Cherol McManus, left, and Sarah Balser with 2-week-old cria, Ahjoomas Pax. “Peace is what we thought the world could use a little more of right now,” Balser said. Photo courtesy of Balser & McManus.
Want to visit? Call Cherol or Sarah at 651-258-4254
or email info@aafmn.org
by Michele St. Martin and Amy Farrar
Babies were Plan A. When that didn't work out for Sarah Balser and her partner, Cherol McManus, "we went to Plan B," Balser said.
Plan B involved the couple leaving their northeast Minneapolis home eight years ago for a 20-acre farm in Cannon Falls. "We always wanted to farm," Balser said.
"We weren't sure how welcoming people would be ... but [they call us] 'the girls on the hill'... some people probably know we're lesbians, some suspect, some don't know, some don't care.'"
The women, who have been together for 13 years, spent their first three years on the farm raising organic chickens. "We mainly sold them to our friends in the cities," Balser said. "But we didn't like [their chickens] being killed."
Raising alpacas was not part of the original Plan B. Balser kind of stumbled onto the animals that would become their passion. A devoted knitter, she was attending the Shepherd's Harvest Sheep and Wool Festival, held every year in Lake Elmo, when she met her first alpaca. "I told Cherol, 'You have to see these animals,'" Balser remembered. "I kind of fell in love with them.
"I always describe an alpaca as very soulful," she said. "They are calm and gentle creatures. Easy to handle, almost shy."
Alpacas are a domesticated South American animal prized for their hair, or fleece. In this country, they are not eaten. That sat a lot better with Balser.
Eight years later, the Ahjoomas Alpaca Farm is home to Balser, McManus and 13 alpacas. The farm's name comes from the Korean word for "aunt"- they prize their role as aunts to friends' two children who were adopted from Korea. The first two crias, or baby alpacas, were named for the children.
McManus is home caring for the alpacas during the day, and works nights at a local company in shipping and receiving. Balser, a nurse, commutes an hour each way to her job with Blue Cross in Eagan. "The farm is my real job," Balser said, but her day job pays the bills and offers domestic partner benefits to its employees, which is important to the women. Their goal is for McManus to be able to quit her job and farm full-time.
Balser said she and McManus have "learned how to work well together. We have a real feeling of accomplishment. We enjoy each other's company and having the animals in common.
"Some of the things we've learned the hard way have been stressful ... but have strengthened us."
One day last summer, it all came together for Balser. "I dyed our yarn for the first time [the yarn came from an alpaca they'd bred and raised, and she'd spun the yarn herself]. I hung it to dry on our deck overlooking the alpacas grazing. The wind was blowing the yarn ... I thought, 'It doesn't get any better than this.'"
Later, she used the yarn to make scarves for her niece and nephew and their parents-each got a scarf made from the fiber of the animal named after them.
"Today, we often don't get to see how things are made. But here-we see the full circle of completion.
"I like that."
Reader Comments
Posted: Wednesday, May 28, 2008
Article comment by:
Wade Gease
Refreshing story of normal people making changes that work for them. Good job Ladies!
