It is hard to fathom that 8 years ago, we didn’t own any livestock and had no concept really of what heritage breed animals were.  Here is how it all begin….

Maddie and I were sitting at a 4-H Leaders Association meeting in January of 2016 when representatives from the Steppingstone Farm Museum came to announce that they were thinking of adding back farm animals to the museum and were looking for 4-H kids who may want to keep animals there.  Maddie immediately flew out of her chair and ran to discuss this idea with the museum coordinators.  They were interested in historical breeds so our research began.   We reached out to our rabbit friend Ellen, whom we had been showing Thrianta rabbits with for a few years, as we knew she kept sheep and goats.  Ellen encouraged Maddie to enter an essay and application to the Youth Conservationist Program which matches youth up with breeders of heritage breed sheep which are on the conservation list and gives them a breeding ewe.  Heritage Breeds are rare breeds as classified by the Livestock Conservancy and the conservancy keeps track of populations and which breeds are more critical than others in terms of numbers of animals.  Maddie decided to enter to try to get awarded a Leicester Longwool ewe since this was one of the breeds Ellen had and loved.   In April of that year, Maddie got the call from Natalia Seitzer that she was being awarded a ewe named Lady Heazle at the Maryland Sheep and Wool Festival that May.  Wow, this was becoming a reality!   We worked with Steppingstone Farm Museum to get a paddock set up and got hay delivered and lined up an Angora Goat named Neptune and a Leicester Longwool wether to be named Luster as companions for Heazle which our friend Ellen was providing.

We arrived at the Maryland Sheep and Wool Festival as first timers and wow, these people were wild about sheep and all things sheep!  There were hundreds of fiber arts vendors and sheep breeds and shows.  It was amazing and here we were about to become shepherds ourselves!   We met Heazle as she arrived and it was hard to believe!  That Sunday, Maddie was awarded Heazle in the Youth Conservationist Presentation of the ewes and it was surreal.  Unfortunately, Steppingstone wasn’t ready for us yet so Heazle went to Pennsylvania with Ellen to stay for a while, so it was a bittersweet ending to an incredible weekend. 

We made a few visits to see Heazle and her new brothers Neptune and Luster and the trio finally moved to the farm museum in mid-June.   The flock did well at the museum, and they got a lot of attention as the only animals at the site.  The summer months were so nice and we made the trek to the museum daily to feed and check the flock.  Maddie didn’t have her license yet and the museum was a good thirty-minute drive each way, so it took some planning and commitment to be flock owners!  

In July, Maddie took Heazle to the county fair and she showed in both showmanship and breed classes.  Heazle refused to cooperate and actually laid in the mulch during the show.  Maddie was not pleased and ended up trying to push her out of the ring.  This sheep showing was not easy and she and Heazle were both glad when that was over!

In December, Heazle moved back up to Aboundingful Farm to meet Ellen’s ram Shaggy.  She stayed for a few months for her breeding and then returned to the farm museum in March.  As her supposed due date got closer, we got more nervous about her being a half hour away and us having no birthing experience.  Ellen graciously offered to let Heazle come back to lamb at her farm and this is where the fun begins!  

As the Maryland Sheep and Wool Festival was approaching, Ellen proposed that Maddie spend the weekend at her farm to farm sit and keep an eye on Heazle and she eagerly agreed.   So, that weekend came and I then decided to stay as well on that Saturday evening while Ellen was away. We had an old school baby monitor in the barn and awoke to Heazle’s baahing that sounded a bit different.  Maddie dashed to the barn and called me immediately to tell me a lamb was being born!  We got Ellen on the phone and before long we had a feisty ewe lamb!   Maddie was elated and wow, it was unreal to see her be born!  As Maddie was drying her off and admiring her, Ellen told her to watch for another in case it was twins.  We didn’t think Heazle was having two but a little bit later, Maddie saw a hoof emerging!   With Ellen on speaker phone, Maddie was able to assist with the birth of a twin and out came a little boy!  We were overjoyed and this just happened to be on the one year anniversary of Maddie being awarded Heazle!  Ellen was excited and told all those at the sheep and wool fest about the twins being born as the next round of ewes were being awarded to youth.  The twins were named Nellie Rose and Frederick Spot.  Wow, what an incredible weekend it was!

Heazle stayed with her twins for a while at Aboundingful Farm until they were a bit older and thriving.  The trio then moved back to the farm museum to rejoin Luster and Neptune that summer.  The flock along with the lambs all attended the county fair that summer and we had a really nice display set up educating the public on the breed. We also participated in many events at the farm museum and the lambs were a big hit!

The next spring Maddie started working with the lambs as she was going to do sheep showmanship at the county fair.  After working with them both, she decided Nellie would be the one to enter the ring.  That July the entire flock, including Neptune and Luster, all went to the fair and shared a large stall for a heritage sheep display.   

