Todd Heyman and Suzy Kaplan of Fat Sheep Farm
When Suzy Kaplan & Todd Heyman decided to get married, 6 & 1/2 years ago, they made a plan for their lives together:
- Buy a farm on top of a mountain in Vermont.
- Have kids.
- Grow vegetables and fruit.
- Raise sheep and make cheese with the milk.
- Build cabins and rent them out for farm stays.
It sounds doable until you get to step 4. Then, it moves to a category we call “Do not to try this!”
Well, not really, but sheep are notoriously hard to raise because they are vulnerable to a host of illnesses. And, making cheese with sheep milk is hard because they don’t yield that much.
Fortunately, the couple knew all this and their step 5 makes the whole plan work. In fact, it’s beautiful.
The cabin rentals allow them to grow (and eat) fresh food, make their own raw milk cheese, raise chickens for the eggs and keep 3 mischievous Nigerian Dwarf goats.
This overview picture from their website shows the layout of the farm. The white house at top is their home. The building with the pitched roof below it is the event barn where the farm stand and the cheesemaking rooms are located. The five cabins overlook the mountains.
A Tour of the Farm
From Western Mass, it was a short trip up Rt. 91 and the directions on the website were perfect. It’s always a pleasure to visit Vermont where there is virtually no traffic and the views are spectacular.
The winding road uphill to the farm.
When you turn in, you see the backs of the “cabins” which are actually gorgeous homes.
There is no way to miss the entrance.
The sheep:
The lambs are born in April and the ewes are dried off in mid-September.
Eight of them were milked this past summer. Others are retired. (The family is vegetarian, so none of the animals are slaughtered for their own consumption.)
Suzy provided this scenic picture from last summer.
This picture is from their Instagram page.
The chickens:
The goats:
This is a picture from a few months ago showing Suzy leading some of the guests on a “goat walk.”
The gardens:
I didn’t see much of the growing fields, since it was too late in the growing season, but I knew from their social media pictures that Todd grows all kinds of vegetables and blueberries. He sells them at their farm stand and to a few restaurants in the area.
He is hoping to obtain a grant to build a cornmeal mill for fresh ground polenta and corn flour.
One of the gardens in July
Veggies harvested less than a month ago.
The farm stand:
The make room is on the first floor and the farm stand and event room are upstairs.
Fresh kale (a treat in November) and sheep milk cheese were in the cooler.
Corn was drying in the event space.
The make room:
Suzy learned to make cheese at Cobb Hill Cheese, 10 minutes down the road from the farm. She now uses some of their Jersey milk in her Autumn’s Blend cheese.
She attended cheesemaking workshops in the area and this coming winter, Suzy and Todd are travelling to Sardinia for a 5 day workshop with David Asher, the author of The Art of Natural Cheesemaking.
Suzy makes cheese 3 days/week in the summer. Her current cheeses include: Gouda, Manchego, and 3 of her own variations. One of those, Meadow’s Magic is made with warm milk (straight from the sheep) and her own culture, derived from clabber.
She typically makes 2 (8 pound) wheels at a time
When they were designing the make room, Suzy and Todd found a lot of information in Gianaclis Caldwell’s book – The Small Scale Cheese Business.
15 gallon vat from Microdairy Designs
This picture of their press is from their Facebook page.
The cave:
The shelves are made from wood harvested on their own land.
Cheeses using 100% Jersey cow’s milk
Workshops:
Suzy offers private custom cheesemaking workshops for 2-6 people. Depending on the cheese being made, the workshops can last between 3-4.5 hours. Participants make cheese from the start to finish, and they receive a lot of cheese to take home with them. If they have made an aged cheese, the wheel is aged for them and shipped to them in 4-6 months.
Suzy also offers a cheesemaker shadowing experience during the cheesemaking season, and sourdough bread making workshops all year round. (E-mail her or check out their website for more information.)
These cheeses were made in a private class. Suzy will be sending them to the student after they have aged.
The cabins:
There are often families with children staying at the farm. Much of the time, the sheep are pastured close to the cabins so the guests can sit on their porches and watch them.
This picture from last summer shows the sheep grazing in front of the cabins.
Every morning, the guests are welcome to participate in the chores, which may include (depending on time of year), milking the sheep, walking goats on a leash out to pasture, feeding the chickens and collecting eggs. (From the reviews on Tripadvisor, this is very popular!)
Later in the day, they can take a garden tour where they can harvest fresh vegetables, or participate in a workshop.
There is also a mile long hiking path in the woods.
Guests make their own meals or head to nearby Woodstock where there are nice restaurants.
The playground:
Across the field from the cabins, there is a huge outdoor play area with caves and a culvert.
One of the caves
The culvert
The fire pit:
In 2018, the Boston Globe gave the farm a raving review. And, in 2021, the farm was voted the Best Farm Stay in Vermont by Yankee magazine.
This review from August in Tripadvisor says it all:
Relaxing Getaway with Sheep!
We had an amazing time at Fat Sheep farm this week. There is so much time to spend with the sheep, goats and chickens. Rocky the dog gives sweet kisses too! The fact that the farm experience is included in the price of the cabin makes it an incredible value. The view of the mountains can’t be beat. It is the perfect place to escape and relax. The farm store has fresh farm produce. We made the fanciest scrambled eggs with fresh eggs, farm tomatoes and of course the sheep cheese! They even told us how to cook popcorn in a pot! That was a first. The cabins are surprisingly spacious. The beds and furniture are comfortable, and We don’t know how they have such good Wi-Fi. We don’t want to go anywhere else for vacation!
Fat Sheep Farm
Suzanne Kaplan & Todd Heyman
122 Best Road
Windsor, VT 05089
(802) 436-4696
info@fatsheepfarmvermont.com
www.fatsheepfarmvermont.com
