Bobbie Jean Booth Becomes an Accidental Farmer

I was born and raised in Southwestern Vermont, and aside from living in Burlington, VT for 6 years, I have lived my whole life in the SW corner of our state.

I attended UVM and graduated with a B.S. in Ecology.
After college, I worked in outdoor education for a few years and currently still do on a part time basis.

For the past 20 years or so I have been building beautiful gardens and landscapes, which fulfills my love of plants and trees, insects and soils.

I got involved with sheep and farming purely by accident. Aside from a semester Work Study program at UVM dairy, I had no background in farming and no interest in sheep. Then, one cold February while I was farmsitting, 6 out of 8 of the ewes on the farm decided to give birth. I knew nothing about shepherding except for the basics of care while the farmer was gone, and had to dive right into a lambing season completely green. All sorts of lambing issues and farming challenges came up and I had to just figure it all out. I had help from lots of non-farmer friends and a few matter-of-fact books on lambing and sheep health. I also spent a lot of time on the phone getting advice from the farm owner who was a few thousand miles away. By the time the 10 days were over, I had fallen in love with sheep and now have a small flock of my own.

Farming has taught me more than any college education could have given me. I have had to learn how to be a carpenter, a plumber, a fence builder and a vet when the vet was not available; I have learned the enormous benefit of pasture rotation and soils he… Read More