The Colyers, Greenwood Hill Farm & Merino Sheep

No More Turkey Please!

2011-11-29T13:11:00.000-05:00

We had beautiful weather here in Massachusetts for the Thanksgiving Holiday and despite not having all of our kids and grand kids here for the event, we thoroughly enjoyed the holiday. The downside was a seventeen pound turkey with only five people to eat it. Fortunately, we all like turkey sandwiches! Lamb and Ham for Christmas dinner!!!!

Thought you might enjoy seeing one of the latest additions to our flock. This cow moose caught us all by surprise this morning. Most of our friends in the sheep and wool industry nationwide don't see Massachusetts as a fountain of wildlife, however, while we only farm a bit over 32 acres, we have Moose, Deer, Bobcat, Black Bear, Coyote and Eastern Puma here. In the late 1800s, 70+ percent of the Commonwealth was deforested and in productive farmland.
Today it has almost reversed as watershed concerns have taken most of the available acreage back into forest. The wildlife has returned and those of us in less urban environments are enjoying their presence while when they show up in the more urban areas, all "heck" breaks loose.

As we approach winter on the farm the "to do" list never seems to get shorter. The fortunate thing about this fall is that it isn't like fall at all. The temps have been outstanding and the forecast is for the warmer weather to stay with us for awhile. Having said that, now it will snow! The snow-blower is ready, the firewood is stacked and the hot tub is at temperature, I shouldn't complain.

As the Christmas season nears, we are busy picking up those last minute presents needing mailing and Andrea is constantly at her needles knitting something for a grandchild (can't say what now that they know how to find my blog). We were in Maine last week and stopped into the L.L. Bean store for some shopping and the evidence reveled by what was in the bags when we arrived home would suggest we had a shortage of balsam aroma in the house. I spent most of my life a bit depressed around this time of year for reasons unknown to me, however, for the last several years I have fallen in love with the whole holiday thing; could it be the balsam? No more Mr. Bah Humbug! Have a great month and take time out to knit......might I suggest with our yarn.

Updated the Web Site

2011-11-07T10:59:00.000-05:00

We have been working to update our web site after months of delay. Almost every page has been changed and while all of the items you can order on the site are correct, some of the pictures still need to be replaced. At long last, we are bringing some of Andrea's patterns on to the site. There are more and as soon as we get some of the items on a model and a picture taken, they will be there as well. Patterns can be ordered by giving us a call at the number at the bottom of the "patterns" page on the site, www.greenwoodhillfarm.com and when I have them all on the site, I will include a drop down menu for you to order them there.

If you are reading this, you have discovered the most important change. By linking up a blog, I can do a better job of providing those of you who are interested, a window on our "farm life".

The 2011 Fiber Festival season concluded for us with "The Fiber Festival of New England" in West Springfield, MA this last weekend. In its second year, Festival attendance was up quite a bit from the first year and there were nearly 190 venders. Given all the power outages in the region, the turn out was great! The event is located completely inside the large Mallory building on the grounds of the Eastern States Exposition. Mallory is a heated building and makes a great venue for a fall Festival.

Andrea is is the New England Regional Director for the National Make It With Wool competition and she conducted her contest at the Festival this year as well. Kathleen Rasys of Brimfield, MA conducted a fashion show later that day highlighting the impact of fashion through out the year. The show included the models wearing articles from many of the vendors and brought buyers into their respective booths.

This morning I let the flock out to pasture.....yes, most all of that snow is melted away and there is green grass to be had. The forecast is for temps to be above average this week and I can now finish getting ready for winter. The ewes look peaceful grazing (and hopefully bred) and the rams are grazing while looking longingly through the fence at the ladies.

Next up......Thanksgiving on the Farm!

Fall is here on the Farm

2011-10-22T12:19:00.000-04:00

As I write this we are experiencing one of my favorite times of the year on the Farm. We have just past through the beautiful season of color here in New England, the temperatures of summer are long gone and the cool days and nights are with us until they become cold days and nights. The hot tub on the deck is a critical piece of equipment at this time of the year.

