Northern Ont. alpaca farm offers unique mediative experience

If you are looking for a unique way to relax and recharge, a northern Ontario farm says the secret is… alpacas.

Dream Acres Alpacas, an alpaca farm near Timmins, Ont., has partnered with a forest therapy practitioner to add meditation to its offering of alpaca experiences.

Dream Acres Alpacas has partnered with a forest therapy practitioner to offer a unique meditative experience in northern Ontario with forest therapy walks and a farm tour. (Sergio Arangio/CTV News Northern Ontario)Alpacas are known as both gentle and timid animals – and the people behind Dream Acres told CTV News that they have a lot to teach humans about the importance of slowing down and lightening up when life gets stressful.

The niece of the farm’s owners, Danielle Piquette said the best way to learn from the animals is to walk alongside them.

“It’s hard not to smile when you’re looking at their faces,” she said.

“The trails are beautiful, they’re always freshly groomed because alpacas are divas and they don’t like to walk in deep snow. So, they just like to be outdoors and learn about the animals.”

A forest therapy walk with alpacas on freshly groomed trails at the Dream Acres farm in northern Ontario in February 2024. (Sergio Arangio/CTV News Northern Ontario)Piquette said the alpacas are spoiled at the farm and always well-treated.

“(So) it’s a calming walk because they don’t like sudden movements,” she said.

“It kind of forces you to just relax.”

Piquette said alpacas are incredibly sensitive and it is not always easy for people to match their energy – which is why the farm introduced a new forest therapy experience.

With the help of Aimee Lavoie, a forest therapy practitioner and owner of Bunchberry Nature Treks Dream Acres said it is helping people connect to nature, get more down to earth and learn the way of the alpaca.

Forest therapy and Dream Acres Alpacas farm tour session. (Supplied/Dream Acres Alpacas)“We thought it would be a really good fit to bring people out here and get them relaxed and to have them open their senses before they have a chance to go and meet the alpacas,” said Lavoie.

“It would be a win-win. A win for the animals, having people approach them in a calm demeanour and also a win for the people, to be able to show up and really be fully immersed in the experience.”

Piquette told CTV News that the alpacas obviously appreciate when people are calm and feed off their energy.

“If you’re already in that kind of mindset, then they’ll be coming up to you,” she said.

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The farm said it is already seeing a huge amount of interest in the new experience.

Officials with both Dream Acres Alpacas and Bunchberry Nature Treks said they hope this new endeavour with teaching more people the importance of slowing down and savouring the small moments in life while helping them shed some of their everyday stress.