Six, now almost seven years ago, after a lifetime of urban living, we had grown disenchanted with the city existence and felt that we needed a major life change. As two healthcare professionals, dedicated and involved in our careers, we knew it wouldn't always be like that and there would come a point in time when we'd "retire". Being the type of people who enjoy being active, we wanted to select a strategy that would not only provide a rewarding lifestyle, but would also have the potential for a satisfying, lucrative 2nd career. We weren't quite certain what that might be, and as it turned out, like many folks who own alpacas, we came upon them quite by accident. For us, it happened when Jerry came across an article in the New York Times about a couple in the Midwest who were raising alpacas. This story immediately peaked our interest and we began to conduct some additional research. It wasn't long after that when we learned that an alpaca show was going to be held at the Big E (Eastern States Exposition) in West Springfield, Massachusetts. It was there that we saw our first alpacas up close and personal. We were absolutely captivated by these adorable, gentle, and curious creatures. We had the opportunity to talk with many of the alpaca breeders in attendance. Raising alpacas as a lifestyle and as a business was very intriguing to us. Our interest and excitement over the prospect of alpaca ownership and country living continued to grow. Over the upcoming months we read anything and everything we could find about alpacas. We visited dozens of alpaca farms. In the spring of 1999 we took the plunge and put our city home on the market. We purchased a foundation herd of alpacas and acquired a 160-year-old farm in the foothills of the Schoharie Valley. There, Serendipity Farm became our home as well as home to our 7 newly acquired huacaya alpacas.

Since purchasing our foundation herd and moving to Serendipity Farm, we have continued to grow and diversify our herd's genetics. There have been 20 births on our farm. Unlike breeders who specialize in only one type of alpaca (i.e. full Peruvian) we have elected not to limit our selection based on geographic boundaries. Instead we have focused on making those breeding decisions that we felt would help us achieve our goal of continuously improving our herd. Our philosophy is that the objective of our breeding program should be that the next generation should be superior to the last. We have, over the years, selected what we consider to be the finest quality Bolivian, Canadian, Chilean, Peruvian and North American alpacas. Although you will find a number of white alpacas residing on our farm (and they are beautiful), our focus is color diversity - velvety blacks, rich chocolate browns, golden fawns, heather shades of silver and charcoal gray, and of course unique "fancies". To that end, recognizing each female is unique in color, fleece, and conformational characteristics, we carefully select from Champion herdsires across the county the one that will best complement the female we are looking to breed. Our bloodlines include Royal Fawn, Lanark's Expresso, Danko, Shakleton, El Cuba (El Moustachio), Cuzco (Lustrusso), Silver Supreme, Shaquille, Peruvian Black Mesquite, and Peruvian Normandy. Our breeding program selections are influenced not only by the desire to produce superior fleeces, conformation, etc, but also to achieve our goal of producing healthy, robust, and reproductively sound alpacas. We show our alpacas and, like most breeders, enjoy taking home show ribbons. However, we are equally focused on breeding alpacas with gentle/ calm dispositions, those easily managed and handled, and "people friendly". This criterion is also a major consideration when making selections for our breeding program.

We currently have a nice selection of 30 alpacas offered for purchase. We personally provide our alpacas with all their hands on care and with lots of individualized oversight and attention. All alpacas on our farm are halter trained. Many of them routinely make "public appearances" at fairs, parades, and visits to senior centers and nursing homes. All of our alpacas are very accustomed to and comfortable with interactions with the many visitors regularly coming to our farm.

We are a full service farm offering the sale of foundation, production, show and companion alpacas. We also provide boarding and breeding services, as well as education and support, including farm development and new breeder assistance. In addition, from our farm store and via e commerce folks can purchase alpaca fleece, roving, yarn, sweaters, capes, scarves, hats, gloves and mittens, socks and other apparel as well as home accessories, all made from what we call, “ quite possibly the most luxurious fiber in the world”, alpaca.

For us, since moving to Serendipity Farm and acquiring our alpacas, the time has passed very quickly. Each day we are thankful for the path that we were offered and have taken. Most importantly, we feel very blessed to have these amazing and unique creatures as part of our lives, work, family and friendships. Alpaca ownership is truly a lifestyle, and It may not be right for everyone. However, our goal has been to introduce as many people as possible to alpacas and to assist those for whom the lifestyle is right in making alpaca ownership a reality. As Jerry so often says, " If this Bronx boy can do it, anyone can".

We thank you for your interest in our farm and our alpacas. We hope to meet you, and we invite you to visit us at the farm.

Judy and Jerry