Visitors to Alpaca Farm Leave with Warm and Fuzzy Feel
By: Allie Eldredge
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ATHENS, Ohio — If you are looking for ways to stay warm in the cold months to come, local business owner Marilyn Wentworth might have an answer for you: her alpacas.
Wentworth, owner and resident of the Alpacas at Phoenix Hill Farm, invited the public to her annual open house Sunday, October 14, to showcase her Alpaca fur products.
She said she wanted to breed and sell the Alpacas when she got her first three back in 2007, but she didn’t anticipate opening a shop.
“After we sheared them I had their fiber made into Alpaca yarn, and people love the Alpaca socks and the yarn, so I thought maybe I should sell some,” she said.
Wentworth sells yarn, hats, gloves, scarves and more in her shop. While some of the products are imported, most are made from the fur she shears from her own 11 alpacas.
Her business season starts in May when the Alpacas are sheared. She cleans and sorts the fur and sends it to a mill where the yarn is made.
Wentworth also takes her business on the road displaying her wares at the Dairy Barn, the Athens Mall and the Country Club.
“It’s a lot of lugging, you know, heavy work too,” she said. “Everything is heavy and everything I do is uphill.”
Despite the hard work, Wentworth said she enjoys what she does.
“I just wanted to do something different and I love being outside,” she said. “So this is a whole lot of fun for me, it’s a pretty good way to spend your time.”