Sheepy Valley Farm was established in 1979. My family was interested in
finding a small homestead with a barn and land for grazing and gardening
and found a small farm located about 12 miles west of Walton, New York
(itself about 140 miles northwest of New York City.)
We have raised not just sheep--but have had dairy cows, beef cattle,
horses, pigs, chickens, ducks, geese, goats, rabbits, turkeys, and one
cranky mule.
The sheep became our focus so that they could graze the farm's
overgrown pastures.
We found they made good show animals for the kids in 4-H, and that led
to learning about the uses of wool.
In the summer of 2006, I moved from Walton to a larger farm located in
the small hamlet of Medusa in the town of Rensselaerville. I'm located at
the southern edge of Albany County, New York, bordering on Greene County in
the northern Catskills. The house and land has been in my family for nearly
75 years, and now it's the home of Sheepy Valley. It's wonderful to see my
own sheep in pastures of the farm I used to visit as a young girl, when my
aunt and uncle lived on this very same farm!
I'm excited about the new home, and through this website can tell you
about it, and offer some of many fine
wool and
honey products.
Order some, or
send me a note--I'd
love to hear from you.
--Kate Henderson. |
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While sheep are not the only animals currently living at
Sheepy Valley, it's the wooly ones that keep me busy. We have 48 sheep,
including three rams which we breed with our ewes each fall. Lambs are
born the following spring. The
remainder of our flock are yearling ewes (too young to breed), and several wethers (neutered
rams) that we keep for their beautiful wool.
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Different colored faces from our flock |
We also raise honey bees. There are
currently three hives, safely protected by an electric fence from bears. (One ransacked
our hives a couple springs ago: we learned our lesson!)
We harvest honey each fall from the hives, and also use the beeswax to make
candles.
In addition to the sheep, we raise chickens for eggs and meat and we grow some of our
own vegetables in our fertile garden. Our farm also provides firewood and christmas trees.
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Winter
at Sheepy Valley |
We'll keep you posted as things change here at Sheepy Valley--check our
home page for
the latest news. |
