Bobbie Jean Booth
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 health and how to time cutting the pastures for the benefit of grass nesting birds; I have learned what it takes to keep a flock healthy (no small thing); I have built friendships with other farmers and value the relationships that I have with those that I could not keep a flock without (the shearer, the vet, the hay farmer, the land owners). And I have learned what it takes to run a business (still learning this, and it's still so not my thing!). There are so many things that I love about farmer: being outside in all sorts of weather and being part of the change of seasons; using my skills of self-reliance, creativity, patience and perseverance; giving care to the land and to my sheep.
After having to make the very hard decision to sell 1/2 of my flock in order to give myself the space and time to heal from the accident, I'm not sure what my next steps are for farming. But after 9 years of shepherding, I know that it takes a community to keep a flock of sheep. I am forever grateful to those you have helped me over the years and I hope that I can be there for other farmers too.
