the farm

Brown Dog Farm is a small diversified family farm that practices holistic management principals to grow everything we love; family, flora, fauna and art. We grow vegetables, perennial and annual flowers, and fruit. We transitioned our rented crop land out of corn and beans and we now grow a grass/alfalfa hay mix for our animals and for sale.

We raiseHeritage Breeds of livestock in order to protect their diminishing genetic pools. We tend, Buff Cochin, Buff Brahma, and Salmon Favorelle laying hens as well as Fawn Indian Runner ducks. Our feathered friends are allowed to run around the farm and keep us tick and slug free. They provide us with fresh free range eggs. We also have a flock of Hyline Brown layers in our chicken tractor we rotate through our pastures. We offer 12 week Egg Subscriptions for weekly or biweekly delivery.

We raise a flock of Icelandic and Shetland sheep for their wool and outstanding grass fed meat. We also have a pair of Angora Goat wethers for their beautiful mohair fleece.

We offer whole grass fed lamb in the fall/winter season. When they are ready, we open up reservations for whole lambs. A 120$ deposit, the cost of processing, reserves your animal. We send you a cut list for our artisan, local, USDA butcher, Pinn Oak Ridge Farms, so you can customize your order. When your lamb is ready, final payment based on the weight of the carcass will be due. Then you can pick up here or at Pinn Oak Ridge, just 5 miles down the road. Our animals are raised on a diverse pasture mix and our own hay and never fed grain. We try to keep inputs to a minimum to keep our carbon footprint low. They are supplemented with minerals and kelp when necessary. They live in a mixed flock, free to stay with their mothers who teach them what and where to graze for maximum diversity and benefit.

We offer the beautiful and naturally colored wool to fiber artists and spinners, knitters and weavers. Shetlands come in 13 colors and countless patterns, giving us a wide range of natural colors to work with. We offer raw fleeces, roving, yarn, and occasionally hats and other small items. Rachel is very interested in the Fiber Shed Movement and promoting wool as a sustainable and thoughtful alternative to petroleum based synthetics. Occasionally, we have hides available from both our Shetland and Icelandic sheep that go to harvest. Nothing is wasted, everything is used to become something useful and treasured.

Now we offer a baa-riliant oppurtunity to join in as a virtual or part time shepherd. Our Sponsor-a-Sheep program has 2 options, B-ewe-tiful Sponsors, and LambParents, to give you an intimate look into the year of a sheep farm, a chance to support our regenerative work in building soil, and drawing down carbon, and first dibs at our beautiful fiber.

B-ewe-tiful Sponsors get to connect with one of our wonderful fiber ewes, follow her for a year as she grows her wool fleece, raises her lambs, and grazes our pastures. With your support comes, in-person regular visits, and/or regular updates, invitation to Shearing Day Party, pictures of her and her lambs, a set of note cards, and her 2024 fleece, washed and ready for spinning. This is a wonderful gift for the avid spinner or knitter, or anyone who wants to know where their wool comes from.

LambParents get to connect with a new 2024 ewe lamb; Naming rights, in-person visits and/or regular updates, invitation to Shearing Day Party, pictures of her, a set of note-cards and her 2025 fleece, washed and ready for spinning. This is a wonderful experience for children and wanna- be shepherds. Shetland lambs are super friendly, curious and cuddly.

Either experience can opt for an art premium instead of wool. Artwork by Rachel. If you would like your wool processed into roving, or spun into yarn by the mill that can be arranged also. These sponsorships let you support our work in regenerative practices that nurture the land, the environment and our rural community. Find out more below:

We work really hard to promote the most important of our livestock, the below ground soil microbiome. To this end we are passionate about keeping the soil covered every month of the year with perennial crops and building healthy soil with the help of plants and animals. We are trying to do our part as land owners and farmers to protect this precious resource. We continue to learn and experiment with better ways to do this.

As we grow and develop we will offer various products on the farm shop page. Check in often. Some things we can ship and some things we will have for sale on farm. Let us know if there is anything you would especially love to see. If you want to support our work, buy a t shirt or a hat and wear it proudly, tell folks about us!

Above all, whenever you can, please support us and other farmers for whom regenerative farming is the goal. Buy their produce, their meat, their eggs, their honey, their hay, their wool. They are helping offset the carbon we all create in the burning of fossil fuels. When you buy directly from these farmers you are part of the solution. Learn about what we do, be an advocate for this movement and tell others, and spend your dollars wisely, our environment is counting on YOU!

Organizations and products we support!