Hummer Country Writers

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Hummer Country Writers

Marty McGee Bennett Marty McGee Bennett’s first llama jumped off the back of a pickup truck and into her heart in 1981. Since then Marty has devoted her professional life to the well being of llamas and alpacas and the education of camelid enthusiasts. Marty brings a variety of experience and qualifications to her work with camelids, including a B.S. degree in Animal Behavior. Marty’s combination of TTEAM (The Tellington-Jones Every Animal Method), with the principals of balance and leverage and a second sense with both camelids and people make “Camelidynamics” the world’s most popular, and enduring training/handling system for camelids. Marty has taught the principles of animal handling to veterinarians and veterinary students at veterinary schools around the county and was the only non-DVM invited to contribute to the Veterinary Clinics of North America series on Camelids. Her clinics, books and videos have helped thousands of llama and alpaca owners more fully understand, appreciate and enjoy this magical animal. Marty’s most recent book “The Camelid Companion” published in 2001 has received rave reviews in publications worldwide. Conducting hundreds of clinics in North America and around the world have kept Marty on the road for much of the past 23 years. Marty her husband Brad and their family of four-leggeds have a farm in Bend, Oregon that is the home of the Camelidynamics Training Center and the base of operations for the Camelidynamics Guild. For more information about the guild, Marty, clinics and equipment log on to http://www.camelidynamics.com marty@camelidynamics.com	L'illette Vasquez In January 2000, L'illette Vasquez bought her first breeding pair of llamas,and almost immediately began working with llama rescue. Learning most of the how-to's from the Internet and books, and with the capable telephone mentoring of Margaret Henry and other long-distance owners, L'illette initially learned through trial and error. In those early years, it seemed that Murphy's Laws prevailed: if something could go wrong, it did. But already in love with the animals, it wasn't a difficult decision to persevere. In April 2003, Bobra Goldsmith of Rocky Mountain Llamas responded to L's ad for "Have Herd, Will Travel." That August, 10 days after her 50th birthday,L'illette crammed as much of her belongings as possible into two little trailers and a pick-up truck, and moved eight llamas, seven cats and one great big dog to Bobra's ranch. Though the llama numbers have grown to include several rescues, they all continue to live happily ever after. While living and working at Rocky Mountain Llamas, L'illette is also active in various llama rescuer organizations and committees, and is committed to encouraging education and fostering awareness of llama rescue needs lillette@veevee.com
Many Anne Mounce I can hardly remember when I wasn't writing for something or someone. Writing is what I have always done and always enjoyed. I try to picture the reader of anything I write and speak directly to him and her: a person-to-person communication. Also, about 3 years ago I happened to meet, and fall under the special spell of, several alpacas. Wow! I was smitten. I did not own a suitable farm for them; so I have been agisting my small, but growing, herd. So, imagine my delight: I can combine two of my favorite things: alpacas and writing—which is what I have done with Hummer Country! maryanne.mounce@hummercountry.org	Shirley Byers I live and work on an acreage in rural Saskatchewan. I have been composing stories for as long as I can remember and I consider myself blessed indeed to be able to make a living doing what I love to do. I have written two books and I have been hired to write history books for two area organizations. Cat and Mom Story is a children's picture book. It was published by Scholastic in 1989. Never Sell Your Hen on a Rainy Day is a book about weather lore. Originally I self-published it but it was later picked up by a BC publisher. I have been a contributing editor for WITH magazine since 1998 and I also write regularly for Prairie Books Now. Most of my writing these days is agricultural - about the people who farm and the issues they deal with. I write regularly for The Western Producer and Small Farm Canada. I also write for Grainews, Pulse Point and Tree Service Canada. shirley.byers@hummercountry.org
Joanna Manning I love writing because of the interesting people I meet from whom I learn so much, because I can share my experiences with many people and because it allows me to paint and create with words. My first poem was written when I was 11 or 12. At school I wrote poems and articles for the yearbook and at university in Wales, UK, contributed to student newspapers. My first job after graduating was to write a booklet about they city of Guelph in Ontario, where I had gone to live. From then writing was part of every job and volunteer activity – newsletters, media releases and brochures about seminars and retreats. As a professional freelance writer I have spent more than 20 years writing features about and reviews of the performing and visual arts as well as articles on a wide variety of subjects. I also edit and design ‘The Wave,’ the e-newsletter of Yoga Atlantic. As a certified yoga teacher I have enjoyed teaching for 18 years. When time allows I work with fibre, found objects and mixed media in my studio. joanna.manning@hummercountry.org	Les Foshay Les lives in Vermont handling the day to day farm work with the help of his best friend and wife of 17 years, Jenny. He in turn, helps Jenny run a seasonal Farmstay on their two farm set up. The Foshays have raised alpaca full time on their over 200 acres for a decade with the help of daughters Grace, 15 and Oliva, 11. When you don’t find them in the show ring, taking home ribbons, you can find them in the rink, where Les formerly coached at the youth level and the girls play. Les has always viewed life a little differently than the crowd, so when the opportunity came to leave the security of 17 years at a coal fired power plant on the Navajo Reservation, he welcomed it. A conservative entrepreneur at heart, he investigated the opportunity to become an alpaca rancher. When alpaca board equaled his paycheck, after a year or so in the business, the Foshays moved 30 alpacas back to their roots to New England to the current sites of Champlain Valley Alpacas. Les is an AOBA certified judge. His animals and 4Hers have consistently placed at the top in the performance arena and he helped initiate one of the first Alpaca 4-H groups in New England. les.foshay@hummercountry.org