The sheep are restless as this is the breeding season with unsettled ewes and rams with their noses in the air. Our breeding program is in progress with all of our brood ewes currently living with a ram (of my choice, not theirs) and we should expect lambs by mid-March. I am going around the property checking what I may have forgotten needing some repair before the snow arrives and have found just one broken barn door that needs repair. It was damaged by rams trying to find a way in to the girls.

We have one more Fiber Festival, The New England Fiber Fest, on the first weekend of November and then we can put the festival booth supplies away until next spring. The NY Sheep and Wool Festival was very successful as the crowds were large and they were in a buying mood. We had customers in our booth from the state of Washington and several states in between, and to all who graced us with your purchases, thank you for enabling us to stay on the farm.

Speaking of the farm, the new roof is complete, all 26 windows have been replaced and I must admit that as much as I like the new windows, I am even happier that I no longer have to bring the storms down from the attic and put the screens away each year. Not to mention, several always needed attention before the next seasonal change. We have one more small insulation project left and then this year's plan for the old house will be complete.

We started yesterday on preparing our pastures for the winter and began a major re-claiming program for our old Ram pasture as we prepare for setting up a full farm rotational grazing program next spring. I hope to have the larger stones, this is New England after all, out of the ground and the fall soil amendments finished soon enough for us to lay out a complete re-fencing of that pasture. The USDA approved plan is not scheduled to kick off until spring, however, we have been cleared to get a start on some of the items that are normally accomplished in the fall. Being busy seems to be more a state of life than any formal plan!

Rain, Rain and More Rain

2011-09-08T13:20:00.000-04:00

I could have used this title for anytime this summer, however, as I write we have just survived "Irene", the remnants of "Lee" and whatever has been feeding the rain all this week. Despite the rain, the calendar continues to advance and there is still a lot to accomplish before snow arrives.

On the farm front, we started a total new roofing project which was stopped when Irene began her brief visit and has yet to resume do to "Mother Nature" and her decision to water the pastures. In just two more weeks we are replacing 26 windows in the old house and the roof needs to be done! I still have a plan to have the foundation in for the barn we are putting up to replace the one lost in the fire a couple of years ago. We can build the thing in the snow but it is hard to put in foundations in the "permafrost".

The annual visit to Sheridan, WY to visit mother was great. While hot out there in early August, is was not a miserable as here on the East Coast with all the humidity. Thanks to my wife and partner for being here on the farm and caring for the flock. When I returned, Andrea had put together a birthday bash for our August birthday celebrants. Me(10th), Mary Reagan Smith(19th), Mark Colyer(21st) and Jennifer Colyer Smith(22nd). We had 50 guests, a 20x40 tent, a Country Band (the House Jackers) and an absolutely gorgeous afternoon and night to celebrate. I found out that I can sing quite well after a lot of beer.......at least I think I did.

It is early September and the schedule is ramping up again with my Livestock Event Announcing schedule, the Big-E show and Andrea's two large fall festivals; Rhinebeck New York and The New England Fiber Festival. It all takes us to finish the season with a black tie family wedding in New York City in early December. Somewhere in there I have to mount the snow plow on the truck.

Time for a Spring Update

2011-05-17T14:12:00.000-04:00

As June fast approaches, we are very busy on the farm. So far in May we have spent three days in Washington, DC talking with legislators about issues important to the Sheep Industry followed by the Maryland Sheep and Wool Festival on the 6th and 7th and returning home on Monday the 8th. Last Friday found us repacked, reorganized and on our way to the New Hampshire Sheep and Wool Festival for the weekend. The truck still has the camper on it and it is going to rain for the next several days and the last weekend of the month we need to be reorganized again and off to the Massachusetts Sheep and Woolcraft Fair. That event is held each year on the Saturday and Sunday of the Memorial Day Weekend. We will be home in time for the ceremonies on Monday with our son Kevin as the guest speaker for the Hubbardston event. Colonel Kevin Colyer will be assuming command of the US Army Garrison at Fort Stewart in Georgia in late June and, of course, buttons are bursting on our chests.

