The before and after Story
Create an ecological, sustainable, permaculture farm, sharing knowledge, skills, inspiration…..and a good yarn!
My Life before Alpacas
Prior to leaping across the pond from the UK to Portugal, my career was varied and stimulating. Starting out as a working artist and sculptor in the film and theatre industry which was incredibly rewarding also gave me my first insight into some of the practises of textile production in the fashion and film world…it wasnt inspiring…and working with young people in the voluntarily youth club sector. Alternative healthcare p, alternative education and a willow weaving sculpting business, there was never a dull moment!
With a passion for good organic food and gardening and a growing family, I had a yearning for more space where I could plant lots of trees almonds, apricots, avocados..as my personal favourite …I discovered Portugal due to an old family tie via the ministry of Agriculture and Fisheries as my grandparents had hosted many Portuguese Urasma Students in the UK when I was a young child.
In 2009 we made the leap moving everything to a little slice of wild heaven, absolute bliss, the People, the culture, the weather, the farming, living the dream…
The reality
Lots and lots of brambles, nature is a relentless boss, impossible deadlines and with only one year before our first precious shipment of a herd of premier alpacas arriving at our farm.
Now a few years on, with many tall stories, the good, the bad and some very ugly! we would like to think we can share our experience, our animals and our farm.
The highs and lows, the challenges that we have faced create a richness of spirit that I am very grateful for.
The aim to explore a way of living to inspire a viable and respectful farming practise that might make a difference!
Monte Frio Alpacas um projeto inovador
Manuel Luis Goucha esteve em Arganil para dar a conhecer um projeto com Alpacas. Lisa é Inglesa e decidiu mudar de vida há cerca de 6 anos. Deixou a companhia de teatro a que fazia parte, pegou nos 3 filhos e veio para Portugal. Dedicou-se à criação de Alpacas, um mamífero da família dos camelos que produz um pelo quente, e dai criou o projeto Monte Frio Alpacas. Conheça aqui esta história.
Ela produz lã de alpaca em Portugal
Em 2009, a inglesa Lisa Vella-Gatt decidiu mudar-se para Portugal. Fixou-se em Benfeita, no Centro do país, e criou o Monte Frio Alpacas. Aos 46 anos, Lisa cria alpacas e comercializa a lã que estes animais dão. Anualmente, as 14 alpacas produzem perto de 50 quilogramas de lã, escreve a agência Reuters. Na quinta de Monte Frio, as alpacas são ainda treinadas para "caminhar com turistas e com mochilas (volumes leves)" pela propriedade, lê-se no site. Há ainda oficinas de artesanato tradicional de produção de lã, fiação, tecelagem e feltragem — e a oportunidade de se aprender a fazer as pequenas de alpacas de brincar que se vêem numas das fotografias.
Maltese woman breeds alpacas in Portugal
Lisa Vella-Gatt, 46, hugs her alpaca Rowen at her farm near Benfeita, Portugal. Lisa, who is Maltese, went to Portugal from England in 2009 to set up Monte Frio Alpacas, a project in which she breeds the wool-producing species . Lisa’s 14 alpacas produce about 50 kilos of wool annually.
Hidden away at the foot of a Portuguese mountain is a sustainable ecological farm with 14 woolly leggy alpacas run by a Maltese woman. Lisa Vella-Gatt, 46, owns the Monte Frio Alpacas farm in Benfeita, Portugal, which she has been running since she moved to Portugal.
Wowed by the wonder of wool
A inglesa que cria alpacas em Portugal
Estes mamíferos sul-americanos pertencem à família dos camelídeos e não costumam ser vistos em Portugal, mas no Centro do país há 14.
Where there’s a wool, there’s a way
“When I first thought about moving to Portugal, it was to the interior, creating a new life away from the rat race, renovating a neglected property as well as myself in the process. Years later, I’m not exactly a rat, but that rural idyll gave way to a somewhat more urban existence than I had in mind, albeit with occasional forays into the good life. We’ve grown some of our own food, kept chickens and found a happy place with fresh air, on the edge of a small town”
Criação de Alpacas derrete corações
Aveiro já é muito mais do que salinas, ovos moles ou passeios na ria. Agora há mais um pretexto para uma visita diferente e os “grunhidos” vêm dos lados de Aradas, onde está instalada uma criação de alpacas: o Monte Frio Alpacas, que até pode ser visitada e dinamizar sessões de interacção com os animais. Este projecto está a funcionar em Aradas há mais de três anos, mas a sua história recua no tempo e nasce na aldeia Monte Frio na freguesia de Bemfeita, concelho de Arganil, onde a inglesa Lisa Vella-Gatt deu início à criação de alpacas. Contudo, com receio dos incêndios florestais, esta apaixonada por estes mamíferos decidiu procurar outro local para instalar os seus “queridos animais” e Aveiro ficou no topo das preferências.
Our Alpacas.
Why alpacas….? in all my creative experiences I have always had a passion for wool, but rarely was I able to indulge it within my professional career. Wool as a resource is highly versatile renewable and an ecological material that has built empires. A dream to promote rural eco developments for a sustainable future alpacas became top of the list. Alpacas have many positive attributes which made them a success for the Incas in South America which still stand today. (more)
Each of our alpacas was hand-picked for its fine confirmation, excellent health, colour and blood lineage. Being a highly adaptable animal adjusting to their new environment and climate was incredibly easy.
Life for us without alpacas would be unimaginable, they are a true pleasure to be around. Very curious by nature, a constant source of amusement when they meet their first kid goat, puppy, kitten or chicken.
