Our Story
Fluff Alpaca is a family-owned business that developed organically from our farm, Green River Hollow.
Suzanne and Bob Werner became interested in establishing a fiber farm when Suzanne, a lifelong knitter, attended the Dutchess County Sheep and Wool Festival and realized farming would dovetail well with their longtime dream of moving to the Berkshires. They purchased an old dairy farm in the beautiful town of Hillsdale, New York, located in the Hudson Valley on the edge of the Berkshire Mountains.
The Farm
The Hillsdale, New York farm encompasses over 80 acres of forest and pasture on the pristine Green River. The farm was a working dairy farm many decades ago and has been brought back to life by the Werners as they have fenced and revitalized the old pastures, added sheds and water hydrants, and repaired the existing buildings. Now home to over a dozen alpacas, a guardian llama and donkey, Icelandic horses, chickens, barn cats and house and farm dogs, the farm buzzes with activity each day as the new farmers do their daily rounds to care for their well-loved animals.
The primary product of the farm is alpaca fiber, which is spun into yarn and hand knit into various items sold at Fluff Alpaca.
The farm also sells eggs from its small flock of Buff Orpington and Australorp chickens.
The Werners are fortunate to lease part of their land to Golden Organics Ice Cream, a local small-batch ice cream producer, which is raising and soon milking a young herd of Golden Guernseys on the farm’s pastures.
Meet the Owner
When Suzanne Werner, the owner of Fluff Alpaca, first knitted with alpaca yarn in the 1980s, she knew it was a special fiber. Making a cabled sweater for her father, she became familiar with the fiber’s ability provide soft warmth without significant weight. And as the years went by and the sweater lasted, she realized it was also durable.
Fast-forward 30 years and Fluff Alpaca was born! And, of course, as a family affair, Bob and Suzanne's children, Emma, Jamie and Nathaniel, and their niece, Kit, have been involved with both the store and farm. The result has been a dynamic team that feels passionately about local artisans, the importance of agriculture in the Berkshires and Hudson Valley and, of course, alpacas.