Go Climb A Tree

Story By Hannah Lester Photos By Robert Noles

Need a getaway? Do you have family coming into town for a game? There’s a farm in Shorter, Alabama, that has a unique Air BnB opportunity — a treehouse surrounded by alpacas.

Jason and Teresa Price decided they wanted a small farm, with maybe a couple of alpacas.

“When we were dating and whatnot, she said, ‘One day I’d like to have a little farm with a couple of goats, a couple of chickens and I’d really love to have two alpacas,’” Jason said.

Now, they have 11 alpacas, cats, a few hundred chickens, two dogs, ducks, guineafowls and more.

The two didn’t own property when they began discussing

Jason Price on his farm in Shorter, Alabama.

the idea — that came later. The piece of property in Shorter already had a large house, more space than the couple needed.

So, they decided to claim the top half of the house and turn the bottom half into an Air BnB. But that’s not their only Air BnB — Jason built a treehouse that guests can stay in.

Originally, the treehouse was for the couple’s grandchildren. They had bought the boys a zip-line and it was Teresa's idea to build a treehouse, Jason said.

“The bad thing is, it’s real high up in the air,” he said. “It’s 30-feet to the floor, from the ground to the floor. And she wasn’t too happy about our grandsons playing up there, playing up that high until they get a little older.”

The treehouse has heating, cooling, bunk beds, a porch and stained glass.

“It took us a year and a half to build that treehouse working nothing but weekends, holidays and afternoons,” Jason said. “And that’s while we were running a full-time farm and both have full-time jobs.”

The treehouse is built directly into the tree, too.

“I wanted to build a treehouse,” Jason said. “Some people will build a treehouse on stilts. They built it up off the house, next to a tree, so it's a treehouse. I’m not putting those people down, but that’s not a treehouse."

Bella Luna Farm is the combination of all of these things — the main house, the animals, the veggies the couple grows, the alpacas and the treehouse.

“We’re both moon lovers, that’s where we came up with the name Bella Luna,” Jason said.

Running a full-time farm includes the upkeep of the property and animals.

“We gather eggs every day, we sell eggs, we advertise all of our chickens are free-range,” Jason said. “We don’t pin them up, they’re running around. We don’t know how many we have anymore because half of them are in the woods. It’s an easter egg hunt every day.”

There are chores to be done every day. All of the animals need to be fed, in addition to the egg collection.

Jason said they are also growing trees to sell in the future.

“I have a couple of friends in landscaping and I said, ‘Look, I’ve got some mature [trees] on my property and I’ve been growing some young ones from the seeds, what’s the

possibility of me getting in some kind of a tree business and selling them,’” Jason said. “And they said, ‘you get them up to about 8 feet and we’ll buy every one of them you’ve got.’”

Right now, he has 400 in pots.

Too, there are vegetables the couple grows based on the seasons, such as rattlesnake beans, tomatoes, corn, okra, eggplant and more.

Alpacas need to be sheared, grass needs to be mowed, there’s always something to be done, Jason said.

“We work until dark every day; every day,” he said.

But there are rewards to the grueling work.

“Because we enjoy it; it’s different,” Jason said. “We’re tired and we complain sometimes, but very little about this part, the farm work. When we’re out here and we’re birthing these baby goats, it’s all worth it.”

To book a visit on the farm, check Bella Luna Farm out on Facebook: www.facebook.com/ BellaLunaFarmLLC.

1910 Pepperell Parkway, Opelika 334-749-1471