My Story
My transformation from being a retired lawyer to becoming a shepherd began during the pandemic. We were all in lockdown, and one day I simply decided that I wanted to raise a Babydoll Southdown lamb, but I don’t exactly remember why. 🤷🏽♀️
So, in December, 2020, the journey began when I purchased a woodlot in North Pomfret, Vermont. I quickly realized that I needed to convert some of my dense forest into healthy pasture suitable for a flock of sheep and their guardian llama. Did I actually know how I was going to do any of this?? Not exactly. But I knew it needed to be done, and I was the one to do it.
While figuring out how to turn my parcel into a farm, I initially lived out of my pickup truck - sleeping on an inflatable mattress in the bed with a bug net over the top! I eventually upgraded to a Bowlus Terra Firma camper, a big step upscale! For a year, my camper played the faithful role of ‘overpriced tent’, since I lacked any utilities at all. Over the course of the next five years - I had a well dug, connected the property to the power grid and fiber-optic internet, built a large beloved equipment shed (equipped with hay loft), and even erected the stunning Cabin ANNA from The Netherlands.
Over time, I’ve had to learn how to use a chain saw, manure spreader, and tractor. I’ve learned the hard way why I really need a hay elevator. As a small woman with no farming experience, I face challenges that take my breath away almost every single day. My fledgling farm operation has evolved too, now consisting of two Babydoll Southdown sheep, five Merino sheep, one guard llama, and several chickens. I’ve also constructed a new hoop barn in order to keep my livestock protected from the elements. It was exactly what they needed.
Honestly, I never could have imagined that I’d become a farmer someday. Following this winding road, learning about small farm management and animal husbandry has taught me so much about myself that I hadn’t recognized before. Until this journey began, I lived my entire life facing mostly intellectual challenges. I’ve always been a good student, and I take particular pleasure in reading, studying and researching to enable me to conquer challenges. But during all of my years in academia and law, I never encountered anything approaching the magnitude of emotional strain and physical demands that farming requires. I’ve always relied on my innate intellectual curiosity and ability to absorb gobs of information, and this has helped me whenever tackling a project. Putting what I learn into practice for agriculture was, and continues to be, a huge expansion of my skillset that puts my mind and body to the test. Rather than simply writing an opinion based purely on research, I now enact all these newly-learned lessons through intense physical action on my farm.
Take the sheep, for example: once I began to understand the nutritional needs of my flock, I had to devise a strategy to provide them with food. This entailed studying basic soil science, clearing several acres of forest, cover cropping the land to sweeten the soil, seeding a barren pasture, brush hogging so the grasses had a chance to outcompete forest regrowth, then bringing the sheep onto the new pasture to happily graze. This, of course, required me lugging a lot of 50lb. seed bags, spreading over 50 tons of compost, and learning how to properly attach and utilize heavy pieces of power equipment with my tractor. Yeah, exactly ✊
I’m constantly learning and growing, every single season, right along with my farm. As a result of this dedication, I believe more deeply in myself than ever before - gaining new confidence at every single stage. I’ve learned that I can push through intense physical pain, all alone, up high on this empty hill even during the depths of the Vermont winter - who cares if it’s -10°F?! This journey continues to be such an intensely personal growth exercise, and I feel deeply fortunate to have reservoirs of strength to overcome every challenge. It’s been exactly what I needed.