It’s hard to know what we’re meant to do in life. But when you find it, there’s no feeling quite like it
Marshal and Alicia Hartman met during college, and each knew they had found the person they wanted to spend the rest of their life with. The two were married and Marshal took a job with law enforcement in the big city. Over the years, their family of two would grow into a family of five.
Unfortunately, Marshal was injured in 2019, before the pandemic and needed to spend almost 2 years recovering at home. While following their city’s recommendations and distancing themselves at home, it became quickly apparent to the Hartmans that they needed more space. They needed a change.
For them, that meant a move out of the city and into rural Nevada.
Marshal and Alicia had always talked about wanting to raise animals. With their move to the country, they found themselves with enough land to make this dream a reality.
The Hartmans bought three baby sheep and began bottle feeding them. It was an activity for the whole family, and Marshal and Alicia began to research how their family could harvest and use sheep wool. What they discovered is that they were much more interested in alpaca fiber and its uses.
So, Marshal and Alicia purchased their first alpaca and fell in love with its quirkiness. They bought three pregnant alpacas and locked themselves into the alpaca life.
Alicia began posting pictures and videos of the alpacas on an Instagram page, giving their friends in the city a glimpse of their life in the country. The hashtags that Alicia used captured a larger audience, and more and more people began finding their farm, Great Basin Alpacas, on social media.
Great Basin Alpacas is 10 acres in total, including the Hartman’s home. Their female animals have two acres dedicated to them, while the males are on just one acre – for now.
The Hartmans even have full RV hookups, so people who want to come and see their alpacas can stay on their property. Eventually, they plan on bringing grass-fed lambs to their farm.
You can find Great Basin Alpacas Farm and book an RV stay on harvesthost.com.
In order to maintain their property, the Hartman family has a Kubota BX23S sub compact tractor and a Land Pride scraper. They chose their Kubota because they knew they would need a durable and reliable piece of equipment to keep up with their growing needs. The BX23S has surpassed their expectations.
Currently, they’re using harvested alpaca fiber to make socks, beanies and yarn. The Hartmans also found a local fiber processor and plan on working with them down the road. Since you can only shear alpacas once a year, the Hartmans' plan to grow their herd and sell more fiber is one that will take time. In the future, they want to provide their farm products at local farmers markets and possibly even open their own store.
But they don’t mind the wait. They’re having a great time getting to know these animals and spreading their roots in the Nevadan countryside.
Learn more about Great Basin Alpacas and the Hartman’s property by following them on Instagram.
