Robin knew she would be an alpaca farmer from the time she was very young. She fell in love with them after making family trips to various Maine fairs where alpacas were featured. Her dream of an alpaca farm began early in life. I (Corry) discovered these wonderful creatures much later in life at the Common Ground Fair. They absolutely intrigued me and Robin's passion for them was contagious. Robin is a planner and a strategist. She always has a running “to do” list. When I first met her, she had a poster on her office wall outlining her “Goals of a Lifetime”. Owning alpacas was on that list. But how could she do it? She was busy in corporate America management with a fortune 500 company. How could she possibly become an alpaca farmer? She made a list of things that would need to be accomplished to makeher dream happen.

Robin needed to learn as much as possible about all aspects of the alpaca business. Over the next few years she would attend seminars, classes, travel to other farms, call and e-mail other farmers, subscribe to periodicals, and familiarize herself with the industry. Then, after a 21 year career with the same company, she took early retirement to make her dream happen.

In 2004 she enlisted the help of friends and family volunteering weekends for a summer and fall, a beautiful barn was built and pastures were plowed. I was one of those volunteers. I did roofing, siding, paneling…all things I had no idea how to do only a year earlier. Seeing me with a nail gun is similar to seeing a toddler driving a car. My background is in human resources and marketing. I learned the fine art of construction.

Robin's dream became my dreamas well. I sold my house in the city and moved to the country. From then on, all we could talk about was alpacas. (Just ask our families). Buying the animals was the next step to take. But when? Are we ready? How will we know? All very good questions - with not such good answers. To gain more “hands-on” experience, we rendered our services to a farm just a few miles from us. We did the chores when they were away or needed help. They taught us all about the animals, the procedures, protocol, giving shots, birthing, illnesses, you name it. With their guidance and their trust with us handling their animals, we built the confidence we hadn’t had to that point.

Then one day, things just came together. Sometimes you can’t plan the timing – it just sneaks up on you. Within a few days we owned our first 3 alpacas. We delivered the first cria on our farm 2 months later - an 18 ½ pound boy, Gabriel. We’re pleased to have our families – grandparents, parents and children - involved in the farm. With both of our backgrounds being in HR, working with people and educating seems to come naturally. When it is about alpacas it is magic.