That is a question that they have been asked for over 20 years even before meeting online was popular. Once married, Melisa moved to Scotland, which is where Charlie was born. They spent the first six years of their marriage in Scotland. In Scotland is where Melisa learned how to hand spin yarn and process a fleece. In 2006, they moved back to the USA out west to Colorado and their ranch tract of
undeveloped land to start homesteading. This is where the fiber and dairy critters entered the Alba Ranch world. And Melisa taught herself to weave in 2007 with a rigid heddle loom. Being fascinated with color, led to an obsession with hand painting and dyeing fibers to create her own yarns and color palette. In 2013, Alba Ranch moved stakes all the way back to Michigan, Melisa's home state, to do some homesteading in a wooded forest and allow Melisa to grow fruits and veg. The llamas, Nigerian Dwarf Dairy Goats, Dogs and Cats all came in the truck for the ride. Melisa uses various types of sheep fleece, Angora Rabbit fleece, llama and mohair. She only raises angora goats for fiber these days as she would rather spend time creating than shearing. Dairy Goats and milking are still done on the ranch every day so Melisa has a constant supply of fresh milk. Melisa has fleece to choose from in all stages from raw to machine processed, to yarns in all sorts of natural colors and dyed fibers. When she is looking for a special color or variegation, out will come the dye pot and she will hand paint to get whatever her creative eye sees. Although Melisa dabbles, Charlie's expertise is Oil Paintings, Photography art with pictures of various places that he visits. He goes to many countries each year and always has his camera at the ready. His preference for paintings is landscapes. He has been starting to do seascapes and forests scenes as well. He photographs many of the oil rigs, platforms and ships. Some of his best photos are of a ship all lit up at night with stunning lights at sunset, sunrise, or twilight. Charlie also works with Melisa doing the tech stuff. He understands computers and all tech stuff so much better than Melisa does. He handles the machines and leaves Melisa to handle the people and the phone. Whenever Melisa gets a new loom, spinning wheel or wants to learn a new warp method....Charlie’s engineer mind shines. He has put together most every loom and spinning wheel that Melisa owns, and he has taught Melisa more than once how to warp up a new loom.
