Kate MacLean and her husband Nick of Longest Acres Farm in Chelsea have a familiar farmer story. Tired of working in office jobs, they visited Kate’s farming cousin in the country and fell in love with the lifestyle of hard work, fresh air, and a direct connection with animals and the environment. They haven’t looked
Articles with the Tag raising sheep
13: Linda Doane, Shepherd of Shetlands
Linda Doane is a national treasure in the shepherding world. After sampling some imported Shetland fleeces, she decided she had to have a flock of her own. The problem? No one was raising this breed in the United States. Working with a Canadian partner, Linda and her husband Tut imported the first flock of Shetland
Our flock: a mixed bunch of different breeds
Over the years, we’ve kept different breeds in our flock, as our knowledge of sheep and wool has grown. Starting with a specialty breed, the Navajo-Churro, was fun and informative, but marketing the specialty wool was difficult. After a few years we explored Shetlands, and most recently got a couple of retired show sheep who
Getting started with sheep farming
When we bought our house in 2006, we knew the building was sound, but the land needed improvement. What to do about the ice-slalom of a driveway? How could we plant a vegetable garden if the front yard was full of pine trees that blocked out the sun? The idea of driving a tractor on