience, we began to research the alpaca industry in earnest, and eventually began planning a new and simpler lifestyle that included creating luxury fiber products and living closer to the natural rhythms of the land. We read articles and websites, attended alpaca events and seminars, interviewed alpaca owners and visited local alpaca operations, listened to podcasts. We began shopping for a small acreage property and selected three mature female alpacas as our starter herd. And then we moved to our current home in Fort Lupton, Colorado October 2014.
Jan retired from the corporate worklife in November 2014 and Mark continued to work a part-time job in automotive repair. During 2015 we set up our organic garden, beehive colony and flock of chickens in addition to caring for our first 3 alpacas. Jan studied beekeeping, chicken care, fiber preparation, spinning, and fiber dyeing.
It takes a big village to train up greenhorns….no joke. There is a strong communal and personal satisfaction in meeting so many new friends and supporters in the rural, artistic and land-based occupations. It would be a very long list to name all the people who have been part of our “education” learning curve. We will try to recognize them in time, in the blog segment of the website. Overall, it is not exaggerating to say that every one of these folks were patient generous and kind, and enthusiastic about the common topic – whether it was alpaca care, fiber and spinning, beekeeping, accounting for small business development, real estate, etc. etc. And it has been so satisfying and rewarding to make so many new friends.
As I am typing this up, I paused to glance out of the window, to see one alpaca snoozing in the sun with her head resting all the way down on the ground, while the other two were standing guard, calmly standing watch. And then there is never a dull moment, because the flock of chickens came dashing into their pen in a rush with their hoppity-skippity trotting gait and some of them with a little wing-flapping to assist velocity. The alpaca snooze ended. They crack me up every time. Hilarious.
I digress. Okay, so during 2015 and 2016 we were dedicated to experimenting with as many skills and aspects of this venture as possible to learn what direction to focus upon. We found that chicken keeping was fun and rewarding, and the eggs are delicious and nutritious. We found that we deeply enjoyed beekeeping, but that our location is toxic for bees. The local farms do a lot of heavy aerial chemical spraying all summer, and they have mostly mono-crops (corn, or beans) instead of diversity. So…we are putting beekeeping on a back burner until we find a better location to put hives where they will have diverse food sources and no overhead chem-spraying. Having kept a small garden for several years, the organic gardening is just an automatic, must-have project.
Granted that the learning and experimenting never ends, at the moment we have found that fiber preparation, dying and spinning yarn seem to be the sweet spot for us. Great credit is due to Jan’s mother (Virginia) and volunteer-grandmother (Mandy) for this result. As both of them had taught Jan to knit at a young age, seeding the desire and skillset for future yarn making !
After many weeks and months with using the fiber tools and spinning wheels, Jan began producing consistent yarns. She sold her first skeins in early 2016, and listed many more on the sageflower website when it launched in early 2017.
Our plans for the future are open to wherever creative inspiration may lead us. Thank you for visiting our website, and for shopping with us.
Blessings and good wishes to you all.