How it all started…

The seeds for Maple Hill Farms were planted some 55 years back after spending the summer at Camp Huskee in Halstead Pennsylvania.  Camp was a a bit of a struggle for me. I was awkward, young, searching for my identity, and yearning to belong. The one thing that brought me pleasure and a sense of peace was working around the horses at camp.  Camp Huskee had a brilliant policy. They offered their senior equestrian campers the opportunity to bring their assigned horse “home” for the winter.  What a great concept, have someone else pay to maintain and board your horses for 10 months out of the year!

I brought my horse, Scout home and so began my weekly trips to Kentucky Stables in White Plains, NY to ride and more importantly bond with my newfound friend. We had a dog growing up, Gabby, a lovable miniature poodle, and Dad had Minne the Mina Bird, and I think for me, it was my horse Scout that cemented my love of animals, and planted the seed for what was later to become Maple Hill.

I always had a “good eye” as livestock folks say, and in my early 20’s I had two conformation hunters that I was boarding in New Jersey and training for their show careers.  Those two thoroughbreds, Heir to Fortune and Gangbusters, found their way to Virginia to be professionally trained.  Gangbuster stayed at the farm while Fortune, the more promising of the two, headed to a show barn outside of Charlottesville.  The great taste in horses and trainers was there, however I did not have the financial resources to compete in the thoroughbred horse show environment.  

Fast forward to 1989. I was working with my sister and dad in the family custom metal manufacturing business and commuting from Chelsea in NYC to Bergen County NJ.  I longed to escape city life, if only on weekends, and have a farm with room to raise and breed horses.  After searching in Bucks County, Pennsylvania and Columbia County, NY, I found what would be the foundation for the for the farm in an ad in the NY Times.

The farm, on the NY/MA border consisted of a barn, a sweet farmhouse, and 38 acres of  open fields.  A clean pallet for me to envision and realize my dream. Our sellers had connected us with their neighbor Tony who was willing to work as our caretaker while my husband Larry and I were working in the city during the week. I wanted to be sure that Tony the neighbor would actually show up so we decided to start our livestock passion with some sheep before investing in horses. 

Down to the NY State Sheep and Wool festival in Rhinebeck NY we went and came home with Sissy, Buffy & Jody, our three Corriedale ewes and our first introduction to livestock. 
After the sheep came Buddy the ram and soon enough, we had a host of little lambs running around the farm. Tony was a gem, took great care of the animals, and assured us we were ready to continue as weekend farmers.

The following summer we lost a lamb to a coyote. I read that Llamas made good sheep guards as they will chase a predator rather than run from it. Fortunately, there was a farm called West Mountain Farm, in Stamford Vermont, not far away from us, that hosted annual open farm visits to encourage interaction with their Llamas. We visited and fell in love! 

So our journey with Llama’s had begun. We brought Ozzie & Charlie back to the farm and we were hooked!  Llamas do not like sudden fast movements, they like to be approached slowly and deliberately which forced me to take a step back, breathe, and leave some of my city/work stressed pace behind.  Between their calming nature and the supportive nature of the Llama community, always there to lend a hand, I knew that this was the right livestock choice for me.  Fortunately, my partner Larry felt the same.

At the same time, we purchased Starr & Joanie, two appendix quarter horses and quickly bred them to a local thoroughbred stallion that I had always admired called It’s Fleetwood Mac. 

Over the years we bred and raised some 6 foals and our Llama herd grew from two sheep guards to at times 50 head. The sheep found new homes, and the horses have moved on.

The family business. P. Feiner & Sons closed it’s doors in New Jersey, I moved up to the farm full time some 6 years back and work as a realtor licensed in NY and MA.  Larry moved up a few years ago and has since retired.  We are now home to about 15 Llamas, 12 chickens, a pet rooster named Rudy, five miniature donkeys and two chocolate labs - Memphis & Spencer.

The studio cottage space began its life as a barn and then morphed into the caretakers apartment.  When we reduced the numbers of our llama herd, we decided to offer the space for rent.  That rental period was somewhat short tern as having people living at the farm full time when we were only there on weekends, just did not feel right.  We have some friends with a studio on their property in Vermont and they suggested offering the space as a Bed and Breakfast.  After a bit of reluctance at first, I realized that I did not need to entertain our guests any more than they wanted to be entertained.  So began our Air BNB experience.  We thoroughly enjoy meeting new people, welcoming back a number or our regular guests, and offering the opportunity for others to experience a bit of our dream.

The New York State Fair

Wednesday

Today I am making my way to the Great New York State Fair to judge their annual Llama show.  I have judged this event a number of times over the years and it is always a fun weekend.  The people watching at a state fair is only eclipsed by the quality livestock that I am adjudicating.

It is a treat to drive to an event vs dealing with airports etc, a short 3 hour trip brought me to the hotel and a quick Mexican dinner.  From there, some Real Estate follow up work and research now that our multiple listing service is back on line.  Believe it or not, they have been down for the past two weeks due to a ransom wear attack!  But I digress…. I also took some time to review the Llama Show Association Guidelines - I always do so before an event.

I am what is called a teaching judge, based on my years of experience and degree of expertise. I have a young man apprenticing with me this weekend, someone who I have watched grow up since he started showing Llamas, I am looking forward to working with him.  Teaching wise, this is a good event to apprentice as the show is not terribly large so we will have some time to review each class.  

Thursday

I have to admit, I am also on the hunt for some deep fried Twinkies!  I had some deep fried cookie dough last month while judging the Indiana State Fair and am hoping to scope out some Twinkies this go around.  Nothing beats fair health food - curly fries - etc.

No deep fried Twinkies yet - the show crew know that I try to eat healthy and bring fruit and veggies for me to much on.  Michelle & Kelly take great care of me.  Old friends - How lucky am I!  

Good day judging halter and my apprentice did well.  When judging halter, we are primarily evaluating conformation, balance and movement.  There were a nice group of animals to review and I was able to spend some time explaining how I work judging and giving my apprentice some pointers.  Funny… I don’t consider myself much of a talker but oddly enough, I have the gift for gab when it comes to the Llamas - something that I am passionate about.  We finished up the day judging halter and will start the day tomorrow judging performance.  In performance, there are three divisions, obstacle, pack and public relations.  The course consists of 8 to 10 obstacles and each obstacle is worth 10 points.  A perfect 10 would be the handler and llama working together as a team negotiating each obstacle.  There are a number of criteria that I will not go into for the sake of brevity, but you get the picture.   Pack and Obstacle are tomorrow and Public Relations is Saturday.  We’ll see if tomorrow produces some Twinkies!

Friday

Day two is a wrap, we worked through Obstacle and Pack and have Public Relations tomorrow.  There were a few nice size classes and great challenging courses by Wally.    And… I found the Twinkie's!!   I am set now for a year with my fried junk food yearning although, I judging the Eastern States Expo in a few months - hmm…. Perhaps do a taste test.

Saturday

Day three is in the books!  It is always a pleasure working with Michelle and her crew.  Wally did a great job with the Public Relations course complete with a 10’ tall inflatable cat with a rotating head and a moving witch, just in time to get us prepared for the upcoming Halloween season.  Now it is back to home and back to work.  Next event, Indiana.