Small world: Chinese visitors tour exotic Lockport farm - Chicago Sun-Times

BY DONNA VICKROY dvickroy@southtownstar.com September 4, 2011 5:10PM

Kim Peters looks at her camel, Calypso, at Calypso Farm Tuesday, Aug. 30, 2011, in Lockport. | Matthew Grotto~Sun-Times Media

If you go ...

Calypso Farm’s next open house will be from 9 a.m. to 5 p.m. Oct. 1. The farm is at 17875 S. Gougar Road in Lockport. Information: Call (815) 722-6255 or visit calypsollamas.com

Updated: September 5, 2011 2:05AM

As if there aren’t enough unusual things going on at the residence of Kim and John Peters, the Lockport couple recently hosted a delegation of Chinese visitors.

The four delegates, all employees of the Chinese government, are in the United States for five months studying American culture. On a recent Sunday, they stopped by the Peters’ farm to check out their alpacas, llamas, chickens, goats and miniature horses.

But the camel stole their hearts.

“They were most fascinated with Calypso,” Kim said. “But then everybody is.”

A friend of Jay Peters, the couple’s son, told the group about Calypso Farm, where John and Kim raise and breed exotic animals.

“Our son thought it would be fun for them to visit,” Kim said. “And it was. We had such a good time.”

The delegates, two men and two women, spent a few hours touring the grounds and asking questions in broken English or via their translating machines.

“They were so charming,” Kim said. “They even gave us gifts. Silk scarves.”

It’s not just foreigners who are impressed by the Peters place. Passers-by marvel at the llamas and alpacas that are kept in several different pens on the farm, which fronts the property at 17875 S. Gougar Road.

Twice a year, the couple host an open house. The next one is scheduled for Oct. 1. During the event, they lead visitors on tours and simultaneously sell animal-related items in a garage sale.

Visitors marvel at the thick carpet-like wool on the alpacas, as well as the “different” colored eggs produced by the farm’s 75 or so chickens.

“People see a turquoise or brown egg and think it’s not safe to eat,” Kim said.

Of course, it is. In fact, she said, organic eggs taste better than the eggs at the supermarket.

Chickens, particularly roosters, have a special place in Kim’s heart.

“As a rule, they’re pretty easy to take care of,” she said. “The main thing is protecting them from predators.”

Hawks, weasels and coyotes must be kept at bay, she said, noting, “Everybody loves a nice chicken dinner.”

But not Kim, who is a vegetarian.

Kim sells the chickens, like the llamas, horses, goats and alpacas, for pets and breeding. Brookfield Zoo recently bought a llama from them.

She keeps the males and females of each breed separate until mating season. She also keeps a llama in each alpaca pen because llamas can fend off coyotes, but alpacas cannot.

Kim grew up in Elmhurst but always wanted to live on a farm.

“I’ve been crazy about animals since I was 2 years old,” she said. “Now, I’m living the dream.”

She’s also working it. She spends two hours each morning and each afternoon feeding and filling water bins. In the interim, she cleans pens and makes sure none of the animals gets overheated.

“The hot summers are so worrisome because these mountain animals need to stay cool,” she said. She does that with cooling pools and fans.

John, who works as an arborist, helps when he can.

Though Kim says she loves Calypso the camel, whose playful destructive tendencies remind her of a Labrador retriever, her heart belongs to Angel, a llama that almost died at birth.

“She was a twin; the other one was stillborn,” Kim said. “When I went to pick her up, I thought she was dead.”

She brought the animal inside, bottle-fed it and slept with it.

This past year, Angel celebrated her ninth birthday.

Even though she knows many of the animals eventually will be sold to new owners, they all have names, including a gray and white miniature horse called “I’m Not Blue.”

“Well, only some of the chickens have names,” she added.

The delegates were curious and eager to learn everything they could, Kim said. They wanted to know what the animals ate, what they felt like.

Kim said the experience underscored the similarities more than the differences among people who live half a world apart.

“One of the delegates said her dream was to one day own a piece of land like this, with animals on it,” Kim said.

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