The llama farm recovers after Hélène

HENDERSONVILLE—This holiday season, the Justice family dressed up some of their llamas as Santa and elves, loading them into a trailer and bringing them to spread cheer at holiday events in Hendersonville and Brevard. The sweet creatures display endearing smiles as they pose for photos.

“They don’t have upper teeth, just gums — that’s a characteristic of camelids,” Donna Justice explained Dec. 6 at her family’s Ellaberry Llama Farm in Hendersonville.

The holidays offer a happy counterpoint to the last few months, marked by struggles for the farm. When Tropical Storm Helene hit western North Carolina on the morning of September 27, the family was at their home, located near the tree line on a mountainside, surrounded by apple orchards. It was pouring rain and the wind was blowing. Around 7 a.m., a neighbor called and said, “You need to come down here now.” »

Justice, her husband and 19-year-old daughter Allie hopped on an ATV and raced down the mountain to the lower pasture where they kept five of their llamas — four were pregnant.

They were stunned to find that Old Cane Creek was overflowing so much that it had flooded the pasture and submerged four structures, including a worker’s house and a store where they sold goods. Play equipment and tractors were destroyed. A school bus overturned and flew away.

Seeing only the llamas’ necks sticking out in a barn, Justice realized, “Oh my God, they’re underwater.” »

She grabbed ropes and waded through chest-deep water. Donna remembers leaning against a fence to resist the current and avoid floating tree trunks and debris. One by one, the trio managed to put ropes around the necks of each of the llamas and escort them to a second pasture, across the road, at a higher elevation.

“I remember standing here and looking back and crying, because I was like, ‘It’s all over there, everything we worked for is gone,'” Justice recalled. Wanting to be strong for her daughter, she said, “Everything will be okay.” We will rebuild. »

It all started with two llamas

Donna had married her husband Jason, a sixth-generation apple grower, and was a stay-at-home mom who focused on homeschooling her four children. A little more than a decade ago, their daughter Allie, then 8, became friends with a neighbor, Hank Balch, who kept llamas that he showed and brought to events local educational institutions.

“I thought they were the strangest creatures,” Donna recalled, but Balch would take Allie to hike Chimney Rock or the DuPont State Recreational Forest with the llamas. When Balch died in 2017, his wife asked if she could give Allie some llamas.

“And so it was JJ and Jelly Bean,” Justice said. “They’re still there.”

The family began attending llama shows in the United States and founded Ellaberry Llama Farm in 2017, offering field trips, wedding receptions, private hikes and farm tours, as well as tours of llama homes. retirement and daycare. They now have 27 llamas and five alpacas, with four baby llamas expected to arrive in the spring.

Donna can rattle off educational facts and figures about llamas: They come from the Andes. They eat hay and feed on grass. A llama can cost as little as $500 or as much as $40,000 for a show llama.

“They have two nails, which is why they are such good hikers,” she said. They live about 20 years. “Babies breastfeed their mothers for 6, 7 months.”

Donna worked at the business six days a week and Allie was instrumental in running it. Hélène reimbursed them for approximately $250,000 in damages and business losses.

“We didn’t have flood insurance,” Donna said. “This is not considered a floodplain, so never in our wildest dreams did we think this would have destroyed it.

Currently they are building an arena that will provide shade and protection from the rain. A friend donated picnic tables for school groups. They hope to restart the activity in the spring.

Despite the challenges, Donna said, “God has blessed us.”

On Dec. 21, two llamas from Ellaberry Llama Farm will pose for free photos at the historic courthouse in downtown Hendersonville during a Holly Jolly Train Rides event. Follow the farm on Facebook for more upcoming events.

More: From Hendersonville to Chimney Rock, businesses struggle without tourists after Hélène

More: Chimney Rock opens its doors to visitors for one day after the devastation of Tropical Storm Helene

Deirdra Funcheon covers Henderson, Polk and Transylvania counties for the Hendersonville Times-News. Do you have any advice? Email him at [email protected].

This article originally appeared on Asheville Citizen Times: Llama farm recovers after Helene