Our Farm

My husband and I met on Match.com. He found me by searching on 2 words: "bluegrass" and "fishing." Shockingly, there weren’t many women with those 2 words in their profile… I was the only one who came up. He wrote me the loveliest note introducing himself with proper grammar and every word spelled correctly (if you have never done online dating, you have no idea how rare and refreshing this was). I was smitten instantly. After exchanging a few emails, he sent me a great photo he took in Shenandoah National Park that had a stuffed animal llama posing in front of the lovely scenery. I nearly fell off my chair when I saw it. It was the cutest thing I had ever seen… and I also, just happened to LOVE alpacas and llamas… how in the world did he know?

In my twenties, I had a commute to work that took me by the most lovely alpaca farm. I became enamored with them. I would pass by in the morning as the sun was rising and I began to notice that all the alpacas in the field were facing the rising sun while grazing. Likewise in the evenings, I noticed they would all be facing the setting sun. I stopped several times and just sat at the fence watching them. I thought to myself, one day I want a field full of these cute animals! Who knew then it was only 15 years away…

Shannon and I had an instant love connection and the 3 years we dated before getting married were so fun we barely slept. During our courtship, I was trying to come up with some creative date ideas that went beyond “let’s go out to dinner and see a movie”. We found this guy and his son who were offering “llama trek” adventures. We did not know what this was at the time but it sounded really cool. So, we called them up and decided to go on one of these trips. We showed up beyond excited and our guides showed us how to load our llama’s packs with all our stuff—mostly just even on the two sides and not too heavy. We got 5 llamas haltered and loaded up and we were ready for our adventure! We hiked with our guides and llamas through the wilderness at Dolly Sods, in the Allegheny Mountains of eastern West Virginia. It was so magical. We both were giddy! We could not get over how calm and sweet the llamas were. It was literally like hiking with really big Muppets.

As we hiked, we learned that they all had their own personalities. The llama Shannon was walking with was named Hollywood, aptly named b/c he was vocal drama all day long. We learned to pull them away from rhododendrons as they are poisonous for them but they apparently taste really good b/c they were constantly after them. One of our llamas, Hope, stopped and lay down in a stream we were passing. We thought, oh ok, you need a break, no problem; we will stop for a bit and rest. She did want to rest, but she also wanted to let all of us know that she was DONE carrying that pack. She refused to get up until her pack was removed. After a while of resting and a bit of deliberation, our guides reluctantly agreed to leave their overnight tent pack behind so that we could continue on. They insisted they were fine sleeping on the ground, which sounded crazy to me; surely Hope would eventually carry that pack? They knew better than we did that no, she was not going to carry that pack; she was done.

We hiked on and eventually reached our campsite. We set up our tent and got a fire going. The llamas were corralled into a relatively small area by just a rope. They all stayed in the roped off area, cushing and humming the night away. We spent the night excitedly chatting about how cool llamas were and how we definitely wanted to get some. The next day, we got up, placed the packs back on and hiked again. We could not get over how genuinely sweet the llamas were. They seemed to bond with us immediately and despite their size, they were incredibly gentle.

That experience inspired us to look a little deeper. We already lived out in the country and had 10 acres. We knew we could have a farm with what we already had. So, we started by visiting local farms who had llamas and alpacas. First we sought out Marion Bragg, from Freestate Llamas. She had a bunch of them and we learned a lot more from her. We decided we were definitely in the market to buy some so, we promised Marion we would be back after we figured out fencing and a barn, etc. Shortly thereafter, we visited an alpaca farm that was around the corner from our house. There we met the first alpaca we fell in love with, Gracie. Gracie was (and still is) a special alpaca. She ran right up to us and put her nose in our faces as if she knew her future would be with us. It was once again, an instant love connection. Alpacas were just as cute as llamas, but even smaller and fluffier! We started visiting many alpaca farms and learning all about their fiber, their care and what we needed to do to our property to accommodate them.

Over the next 2 years, we got married (with alpacas in the wedding, of course), did some serious excavating, built a barn, added fencing, and started acquiring all of the needed equipment, tools, and well, alpacas and llamas we needed to get our farm going. We started with 4, and then rescued a couple more, then we quickly grew to 10 and before we knew it, we were at 25 and well, the “fever” hasn’t yet left us! We have loved every minute of the journey so far. We love the alpacas and llamas and do all that we can to provide them the best life possible. We’ve embraced the lifestyle and it suits us well. Now that we’re several years in, we’ve learned so much—from friends, mentors, the animals themselves. Though we certainly do not know it all, and have made a few mistakes along the way, we’re learning that our success is not a destination, rather a journey. We’re having fun and constantly learning, which is all we ever wanted anyway!