In August of 2023, Matt and Amy, along with Sir Erik, were invited into the WGBH radio studio for an interview with Jim and Margery. Click HERE to see the video!
Jackie Bruno of NBC Boston 10 and New England Cable News featured our ranch on her series "Uniquely New England." Click HERE to see the video! (some information may be a bit out of date...:))
Alpaca Therapy
We are pleased to announce that we are now offering alpaca-assisted therapeutic activities on our ranch. If you are interested in learning more about animal assisted therapy and how alpacas may help you, please contact us at harvardalpacas@gmail.com. You may also review our FAQ's for an introduction to the services we offer. You can also watch a great video about our alpaca-assisted therapy practice HERE.
We are pleased to announce that we are now offering alpaca-assisted therapeutic activities on our ranch. If you are interested in learning more about animal assisted therapy and how alpacas may help you, please contact us at harvardalpacas@gmail.com. You may also review our FAQ's for an introduction to the services we offer. You can also watch a great video about our alpaca-assisted therapy practice HERE.
We were very happy to recently welcome a group from the Wounded Warriors Project. We hosted 25 folks including veterans and their family members. The weather was wet and chilly, but the smiles warmed up the whole ranch! Read the article HERE.
Enjoy this video about our farm, produced by Harvard Cable Access. The video was produced a couple of years ago so some of the information may be out of date.
We are Matthew and Amy Varrell, owners and operators of Harvard Alpaca Ranch in Harvard, Massachusetts. As high school sweethearts, we began our journey together early in life and have been side by side every since. We got married in 1991 and have two amazing grown sons, Nick and Rusty. Matt pre-farm career was as an environmental biologist and Amy is a registered nurse. After spending much of our lives living in Holliston, MA, raising our boys, we wondered what our next chapter would be. In 2015, after a couple of years of research and thoughtful consideration, we decided to take the plunge and move Harvard to pursue of dream of owning a working alpaca farm.
Harvard Alpaca Ranch is located on 5.7 acres of beautiful farmland that was formerly a horse farm. Located at 58 Old Mill Road, we are easily accessible from Route 495 and Route 2 in the heart of apple country of Nashoba Valley. Our alpacas are fortunate to have large areas of pasture to graze and stretch their legs. We strive to make our farm earth-friendly and sustainable. Our farm is completely powered by the sun, both through the solar panels on our roof and through the pasture grass we grow. We pride ourselves in providing our herd the highest quality facilities to ensure happy and healthy alpacas. Happy and healthy alpacas produce high quality fiber that we turn into first rate products.
Our first encounter with alpacas occurred in the summer of 2013 while doing college tours with our youngest son, Rusty. During a visit to Unity College in Maine we were referred to some local farms that the agriculture students visit for hands-on learning. Northern Solstice Alpaca Farm was one of them. We were given a tour of the farm and met a group of the most gentle and peaceful animals we had ever encountered. Northern Solstice Alpaca Farm is owned by Robin and Corry Pratt and it was their passion for alpacas, as well as their genuine love of the lifestyle they’ve created, that hooked us into wanting to learn more. Robin and Corry have become wonderful friends and mentors to us.
Although our first visit planted the seed of an idea with us, it was Rusty’s experience at Northern Solstice while studying at Unity College that sealed the deal. Rusty spent many days at the farm, visiting with the alpacas, and he reported back to us on his many experiences. After seeing the positive impact the alpacas had on Rusty, we knew we were embarking on a very special journey indeed. We began visiting many other alpaca farms, meeting an amazing group of people who were all generously willing to share their stories and knowledge of alpacas.
In April of 2016, our dream became a reality when our starter herd of eight alpacas (four girls and four boys) arrived at our farm. We selected our starter herd with two main goals in mind: 1) to choose animals that came from high quality stock and produced exceptional fiber and offspring; and 2) to select individual animals that could interact with the public and be excellent ambassadors of Harvard Alpaca Ranch. We want to be able to share our passion with our farm visitors, just as we experienced in the early days of our experience.
As we move forward with our dream, our major goals include:
· Create a welcoming and family-friendly farm that is accessible to all abilities.
· Build an extremely high quality herd of alpacas and breeding program.
· Provide a safe and healthy environment for our herd and all our visitors.
· Educate others about how amazing alpacas are.
· Produce a sustainable and earth-friendly product. Click HERE for details.
· Sell a variety of unique alpaca products in our store.
· Build our alpaca therapy program, for those who want/need to utilize animal assisted activities/therapy.
We’d love to welcome you to our farm and show you around. We’re open Thursday-Sunday or contact us at harvardalpacas@gmail.com to let us know when you’d like to visit.
Harvard Alpaca Ranch is located on 5.7 acres of beautiful farmland that was formerly a horse farm. Located at 58 Old Mill Road, we are easily accessible from Route 495 and Route 2 in the heart of apple country of Nashoba Valley. Our alpacas are fortunate to have large areas of pasture to graze and stretch their legs. We strive to make our farm earth-friendly and sustainable. Our farm is completely powered by the sun, both through the solar panels on our roof and through the pasture grass we grow. We pride ourselves in providing our herd the highest quality facilities to ensure happy and healthy alpacas. Happy and healthy alpacas produce high quality fiber that we turn into first rate products.
Our first encounter with alpacas occurred in the summer of 2013 while doing college tours with our youngest son, Rusty. During a visit to Unity College in Maine we were referred to some local farms that the agriculture students visit for hands-on learning. Northern Solstice Alpaca Farm was one of them. We were given a tour of the farm and met a group of the most gentle and peaceful animals we had ever encountered. Northern Solstice Alpaca Farm is owned by Robin and Corry Pratt and it was their passion for alpacas, as well as their genuine love of the lifestyle they’ve created, that hooked us into wanting to learn more. Robin and Corry have become wonderful friends and mentors to us.
Although our first visit planted the seed of an idea with us, it was Rusty’s experience at Northern Solstice while studying at Unity College that sealed the deal. Rusty spent many days at the farm, visiting with the alpacas, and he reported back to us on his many experiences. After seeing the positive impact the alpacas had on Rusty, we knew we were embarking on a very special journey indeed. We began visiting many other alpaca farms, meeting an amazing group of people who were all generously willing to share their stories and knowledge of alpacas.
In April of 2016, our dream became a reality when our starter herd of eight alpacas (four girls and four boys) arrived at our farm. We selected our starter herd with two main goals in mind: 1) to choose animals that came from high quality stock and produced exceptional fiber and offspring; and 2) to select individual animals that could interact with the public and be excellent ambassadors of Harvard Alpaca Ranch. We want to be able to share our passion with our farm visitors, just as we experienced in the early days of our experience.
As we move forward with our dream, our major goals include:
· Create a welcoming and family-friendly farm that is accessible to all abilities.
· Build an extremely high quality herd of alpacas and breeding program.
· Provide a safe and healthy environment for our herd and all our visitors.
· Educate others about how amazing alpacas are.
· Produce a sustainable and earth-friendly product. Click HERE for details.
· Sell a variety of unique alpaca products in our store.
· Build our alpaca therapy program, for those who want/need to utilize animal assisted activities/therapy.
We’d love to welcome you to our farm and show you around. We’re open Thursday-Sunday or contact us at harvardalpacas@gmail.com to let us know when you’d like to visit.