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Turns out the furry, friendly Seussian creatures are eco-friendly, too!
Whenever my daughters and I drive past Island Alpaca (we live just down the street), someone’s sure to yell “Wave to the alpacas!”
Island Alpaca is small — 19 acres of pasture, barn, store, animals and a whole system of reuse and repurposing. Visitors can walk through the property, greet and pet alpacas, read educational plaques at their own pace, compare alpaca fleece samples, and see how different alpaca fiber can look and feel.
An Idea Born at the Ag Fair
Barbara Ronchetti founded Island Alpaca in 2004, but her interest began years earlier, at one of the annual Martha’s Vineyard Agricultural Society Fairs.
“I had met a few alpacas at the Ag Fair more than 25 years ago, and I was committed at first sight,” Barbara tells me. “I knew a little something about llamas, but had no knowledge about alpacas. I certainly did not know how sweet they are and how luxurious their fleece is.”
At the time, she says, there were few public animal experiences for Islanders. That combination of tender alpaca temperament and fabulous fleece made a lightbulb go off for Barbara: What if people could meet alpacas up close and learn what makes them such useful, gentle, and productive animals?
“It soon became my goal to share with the public how truly unique they are,” she says.
She began to plan her farm, and worked with a local architect to design a barn suited for a small herd. But then a local builder suggested she search for a reclaimed barn. After what she describes as a marathon day of cold-calling antique and reclaimed-lumber distributors, she found the perfect frame: a 40-by-60-foot threshing barn from Pennsylvania. She trucked in the 200-year-old, hand-hewn post and beam oak frame and had it reconstructed on the farm.
“Now about 220 years old, this former threshing barn has been the ideal barn for the alpacas,” Barbara says, adding, “It was such a pleasure to recycle and resurrect the beautiful hand-hewn antique beams, all cut by hand. Ax marks are visible, and only the original wooden pegs were used to rebuild the barn.”
The result is a working barn with its own agricultural history, adapted for a new farm purpose on Martha’s Vineyard. Ronchetti adds that the farms that delivered the first alpacas jokingly called it “The Alpaca Hilton.”
Gentle on the Land
Alpacas are relatively low-impact livestock: Their feet are padded rather than hooved, and, as the farm’s signs explain, the alpacas’ shorter tongues allow them to nip the grasses off close to the ground without pulling up roots the way some other livestock do. Alpacas also tend to use communal manure piles, which makes cleanup easier. And that manure makes excellent fertilizer, turning waste into something useful.
What’s more, Barbara says, “Alpacas are easy to care for. Their friendly nature makes them an easy introduction to livestock.”
There’s a lot to learn: My daughters know they cannot feed the alpacas, but they can pet them, observe them, and ask questions. On one recent visit, they wanted to know why some alpacas spit. (It’s how they express irritation, usually with other alpacas.)
Shearing, Fiber, and the Farm Store
Each spring, Island Alpaca shears its herd. Barn manager Taylor Hughes explains, “Shearing takes place after winter passes, when we literally take off their coats. It is an easy process, and it does not harm or hurt the animals in any way.” A professional alpaca shearer comes from New Hampshire for a day, and each alpaca takes about 10 minutes to shear. Removing the fleece helps keep the animals cool in summer, while giving their coats enough time to grow back before colder weather returns.
Once the shearing is completed, the process of turning fleece into fiber begins. First, the best part of the fleece, called the “blanket” (because it comes mainly from the part of the animal that would be covered by a saddle blanket), must be “skirted.” Skirting involves removing soiled, matted, and unusable bits of wool from the fleece. Next, Barbara and her staff sort the fleece by quality and send it to the mills to be woven into yarn.
“We keep all the fleece stored by the name of the alpaca,” Barbara says. “If you like the color of Leonardo, you can visit our farm store and find his yarn to purchase.”
