As fiber farmers, we here at Roving Acres Farm get asked a lot of questions. You might think this would be tedious, but it's not at all. We love to answer your questions, and think that a lot of you are curious about what we are doing and why. We thought it would be a great idea to have a regular feature on our blog that addresses those questions. If you have any questions, please feel free to post them or email them to us. We will be happy to answer those questions in future installments.
One of the questions we get most is "What made you decide to be fiber farmers?" This is usually asked with an incredulous expression. Other people look envious, but also glad that they aren't the one's on this adventure. It is hard to understand why someone would want to take on such a huge amount of work, so let me see what I can do to explain.
First, none of us grew up on a farm. Chris had some experience visiting a relative's farm and saw lambs "prepared" for dinner. He has always said that he never wants to be a farmer! However, all of us just love animals and the outdoors. Beth and Sarah always wanted to have some land and some animals to care for. At one point I (Beth) saw a newspaper article about a woman who kept angora rabbits and spun the fiber into yarn. I thought, "Wow, that's so cool!" I carried this idea around with me for years, never really thinking anything would come of it. I continued to knit and secretly dream of owning some sort of animal that produced fiber.
In 2009 I saw another article in the newspaper about the Cuyahoga Valley National Parks and the Countryside Conservancy and how they rehab farms in the Cuyahoga Valley and then lease them out. They were having a call for proposals for a farm, and they were going to be offering tours. I decided to go on the tour, and thought that it could possibly be a fiber farm. I had lunch with Chris after the tour, and I told him all about it. I thought for sure he would tell me that I was crazy and I needed to drop that idea immediately. To my surprise he thought it was an amazing idea, and he encouraged me to write the proposal. So, I then called my daughter, Sarah, and asked her what she thought about helping with this. She was also excited, and we launched right into writing the proposal. We only had two months to complete the proposal, which involved research, interviews, farm visits, and learning to write a business plan. Chris told us later that he was sure we would give up. But we fooled him, and we got it in on time. We were very excited!
But alas, that was farm was not meant to be ours. We were not the winning proposal. However, we loved our plan so much we decided to try to find a farm to buy. We found a real estate agent (turns out it isn't easy to find someone who specializes in farms!), and we looked at many, many farms. We finally found one that was just right. Located in beautiful Pierpont in Ashtabula County, it had a 100 year old barn, gorgeous pastures, an orchard, and woods. The house was in a state of remodeling, but it was just right for our needs. We bid on the farm and got it! We were both excited and terrified!
So, that's how it all began. It's been a crazy adventure, but we are so glad we are doing it! Let us know if you have any questions, and we will be happy to answer them.
