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Why "Graceland"! By Laila V Roukounakis, Graceland Farm Alpacas Most people know that Elvis Presley’s home in Memphis, Tennessee is called Graceland, and I am asked all the time if there is a connection. The answer to that is "Yes"! Exactly what that connection is, will remain a mystery….. Graceland Farm was established in the spring of 2000 when I bought my first young female. Over the next several months I purchased three more and then the first cria arrived, now that was exciting. Alpaca Fever had taken hold and I quickly found out there was no cure. Now I needed to buy a farm and the logical choice was Maine since my alpacas were already here and boarding with Morelia Candia at Andes Alpaca Farm. The old farmhouse and barn next door was for sale and I decided this was where I wanted to be and finally bought it in January 2004, started remodeling and moved into it in September ’04 Having been a banker for the past 15 years I knew that I also wanted to continue that career and recently went back to work for a large banking corporation, but every day I look forward to getting home, changing into jeans and muck boots and heading to the barn.  I grew up in Norway (the country), not Norway, Maine and spent a lot of time on the farms
that surrounded my home. I loved the open spaces and being around the animals, my dream
was to someday have my own farm. Did not know I would be raising alpacas, did not even
know they existed! Now there is nothing better that sitting in the pasture on a warm
summer day, cursing the black flies, and enjoying the antics of the cria pronging and
playing around me.Then there is the FIBER, I learned early in my life how to work with wool, scouring it, carding, spinning it into yarn and weaving. Now I won’t touch any fiber other than alpaca, I guess I have become an “alpaca snob”, but haven’t we all? Recently I learned the fine art of dyeing yarn, a whole new venture that I will be exploring much more. Now for the ‘down-side’ of the alpaca business…….selling my little beauties! Sure it puts $$ in the bank, but parting with them is really hard, I wish I could keep them all. My goal is to eventually have a foundation herd of 15-20 females so I can seriously consider making it a full time business, also concentrating on producing finished product from the fiber in the form of knitted and woven clothing and home décor. |
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