Starting to grow in 2025…
We’re seriously obsessed with animals and food. Get to know us.
We want to build a model for a sustainable and effective pastoral lifestyle.
Our goal is to combine the magic of productive, gently grazing animals with regenerative farming techniques to provide the highest quality food and fiber products direct to our community, and to create a place where people can learn and grow memories.
FAQs
Why Alpacas and Sheep?
Alpacas are silly little land clouds that are gentle on the soil, produce ready-to-use fertilizer, and their annual fiber harvest is bountiful and unique. They’ll fit in well with our market garden.
Icelandic Sheep are a 3-purpose sheep breed, that will allow us to produce fiber and meat for market, as well as some dairy. Plus they’re the primary lawnmowers of the farm!
What exactly is fiber?
Fiber is the raw component of all your natural clothing. Small individual fibers of hairs that are milled together into longer strands of yarn, that can be transformed into finished products.
Alpaca fiber is luxuriously soft, light, warm, and hypoallergenic.
Icelandic Sheep fiber is known for its own strength and beauty with a distinct outer coat (the ‘tog’) and undercoat (the ‘thel’). Their fiber does not contain the high level of lanolin typical of common sheep breeds.
What’s unique about our animals?
We plan to compete and show our herd to demonstrate the success of our outcome-based breeding program focused on fiber productivity.
We want to open a fiber mill in the medium term with the express goal of farm-to-consumer products with no intermediaries.
Lambs from our flock will be processed at a USDA butcher with cuts available for purchase at market or at the farm.
Can I… Can I pet the Alpacas?
You can try.
Alpacas are unreasonably too cute to be as skittish as they are. We will offer a variety of ways to interact with our alpacas virtually and in-person at the farm! One of our goals is to share knowledge about these amazing creatures and the culture they come from.
What do you mean by ‘Regenerative Farming’?
Farming that’s all about soil health for now and future generations.
Our goal with Shimmering Hills Farm is to be proper stewards of our land. This is a complex subject we’ll expand on in videos. For now here’s what that means:
We’ll be operating a ~2 Acre Market Garden, bringing the highest quality produce to local farmers’ markets
We will accomplish this using “No-Till” and natural farming techniques that promote better overall ecological health of the land
How do I follow along?
The great part is, we’re the ones taking all the risks on this wild ride. You can follow the adventure on YouTube - Shimmering Hills Farm.
It all begins with an idea.
Everything has to start somewhere, here Piney walks around the future site of Shimmering Hills Farm talking about how the idea started.
We’ll see you soon in our new home in the Pennsylvania Wilds
#pacapower
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