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Our Winter Sky Tennyson has taken Reserve Grand Champion Fleece at the Michigan Fiber Festival! August 18, 2007. Look for more information on our blogspot.
Bright Angels Homestead was established in 1980 on a wilderness tract of land that had been heavily logged over. With no electricity, phone lines or paved roads the challenge was to create a working farm through "simple" sweat equity. Establishing gardens that would produce food on ground that was either hardpan clay, pure sand or gravel proved the number one priority once the house was built and one field was cleared for future pasture. Alpine dairy goats proved inadequate for the task at hand and not an efficient use of resources.
In 1992 Shetland sheep were brought in and proved to be the ultimate livestock for land improvement. Small, independent, hardy and adaptable to our six months of snow, three months of browsing, and three actual months of grass, these sheep have won a permanent place on my farm. Using the principles of small steps to get to a goal, I've used Shetlands to establish pasture where none existed before. They relish going into bramble, weeds and scrub trees and cleaning up. Their small size and physical nature make them a natural for grazing rough, uneven terrain. They also provide me with an amazing array of colorful, ultrafine fiber each year for a cottage industry. Not to mention the beautiful, lively lambs that show up with very little fanfare each morning when I go to the barn in April.
In addition to the Shetlands, my daughter now has a very colorful, correct, herd of Nigerian Dwarf goats registered with AGS. These goats show some of the same primitive instincts of their Shetland counterparts: easy births, good mothering skills, easy to manage and feed. For more information you can click on the link to her website:
And what organic garden would be complete without its patrol of bantam ducks to keep the slugs and insects under control. Australian Spotted Bantam ducks are good setters, foragers, and small enough not to make a mess of my deep-mulched gardens. They can also fly if their wings aren't clipped but smart enough not to go too far afield in our predator filled environs. Their cheerfulness in the worst weather conditions is heartening.
Bright Angels Homestead is now a working farm with bountiful gardens, fruit trees and green pastures where once was only heavily cutover woodland. In honor of our forest heritage we do maintain 45 acres of timberland and limit our pastoral endeavors to 9 acres. I feel very strongly that nature should be allowed to coexist with man as much as possible. Our ten pound Humane Society terrier cross patrols the boundaries during the daytime hours to insure all is well. At night the farm is put to bed in structures that are predator proof to keep everyone safe.
