Hestholl Icelandics

08/07/2024

Sorry to miss everyone at and this week, but if you are at come by the sheep & goat tent and see us! :)

06/25/2024

Come on down to ! We’re all set up and opening soon!

06/01/2024

The little known giraffe sheep.
Photo credit Madison Burns (WWOOF)

05/31/2024

Great day at the farmers market today!

05/01/2024

The last of the lambs has arrived, and now I will finally get some sleep! :)
There are some beautiful babies. I’m excited to watch them grow! :)

04/11/2024

I haven’t posted anything about the eclipse because it was impossible to photograph. Even the best photos with special lenses don’t give you any sense of it. All I can say is, if you ever have a chance to see one, go see it. It’s amazing.

04/08/2024

Well, it was a rough day yesterday and this one lost her sister, but she’s a happy beautiful lamb and mom seems to be recovering ok. Unfortunately, I don’t think I’ll be able to breed her again :(

04/05/2024

It’s the beginning of lambing season and I need to walk back and forth in the snow to the barn, so of course I broke my toe. 😔 Luckily, it’s on the left foot so I can still plow.

04/05/2024

Back to winter again tonight…

04/03/2024

https://www.facebook.com/share/p/D8QjAycYCmoegRjW/?

IMPORTANT MESSAGE FROM WATERBURY BACKCOUNTRY RESCUE TEAM ABOUT THE APRIL 8TH TOTAL ECLIPSE.

Dear Hikers and Outdoor Enthusiasts,

In ordinary circumstances, the Waterbury Backcountry Rescue Team encourages and supports using all official hiking trails in our area. However, we strongly advise against any such venture during the forthcoming solar eclipse.

DO NOT ATTEMPT TO HIKE TO HIGH OR REMOTE AREAS!

The Green Mountain Club will not open the hiking trails until soil conditions warrant. Camel’s Hump Road will be closed on Sunday afternoon and Monday to non-resident traffic to deter folks from hiking.

On April 8th, the trails will likely be icy, snowy, muddy, and extremely difficult to navigate. Slippery conditions will increase the likelihood of falls and injuries. Given the unpredictable nature of Vermont weather in early April, any injury or illness could quickly escalate into a dangerous situation. These trails are not like those found in city parks; they demand the utmost caution and preparation.

Daylight hours are limited in April, and your descent may need to be completed mostly in darkness. Navigating treacherous terrain in low light conditions significantly increases the risk of accidents and getting lost.

If you choose to hike despite our advice, it is imperative that you plan your own rescue. This plan should answer the following question: What will I do for myself during the next many hours and possibly a few days since no one can come to help? No backcountry. No EMS. No Fire. No police.


WHY IS THIS?
The roads throughout central Vermont will likely be blocked for hours or possibly even for days. It may be impossible for rescuers to get their gear to the trail in anything like a normal time frame. Do not expect a helicopter to come and rescue you. It will not happen. This is not TV. In the best of times, rescue from remote locations is measured in long hours. Evacuations are measured in even more long hours.

Keep in mind that if you ignore these warnings, you may be competing with many others for rescue assistance, further delaying help for everyone involved.

Please don’t hike to remote areas. If you do anyway, plan to be completely on your own for a great many hours and possibly days.

Think “safety” before you think “eclipse.”

Sincerely,

The Waterbury Backcountry Rescue Team

03/30/2024

Not sewn yet, but it’s going to be beautiful!

03/27/2024

https://www.facebook.com/share/p/eXUqNwMebX1jA5o5/?mibextid=WC7FNe

IMPORTANT MESSAGE FROM WATERBURY BACKCOUNTRY RESCUE TEAM ABOUT THE APRIL 8TH TOTAL ECLIPSE.

Dear Hikers and Outdoor Enthusiasts,

In ordinary circumstances, the Waterbury Backcountry Rescue Team encourages and supports using all official hiking trails in our area. However, we strongly advise against any such venture during the forthcoming solar eclipse.

DO NOT ATTEMPT TO HIKE TO HIGH OR REMOTE AREAS!

The Green Mountain Club will not open the hiking trails until soil conditions warrant. Camel’s Hump Road will be closed on Sunday afternoon and Monday to non-resident traffic to deter folks from hiking.

On April 8th, the trails will likely be icy, snowy, muddy, and extremely difficult to navigate. Slippery conditions will increase the likelihood of falls and injuries. Given the unpredictable nature of Vermont weather in early April, any injury or illness could quickly escalate into a dangerous situation. These trails are not like those found in city parks; they demand the utmost caution and preparation.

Daylight hours are limited in April, and your descent may need to be completed mostly in darkness. Navigating treacherous terrain in low light conditions significantly increases the risk of accidents and getting lost.

If you choose to hike despite our advice, it is imperative that you plan your own rescue. This plan should answer the following question: What will I do for myself during the next many hours and possibly a few days since no one can come to help? No backcountry. No EMS. No Fire. No police.


