- Hi everyone.
Welcome to North Carolina Weekend,
I'm Deborah Holt Noel.
High atop a peaceful mountain in Avery County
is a 10-acre farm that's fast becoming a refuge,
not only for the animals that live there
but for the humans who visit, as well.
Let's take a visit to Apple Hill Farm.
[mellow guitar]
- It's like a fantasy or a fairytale or something.
I mean, it looks like something that you open up,
"Once upon a time, there was--" and there's this farm.
[rooster crowing]
- [Deborah Voiceover] It's called Apple Hill Farm,
a 10-acre mountaintop property open to the public
by its owner, Lee Rankin.
When Lee and her son William purchased the property in 2001,
they knew immediately what they wanted to raise, alpacas.
- I think it's their eyes.
Their eyes are really, really big and deep and they just--
you feel like you could stare into them for hours.
- [Deborah Voiceover] As fate would have it,
their inventory was soon forced to expand.
- We had a actual mountain lion attack in 2003,
so we lost all alpacas except for one.
We started all over again with more alpacas,
and we added llamas to protect them
from the inside of the field,
donkeys to protect them on the outside of the field,
and goats as our sacrificial animal,
so that if mountain lions came back and needed food,
we had something for them to eat.
And by the end of that year,
we had taken on a horse, pregnant horse.
So we had horses, alpacas, llamas, donkeys, goats,
and the chickens.
[pig snorting]
- [Deborah Voiceover] There's also a pig called Mr. Pickles.
- He's a rescue, also.
He was at a breeding facility,
but something happened and his legs got crossed,
so they threw him out with a bunch of other pigs
who picked on him.
- [Deborah Voiceover] He's in good care at Apple Hill Farm,
so are the guests who have discovered
this mountaintop sanctuary.
- [Staff Member] We've got a yarn store,
where we have lots of knitters and crocheters come and shop,
but we've also got the farm,
where we're out working with the animals
and taking care of them.
And then we bring it all together
by giving guided walking tours of our farm.
- [Tour Guide] These guys help protect all of our alpacas.
- [William] And you go around and you meet the alpacas,
the llamas, the donkeys, the horses,
the chickens, the goats.
- Always kind of fun with a five-year-old,
a two-year-old, and seven-month-old.
- I really think so.
I had a great time and I'm an adult.
So I think it's awesome for kids, as well.
- [Deborah Voiceover] Entertainment isn't the only purpose
of the animals.
Some provide fleece that can be used for clothing,
like the goats.
- [Staff Member] We have nine Angora goat babies.
They are just about two-months-old now.
These guys are fiber animals
and we do shear them twice a year
'cause they grow an inch of hair a month.
- [Deborah Voiceover] And the alpacas.
- We have 21 alpacas total.
We raise them for their fiber.
They're shorn once a year and we take all that fiber
and we either have it spun into yarn
or we take it to a co-op that makes them into socks,
dryer balls, and all kinds of great products.
- And when we send that off,
we have it spun into yarn, we do it by animal.
So when you're out on the tour, you can see Billy
and then you can see Billy's fiber
in the store in yarn-form.
We can wind this for you.
- You can do that here?
- We can, absolutely.
- [Customer] Look at that.
- [Deborah Voiceover] Knitters and crocheters come
from far and wide to purchase their specialty yarns,
but that's only the beginning
of the treasures you'll find there.
- We not only have our locally raised eggs,
we usually have honey from our bees
and some other products selected from the area.
And then our big seller is socks.
We have hiking socks, we have yoga socks,
we've got sports socks,
all kinds of things made from alpaca fiber.
It's got a hollow core, so it insulates
without trapping heat, so you don't get too hot
in the summertime.
It also wicks away moisture,
so they'll keep you nice and dry when you're out
in the hot summer sun.
- [Deborah Voiceover] The best takeaway, though,
has nothing to do with merchandise,
and everything to do with some of life's
most simple pleasures.
- Well, I think in our society,
when it's so heavily technological,
that kids, I think, are missing that hands-on
experience of learning.
- To show my children where eggs come from,
where yarn comes from, how the world works.
- And the way that our ancestors grew up
and knowing how to prepare their food
and how to just take care of themselves
and be self-sustainable.
- So Apple Hill Farm is a place where people can come
and get back in touch with that
and have an experience of the mountains, of the air,
of the land, of the plants, or an Angora goat, an alpaca,
a pig that makes them laugh.
It's just a chance to get back in touch
and that is a huge gift to be able to give that to people.
- [Deborah Voiceover] Apple Hill Farm is
at 400 Apple Hill Road in Banner Elk.
Tours start at two p.m. seven days a week
and the store is open Monday through Saturday
from 10 to four and on Sunday from 12 to four.
For more information, give them a call at 828-963-1662
or go online to applehillfarmnc.com.