I am an artist educator turned shepherdess and gardener/farmer, but I still feel like I am surrounded by art every single day - I see it in the eyes of my growing children and in the beauty of my Icelandic sheep, our lavender gardens and our farm - I am indeed fortunate. My current artist's palette is a field of Icelandic sheep or the lavender and herb gardensI tend, all in an asymmetrical balance of color and pattern. My life here on the farm is a work of art in progress, which I hope will never be "finished."
Although I no longer teach "formally," I find still that I am still educating people - about the joys and rewards of raising Icelandic sheep and working with their incredibly versatile fiber; or teaching about lavender plants - how to grow and use them and how to take advantage of the myriad uses of this wondrous plant and its oil. I teach still through my writing and as I meet people from all walks of life who are drawn to this lifestyle that we call farming.
I wish I could tell you that our farm is totally self-sufficient and that we are supporting ourselves off the land, but that would not be true (husband Daryl is a chemist for Dow Chemical). I am a full time mother, shepherdess, gardener, and business owner, but our farm dream is a reality and it is sustaining itself - which we think is pretty remarkable for our small acreage and without hiring help. What our farm does best is to allow us this lifestyle, which is what we were striving for. Our oldest daughter Amy is 24 and our youngest daughters, who are Mikaela (9) and Fiona (10), have been able to have mom home with them since infancy. I used to be a full time art educator and the years of Amy's childhood seemed to fly by while I worked full time and spent many hours commuting to and from work and to and from graduate school. When our little ones came along, I wanted to be home with them and thus our farm became a way of life that allowed me to be home. It allows our family to share a common goal, grounded, here together on the farm. Our animals give us much joy, and the lifestyle - the health style - of working outdoors is reward enough. But that said, on our small acreage, we are able to raise animals and plants that are paying for themselves and paying for the upgrades of our farm. We rebuilt our barn, we've added prime breeding stock to our flock of Icelandic sheep, we've remodeled an old chicken coop into the studio/shop and added a greenhouse - all from the farm business. Another farm joy are our Icelandic sheep dogs. These are the best dogs we have ever had in terms of intelligence, friendliness, eagerness-to-learn and please others. They are wonderful family dogs, but also help us to move the sheep. We also raise fancy chickens (including Icelandic chickens) for their eggs and they free-range, helping keep the bug population down. We built an aviary in the fall of 2003 and it houses fancy pheasants, peacocks and a Bourbon Red turkey - just for the fun and beauty of them.
In October of 2004 we were delighted to add "Papa" to our lives full time. Daryl's father, Willie Gisch, left his farm of 160 acres in southern Minnesota and bought a small farm across the road from us. He is now my partner in shepherding and he tends part of the flock at his farm. The children get to finally have papa a full time part of their lives. This has turned our farm dream into a true 3-generation farming venture.
The most recent additions to our lives are horses. The children are now old enough to learn how to ride. We've been able to purchase more land, hence more space - and now we are ready to let the girls grow up with the best of living on a farm - a horse of their own! Their first horse is a gentle mare named "Pepper." Her first companion animal was a darling miniature donkey (jennet) named "Suzette." I regret not adding a miniature donkey to our life much sooner - they are the perfect pet for young children. The girls go out and pet her, hug her, lay on her and groom her. Suzette delivered a lovely daughter for us, and her name is Sara. She is just a delight. We were blessed to have added an Icelandic mare named "Skessa" to our lives also in 2006; she and Fiona are best friends and now both girls can go riding at the same time.
We feel blessed to live on our farm and encourage others to pursue their own dreams of obtaining a simpler life style.
Thank you for visiting our website!
Laurie |
