Sheep & Wool Is Almost Here!

Well, here we are. Two days until the Vermont Sheep & Wool Festival.

And if you're wondering whether I'm ready, the answer is: define "ready."

The sheep are ready. The dogs are ready (although they won’t be with me—much to their chagrin.) I have approximately 47 things on my list, most of which I will remember sometime Saturday morning, hopefully before I get there.

But I am excited.

Sheep & Wool is one of my favorite weekends of the year. There is just something about spending two days surrounded by sheep, wool, farmers, working dogs, fiber people and other folks who think spending a weekend talking about sheep sounds like a perfectly good idea.

And this year, Lucky Dog Farm will be there!

We'll have a 5x10 booth, with half of it occupied by two very special members of the flock. So if you've ever wondered what a Dorper looks like up close—or what it's like to have a sheep stare directly into your soul while you're trying to explain rotational grazing—come see us.

One of those sheep will be Frost, Doodle's first-ever lamb.

Frost was born March 16, and she was BIG. She was also one of those lambs that you notice right away. She's a real sweetie, warms up to people quickly, and loves having her neck scratched. She's calm and easygoing, which is particularly nice when you're trying to convince a sheep that standing quietly in a pen at a festival is actually a very reasonable thing to do.

She was named Frost because she was born on a frosty March morning, but also because her black cowl had a definitely frosty look about it.

I'll have information about Frost and Sasha, her partner in crime for the weekend, as well as other sheep in the flock, too, because one of the things I most want people to understand about small-scale farming is that the animals aren't just numbers.

I know these sheep.

I know who their mothers are. I know which ones are good mothers, which ones grow well on grass, which ones are easy to handle, which ones are leaders, which ones are troublemakers—and which bloodlines I want to keep building the flock around.

And ultimately, that's what Lucky Dog Farm is about: raising good food for our community while taking good care of the land and the animals that make it possible.

I'll also have my recipe cards, the Lucky Dog Farm herb & spice mix, and a way to sign up for my email list. If you've been meaning to stay in touch, this is a good time to do it. I'll be sharing what's happening at the farm, when lamb is available, recipes, and the occasional story about sheep doing something ridiculous.

And if you're already a Lucky Dog customer, please come find me and say hello.

I love seeing the people who buy our lamb in person. You folks are the reason I keep doing this crazy thing.

So if you're coming to Sheep & Wool this weekend, stop by the Lucky Dog Farm booth.

Come meet Frost and Sasha.

Come talk sheep.

Come ask me what the heck regenerative grazing actually means.

Come get a recipe.

Come say hi.

I'll be there with my sheep and a big smile because it's Sheep & Wool weekend!

Vermont Sheep & Wool Festival
October 3–4
Tunbridge Fairgrounds

See you there!

— Farmer Judith