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Kate & Ralph Henderson |
My husband Ralph and I purchased Sheepy Valley Farm in 1979. We were newly
married and interested in finding a small homestead with a barn and land for grazing and
gardening. We were pleased to find 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--Ralph and I have had dairy cows, beef cattle, horses,
pigs, chickens, ducks, geese, goats, rabbits, turkeys, and one cranky mule.
We decided to emphasize sheep so that they could graze the farm's overgrown pastures.
We found they made good show animals for our kids in 4-H, and that led to
learning about the uses of wool.
In the summer of 2006, we moved from Walton to a larger farm located in a
small hamlet called Medusa in the town of Rensselaerville. We're
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 our 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!
We're proud of our new home, and excited that through our website we can tell you
about it, and offer some of our fine wool and honey
products. Order some, or send us a note--we'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 Ralph and 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 |
There's a lot of work to be done at Sheepy Valley--not just the daily chores, but
the inevitable repairs and seasonal tasks like harvesting honey or shearing sheep. Ralph
and I are very busy, but in our spare time we both work full-time jobs. I am a nurse, and
Ralph works at a grocery.
We'll keep you posted as things change here at Sheepy Valley--check our
home page for
the latest news. |
