How Loni Blumerich Started Frosty Ridge Alpacas

Imagine. You are recently divorced, over 50 years old with four kids, working in the non-profit sector for $13 an hour, and you suddenly recognize that you will have nothing to live on when you retire. What do you do?

This may not work for everyone, but Loni Blumerich started an alpaca farm.

Loni (rhymes with Tony) bought the property in 2004. “I realized I was not going to be able to support myself in old age, she said. "I wanted a home-based business and wondered what I could do." 

She thought about raising sheep, "but I am allergic to sheep, cows, horses and other livestock," she said.  Her allergic reactions triggered the asthma she’d had since she was 14.

So on one occasion she was sitting in a hospital waiting room and there was literally nothing to read except one Farm & Ranch Magazine. When she picked up the magazine she saw an article about a couple raising alpacas. The story gave her the impression that raising alpaca was lucrative and that she would be able to quit her day jobs. 

"I learned about an Alpaca show in Green Bay and decided to go." 

There were 200 alpaca there and she loved the smell. The included seminars which she eagerly attended. Afterwards, she began researching the alpaca business.

"At the time I had a house in Duluth Heights. It was a small place and didn't lend itself to raising alpaca," she said. "Especially on my small salary." 

When she Googled houses in the country this place on Maple Grove Road came up, a house with seven acres in Solway Township just west of the Midway Road. The house seemed neglected and uncared for, but it interested her. 

Her realtor said that despite her income she could qualify for the mortgage, which prompted her to put an offer on the house $1,000 higher than the first offer that had already been placed. 

The value of her Duluth Heights home had been improved under her ownership. “I’d done enough cosmetics to make a downpayment [on this place],” she explained.

The property here in Solway had been a cattle farm at one time, but the barn had burned in the 40s.

Because you can raise 4 to 8 alpaca per acre, she and her new husband Horst fenced off a portion of land and put stalls in the garage. After taking care of the overgrown pasture, they were established and ready to grow. 

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Horst (in red cap) welcomes gift shop visitors. 

Loni now lives with her husband Horst whom she met in Germany and even dated when she was young. Her grandmother lived in Germany and she would go visit for six weeks every summer to maintain relations with her family there. 

Blumerich was actually raised in Hanover, New Jersey, near Morristown. After attending Drew University she went on to George Washington University, inside the D.C. Beltway, where she graduated. 

Although Loni and Horst went their separate ways and married other partners, Horst stayed in touch with Loni’s mother. After both were divorced, Loni sent Horst an email wishing her a happy 50^th birthday. Shortly after he came to America, and things unfolded from there.

They went to alpaca shows for a year in order to learn as much as they could at the seminars. When they were ready they purchased six alpacas. The boys and girls must be kept apart, so they devised systems for this. 

As they grew the herd they created a store in the back of the house to sell alpaca related products (yarn, scarves, hats, sweaters and more) and other products. All profits from the store go back into caring for the alpacas. They love giving tours and while I was there interviewing Loni, several cars pulled in and Horst went out to show the families their animals, which now number 28 alpaca and around a llama.

The farm specializes in sales, breeding services, agisting, fiber, alpaca beans, and other alpaca-related gifts, deocrations and biproducts.

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