OUR STORY

Purchased in 2004, Old Home Crawford is an historic property located in northeastern Vermont. Once part of a 1600 acre parcel owned by philanthropist and engineer Frederick C. Crawford, decendent of the Crawford family who established the homestead in the early 1800s, the current property was conserved through the Vermont Land Trust in the late 1990s.

 

In 2008 we started our homestead farm, having no prior experience in agriculture, with three ewes: one rescue mix-breed lamb and two registered Shetlands. Our goal was to maintain a flock of sheep--hardy enough for novice shepherds--to keep our ten historic, conserved, rocky pastures open as fields.  In March 2010 we welcomed our first lambs, and we were hooked!

 

In 2018 we took a year to re-evaluate our goals and establish a farm business. Our friends at Kindred Spirit Farm in New Hampshire familiarized us with the FFSSA, and we found our new direction.

 

As we start 2022, our management, goals, and flock continue to evolve. We begin this year with 48 sheep, with 25 bred for spring lambs. We aim to maintain a purebred flock with pedigree diversity, sound conformation, friendly dispositions, excellent mothering abilities, hardiness, and next-of-skin-soft fleece and wool products. Our sheep are multipurpose: maintaining our open fields through rotational grazing practices, while providing us with meat, fleece, hides, and countless hours of entertainment and life lessons.