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BERLIN – Laura Busky loves alpacas – farming them, making fiber art out of their fleece, and operating a successful business at North Brook Farm, 96 South St.
She won’t let a pandemic stop her, even if she has to do some things differently, like her Holiday Shoppe.
In 1983, Busky’s husband Mike bought the turn-of-the-century farmhouse that was once home to a chicken farm with some horses. The couple met in the early 1990s, and married in 1994. Mike had always wanted to return the property to an operating farm and, as a lifelong knitter, Laura liked the idea of having fiber animals.
“After some research, we learned that alpacas are sustainable, environmentally friendly and have a luxurious fleece. We were hooked,” she said.
North Brook Farm was established in 1997. For the first two years, farming was a part-time job. But in 1999, her job as a corporate accountant was moved to another state.
“I took this opportunity to try to launch my farm and fiber business instead of limping it along as a side hobby. I never looked back,” she said.
Laura said her 20 alpacas are “pretty flexible.” They are fed mornings and evenings and are otherwise mostly left to graze and grow fleece the rest of the day. They do have a feeding schedule, but “don’t seem to mind” when the Buskys are early or late – unless they’re more than a little late, when the alpacas will “line up and stare at the house to let us know,” Laura said.
She knits, spins and weaves fiber art that she sells. She credits her mother, who is 90 and lives with her on the farm, for introducing knitting, crochet, embroidery and sewing to her from a young age. Laura always enjoyed making things with her hands. As an adult, she feels “fortunate to be able to study some of these techniques in much more depth. There is so much to explore, and I find it fascinating as well as relaxing.”
“I find spinning is usually very meditative,” she added. “Knitting is very portable and depending on what I’m making can be mindless or mind challenging. Weaving can be pretty addictive and also either mindless or challenging, depending on the project.”
Her process also varies depending on the type of fiber art and exactly what she’s doing with it. She said she always has “a bunch of ideas floating around.” Sometimes those ideas are pressing and she immediately acts on it; other times, she thinks and plans for a long time first.
“Any project can morph into something unexpected if it doesn’t work out as planned,” she added.
Benefits of alpaca fiber
Laura said anything that can be made with sheep’s wool can also be made with alpaca fiber, including socks, gloves, hats, scarves, mittens, shawls, headbands, blankets, rugs, handbags, baskets and wrist warmers.
Alpaca fiber also has other benefits from sheep’s wool.
“It’s warmer, softer and stronger,” she said. “It’s a semi-hollow fiber, giving it wonderful insulative properties. It wicks moisture very well, and dries out faster than sheep’s wool.” Alpacas are hypoallergenic because they have no lanolin, the reason some people are allergic to sheep’s wool, and aren’t itchy.
Since 2000, Laura has had a Holiday Shoppe. It started on her porch, but expanded significantly over the last two decades, and now is usually set up in her “cozy basement.”
This year, it’s back outside due to COVID-19, near the shed by the driveway (or in the garage in really inclement weather).
Other changes include samples out for viewing, with Laura able to assist customers with other colors and styles available. They have UV sterilization protocols for anything someone tries on for size, but doesn’t buy. Customers are required to wear masks and use hand sanitizer before touching anything, limit their group to four people, and wait (by visiting the alpacas) if there’s another customer already there.
Touch-free checkout is available.
The Holiday Shoppe takes place on Saturdays from 10 a.m. to 2 p.m. until Christmas.
Fiber art can also be purchased by appointment and online. People can pre-order for pickup on the farm or at farmer’s markets, do shipping, or delivery locally within a 20-mile radius.
Laura sells year-round, online and in-person.
While Laura makes most items herself, she does offer some items from a local co-operative based in Massachusetts, which sources items throughout the country.
“It’s a great feeling to be able to provide happiness” to people when they find the perfect item for themselves or as a gift, Laura said.
There are challenges to being a farmer, artist, and a small business owner — even without coronavirus.
Especially this year, “the benefits are that I get to make my own schedule. I don’t always get to work on what I want to work on, but I can juggle things more than I could as a ‘9-to-5er.’ I also love what I do, most of the time, which is the biggest benefit of all.
“Farming helps keep me grounded and teaches me something new every day. Working with fiber is very therapeutic for me,” Laura added.
Busky grew up in Hudson and Mike in Shrewsbury, and both have local family. They “simply love Berlin for its strong agricultural ties and small town values.”
Mike still works “off farm,” as a senior mechanical engineer at Mevion Medical Systems in Littleton, designing and building cyclotrons for use in proton radiation, a cancer treatment. But at home, Laura said he is her “barn and fences guy,” who “basically keeps all systems on the farm running, including my looms” and does sales when she needs a break.
“I could not run the farm without him,” she said.
Find North Brook Farm at 96 South St., online at https://northbrookalpacas.com/, at winter farmer’s markets in Wayland and seasonally throughout the area.
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