Librarian, Caroline Ketman
I live in Amboy, WA (between Vancouver and Mount St. Helens) where I share 5 acres with my husband Mel, 3 cats and 8 llamas. I work as Librarian for the Fort Vancouver Regional Library and also at a family resource center for the Battle Ground School District.

I fell in love with llamas at the Puyallup Fair and set about reading everything I could find about these special beings. When we moved to acreage in SW Washington in 2000 I started my collection. With the intent of breeding and selling I began with three, then acquired a few more and had a couple of babies before I realized that I didn't want to sell any of them. Their personalities are each so unique! Who could I part with? I count myself lucky I figured this out before I had 20! So now I have eight big ol' pets and I love them dearly. I never get tired hanging out with them.

Having had careers as a librarian and as a metaphysical bookstore owner, I came from a place of total ignorance about llamas ...or even raising livestock in general. It was a very steep learning curve (fencing? pasture maintenance? birthing babies? Oh my!) so I am well aware of the value and importance of education, the sharing of available resources, networking and of building a support system.

The LOWS library is a valuable resource. As members of LOWS it's your library and it's available to you free of charge, you pay only the return postage.

Please check out the LOWS Lending Library list in your newsletter or at www.llamasofwa.com and contact me with your requests. I would also appreciate input on any areas you'd like to see developed.

Sincerely,
Caroline Ketman

I can best be reached at
lowslibrary@tds.net