Falling in Love with Alpacas with Lee Rankin

On this week’s episode of the FarmHouse, a podcast by Lancaster Farming, we’re talking to Lee Rankin, author and owner of Apple Hill Farm in Banner Elk, North Carolina.
Rankin’s journey into agriculture began with an emotional encounter with an alpaca at the Kentucky State Fair.
“It was a moment between the two of us where everything else fell away,” she said, describing the moment she looked into the alpaca’s eyes. “I was like, this is the coolest animal I’ve ever met.”
Rankin followed her newfound dream to North Carolina, where she transformed a mountaintop orchard into an alpaca farm.
In the two decades since, Apple Hill has become a successful fiber farm where Rankin and her team raise alpacas, llamas and angora goats. She sells her products at a store on her farm and at craft and fiber fairs and art festivals.
In addition to the fiber operation, Apple Hill is an agritourism business. Rankin said she’s seen her own first alpaca experience mirrored in the faces of those who visit the farm.
“There’s people that walk in and they pull me aside and they’re like, ‘this is like my dream.’ And I say to them, I’m not responsible for what happens now,” she joked, regarding the would-be farmers she and her animals have inspired.
In 2024, Rankin’s community was dealt a challenging blow in the form of Hurricane Helene when it swept through the state.
Apple Hill sustained damage to four buildings and suffered considerable tree damage, including 20 downed trees across one of its fences.
The community is still rebuilding.
It’s inspiring, she said, describing the way people have stepped up to clear debris, repair damage and take care of each other.
“I’m so proud of our little town of Banner Elk, our little town of Valle Crucis and the way people came together and responded and are still responding on a daily basis,” she said. “The real story is what’s happened on a neighbor by neighbor basis, on a town by town basis. And I mean, it’s just amazing.”
Rankin is also an author. She recently published “Farm Family: A Solo Mom’s Memoir of Finding Home, Happiness, and Alpacas,” a book chronicling her experience of starting Apple Hill while raising her son as a single parent.
“I was 40 when I started the farm, when we moved here. I was 60 when I published that book or started the publication process,” Rankin said of what she wants other women to take away from her story. “We’re never too old to do something and to live a dream.”