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When we bought our farm in 1989,
we had no idea
we would ever have livestock.
We wanted to be in the country, so we
could strengthen our connection to the land.
We wanted enough acreage to walk in peace
with our Scottish Deerhounds, to give them and
us the chance to feel the peace and serenity of
lush green fields and quiet untouched woods.
And, we wanted an old farmhouse so we could feel
the history of those that had lived on the land
before us.
Wanting to be in the beautiful western
Finger Lakes area of upstate New York, we began
our search.
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What we found was 130 acres
of land with fields,
woods, a beautiful creek that rushed into life
in the spring and meandered through the summer.
We found all of this on a wonderful east
facing slope, which has protected us from the
chill of winter winds yet always freshens our
summer days with a cool breeze which brushes us
on its way down to the valley spread out in
front of us.
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Waiting for us, too, was our farmhouse,
built
around 1825 with additions through the years
that culminated in the house that has been a
roomy, warm, and inviting home for us.
And so we found our hearts’ ease—and
loving the little flower of the same name, we
christened our farm…HeartsEase Farm.
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We spent many wonderful years here,
and yet
somehow we had the feeling that something more
was needed.
The fields, so lush and green, seemed to
need a way to be nurtured and replenished.
In 2001, we attended a local fiber fest
and met our first Icelandic Sheep. They seemed too good to be true!
Hardy, prolific, independent, and
intelligent, they beckoned to us.
But we needed them also to be income
producing, since we are looking at our
retirement years soon.
Investigating, we found that they
actually could contribute to our income!
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