Nestled on the eastern slope of Sonoma Mountain in the Valley of the Moon, Debbie and Mark Emery are living the simple life, enjoying every minute of it.
We’d like to introduce you to our foundation herd:
Our Goal:
To breed Alpacas for the continued improvement of body conformation and fleece quality.
We hope you will stop by for a visit sometime to enjoy Brookfarm with us!
Watch us grow...
We began considering the alpaca business towards the end of 2005 and actually started visiting local ranches
in February 2006. The plan was to bring the Brookfarm name back to reality ~ the farm name that Mark's
grandparents used for the original 33 acres when the thriving egg farm was active and Grand Father raised
a few beef and many other animals.
Our 11 acres of the farm had been used over the years for casual farming with Nubian dairy goats, New Zealand Red rabbits, some geese, ducks, chickens; even a “Shoshone the pony”, and Vic a beautiful rhone horse. For years, the chickens remained along with assorted dogs and cats; Lance and Rhody being the current canine Yellow Lab residents.
With Mark's retirement from the fire service, we decided to bring Brookfarm back to a working farm, beginning with Alpacas, and possibly venturing into other products, like grapes, lavender, or other fiber animals, and maybe even some meat goats, beef or lamb for the freezer -- time will tell.
Our first Alpaca farm visit was to Alpaca Shire on Burndale Road in Sonoma. After researching AlpacaNation and Calpaca for local ranches, Debbie, daughter Sarah and her friend Tiffany, paid a visit to see Vicki Arns at Alpaca Shire. 3.5 hrs later, the girls headed back home to Oakland, and Debbie back to Glen Ellen, with "the wheels turning". Pooh of the Shire had "bitten" Debbie, with "the bug". She was the sweetest animal, just standing there and putting her nose to Debbie's shoulder, being very inquisitive. Much research, and several farm visits and a few Alpaca shows later, we started negotiating a contract for Pooh in May 2006 and to tell a few family and friends about our new venture. The filing of the fictitious business name brought out many curious questions from others at our farmer's market group, and the word slowly got out.
Fencing was minimal on the ranch, and what did exist was in disrepair. So, the monumental task of Ranch set up began. We hope you will enjoy following along to see our progress on the Brookfarm Blog. You can see how everything comes together and our first Alpacas arrive in December 2006, as well as our new Livestock Guardian Dog (LGD) Maremma puppy, Contessa di Brookfarm ~ Tessa. When everything is truly in place, we hope to have a Grand Opening and feature the newest addition of four girls purchased in June 2007 and our 2007 crop of crias born in September and October: Midnight Obsidian (Sidian), Harvest Moonstone (Harvey), and Dasie Mae (named after Mark’s grandmother, Dasie, and Debbie’s mother, who’s middle name is Mae). Meanwhile, enjoy Brookfarm via the Brookfarm Blog.
Many thanks....
To Vicki and Don Arns of Alpaca Shire for the purchase of Pooh and Pearl, and all the help, advice, mentoring, and friendship.
To Rick and Pam Brady of Oak Valley Alpacas for the purchase of Miski, the lengthy farm tour, their nursing our first cria Rocky along with his “boo-boo” and all their help and guidance.
We look forward to working in the future with new and upcoming breeders in our valley, just like us, Mark and Heather Sowinski of Alpacas of Sonoma.
Many thanks to all the other breeders who have provided us with farm visits, tips, packets on animals, and much, much more, like Flying Dutchman Alpaca’s in Salinas, CA and Pacific Sun Alpacas in Duncan, BC. You have given us the example of excellent customer service, and shared your love of these wonderful animals.
