About Us
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Nicola |
We love our fuzzies! Sallie's Fen Alpacas (a fen is a special type of wetland) got started in 1994 with a rare rose grey female (Candace) pregnant by the famous grey stud Peruvian Macusani, and a companion gelding. Candace's first cria was our beautiful silver grey herdsire Sallie's Fen Jed. Jed has gone on to sire many beautiful cria, most of them silver or black. Candace is now a great grandma several times over! Plus, at nearly eleven years old, she gave us her 8th gorgeous cria, Iceni Our aim is to breed quality colorful huacaya alpacas, while staying small (less than 20). The most common color for alpacas is white, but you wouldn't know it from visiting our farm! We now own a total of 16 alpacas, including 6 proven females. They are fuzzy huacaya style alpacas, with pedigreed lineages going back to Chile, Peru and even Australia. They are all beautiful animals (not to mention achingly cute!) and come in a wide range of natural colors from shiny blue-black through rich red-browns to silver grey and soft light fawn. We enjoy showing our alpacas and have won many awards at the various alpaca shows, including several coveted blue ribbons for halter classes and performance classes. We are very much looking forward to showing off this summer's crop of babies at the upcoming shows! Nicola grew up in suburban London and, immediately after completing her Ph.D. in Chemistry in 1990, moved to the US to work at the University of California. Jack grew up in the suburbs of New York City, has a PhD in Geology, and is an Associate Research Professor at the Climate Change Research Center at UNH in Durham. Both Nicola and Jack are research scientists in the field of atmospheric chemistry. They met while doing atmospheric pollution field research for NASA. We find alpacas to be "the perfect escape from the tyranny of meetings, labs and our computer screens! Getting out in the fresh air year-round with the gentle alpacas and their curious, energetic offspring, as well as being involved in the entirely different close-knit alpaca community, provides an excellent balance for our work as scientists." Jack finds his alpaca endeavors are "a whole lot more tangible than what I do as a researcher. I can say I've got this legacy - I've published a certain number of papers - but that is not something you can reach out and touch, not like beautiful animals and alpaca-fiber hats and sweaters" he says. Nicola is a hand-spinner and loves to crochet her yarn. She sells her handcrafted goods made from the fleeces of animals on the farm. Hand spinners love the natural-colored alpaca fleeces and ready-to-spin roving. |
| As a small farm we can give you
the time and individual attention you need to help you get started with your
alpaca adventure. If we don't have the mix of animals you are looking for, we will help you find the right combination from the many other small farms that are sprouting up nearby. We love to talk about alpacas! Nicola and Jack ------------------------------------------------------------------------------ Why "Sallie's Fen"? - the fen (wetland) accessed from our property (and named for Sallie because she was living here) has been studied by scientists for more nearly 2 decades. For more info and photos see here |
