Raised on Maryland's eastern shore, Virginia Merlier has lived on farms for much of her life and has been raising heritage breed sheep on her Stonehaven Farm in Westport since 1995. 

“It was a real farm,” she says of her parents' place. “We had a flock of around 150 sheep, crops like corn, wheat, hay and straw, and Welsh ponies.” 

When her parents sold the farm, she went to graduate school and then worked at Harvard University, first as an assistant professor and then as an administrator. Merlier always missed farm life, however, and eventually made her way back to it, landing on a farm overlooking the Westport River's east branch, which reminded her of the farmhouse she had grown up in. She decided that farm was worth the three-hour commute to Cambridge, which she ended up doing daily for six years.

“It was important to me to raise heritage animals, traditional animals, not the ones in large scale production agriculture," she said. "I raise Horned Dorset sheep. When I was growing up, they were a standard breed; now they are rare. They are excellent foragers subsisting almost entirely on grass and hay. Dorsets are a dual purpose breed which produce good wool and excellent meat. I sell the meat as grass finished freezer lamb in late spring or early summer. While their wool is not fine, it serves well for outer garments, fishermen’s sweaters, and blankets.”

She also raises eggs from heritage poultry, turkey, and all of her own vegetables in a large garden near the house.

When she started out, Merlier knew she would need to learn a lot since it had been quite a while since she had left the family farm.

“I remembered the basics — how to care for the animals, trim sheep’s feet, deliver babies — but farming had changed over the years. I was amazed at people's generosity and willingness to teach: vendors like Pete Zuber of Zuber's feed store, the Drowns from Sand Hill Preservation center for poultry in Iowa, exhibitors and seminar leaders at fairs like the New Hampshire Sheep and Wool.”

As she developed these enterprises, she explored how to establish a year-round stream of income from the farm operation. Around 2005 she attended an Agri-Tourism conference hosted by MDAR.  Beth Kennet of Liberty Hill Farm in Vermont gave a talk on Farm Stays. Merlier was inspired and decided that the Farm Stay model would be a good fit for her skills and farm operation.  At that point, she contacted Barbara Hanley, who was sponsoring all kinds of innovative agricultural projects in Westport.

“Barbara was so supportive she gave me confidence to forge ahead. She helped me think through the business plan and stressed the importance of a good website, the first encounter potential customer have with your operation.” 

Next step was town approval. At the time Farm Stays were a new model. For Merlier it was key to differentiate her business from a bed and breakfast. She knew she wanted people interested in learning about farming and sustainable agriculture, so the educational component was essential.  Ag Com stressed that in order to be classified a farm business,  there had to be a labor component, and she and Ag Com settled on  some parameters: All guests had to work in order be categorized as farm help, and there needed to be an educational element to the experience. 

She made sure to set clear expectations for her guests with descriptions of farm work to be done so visitors knew what they were getting into. She would make breakfast in the morning with fresh ingredients from the farm, and they would do actual work.

Guests came from all over the country and the world, many with children, willing and eager to jump in with feeding animals, vegetable gardening, and collecting eggs.

“Children love to collect eggs,” she said, so egg collecting in the afternoon was a regular part of the daily routine. She remembered one child, “about waist high from Oregon,” who fell in love with sowing radish seed in the vegetable garden ... she and her guests ate a lot of radish that year!”  Over the 10 years of farm stays, Virginia had many repeat visitors, and though she no longer hosts Farm Stay guests, she fondly remembers the people she met.

“They were wonderful guests. It was a lovely experience.”

If you're interested in a freezer lamb or information on Farm Stays, you can reach Merlier at vmerlier@verizon.net