At the time of our recent visit, the farm had yarn from Leonardo (fawn), Anika (white), and Horatio (black) in stock from the previous year’s harvest. That traceability makes for one of the most interesting parts of the Island Alpaca experience: Visitors can meet the animals, pat them, touch fleece samples, learn how fiber quality is measured, and then walk into the shop and see what that fleece can become.
The larger lesson is not simply that a souvenir can be soft. It is that clothing starts somewhere. It comes from animals, land, care, labor, and time.
Alpaca fiber is valued because it is soft, warm, durable, lightweight, moisture-resistant, and hypoallergenic. One sign at the farm describes the fleece as a “hollow-cored fiber, making it much warmer,” as well as “lighter and stronger than wool.” Another notes that alpaca yarn “will not pill over time” and is “thermal even when wet.”
Farm manager Lexi DaSilva explains that “locally knit and Island Alpaca products are labeled and grouped in a specific section, while the store also carries alpaca products from other producers.” In order to allow as many visitors as possible to buy alpaca products, the store also carries some items made from less costly yarn blends (as opposed to 100% alpaca).
Each fall, my family and I go back to pick out new winter hats and gloves. My daughters can connect those pieces to the animals they visited and the fleece they touched. But the larger lesson is not simply that a souvenir can be soft; It is that clothing starts somewhere. It comes from animals, land, care, labor, and time.
Alpaca Beans and a Low-Waste Loop
Island Alpaca also makes use of what the animals leave behind. The farm’s signs describe alpaca manure as “one of the richest organic fertilizers available” and say that this “gardener’s delight, an exceptional fertilizer” does not need to be composted before being used in the garden. ”
Barbara says the farm sells dried “alpaca beans” in 5-pound and 15-pound bags, as well as by the bucket when not dried. Gardeners can place the dried beans under a new plant or around the stem of an existing plant, or steep the beans overnight in water to make a fertilizer tea.
Even loose fleece left after shearing has a second life. We learned that birds gather it for their nests. It is a small detail, but one that helps show the larger loop: the alpacas graze, grow fleece, are shorn, produce manure, and support both gardeners and nesting birds.
Breeding for Fiber, Health, and Temperament
Those blue ribbons hanging around the farm (first place prizes won at the Ag Fair) are tributes to all the work that goes into raising first-rate alpacas. And it all begins with the breeding program. Island Alpaca’s materials describe a goal of producing “the healthiest, most exemplary, show-quality animals with the best conformation, fleece, and gentle dispositions.”
When breeding the animals, farm staff pay particular attention to fleece quality, sending samples to a textile-testing lab to measure micron count — the industry term for the diameter of the fiber, which determines its softness. (And they’re happy to talk with visitors about such fleece attributes as density, crimp, uniformity, and luster — all qualities that affect the value and feel of alpaca wool.)
“When we have a birth in process at the farm, the baby alpaca, called a cria, is typically standing and attempting to walk less than 20 minutes after delivery,” Barbara says. “We put out flags when a newborn arrives so that people can meet our new babies.”
For visitors, the flags are a sweet Island ritual. For the farm, the crias are also part of a longer agricultural story involving herd health, genetics, fleece quality, and the next generation of animals.
What Visitors Take Away
At Island Alpaca, people can experience the farm at different levels. Some visitors may come because alpacas are gentle and funny to watch. Others may spend time reading the signs about grazing, fiber testing, manure, shearing, and the barn, coming away with a clearer understanding of natural fibers and what it takes to produce them. Children may notice the animals first, then the fleece, then the shop.
For our family, Island Alpaca has become a regular part of our Island life. My daughters always wave when we pass. They like checking on the live alpaca camera at home. But as they get older, they are also starting to see the bigger picture: the animals in the pasture, the fleece in their hands, the hats and gloves in the shop, the fertilizer in the garden, and the old barn holding it all together.
Visit
Island Alpaca, 1 Head of the Pond Road, Oak Bluffs
Open daily year-round, 10 am – 4 pm, rain or shine.
Visit islandalpaca.com for current hours, visitor information, the alpaca cam, and details on farm experiences and daily alpaca walks and talks, and other events (alpaca yoga!).
