By Mari Stuart, Project Grounded | Monday, Oct. 1, 2018 –

Flock of sheep running. Photo credit: Shawn Linehan

Fiber farmers stand at a unique juncture of agriculture on the one hand and the world of textiles and clothing on the other.

If you are a fiber farmer, you’re already doing important work to promote a more sustainable textile industry. Whether your operation involves sheep, alpaca, goats, llama, or rabbits, you are growing and helping to promote natural fibers as opposed to synthetic fibers, which are fossil-fuel based and take hundreds of years to biodegrade. Depending on where your fiber goes, you can also contribute to more ethical, local, and domestic alternatives to fast fashion.

But fiber producers can also become leaders in helping to shift agriculture’s climate impact, while at the same time adding to their farm’s differentiation and story, and therefore the market value of their product.

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In anticipation of the 2018 Piedmont Farm Tour at the end of the month, we caught up with a few farmers that will open their barn doors come April 28-29th to give folks a sneak peek into what a day in the life at their farm is like.

Two farms on the tour circuit that caught our eye are producing fiber: one from sheep and the other from alpacas. In today’s post, we’ll share our interview with Sarah Conyer of Alpaca Dreams, an alpaca farm situated in Louisburg, NC. Sarah, and her husband, Mike, have 12 alpacas and two llamas situated on their five-acre farm in Franklin County.

Both retirees from stressful corporate jobs, Sarah and Mike came to farming later in life to find a little peace.

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