Approximately 26 acre farm raising 60+ llamas with the Smoky Mountains in full view.
Tennessee
WE ARE OPEN AGAIN FOR WOOFERS AFTER BEING CLOSED SINCE JANUARY 2019 DUE TO TEMPORARY FAMILY NEEDS IN OUR HOUSE, COVID, AND MOVING/BUILDING A NEW LLAMA FARM! WE ARE EXCITED ABOUT NEW INTERESTING WOOFERS TO STAY AND ENJOY THE LLAMA LIFE WITH US!
Our farm is located in a small farming community just outside of Greeneville, TN in the northeast tip of East Tennessee, near the North Carolina, Kentucky, and Virginia borders. We are in the final phase of completing a Barndemenium on approximately 26 acres with the Smoky Mountains in full view. I have been a high school principal for many years and retired June 2017. Carolyn taught elementary school for 15 years and became a high school art teacher until she retired May 2021. We have raised a variety of animals on our small farm for many years including goats, sheep, pigs, cattle, horses, etc. We purchased our first llamas in 1998 which changed our lives forever. Carolyn, who is originally from Jacksonville, Florida, was a city girl and rarely came to the barn unless baby animals were being born. The running joke around here is “before llamas, Jerry couldn't get Carolyn to come to the barn, but now he can't get her to come back to the house, so we built a Barndemenium to house us & the baby llamas.” Carolyn has definitely turned into a farm girl and would spend 24/7 with the llamas if she could. Our shared passion for llamas has allowed us to find each other again, especially now that our two children are grown and we are retired. We don't have time for the "empty nest"" syndrome. Our current animal population on the farm is about 60 llamas, 2 indoor/outdoor cats, chickens, and a llama guard Anatolian Shepard dog named "Bernie". You must not be allergic to dogs or cats. Llamas are hypoallergenic.
We built and opened a small RV campground beside the old farm in 2017. After running the campground for 4 years, we sold it to focus back on the llama farm. We also sold our old farm and are currently in the process of completing our new Barndomenium (house + barn). The living space is complete with a large living room/dining room/kitchen area on the main floor including our master bedroom & bathroom. We have a private visitor suite including a bedroom, full bathroom, and a lounging area facing a million dollar view of the mountains. It is on the second floor for plenty of privacy for the woofers.
Activities on the new farm will be sustainable gardening, hiking with llamas, Agri-tourism events such as farm visits, hayrides, birthday parties, and family reunions. Carolyn, who is an artist in several mediums, will be teaching spinning & weaving classes, and host "Sip & Paint" painting parties. We will also provide a summer camp for children called "Art at the Llama Farm" in June. Approved WWOOFers will stay in the main family home in the upstairs bedroom with a private full bathroom. Breakfast & lunch items will be available for visitors with a shared family dinner most evenings. We can only accommodate 1-2 visitors at a time. If we have two visitors at the same time (m/m, f/f, couple) that know each other, they would share the same bedroom (king size bed), and have their own full private bathroom & lounging area.
All sheets & linens are included. No children or pets at this time. Our expectations of woofers are to work no more than 5 hours a day, 5 days a week. Wwoofers will have Saturdays & Sundays off to rest or travel locally to enjoy the local offerings. Off days can be traded to accommodate woofer wants & farm needs (flex days). We need help with feeding, grooming, halter training babies, and barn maintenance in addition to regular family farm chores. Seasonal projects may include building box gardens & an old window greenhouse, painting, maintaining llama trails, gardening, landscaping, mowing, and assisting with Agri-tourism events, etc. We are a non-smoking family and do not accept smokers as WWOOFERs since we will be sharing our house with you. Obviously, no drugs!! You may have wine/beer as age appropriate (age 21 in Tennessee). Our visitors are welcome to stay from 1-4 weeks at a time or longer if all works out. We do not book Woofers on the calendar more than 120 days ahead of time. Our farm is very close to hiking/biking trails, white water rafting, Gatlinburg/Pigeon Forge, Virginia Creeper Trail, & Davy Crockett Birthplace Park. We can pick you up at the Tri-Cities airport or the local bus station in Johnson City, TN or you can drive your car. We have had over 20 Woofers, but decided to take a rest since January 2019 due to family occupying the upstairs bedrooms, Covid, and building the new farm. We now need farm help and look forward to sharing our passion of llamas with you and the hard work that it takes to live this wonderful lifestyle.
