We’ve known ReBecca for more than 10 years, and have come to appreciate her thoughtfulness and creativity as our friendship has grown. Join Sarah in conversation with ReBecca as we discuss her growth from accidental shepherd to committed advocate; her books that explore the human connection with the land; and her interest in our local […]
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 […]
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 […]
Off We Go! It feels like we have been planning this trip forever, and we kind of have. We made the decision to buy the tickets in June, and we have spent the last six months planning nearly every minute of the journey. We printed blank calendars and emailed friends, negotiating for their valuable time. […]
Lambing has been on my mind a lot lately as we prepare for the next phase of our shepherding adventure. Keeping adolescent and adult sheep has, thus far, been easy and fun. Even locating, selecting, and bringing in a breeding ram has been a relatively straightforward experience. We anticipate that raising our own lambs from […]
Since our last post, we’ve gotten our little freshman farm business off the ground. In the spring we fenced a second pasture to give the sheep more room to graze. We sent our first batch of wool to Green Mountain Spinnery in August, and sold yarn at the Tunbridge World’s Fair and the Vermont Sheep […]
A week ago, Don and Sue Mellen of Autumn Mountain Farm delivered our two gelding llamas, Guinness and Kuzco, to guard the sheep from predators. We unloaded them to the paddock and observed as they investigated their new home, then invited Don and Sue up to the house for lunch. They were very pleased with […]