National Alpaca
Farm Day is held every year
on the last weekend in September.
For 2009 the dates will be: Saturday and Sunday, September 26 and 27.
Here is the official NAFD page on AOBA's web site: National Alpaca Farm Days Web site
(note: Farm-search portion of site only works during the month of September each year.)
Here's our link on AOBA's National Alpaca Farm Days web site: Silver Thunder Alpacas Farm Day Page
(Switch to "Satellite View", zoom in, and you can see what we look like from outer space!) : Silver Thunder Map
2008 National Alpaca Farm Day was another successful event. We would like to thank all the visitors that came by over the weekend of September 27 and 28, 2008. When we added them up, we had about 100 visitors throughout the weekend. Weather was cool and friendly (not hot like last year), though rain threatened on Saturday morning, and a passing squall had us closing a tad early on Saturday evening. But everyone had fun and a lot of people got to meet the alpacas.
Those who came on Saturday afternoon were also able to meet spinner and fiber artist Tara Swiger from Johnson City, who creates and sells beautiful handmade yarns through her Blonde Chicken Boutique online store. For instance, check out this handsome yarn that she made: "Lost". It's made in part from our Arrow, otherwise known as "local (naturally brown) undyed alpaca" in the yarn description. Many other luscious yarns on her site, so have a look. On Farm Day, Tara sold her colorful yarns and demonstrated yarn-making on the spinning wheel. Some folks even got to try their hand at spinning too. (It's harder than it looks. Tara makes it look easy.)
We had a blast on the weekend, talking to lots of folks who came by to see the alpacas. Unfortunately we were too busy to take pictures. (Seems to happen every year.) So we can't show you what it looked like. You'll just have to come by for yourself next September. See you then!
2008 Farm Day Update: Watch for a mention of Silver Thunder Alpacas in an upcoming story in ALPACAS Magazine. We get quoted in a story they are writing about National Alpaca Farm Day. Whoo hooo!
Here's info from the 2007 Farm Day:
Silver Thunder Alpacas would like
to thank all those who visited our farm on Saturday,
September 29th and Sunday, September 30th, 2007. Folks came from
all over the area to meet our friendly alpacas. We had baby carrots for them
to hand feed the alpacas and being up close allowed them to sink their fingers
into their soft fleece and see why alpaca fiber is so highly prized. We had
fleece and yarn samples to inspect and an all-day spinning wheel demonstration
by local hand spinner Chris Feller. Everyone was able to feel their wonderful fleece and
some even got to watch them play (when it wasn't too hot.) Folks came to learn
why alpacas are such a desirable livestock, and why they are especially good
for those on small acreage farms.
Silver Thunder Alpacas celebrated
National Alpaca Farm Day for 2007 on Saturday, September
29th, from 10am until 5pm. (We'd like to thank Chris Feller for the spinning
demonstration on Saturday.) On Sunday, September 30th
the farm was open from 1pm to 4pm to visit and feed the alpacas.
We had a blast. It was a huge success.
We will look forward to National Alpaca Farm Day every year from now on. If
you missed this year, well . . .
We'll do it again next year! Save
the dates September 27 and 28, 2008. Come see us again for next year's National
Alpaca Farm Day.
Please come by for
a visit any time. Just give us a call.
The Alpacas would love to meet you.
Newsflash!
We were pleased
to be featured in a radio interview on Tuesday morning, September 25, 2007 when
we got to talk about alpacas on radio station WJCW, am 910, Tri-Cities Talk
Radio, out of Johnson City, Tennessee. Sometime after 8:10 in the morning we
received a phone call from Carl Swann and Dave Hogan and they said, "Hey,
Chuck, you ready to go? You're on right after the break." And thus we launched
into a live radio broadcast of their morning show "Thinking Out Loud",
informing East Tennessee about interesting things going on in the area. We talked
for maybe ten minutes about alpacas and why we raise them and how a couple from
California came to be living in good old Upper East Tennessee.
Carl Swann and
Dave Hogan were superb hosts and made it easy to talk about the alpacas. Thanks
Carl and Dave for being so friendly and professional. We would like to thank
them for the opportunity to talk about Silver Thunder Alpacas and for getting
information out there about National Alpaca Farm Day. You can still hear the
broadcast if you'd like, by downloading a podcast of the interview from the
station's web site: www.wjcw.com
Newsflash Part Two!
We were featured
in an OUTSTANDING article in the Greeneville Sun about "Alpaca Farms in
Greene County". Timed for release in the days leading up to National Alpaca
Farm Day, the article ran in the Agricultural section of the Sun on Thursday,
September 27th, 2007. It featured three of the alpaca farms in Greene County,
including yours truly, Silver Thunder Alpacas, and featured extensive interviews
and really nice photos of our alpacas. It was a large story, nearly a full page,
and was very accurate and complete in its coverage of alpacas and the farms
here in Greene County, Tennessee. We'd like to thank Stephany Napier for her
wonderful story.
Visit an Alpaca
Farm near you.
And if you're in or near Greene County, then we invite you to visit us here
at Silver Thunder Alpacas.
For more info on
National Alpaca Farm Day you can visit a special web site, only available during
the month of September: www.alpacafarmday.com
When the site is
operational, only during September each year, it's very easy to use. To find
a farm near you, click on the link for your state and you will be shown all
the participating farms, each with it's own clickable map. This will be an annual
event held the last weekend of every September. The first year, 2007, there
were more than one thousand farms participating throughout the country. Here
in North East Tennessee there were five farms between the Smokies and Tennessee's
northern border. Three of these are very close to the Tri-Cities, including
one in Washington County and two in Greene County (and one of those would be
US, Silver Thunder Alpacas.) Please come and visit.
We'd
enjoy meeting you,
Chuck and Nancy
Silver
Thunder Alpacas
Greeneville, Tennessee
This
page last updated 8/20/09