about us
chez, wal & benji
Hello and welcome to nefotlak farm.
(pronounced ‘ne-fot-lark' )
We're just a couple of rural rookies that met over 35 years ago when she was a travel consultant and he was a sailor!
After many careers, raising 3 wonderful daughters and lots of travel, we now have an alpaca farm in Michelago on Ngarigo Country at the northern tip of the Snowy Monaro region of NSW, Australia. Spoiler alert: alpacas were NEVER in the life plan!
Chez takes the photos, designs and runs the website and socials, plus she makes all the things!
Wal does all the heavy lifting, is chief land management supervisor, mechanic and keeps the farm chugging along merrily.
Benji (rescue Maremma) is our head-of-security and part-time lap dog in his down time.
We try our best to use regenerative farming practices, use no toxic chemicals and source compostable or robust reuseable materials whenever possible.
our alpacas
After our daughters' suggested alpacas, we purchased 2 from a nearby alpaca farm (Tofu & Avocado)...and now we have 29! (we call it alpaca maths!) The original owners needed to sell up...and then (of course) there were babies (cria)!
We've since fallen in love with their amazing personalities and can't think of life without them. And to dispell the myth...they mostly only spit at each other over food or when they bully each other.
Over the last few years we've been determined to find ways to use their beautiful fleece (difficult with so few alpaca fleece mills in Australia) and our felting journey began in earnest.
We hand process and felt the fleece on farm - it's all been a steep learning curve but very satisfying.
We plan on felt and fleece workshops and farm stays in our future - become a 'farm friend' and follow our socials to keep up with all that goes on.
Thanks for supporting our small family business - it's great to have you here.
Chez & Wal Kalthofen xx
