About Us
Mark and Kristin began raising sheep in 1979 as a way to meld Mark’s interest in farming and land stewardship with Kristin’s interest in wool fiber and knitting. As the flock has grown from the humble beginnings of 4 Romney ewes to the present breeding flock of 150 ewes, so too have the interests of the farm. Our flock is still based on dual-purpose Romney sheep, which means that both their meat and wool fleece is desirable. In 1999, we moved to our present 54-acre farm composed of abandoned apple orchards and pasture. Our farm is located just north of the Leyden Glen – hence the name of our farm. The Leyden Glen sheep also graze neighboring hillside pastures in Leyden and Bernardston, Massachusetts.

We practice rotational grazing which is a pasture-based management system. We use electric net fencing to move our sheep across a pasture. Each day, the fence is picked up and moved, giving the sheep a new section of grass to eat while letting the just grazed section rejuvenate to be grazed later in the season. During the grass growing season our sheep eat only fresh green grass. During the summer and fall season, Mark harvests hay for the sheep's winter feed. He produces large 800-pound round bales which are fed to the sheep while the grass is dormant and under snow.

Leyden Glen Grass-Fed Lamb is healthy and real. We do not use antibiotics or hormones in our feed. Our sheep always have access to the outdoors and adapt to the changing seasons of our New England climate. In the winter, we shelter our sheep at our farm in Bernardston in a “greenhouse barn” which we have used for over 20 years. Baby lambs are born in January and February. In April, the sheep and their lambs begin grazing our fields.

You can read more about life on our farm on Kristin’s blog “Getting Stitched on the Farm” here:
http://getting-stitched-on-the-farm.blogspot.com

Kristin is an artist, designer and author of knitting and stitching books, and you can see more of her work at her website here:
www.kristinnicholas.com