Haydenville, MA · 125 acres since the 1870s
Five generations on one hill.
Nancy's family has kept this land since 1875. Her grandfather last farmed it with oxen in the 1970s. Jim and Nancy brought home six alpacas in 2006.
Haydenville, MA · 125 acres since the 1870s
Nancy's family has kept this land since 1875. Her grandfather last farmed it with oxen in the 1970s. Jim and Nancy brought home six alpacas in 2006.
Love…for the land, for the animals, for family and for friends.
— Jim & Nancy Forster
The short version
It was almost lost. The last oxen were sold in the 1970s and the land sat quiet for nearly thirty years. Then, in 2004, the Forsters' four sons asked their parents to keep it a working farm. Two years later, the first six alpacas arrived.
A Nash ancestor signs Williamsburg's founding document. The 125 acres on Grass Hill become Nash family land.
Stanley "Stubby" Nash — Nancy's grandfather — farms the hill his whole life with pigs, sheep, dairy cows, and draught horses. When his oxen leave, the land goes quiet.
Jim and Nancy's four sons ask their parents to make the hill a working farm again. Jim doesn't want to raise animals for slaughter — alpacas come up.
First herd, summer of 2006. The market was booming — Jim remembers "babies selling for big bucks." Then the bubble burst in 2009 and the farm pivoted to fiber.
COVID closes every craft fair on the circuit. A daughter-in-law rebuilds the website. The back porch becomes a Christmas-decorated pop-up shop, and stays that way every fall since.
Tahoma, summer pasture.
The herd
Jim and Nancy stopped breeding in 2012. The current herd is ten animals, grazing five reclaimed acres off forty.
"Curious, kind of timid animals," Nancy says. Some friendly, some aloof. They're each their own.
— Nancy Forster
In season now · October–December
The Backporch PacaStop is a seasonal pop-up Jim and Nancy opened on their own back porch in 2020, when every craft fair they sold at shut down for COVID. It's been open every fall since — Christmas-decorated, wicker baskets of socks and mittens, and the farm sign out front.
Hours
Where
58 Adams RoadThe house with the sign out front — ten minutes from Northampton.
The shop
The farm's fleece goes to the New England Alpaca Fiber Pool. Finished goods come back knit here in New England.
A lightweight hiker sock you forget is on.
$22
Double layer of alpaca — wind stops at the knuckles.
$46 – $48
For the twenty-degree mornings on the porch.
$38
Thin enough for the leather shoes, warm enough for December.
$20
Half mitten, half fingerless glove — flip as needed.
$35
The small upgrade that makes boots feel new.
$13
This fall, we'll also be at
Two addresses on the same road
Adams Road has the farm at one number and the shop at another. Both are welcome.
The Farm
The working farm — ten alpacas, a few goats, and the reclaimed pasture. Visits welcome by arrangement.
Open in Maps →The PacaStop · In season
The seasonal shop on the back porch, October through December. Look for the sign out front.
Open in Maps →Phone
(413) 268-7123Hours (PacaStop season)
Tue – Fri · 4:30 – 7:30 PM
Sat – Sun · 1:00 – 6:00 PM
From Northampton
About ten minutes up Route 9, then right on Adams Road.