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Have Sheep, Will Farm-- Part I

Lauren McAllister (pictured) and her husband Brett Volpp have been growing their flock of Jacob Sheep on rental property since 2013.
Lauren McAllister (pictured) and her husband Brett Volpp have been growing their flock of Jacob Sheep on rental property since 2013.

“We spoke with Bobbi Boos who’s a local, amazing--she’s a legend. And she suggested that we reconsider what we’ve been doing and think about being a beginning farm. And it was really beautiful for her to see us that way.”

This week on our show, the first installment of a three-part series following a couple of young farmers on their quest to find a place of their own--to raise their small family...and about 25 sheep.

And Madelyn Beck has a Harvest Public Media story about a futuristic gene-editing technology and the challenges of marketing it to an increasingly suspicious public.

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When Brett and Lauren got married in 2013 they asked for farm animals, half-joking and half hoping someone would be crazy enough to give them some.

And well, their friend Marianne was game. They started their flock with three Jacob Sheep, a small, heritage breed of sheep with multi-colored pelts and long, double-sets of horns.

At the time, they were renting out in Brown County. They moved themselves and their flock to another rental property near Unionville and grew the flock to 25 sheep. When the owner sold the land they were living on, Lauren and Brett decided to get serious about their farming dreams and began pursuing an FSA loan, to purchase their own land.

In a three-part series, we’re calling “Have Sheep, Will Farm” Earth Eats follows Lauren McAllister and Brett Volpp, on a journey--as young farmers, with animals, looking to secure some land of their own.

Music on this episode

David A. Gann-Ambient Track 10

Daniel Birch-Ambient Vol.3, In pursuit of Silence, from Free Music Archive

The Earth Eats’ theme music is composed by Erin Tobey and performed by Erin and Matt Tobey.

Kayte Young is co-host and producer of WFIU's local arts and culture show, Nice Work. Before that she produced and hosted the long-running food and farming show, Earth Eats for over 8 years, and hosted a YouTube cooking series, produced by Payton Whaley.