The loss of our champion Black ram, "Zeus", last month left us with nice looking black ram lamb but no stud for the black flock. Fortunately, our friends, Steve and Terry Mendenhall of California had a beautiful black horned ram with them in Maryland and I was able to negotiate a sale. "Apollo" went on to be the Champion Natural Colored Fine Wool Ram at the Festival and then got in our trailer!

Apollo in wearing a blanket as we once again are trying blankets to hopefully keep sun bleach of his fleece to a minimum as well as aiding the cleanliness of same!

Our newest white Merino stud is also to be found in his blanket. We acquired him in partnership with Midnight Merinos located in New York.

Both of these rams are of the Rafter Seven type and the "comfort factor" of the wool is unmistakeable. I tell people that you could blindfold me and send me into the barn and I could easily find these sheep with only my hands. It truly is all about the wool on these sheep!

More on the Rueben Pew Collier Mystery

2011-04-06T15:40:00.000-04:00

In the mid 1850s, my g-great grandfather, Jesse Colyer left Kentucky with his family to move west. As a child, his grandson Charles Garland Colyer, my grandfather, told the story as one intended to take them to the west coast via the Oregon Trail. The family actually stopped in western Missouri just north of St. Joseph and as Jesse's wife Mary Pew had a brother who had also moved there earlier from the same Kentucky neighborhood, it would seem that this was the original destination. At any rate, they left KY as "Colyer" and arrived in Missouri as "Collier". The change of spelling was attributed to a misspelling of the name as it was painted on the back of their Studebaker covered wagon by a man who repaired a broken wheel. Jesse and his son George Benjamin both established farms using the Collier spelling on deeds. In the mid 1890s, George Benjamin sold his farm and moved into St. Joseph and took a job working in a Grocery. George and his sons can be found in the St Joseph street lists as Colliers during this time.

In the later 1890s, Jesse and Mary sold their farm and moved into St. Joseph to live with their son and his family. Mary passed soon after they moved and is buried in the Mount Mora Cemetery in St. Joseph as Mary Pew Collier. In the late 1890s, the street lists reflect the entire family returning to the spelling of the name as "Colyer". Jesse died the next year and is buried in the same cemetery in St. Joseph using the Colyer spelling.

Why is this important to understand the Rueben Pew Collier story? Rueben is the brother of George Benjamin Colyer and having apparently left Missouri and arrived in Sheridan, Wyoming and being buried there in 1890, he had left before the family changed the spelling back to Colyer. Rueben has descendents also buried in Sheridan and some, descendents of his daughter Della, are still there.

Seems a bit removed from my direct ancestry doesn't it. Turns out there is a child's grave in Sheridan for one Wallace Lindbergh Colyer and the mortuary record lists his father as Herbert B. Collier. The original record spells the name Collier, which is then crossed out and Colyer substituted and with a note the change was made at the request of the family. Little Wallace was Sheridan's New Year's baby in 1929 and died just exactly one month later. Is he, through his father, descended from Rueben and thence related to my g-grandfather George? I think I need to go to Sheridan this summer and do some research.

2011-02-10T11:28:00.004-05:00

It has been so long since I have updated this blog, there is no way to get it all in......so I won't! Suffice it to say it was a busy time, I got one all new knee, went fishing in Wyoming with son Mark, welcomed son Kevin home from South Korea and had a big snowball fight with my grand kids.

The biggest project in my life for the last several years has been working on my Ancestry.com files. I feel I am on the cusp of discovering another branch of the Colyer/Collier family that would have been my great grandfather George Benjamin Colyer's brother's family. The exciting part is that his brother is buried in the same town I was born and raised in and there is no evidence that any of my family was aware that they had relatives in town. With all of the communication tools we live with today, it hard to grasp the difficulty for families to stay connected in the late 1800s. Rueben Pew Collier was the first individual buried in Sheridan Wyoming's municipal cemetery in 1890. The change of spelling Colyer to Collier and back to Colyer is a great story.....for the next post.

