Serendipity Alpaca Ranch in Ridgefield is preparing people for winter with warm blankets and scarves made from the wool of its animals.
The ranch started when Pam Conrad and her husband opened it with the intention of raising animals other than alpacas.
“My husband said, ‘when we retire, let’s raise buffalo,’” Conrad said. “And I said, ‘you’re crazy. I can sit on a horse. What are you going to do with 2,000 pounds of cantankerous meat?’”
Her husband, Robin, deployed to Iraq when he was 55 and that’s when Conrad visited an event at the Clark County Fairgrounds called Alpacalooza with her mother and stepfather.
“My mother and I fell in love with them,” Conrad said of the alpacas.
She took two alpacas home and when her husband returned, “the buffalo (idea) went bye-bye.” Since Conrad’s husband worked in real estate, she asked him to find a property that would be a good fit for alpacas. They then built a barn and since there was additional space, Conrad came up with the idea of a farm store, which is where she sells the blankets, scarves, socks, hats, and other items made of alpaca wool in a joint venture with her mother Karen Rice.
“We saw so many people raising, breeding, and showing alpacas, and there’s a lot of money in that, but we didn’t see anybody doing anything with the fiber,” she said. “We decided ‘let’s do a farm store around Christmas time,’ and we had such an overwhelming response, my husband said we needed more space. So we busted down a wall and I said ‘OK, girls, let’s make it work.’”
The ranch has been open for 11 years, while the farm store has been open for the past seven years.
After Conrad and Rice took the Washington State University class Living on the Land (LOL), the farm became part of the LOL Wazoo tour, “because it’s about stewardship of small properties.”
Although alpacas are native to Peru, Bolivia and Chile, Conrad purchased the animals from area farms which included La Finca in Vancouver.
One alpaca that stands out to Conrad is named Domingo, after the animal was born on a Sunday.
“No matter where he is on the farm, if I holler his name, he’ll come running,” Conrad said.
There’s also the alpaca named America, who she said loves to give kisses. As for Rapahoe, Conrad said she has considered using him for therapy or for entertainment at weddings.
With the items Serendipity sells, Conrad said the socks are always in high demand.
“You won’t see anything better for your feet,” she said. “It’s a natural fiber, so it breathes and it’s hollow. It’s warmer than regular wool, and it’s softer because it has fewer barbs.”
Alpaca fiber is also hypoallergenic because it doesn’t have lanolin, a material regular wool includes.
“It’s just a nice, natural fiber, and because it’s hollow, it wicks the moisture from your feet and evaporates,” Conrad said.
The socks are imported from Peru or purchased from American farms.
Although the socks aren’t made at the ranch, Rice knits, crochets, and needle felts items like scarves, hats and fingerless gloves. Sometimes, she also sells balls of yarn so people can make their own items.
Conrad said Dr. Scot Lubbers from Amazia Veterinary Service in Brush Prairie provides care to the animals, who runs the program Youth Efforts Against Hunger (YEAH). The nonprofit organization aims to inspire youth civic engagement through agriculture education to alleviate hunger. Serendipity has been involved with YEAH for the past few years and donates gift baskets to the organization.
Serendipity Ranch also has goats, chickens, dogs, and cats who reside on the farm.
The ranch is located at 2630 NE 253rd St., Ridgefield, and is open from 11 a.m. to 4 p.m., seven days a week.