WHY IS THIS?
The roads throughout central Vermont will likely be blocked for hours or possibly even for days. It may be impossible for rescuers to get their gear to the trail in anything like a normal time frame. Do not expect a helicopter to come and rescue you. It will not happen. This is not TV. In the best of times, rescue from remote locations is measured in long hours. Evacuations are measured in even more long hours.

Keep in mind that if you ignore these warnings, you may be competing with many others for rescue assistance, further delaying help for everyone involved.

Please don’t hike to remote areas. If you do anyway, plan to be completely on your own for a great many hours and possibly days.

Think “safety” before you think “eclipse.”

Sincerely,

The Waterbury Backcountry Rescue Team

03/27/2024

Rural Vermont has been opposed to, and has been speaking out against, mandatory animal identification for over a decade. Recently, the USDA has slipped this into an appropriations bill. If passed, it would require electronic id on any livestock crossing state lines. This would place a disproportionate burden on small producers, does not improve traceability, and raises serious privacy concerns.

More info and take action here:
https://app.getresponse.com/view.html?x=a62b&m=BKneZg&mc=JK&s=rPlNPl&u=BpmaL&z=EFZJSwx&

03/23/2024

The ducks don’t want to stay inside.

03/19/2024

Or sheep…

https://www.facebook.com/share/p/ydTPjbNpSAb5vMHd/?mibextid=WC7FNe

03/13/2024

Happy ! :)

03/10/2024

I know I’m in the minority, but I love that I’m waking up just before dawn again 🙂 And it will give me an extra hour to get work done (because I will adjust the afternoon time to the light).
This probably doesn’t make sense to anyone who doesn’t work on a farm, but I love it.

01/29/2024

FYI - I will be taking reservations for lambs soon. Bringing them in from breeding groups in a week or so. I’m getting excited already!! 🙂
(Edit - despite these pictures, which just happened to be my favorites, I will have a larger number of polled lambs than horned lambs available this spring 🙂 )

01/13/2024

One of the most dangerous professions in the world. And sadly, family farms are usually operating with no backup because they can’t afford it.

Help out if you can.

I believe they will also be looking for new farms to re-home some of their dairy goat herd. Contact them directly if you are interested. I have no further information about that.

On January 7th the Harrington family suffered an unimaginable loss. Randall, fat… Rhonda Jordan needs your support for Harrington Family Tragic Farm Accident

01/10/2024

“Farm work doesn’t make you stronger. It doesn’t make you anything. It reveals you.

There’s gym strong and then there’s farm strong. They’re mutually exclusive.

The toughest women you’ll ever meet spend their days on a farm.

There are more uses for twine than you can possibly imagine. You can tie up a hole in a slow feeder, fashion a tail strap for a horse’s blanket, mend a broken fence and use it as a belt.

“Well that certainly didn’t go as planned,” is one thing you’ll say quite a bit.

Control is a mere illusion. The thought that you have any, at any given time, is utterly false.

Sometimes sleep is a luxury. So are lunch and dinner. And brushing your hair.

If you’ve never felt your obliques contract, then you’ve never tried stopping an overly full wheelbarrow of horse manure from tipping over sideways. Trust me, you’ll find muscles that you never knew existed on the human skeleton to prevent this from happening.

When one of the animals is ill, you’ll go to heroic lengths to minimize their discomfort.
When you lose one of them, even though you know that day is inevitable, you still feel sadness, angst and emotional pain from the top of your head to the tips of your toes. And it’s a heaviness that lingers even though you must regroup and press on.

You’ll cry a lot. But you’ll never live more fully. You’ll remain present no matter what because you must. There is no other option.

You’ll ask for so many miracles and hold out hope until the very last.

You will, at least once, face-plant in the manure pile.

You’ll find yourself saying things like, “we have maybe twenty minutes of daylight left to git ‘er done” whilst gazing up at a nonspecific place in the sky.

You’ll become weirdly obsessive about the weather.

You’ll go out in public wearing filthy clothes and smelling of dirt, sweat and p**p. People will look at you sideways and krinkle their noses but you won’t care.

Your entire day can derail within ten seconds of the rising sun.

You can wash your coveralls. They won’t look any cleaner, but they will smell much nicer.

Farm work is difficult in its simplicity.

You’ll always notice just how beautiful sunrises and sunsets really are.

Should you ever have the opportunity to work on a farm, take the chance! You will never do anything more satisfying in your entire life. “

- unknown author
Photo credit Jill Merkel

01/01/2024

Yringur with his ladies. I’m already starting to get excited about spring and lambs! :)

12/25/2023

Merry Christmas everyone! May you all feel the love around you today.

12/20/2023

Our neighbors this morning after the water started receding

11/09/2023

Ingibörg, with the beautiful black stripe on her horn! - available with or without lower jaw

11/07/2023

The end of milking season and the beginning of breeding season also means the beginning of “project” season. We are preparing wool, pelts, horns & skulls, lamb & mutton and a variety of small “crafty” things for you. Check in to see if I have your favorite things ready yet! I will be posting some soon.