Sincerely,
Jerry & Carolyn
** Certifications: We garden organically using composted llama manure, but are not certified organic.
** You will have the opportunity to learn spinning, weaving, drawing & painting as Carolyn is an artist & a certified art teacher.
** Excellent Internet access is available.
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Learning opportunities
Vegetable farming
Poultry farming
Raising of other farm animals
Vegetable or fruit preservation
Traditional crafts
Methods or systems
Rotational grazing
Jerry and Carolyn
Member since 2017
Languages spoken:
English
Response rate: 100%
Response time: typically within 1 day
December 2025
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Open
Planned visit
Closed
Tennessee
The nearest Airport is Tri-Cities Regional Airport (TN/VA) (TRI). The nearest bus station is Greyhound or Trailways at 137 W. Market St., Johnson City, TN 37604. We can pick you up at either location.
Reviews
Charles
United States
•
November 2025
Jerry and Carolyn have created one of the nicest farms and most hospitable environments on WWOOF. I had arrived after camping and traveling for some time and could not have felt more welcomed or found a nicer place to work. The farm has all the amenities you might want, all the animals are friendly and it is located in a beautiful part of Tennessee. I’m so glad I got to meet Jerry and Carolyn and stay at their home.
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Andrea
Brazil
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June 2018
These two people are some of the kindest, most interesting people I've ever met. I was welcomed with open arms and treated like family. They take such good care of their animals and their WWOOFers! I learned so much from this experience, and really got to get my hands dirty. I got to be around llamas, donkeys, emus, cats and a cute little dog. I learned how to make a beanie hat out of yarn, and I learned a little something about apple trees. The land is beautiful, the animals are beautiful, and the experience was incredible.
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Jud
United States
•
April 2018
Walnut Ridge was my very first WWOOFing experience, and I couldn't have asked for a better introduction! Jerry and Carolyn are some of the nicest people you could hope to meet, and really go out of their way to make sure you feel at home in their space. They also have a campground full of great people, almost a surrogate family at times, and there are frequent opportunities to get to know them (and play ping pong with them!). The farm is also full of animals, with over forty llamas, three cats, two donkeys, three emus, a dog and a mini-horse! There's so much to do on the farm, and in your downtime you can go hang out with the animals and take in the gorgeous views from the hilltop that the farm is perched on. I can't recommend Walnut Ridge enough, especially if this would be your first WWOOFing experience!
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Kyrie
United States
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April 2018
WWOOFing here was amazing! I thoroughly enjoyed my stay at Walnut Ridge Llama Farm. I learned so much about llamas and how to take care of them, and even learned to knit a hat using llama fiber yarn. Working with the crias was definitely a highlight of my time here. I got to see what halter training was like and how difficult it can be to get a small cria into a trailer! Jerry and Carolyn were fantastic and so welcoming, as well as everyone at the campground. This was a perfect first WWOOFUSA experience. I couldn't have asked for anything better!
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Karlijn
Netherlands
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February 2018
I’ve stayed on Walnut Ridge llama farm for 6 weeks from half december and Jerry & Carolyn made me not only feel right at home, but made me feel like a part of their family. Jerry showed me what a beautiful and kind animals llama’s are, how to take care of them and how to halter train the cria’s. I even was lucky enough to name two of the cria’s: ‘Dutch’ and ‘Naughty boy’. And then I haven’t said anything yet about the ‘lessons in American politics and history during breakfast’, which I very much appreciated! Carolyn taught me how to make hats out of llama fiber and made it possible for me to shadow the high school biology teacher for a day. We also went out to the mountains several times, out of which one was a beautiful llama hike with two other wwoofers and Jerry showed me everything there is to see in and around Greenville. I really love the farm, the llama’s and Jerry & Carolyn, so I’ll be back in a couple of months!
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Andy
United States
•
January 2018
Come on, it's a llama farm, do I really need to convince you? Jerry and Carolyn take exceptional care of their animals and their wwoofers. I was lucky enough to squeeze my way into their home and stay for a short time. I stayed in one of the upstairs rooms of their home and learned how to feed, brush, and attempt to snuggle with the llamas. During my stay, the two other wwoofers and I got to halter train the baby llamas, went hiking with the adults, and made hats out of the llama woof for them to sell in their store. We also got to keep one to remember our spectacular visit. WRLF is definitely a place I'll go back to and visit.
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