When I last posted here I said I would be back in January 2023 with an update. Oops, it’s April 2023! As I’m sure you can imagine, a lot has been going on around here but winter is generally quite slow. We haven’t done any further renovations, and farm projects have been at a halt for a while. So here’s some updates and some plans. We won’t resume posting weekly until we have some solid updates to share.
Alpaca Update
It’s 2023 and we still don’t have animals. I know, I’m as disappointed as you are. It’s been a lot of red tape trying to get everything approved with our additional lands purchase and now we’re in a waiting game with the county. We haven’t gone ahead and started clearing land, knowing we’ve purchased farm land and won’t have to fund that expense, so we’re in a bit of a holding pattern here. We’re antsy and I (Holly) have even gone back to work full-time because let’s be honest I’m bored when I’m not busy. Hopefully we will have an update to share on the alpaca front soon, but in the meantime we ARE moving ahead with our fibre production plans. That’s where we bring you… rabbits.
Rabbits?! Rabbits!
Angora rabbits more specifically. These little guys can produce up to 3lbs of fibre in a year and are fairly low maintenance to take care of. They’re also super resilient and can sustain themselves in Canadian winters with shelter and food. We’re in discussions right now on acquiring them and our plans are under way. We hope to have them by September. More to come on that!
Internet Update
When we last posted, we still had residential wireless internet with speeds of 20Mbps/5Mpbs. Since that post a lot has changed! Starlink low-altitude satellite internet went live for a roaming package intended for travellers and RV users. For a little bit more per month, we subscribed, purchased hardware and set everything up.
We’re averaging 150Mbps down and 20Mbps up with latency averaging 20ms-40ms. In non-tech speak, that’ s 6X the speed. We did keep the other internet as a backup, because we work from home, but we’re very happy with this quality of life improvement! Even in the dead of winter this little guy packs a punch with its heating elements and ice melt capabilities. If you want to hear more about Starlink, let me know and I’ll post an entire blog post about it.
Rainbow River Alpacas 