Our farm is a 207 acre pasture based sheep farm located on a the side of an southeast facing ridge in southern Vermont over looking the Connecticut River Valley. We primarily raise sheep for meat and wool. In addition to our 150 sheep we have a sugar bush where we produce Maple Syrup . We bought the disused dairy farm that had been hayed in an extractive manner for the last 30 years in 2019. The 80 acres of fields have been run down and we are attempting to bring them back through rotational grazing, targeted management and focused invasive species control. We manage our livestock with the use of Border Collies for herding and Livestock Guardian Dogs for guarding the flock. We regularly provide educational opportunities on the role of sheep dogs. Our hope is to increase plant species diversity in our pastures, provide habitat for wildlife in our woods and fields and coexist with the natural world around us.
Future Farmers
We would be happy to host a Future Farmer. During the June-August time frame there will be a lot to learn about rotational grazing, invasive species management, sheep care and the role of dogs in management.
We are currently working to push back invasive and nuisance species of plant life. We have a back ground in invasive species management using sheep and goats. When we host during the Spring, Summer and Fall we hope that WWOOFers would work in concert with our animals to help eradicate or control species such as buckthorn, thistle, bedstraw, multi-flora rose, bittersweet and help us regain the field edges that have been taken over. This will involve using both hand and power tools to cut and trim and/or dig up woody plants and plants that are poisonous to the animals. We will also do selective reseeding. This will allow grasses and other pasture species to gain sunlight and an edge on the invasives. Work may involve helping to move temporary fencing to manage rotational grazing of animals that is benefiting the regeneration of the soils and control of the invasives. There will be opportunities to learn about sheep care (we do biweekly health checks) use of herding dogs in herd management and how to use targeted grazing and browsing to transform "weeds" into healthy vibrant pasture. Ideally we would like at least two wwoofers at a time to make the work go easily. In the Fall of 2023, the WWOOFERs embarked on a really exciting project using parts of invasive and nuisance plants to hand dye yarn from our sheep. We will continue this project next year. It has been a big hit.
Except during lambing we generally start at 8 am and wwoofers would work until about noon or 1 pm. Work will be outdoors even in less than perfect weather. The afternoons and evenings are available for hiking, swimming and local sight seeing in Southern Vermont.
We have an apartment available for Wwoofers. There is a kitchen, bathroom and a few bedrooms. It is expected that Woofers would share the space with other Wwoofers. And we may ask if you are comfortable sharing a room. Other activities may also occur in the common space depending on the season. Wwoofers are generally on their own for meals with a fully stocked kitchen varied according to wwoofer dietary preferences. We do try to have a few communal meals during each wwoofer's stay.
On site we have the owners (my husband and me). I have been sheep farming for more than 15 years and started my journey using sheep and goats to manage invasive species on an Audubon society property. My husband works full time off farm but maintains the equipment and does various other things around the farm. We have a full time worker who has worked in a variety of settings (dairy sheep, multi species) and loves to share his knowledge with people. We have a part time staff person (former wwoofer who can't seem to stay away :) ) Both are interested and learning about the crafts associated with farming. We have a seasonal employee who manages the sugar bush and sugar house (operates Feb-early April usually depending on weather).
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Learning opportunities
Sheep or goat farming
Traditional crafts
Mechanics / tools / technology
Methods or systems
Holistic management
Regenerative agriculture
Rotational grazing
Mentoring opportunities
Woman-operated
Host type
Production farm
83.8
Hectares
|
207
Acres
