Lots of Very Big News

As regular readers know, I have spent the last couple of months trying to find a new home for our farm. A big change in my personal life necessitated leaving the New York farm, and staying on Martha’s Vineyard year-round- however much I love it- just isn’t a financially sustainable option at this point.

I spent a lot of time looking at property in Texas. My mother and  sister live there, which made it an attractive option, but ultimately I decided that the Lone Star State is just too far away from most of our shareholders, customers and friends. So, after a lot of soul-searching and back-and-forthing, I finally settled on Virginia.

Why Virginia? A lot of reasons, actually. I have a lot of family there (aunts, uncles and cousins), it’s way more affordable than anything I could find in New York, Connecticut or Massachusetts, and it’s a lot warmer in the winter than the Northeast. (This was important if I wanted to keep Erin as my farm manager.)

It’s also close enough to Washington D.C. to be easily accessible by train from NYC and Boston, which is important to me because I still want to have lots of visitors to the farm.

Once I’d settled on Virginia, I had very little time to find a place that would work. I needed at least 10 acres and a barn, and a house that was large enough for Erin and I with a couple of guest rooms. And I needed something that was available November 1st. I knew it was going to be hard to find a place that met all the requirements, so I gave myself four whole days to look.

Let me tell you, I looked at some pretty horrific places. One of them was so bad that I have since referred to it as as “the murder house.” I could find farms with lovely little houses and falling down barns and no fencing, or adequate barns and condemnable house, or a great house and great barn on 2 acres. It was so frustrating that I actual melted into tears in the car of a friend who was driving me around to look and told him I didn’t want to see any more.

Lucky for me, he talked me into to looking at the last place on my list because it was…well…perfect. Great barn, great house, 11 fenced acres, near Charlottesville. And it was available nearly immediately.

Next week, Erin and I will be moving to our new home in Virginia. Actually, Erin will be moving next week; I’ll be sticking around New York until Rhinebeck.

The other big change is that we will be leaving most of the goats with Patrick in New York. This was a really hard decision for both of us, but in the end, Patrick and I decided to split up the flock. I will be taking the Cormos and the other sheep to Virginia, along with a handful of goats that I just can’t bear to part with. (Yes, Miss Linda is one of them!)

Because we will not be taking very many goats with us to our new farm, we will no longer be selling shares in our Fall Shearing for knitters. We may offer a few Handspinners Shares, but we have a few months to make that decision.

Starting with Spring 2010, our CSA shares will feature all Cormo yarn and roving. We will be cutting the number of shares we sell nearly in half to be sure that everyone receives a bountiful supply of yarn and spinning material.

As for the Vineyard, it’s our hope to have some kind of presence on the Island every summer. What form that will take will be figured out in the next couple of months.

I know that this is a whole lot of change to throw at you all at once, and I apologize for the last-minuteness of this announcement. Unfortunately, there were some legal issues that had to be settled before we could say anything. I hope you’ll understand.

It is your support that has kept us going for the past year. Every time I thought it was just too hard to keep going, to move, to start all over again, I got a card in the mail or an email from one of you. Believe me when I tell you that those notes made all the difference.

The remaining goats will be sheared in NY in the next week or so, so that we can get the Fall 2009 shares to the mill as quickly as possible. Instead of a shearing party this year we will be having an open farm day in November, and Erin and I hope that most of you will be able to attend; we’re anxious to show you our new place. I’ll let you know which weekend in the next few days so you can make travel plans. As always, the party will be open to all of our readers, not just shareholders.

To celebrate our new farm, new home, new everything, Erin and I thought we needed a new name. Something symbolic of our new beginning. Martha’s Vineyard Fiber Farm will know as Juniper Moon Farm. We’ve even changed the logo up a bit to go with the new name.

We hope you love the new name and logo as much as we do.