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WOLSTON FARMS
"We who choose to surround ourselves with lives even more temporary than our own live within a fragile circle, easily and often breached. Unable to accept its awful gaps, we still would live no other way."
Welcome to Wolston
Farms, home of Ian Caldicott and Raven OKeefe, located in
Scio Oregon. At Wolston farms we
raise sheep, keep
chickens, and train sheepdogs. We care a great deal about our animals
and our land.
We take every step possible to ensure that our animals are happy and healthy.
This area is exceptionally well suited to raising sheep and training sheepdogs. The climate is very mild so it is rarely to hot for the dogs or to cold for the people. While we do get plenty of rain in the winter and spring the grass also grows year round. It is unfortunately also perfect for a number of sheep parasites.
You may wonder where the name Wolston Farms comes from. Wolston is a small village in central England where Ian spent his early childhood. According to local folklore you are only a true Wolston native if you have fallen in the stream that runs through the center of the village. At this point you have probably guessed that Ian did indeed fall in the stream as a youngster and therein lies the reasoning behind the Wolston Farms name.
To be successful on a small farm we believe it is important to be flexible and diversified. We sell our products online, at art and craft shows and at sheepdog trials. Raven has been an artist for many years, specializing in pet portraits she has also developed a technique we call wool sculpture. We put some of Raven's art on note cards, clothing etc and sell them through our BC Styleyes and Canis Major Art web sites. Raven's sheep related art and other products derived from our sheep are on our Sheep Thrillz web site.
Along with maintaining our web sites and teaching herding
lessons Ian also makes shepherds crooks and does
photography. As a service to the herding community
we also maintain the Stock Dog Server, a comprehensive source of information
on herding breeds, events, information and activities.
We also have a page that lists the books we are currently reading and books that we recommend for anyone interested in similar things to us. For those of you interested in what life is like on our farm we write a regular series of articles that might interest you. Finally there is a collection of photos of our farm.
