On Monday February 13th, 2012 a group from the Vic Mahoney Centre teamed up with a group from the Foundations program to travel to Matheson, Ontario, to visit Dream Acres, a Alpaca farm.
An Alpaca is a domesticated species that is native to South America and resembles a small Llama in appearance. Alpaca Fiber is used to make knitted and woven items and looks simular to wool. An adult generally is 81 to 88 cm in height and weighs an average of 145 pounds.
Our little excursion started by having lunch together at Tim Hortons in South Porcupine. After lunch we drove to Matheson to meet Gary and Jo-Anne Burton the owners of Dream Acres. They took the group and introduced us to their Alpacas.
We had a tour of the farm and were able to get up close and personal with the Alpacas and meet the chickens. As we were getting our tour, Gary had prepared a bon fire for us where we were able to roast weiners and enjoy a pipping hot glass of hot choclate.
Through conversations with Jo-Anne, she told the group that she uses the fur to create all kinds of woolen goods such as socks and mitts to sell to the public.
“These animals are so different looking and cute, they are definatly an attraction.”
The Burtons are happy to see the walk in traffic from the convenience of being on the highway, with many coming spontaneously to buy products or even just to marvel at the animas themselves.
We were able to take a picture at the farm with the group sitting on a bails of hay in the Hay Shed.
Julie Lauzon-Fillion
Vic Manhoney Centre Employee
We went to Matheson where we saw chickens and alpaca’s and we had hotdogs on a fire pit. They had a hay barn to put all the hay in it holds 1000 piles of hay or bushles. We all drank hot choclate and fed the alpacas. They come from Peru they are used to the cold and hot weather. They used their fur to make socks mitts and hats. Alpacas are very friendly. As the owners are not interested in breeding they keep the males and females seperated so they wont have anymore.
Kevin
Individual Supported