2009-05-27T08:34:00.006-04:00

Whew! The last month was a hectic one. This is the time of the spring Sheep and Wool Festivals and we began with a one day Shearing Day event in Waltham, MA the last weekend of April. The very next Thursday we left for Maryland for the largest such Festival in the country. Andrea does a large part of her knitting yarn business there each year and I have the announcing gig for the sheep show portion of the event. The next weekend (Mother's Day) we were in New Hampshire for their show at the Hopkington County Fairgrounds. One weekend later we traveled to Brunswick, Maine to be with our daughter and her family and as invitees to the Change of Command of Patrol Squadron 26. Our son-in-law, LCDR Greg Smith, is currently assigned to that squadron. Last week we were in Cummington, MA for our own Commonwealth's Sheep and Woolcraft Fair and returned home on Sunday to be here in Hubbardston for the Memorial Day Parade.

The pictures are of our son, Mark, driving our 1950 Ferguson TO-20 which he restored for me a couple of years ago and Andrea seen knitting in her booth at the New Hampshire Festival a couple of weeks ago.

2009-04-02T17:33:00.000-04:00

Well since this is a new blog, I should tell you a bit about ourselves. Greenwood Hill Farm is a 32+ acre farm located in central Massachusetts. The land and the house is the original home of the Silas Greenwood family and dates from 1836. The farm remained in the Greenwood family until 1959 and after three other owners, was purchased by Tom and Andrea Colyer in 1985. Today, the farm is the largest purebred Merino sheep operation in New England. We raise both white and black Merinos and all of the wool is converted into our line of all natural 100% Merino Wool Knitting Yarns. We can be found on the net at http://www.greenwoodhillfarm.com/ and at many of the major wool and fiber festivals in the east.

Andrea has been a knitter since learning at her grandmother's knee at the age of 8. She is an accomplished hand spinner, has done a bit of weaving is an expert knitter and is developing a line of her own patterns specifically for our yarns. She has taught our daughter and daughter-in-law to knit and while they are not working on the farm now, they have taken her inspiration and dedication into their own business ventures.

Tom retired from the Navy after 28 years in uniform, worked for a French company for the next 10 years and now is a full time shepherd and business manager. He currently sits on the Executive Board of the American Sheep Industry Association (ASI) and is also the Vice Chair of the American Wool Council. He is the current President of the Massachusetts Federation of Sheep Associations and the Vice President of the Worcester County Sheep Producers. Twenty three years after getting our first sheep, he is much sought after by other producers for his knowledge and insight. Tom also has a small business in Agricultural Show Management and is a sought after announcer for many of the regions major events.

We are currently finishing up our spring lambing and hope to be done soon! To date we have 22 lambs on the ground and expect another 6 to 10 when finished. Pictured here are two babies who's mom wasn't all that thrilled about caring for them. (Yeh, happens in the sheep world too) They are being cared for by our Golden, Tess, and are in diapers for obvious reasons. Enjoy!

Our First Post

2009-03-28T11:49:00.000-04:00

It is just beginning to look like spring is finally coming to New England. This has been a rough winter for us here at the farm. We have seen early snow, an epic ice storm, had a car totaled, a disasterous barn fire and record low temps. December 26, however, brought us great joy with the birth of Rhyse Elizabeth Smith, our daughter's fourth beautiful little girl. She and her sisters have been our inspiration to make a new plan and get back to work.

Andrea was broadsided in her Outback in December and pushed off the road into a swamp. "She emerged unhurt but with very wet feet. That very night we were hit with a destructive ice storm that destroyed the tops of nearly every tree on the property. I told Andi in the morning that our front yard looked like a cluster bomb had gone off in the treetops. I will upload a picture of the yard that morning. On January 30th our ram barn burned to the ground with the loss of all eleven of our breedstock rams. The previous afternoon brought the first of our 2009 lambs, a ram would you believe, and we are not done lambing as of yet.

The outpouring of prayers and help from all of our friends has been overwhelming. Andrea and I can never repay the kindness of all of you. GOD bless you all!