Warning: You are about to take one of the best decisions you ever will in your entire life by not only seeing but learning about alpacas (and about a llama, too). Get prepared to fall in love with some of the world’s most cuddly, cutest creatures.
Hi everyone!
On a trip up to the Northeastern United States, my family and I happened to stop by an alpaca farm. We were driving on one of the back roads of Massachusetts when a road sign had a picture of a llama! How often does that happen?
As soon as I saw the sign, I told my father to keep a lookout for an alpaca farm. We were in an area with no cell reception, so I couldn’t look up the location. Finally, we drove for another five minutes until I got a single bar. After making a huge circle around the town and finding it on Google Maps, we arrived at the farm!
Shoutout to the Sweet Brook Farm! We were the only visitors on a Sunday night around 5 P.M. and the owner came out to show us the alpacas. To note, there was one llama. We won’t make the mistake of categorizing him with the alpacas. 😉
Welcome to Sweet Brook Farm
Not my farm (unfortunately), but here are the photos from the Sweet Brook farm. The farm is accessible, as I saw no steps or narrow paths. There was only a hill, but you can park your car on it to minimize any walking distance. By the way, we bought some amazing maple syrup from this farm. And some great alpaca fleece socks.
When we first got onto the farm’s property, we parked alongside one of the alpaca fields. These alpaca were neither into greeting us nor taking pictures. We found the owner of the farm and we made our way to the alpacas inside the farmhouse! It was a very hot day, so I don’t blame the alpacas for not wanting to be outside.
When the owner opened up the doors, all of the alpacas immediately stood up. Either they got so excited to see us or we scared them—probably the latter. Regardless, this became my perfect photo-op. Photos of me with the alpacas are not featured in this post, but rest assured, there were a ton of them (Thanks for the photography, dad!).
The owner happily answered all of the questions I had for him about his alpacas. It’s a family owned farm, and the alpacas are used for their fleece to make yarn. The farm has a shop inside of it that has products created using their alpacas’ fleece. I highly recommend seeing the shop while visiting. Try the maple syrup, too!
The average lifespan for an alpaca is between twenty-five to thirty years. At this farm, there are fifteen alpacas. Apparently, they’re docile animals. We didn’t get to see all fifteen, but we certainly saw enough to make my entire week.
They aren’t very tall animals, either. I’m about five feet and seven inches, and even I was taller than them. As you can tell from the photos, these alpacas look interested in us. Having worked with horses in the past, I think it’s because they think we have food. It’s a good thing I didn’t get too close to these alpacas with my phone, or else they might have tried to bite it (Once, I was taking a photo with a horse in Mt. Vernon, and the horse bit into my hat).
Special Photo Shoot
This alpaca model was very enthusiastic about getting in all of my photos. Not kidding, this girl was posing for each shot. She knew she was a star. Anytime you are having a bad day, just think about these guys and no doubt, you’ll feel better. Wait a minute… who’s the alpaca in the back?
This is why I love alpacas. And llamas. Not only are they warm, fuzzy, and adorable, but they have human expressions, too. The picture above is the perfect example of what I mean. That brown alpaca in the right corner is obviously a real mood.
…And the one llama
This llama was given to the owner as a gift from someone five years ago. He gives the alpacas a lot of company. I didn’t get to really get up close to him, but from far away, he seemed pretty chill. I think he’s a cool llama.
Don’t thank me, thank Mother Nature
I really love alpacas and llamas. It all started when I went on a vacation to Peru. As soon we got to Cusco, an indigenous city close by to Machu Picchu, I started seeing a lot of alpacas. Although I was suffering from extreme altitude sickness the entire trip (I even had to spend a day in the hospital there!), these alpacas and llamas made the trip much more enjoyable. Unfortunately, the day I was in the hospital was the day my family had an excursion planned to go pet an alpaca. My brother got to pet them but I didn’t. My dad sent me a picture of one while I set in my hospital bed. It’s okay… Kind of.
I hope you enjoyed the post! If you ever happen to be passing by Williamstown, Massachusetts visit Sweet Brook Farm to see the alpacas and get some maple syrup.
Have an amazing week! I realized I keep forgetting to add a quote to the end of my posts! Here’s a favorite one from an unknown author:
“You are not the troubles that happen to you. You are the magnificence unfolding. Allow it to happen.”