About Hinterland
Hinterland was founded by Hanahlie Beise and began as a passion project dedicated to her love of fibre arts, including felting, knitting, and natural dying.
The growth of Hinterland happened organically, as experiments with fibres and yarns refined the trajectory of the farm and its activities. After being exposed to the wider fibre community and making connections through interviews and trade shows, Hanahlie re-evaluated her business plans with optimism about what could be possible.
Though her original intention was to begin with sheep, the farm serendipitously started with six alpacas from a retirement sale. Since then, the alpaca herd has expanded through rescue animals that are either in crisis or have been surrendered to the SPCA (unfortunately, many ill-equipped owners adopt alpacas before they know what goes into properly caring for them). Though not used for yarn fibre, Hinterland is also home to rescue llamas who live with the alpacas.
As production grew and Hinterland Yarn became more in demand, Hanahlie began purchasing additional fibre from other small local farms in the region. Currently, the yarns are produced using these fibres along with fibres from the Hinterland alpacas.
Hinterland Yarn is unique as there are extremely limited mills able to produce woolen spun yarn in North America, particularly with the integration of alpaca fibre. Though rustic, the yarn is incredibly soft and blooms beautifully once wet-blocked. The colourways are created from blending Rambouillet fibre with the natural tones of the alpacas.
Hinterland Farm is located on DÁYES, traditional territory of the W̱SÁNEĆ people (Pender Island, BC).