Rebecca St. Jean Writing is something I have been passionate about my whole life. I started out editing everything my mom wrote about our farm, Saints Alpacas, until a few years ago where I took over writing for our website, info on auction animals and farm features in the CQ. I love alpacas and feel there is always something new to learn about them. Writing for Hummer Country allows me to combine my interest in alpacas and my joy for writing which is why I am so excited to be part of the team! Rebecca rebecca.stjean@hummercountry.org	Margot Roode Margot Roode of Devine West Ranch of NB Canada owns a fibre farm that consists of Alpacas, Shetland Sheep, Colored Angora Goats, and Spanish (cashmere) Goats. Margot is also owner of Hummer Country. Margot started Hummer Country to help herself get better informed about the industry and to share that information with others. The farm and the webletter are Margot's passion. To help finance the growth of the farm and the webletter, Margot works full time as a Branch Manager at a local bank. Margot is married to Jamie Roode who is a retired military veteran. info@dwranch.ca info@hummercountry.org
Dianne Kirk - Benincasa How Alpaca-Trazz and Shears To You Got Started Never being the rural type, Dianne Kirk-Benincasa headed for the bright lights of Toronto right after high school. After performing clerical and secretarial jobs which she found tedious, she successfully sold life insurance, started and managed a carpet and upholstery cleaning company and then demonstrated “as seen on TV” products for a dozen years at fairs and home shows. After 3 car accidents (none of them were her fault) she was looking for something more…something to invest in for her and her son’s future. She realized that after 28 years in the city, it wasn’t Toronto real estate, but didn’t know what it was. Then, in 2002, while on a break from her demonstration job during the Royal Winter Fair, she saw the most amazing animals. They had “a camel face, a long giraffe neck and a big fluffy sheep’s body”. Mesmerized, she spent each break at the Alpaca Ontario booth asking lots of questions. After working over 12 hours each day, she researched alpacas on the internet a couple of hours each night. (On her way home from the Royal one night, Dianne was hit for the 4th time. Again, it wasn’t her fault. Was it time to get out of the city?) When the 10-day fair was ending, Dianne felt let down and lost – she’d never see alpacas again. Then, remembering that some alpaca web sites had encouraged farm visits, Dianne went back to the internet to find local alpaca farms. After a few farm visits which Dianne insisted must allow her to get her hands on the alpacas and work with them, she realized that not only did she like the animals even more than she thought she would, but that she could physically handle them. She could be an independent farmer! Within months she bought 3 alpacas, left city life, moved to her sister's farm near Listowel, Ontario, pitched a tent (for the alpacas) and poof – she became a farmer. All was wonderful until the following spring when she was hit by a gravel truck. Again – not her fault! (Was it time to get right off the road?) Soon after, the alpacas were sheared. Dianne called the only fibre mill in Ontario at that time and booked the earliest appointment to get her fibre processed – 6 months away! Since then, Dianne and her sister, Deb Griffey, have started their own fibre mill, Shears To You, where they do custom processing of all kinds of exotic fibres. Work is just a short walk across the driveway, so there’s little fear of being hit again. Dianne has 22 alpacas. Everyone’s living “happily ever after”! dianne@shearstoyou.ca	Kathleen Gazey Kathleen was born and raised in Scarborough, Ontario. She studied forestry and biology at Sir Sandford Fleming College in Lindsay, Ontario and Lakehead University in Thunder Bay, Ontario. Since the early 80's, she has worked in the forest industry, education and government as a forester in Northern Ontario, BC and since fall 2006, in Meadow Lake, SK. Kathleen currently owns acreage north of Meadow Lake where she breeds Quarter Horses for cutting and reining. She is hoping to have her alpacas at home this spring (still have to fence their area). She has some Humane Society rescue cats at home who are excellent mousers, also 4 dogs, the 14 - year old is with her in the photo (Tanka), two Gordon Setters (Georgia - 2 years old and Beau - 6 months) that she shows and has started agility and hunting with and a Maremma/yellow lab Humane Society rescue Dog (Ben). Kathleen's hobbies include fly fishing, horse back riding, horse showing, dog showing and soon alpaca showing, knitting, crocheting, reading, learning, doing work on the acreage. She has done extensive travelling over the years, including two extended trips to Southeast Asia where she travelled alone through Burma, Cambodia, Vietnam, Thailand, Indonesia, Hong Kong, also lots of travelling in Canada--cycling trips through the Gulf Islands of BC and the maritimes including the Cabot Trail (yes, on a bicycle) and PEI. She loves to meet new people, try new things, laugh, enjoy life. Kathleen is single, no kids, no family in the area so doing the ranching thing on her own and loving it, her ranch is known as the Flying G Ranch - where quality soars! kathleen.gazey@hummercountry.org