My Farm – Jean-Margret Merrell-Beech
Monday, May 9th, 2011Carol Christen James traveled to MN to visit her mother. She stopped and spent the night with Jean-Margret Merrell-Beech in WI. This is how Jean-Margret Merrell-Beech spends her day.
I have a small (115 acre) farm and raise sheep and chickens. We had 51 lambs born this spring – they are a cross of Finn, Ramboulliet, and Dorset breeds. I try to market the wool and lambs privately and sell eggs. I spin wool and sell to spinners.
The tillable is all on shares with my neighbor so that I don’t have to own any equipment except a sprayer for the pastures, and a wagon to remove manure. I grow most of our food with a huge garden, small orchard, and eating a lot of lamb and chicken. I miss the pork and beef, but don’t have the fence to fatten one, although I keep thinking about it with calves selling for $15 around here.
Farms have consolidated around here in the last 20 years, just like they did around Northfield when we were finishing HS. But these are more hilly, more appropriate for dairy or sheep, and less suitable for grain and big equipment. As a result, my neighborhood has gone from 40 or more dairies down to less than 5 over the 23 years I’ve been here – but one milks 600. However in the last 3 years, these small farms are being bought up by the Amish and revitalized, often as dairies.
By Jean-Margret Merrell-Beech
Posted by Norm Larsen
