MFC Fiber Farm Feature: Hollyhock Farm Alpacas in Becker Minnesota

Teresa & Darryl Kukowski
Hollyhock Farm Alpacas
Becker, MN 55308

Email: teredarl[at!]sherbtel.net
Web-site: hollyhockalpacas.com



Other places online: Blog, new online store (coming soon), Facebook, Etsy-Holly Hock Alpacas, & Etsy-Alpaca Felting Kits.

About the farm...
My husband and I brought our first alpacas home in 2002 - 2 pregnant females. Since then we have had many babies (called crias) born on our little farm in central Minnesota. We own un-related males, but all our other alpacas are the offspring of those first 2 females. You can see our alpaca family tree on our website.


In 2006, I left the corporate world to work full time in the alpaca business. Besides breeding and raising the animals, I work with their wonderful fiber. We shear the alpacas every spring - even in Minnesota, they would be way too hot in the summer if they were not shorn annually.


I enjoy spinning yarn for sale and for knitting. With the yarn, I knit and weave. I make hats, mittens, scarves, wrist warmers, shawls, baby blankets, socks and hats. I felt the fiber into cat toys, around handmade soap and felt hats and mittens for extra warmth. I also dye much of the white yarn myself using natural dyestuff. I grow my own indigo, I gather black walnut husks, goldenrod , marigold flowers and more for dyeing. Nature provides a wonderful variety of plants that will dye yarn in beautiful hues. The art and science of dyeing is very fascinating and satisfying to me. The completed items are very warm, beautiful, itch resistant, and will last many years.

We try to create a small carbon footprint by using a local mini-mill, purchasing extra fiber locally, and picking or growing my own dye plants. We have a large veggie garden that we fertilize with the manure from the alpacas. Very little goes to waste on our little farm. I've even put together nesting material for birds from alpaca fiber and alpaca yarn leftovers.