GenesisAlpacas.com
Title
Genesis Alpacas - Home - Show quality alpacas, knitting & crochet yarn, spinning rovings & fleece
Description
The following article tells the story of the Schmitt family's entry into the alpaca industry in 1999. Written by Alise Schmitt, the article appeared in the Getting Started feature of Alpacas Magazine, pg. 140, Winter 2001-2002 edition. Alpacas Magazine is The Official Journal of the Alpaca Owners and Breeders Association, Inc., and is available in bookstores nationwide.
An alpaca stood nose-to-nose with its owner... the animal's beautiful fleece backlit by the sunshine. This photo in our local newspaper was our introduction to alpacas. The accompanying article told of AlpacaPalooza, the show sponsored by the Alpaca Association of Western Washington, which we decided to attend. After viewing the alpacas, attending the "Alpacas 101" seminar, and speaking with many breeders, I was totally smitten.
I plunged headlong into an intensive quest for information. I spent hours on the Internet, reading everything I could. My husband, John, and I visited several farms. After each visit with alpacas, we would come home, look out at the green grass of our empty backyard, and say, "Boy! Wouldn't it be great to have some alpacas out there?" We assessed whether a move into alpacas was the right one for our children and us. For years, we thought how wonderful it would be to have acreage where our boys could spend the day outdooors running around in the fresh air, building "forts", and exercising their imaginations.