Finally came the night of the sheep show!  Maddie entered the ring with Nellie for her showmanship class and ended up winning first for her heat as a Senior 4-H’er.  When she went back in the ring to compete against the other senior winner, she won that class.  Then, back in the ring to compete with the champions of all the classes and she and Nellie won Grand Champion Sheep Showman!  It was amazing and also funny how the judge referred to them as the girl with the wool lamb.  The rest of the classes were large market lambs and Maddie had to squat and bend the entire time to be able to properly handle Nellie since she was still so young.  It was an incredible night and very unexpected. 

Maddie’s next thought was now she’d be participating in the first ever Master Showman competition which included the grand champions of each species’ showmanship competitions.  She had 2 days to learn all she could about showing pigs and dairy cattle!  She had novice experience showing goats and beef so this was going to be a challenge.  Long story short, Maddie entered the contest with the goal of enjoying the experience and had no aspirations of winning against kids with family farms and tons of showing experience.  Well, after a long competition, the judges awarded her the title of Master Showman!  We were all in shock as this was the ultimate title and the first time the fair had this competition.  This was definitely a highlight of Maddie’s 4-H career as well as a lifetime highlight.  So here little Nellie opened up this opportunity for Maddie after they won the sheep showmanship contest.

Over the next several years we had ups and downs and ended up moving the flock two times within a few years.  It was very challenging to find a leasing situation where the flock could be kept safe with ample room and one where we could participate in their care daily.   We loved the flock but really had no means to breed or expand or have much say in the infrastructure since we owned no land and had no farm.  We are super grateful for the opportunities we did have with leasing pasture and would never had been able to keep heritage breed sheep without these opportunities.

Life outside of sheep had its challenges and we were once again faced with having to move the flock.  After exhausting all options we could find, we determined there would be no future leasing situation for us and we had to come to terms with dispersing the flock.  This idea was unimaginable as the animals brought us such joy daily and this lifestyle was something we didn’t know how we’d live without. 

On a whim one Tuesday morning in the fall of 2022, I went online and just Googled land/farms for sale to see what was out there.  A saw a few rough options and was encouraged to at least reach out to a realtor.  I had no contacts so randomly clicked a “contact a realtor” button on Zillow and into my life comes the most amazing lady!  She listened to my wishes for a place for sheep and ran with it. She called the county and got to work.  Two weeks later I made an offer on a hidden “gem” just a mile from our primary residence.  This place was set off the road, a place we passed for over 20 years and one that was unremarkable, mainly because it sat so far back, and it couldn’t be seen.  The driveway had a rusted chain across it and there were “No Trespassing” signs everywhere!  Decades of overgrowing brush and thorns encroached the long gravel driveway and it was a bit ominous from the street.   Well, once I got down the driveway and stepped out into the debris filled yard, I knew this was it.  SO much work would need to be done but this was going to be the home for Happy Heritage Farm. 

Three weeks later I had the keys in my hand and it was time to get to work.  Weeks and weeks of debris collecting in the winter months and planning for where the fences would go and what kind of run-in shelter would be needed.   I got the property surveyed as there was no true record with the county of where the boundaries even were, and supply lists were made.  We had about 9 weeks to get this all set up as we had a looming deadline for when the flock needed to move.

February of 2023 was a mild month, so Mother Nature worked in our favor.  Gravel was delivered, a run-in barn was dropped, and we installed all the pasture fencing on our own.  It was a ton of work but so exciting to build a mini farm from scratch and to decide where to put the fence lines and gates.  It was a dream that still didn’t seem real, so we just focused on the task at hand each day.   On Friday, February 24, 2023, the flock moved to the new home of Happy Heritage Farm!

During the period between purchasing the property and having it ready, our friend Ellen offered to take or girls, Heazle, Nellie and Magnolia to Pennsylvania to stay at her farm to try to get them bred.  Now that we had our own place, breeding was once again an option and part of the mission of being keepers of rare breed sheep.   Ellen came down in January in her minivan and took the girls to her farm.  Unfortunately, none of the girls got pregnant that season so we all decided to let them stay and try again in the next season.

Fast forward to this week in March 2024 and I receive a message from Ellen that Nellie had twins!  Nellie delivered a ewe and ram lamb on Tuesday February 26, 2024!  Maddie traveled up to Pennsylvania yesterday to meet the twins and to see the moms and it was such a great experience.  She got to hold the lambs and reminisce back to when Nellie and Frederick were born in that same barn seven years ago.  A full circle as we are sponsors this year of the Youth Conservationist Program at the Maryland Sheep and Wool Festival.  We had signed up for this sponsorship several months ago not knowing we’d be adding more lambs to this rare heritage breed. 

It’s been an incredible journey with many hard days but what a journey.  It all started with an opportunity at a 4-H meeting, a connection to a rabbit friend who happens to also raise sheep, and an essay to try to win a heritage breed ewe.  Life is crazy and every interaction you have comes into play with the big scheme.  We look forward to what the future holds for Happy Heritage Farm and we hope to be able to begin offering mentorship to 4-H youth who have no ability to keep livestock so they can have the same opportunities that Maddie and our family have had.  It can literally be life changing!