Flat Stanley Visits Quarry Critters Alpaca Ranch

Hello Flat Stanley ........

     My name is Julie Wysong and I am the owner and manager of

                         Quarry Critters Alpaca Ranch. 

     I first met Flat Stanley in his book.    I read it to a group of students in my first grade class. I am also a retired 1^st grade teacher.  I hadn't seen Stanley for a couple of years until I met Grace’s Grandmother at the Amish Market in Hanover where she works. I knew exactly who he was and why he was there.  I was thrilled to bring Stanley on a trip to my home. 

Can you see Stanley on the alpaca? That’s my house in the back ground.

My home and alpaca ranch are located in Adams County Pennsylvania just outside Gettysburg, PA. Gettysburg is a very important town in our country.  Abraham Lincoln was our 16^th President, gave a very important speech there called the Gettysburg Address and his picture is on every 

penny  

                               and $5.00 bill. 

              A statue of Abraham Lincoln is seen here in Gettysburg.  The area farmers sell their goods at the farmers’ market every Saturday morning May to September.  Quarry Critters Alpaca Ranch is part of the Gettysburg Farmer’s Market. We sell the hair from the alpacas and make it into yarn,   socks and clothing.

 Let’s go back to the alpaca ranch and meet some alpacas……

Stanley went with me in the tractor down to the barn to help with feeding the alpacas. 

First we stopped at the boy’s barn to say Hi to the boy alpacas. All of our alpacas have names.  They are named after people and places from Gettysburg.  See the white alpaca in the middle. His name is Tad Lincoln. Tad is named after the son of President Abraham Lincoln and his wife Mary Todd Lincoln. The black alpaca to Tad’s right is Pickett. Pickett is named after Maj. Gen. George Pickett, a confederate general that lead an army into battle during the Civil War in Gettysburg.

          Moving on to the girl’s barn Stanley meets Penelope. She loves to give kisses to almost everyone that she meets and Stanley is no exception. See Stanley getting a kiss? 

And another kiss.

OK, see the light brown alpaca? We call that color “Medium Fawn”.  Did you know that alpacas come in 22 different colors?

Stanley is standing between 2 girls that will be 2 years old this summer (2013).  Oh, the light brown alpaca is named Ivy Thicket. Here’s her story….

From the Civil War times in Gettysburg there was a brother and sister. They were both soldiers. Back in the year 1861 girls weren't allowed to be soldiers but believe me there were lots of girl soldiers. One day her brother decided he didn't want to be a soldier any more so he went out and rolled in the “Ivy Thicket” and got poison ivy.  I’m not sure if they really knew what was wrong with the soldier so they let him go home. When his sister found out that her brother had gone home, she told them that she was a girl and they sent her home too! 

I thought it to be an interesting story of old, so I named my alpaca Ivy Thicket to help me remember this civil war story.  Now you know that could never happen today.  

Alpacas eat hay. 

This is my husband David Wysong. He also works on the ranch. David works the fields and makes tasty grass for the alpacas. He was so happy to meet Stanley that he had to call his friend to tell him about Stanley’s visit to our ranch.

Well I hope that you enjoyed our visit. I trust that Stanley made it back to Grace safe and sound and I wish I could be there to hear all of Stanley’s adventures along with you.

Good bye

A post of this story along with video of Stanley with the alpacas can be seen at

JuliesAlpacas.com

Please write to me JuliesAlpacas@gmail.com and let me know what you think.