The first time Kim, of Vermont Grand View Farm, emailed me, I found myself completely enthralled by the photos of her farm. It’s now a dream of mine to visit one day. In the meantime, I will have to be satisfied by knitting with yarn from her Gotland sheep. Kim is here today to share a little about herself and her farm and all that she has to offer. You can also find her at her blog and on Instagram!
Hi, I’m Kim Goodling, shepherdess, knitter, fiber artist, homeschooling mom, wife, Christian, and innkeeper.
My husband and I moved to a 200 year old Vermont cape early in our marriage to bask in rural living and God’s beautiful creation. We started a small homestead with a large garden, a few hens, and three small children running barefoot in the field. Here we began a homeschooling journey, which has lasted 23 years.
Sheep entered my life in the middle of a “mid-life crisis”. It was one of those times when you say to your husband that you want to live a good, full life-one with no regrets-one filled with “dreams come true”-one where you work the land with your hands and feed your family from the soil. A life where you recognize God’s calling to be a good steward, a shepherd over all he has blessed you with, as He is our shepherd. Soon after purchasing our first four sheep, we began looking for a farm with outbuildings, a place to store hay, and a place for sheep to get in out of the weather and to lay their lambs. That’s when Vermont Grand View Farm became home to our family of five.
Since then, I have learned much about shepherding, homesteading, wool, and fiber art. We began with a flock of Romney sheep, and in 2014, we added Vermont’s first flock of Gotland sheep to our farm! Through 10 years of living with sheep, I have learned much about life. Through my blog, Living With Gotlands, I share all the life lessons my sheep have taught me.
Knitters and spinners around the world support our flock of sheep by purchasing their wool. We sell Gotland wool yarn and roving, and Romney yarn on our newly launched online store, the Gotland Wool Company. In the late summer, we also offer yarn CSA (Community Supported Agriculture) shares to those wanting to invest in the care and feeding of our sheep.
We open our farm to farmstay guests who want to experience rural living, who want to feel the dirt between their toes, experience starlit nights, and breath in the fresh air. Families and individuals stay with us to learn about sustainable farming, take a fiber art class, or to just refresh and rejuvenate from their busy lives.
I hope you will spend some time with me either on our blog or here at the farm. I would love to introduce you to country life, farm raised yarn, and living with sheep.
Please enjoy browsing our new shop! Type in smallthings in the coupon code to receive a 10% discount on your total purchase. Coupon good from April 11-18, 2015.
In honor of the season upon us: I am offering one winner a pint jug of our own 100% pure maple syrup and a skein of yarn with a little bit of wool from the whole flock-25%Gotland and 75% Romney wool, spun in worsted weight 2 ply with 250 yards to the skein.
For your chance to win, leave a comment on this post. Comments are closed and the winner is Elizabeth, who commented, “beautiful farm! thanks for this opportunity would love to try that maple syrup and work with such a beautiful wool yarn!”
Thanks, Kim and Vermont Grand View Farm!
It looks like a beautiful restful place. I would love to knit on that porch! Thanks for sharing!
Having a homestead in Vermont is one of my dreams. 🙂 Right now I’m a little, but not very much, south of there.
I love her farm and the look of the gotlands. I heard the her interview on woolful too and we Love maple syrup!
Jennifer
What an incredible way to live!
What a wonderful giveaway! Who doesn’t love yarn and maple syrup?
You are living my dream, sister. Living my dream! Visited Vermont a few years ago. Didn’t want to leave.
Beautiful pictures and beautiful yarn!
The wool looks so soft and dreamy to knit and wear!
Hello 🙂 We’ve been wanting to visit their farm for years now! Maybe this spring, who knows? The farm is only 2 hours away and it seems absolutely lovely 🙂 Thank you for this giveaway !
Oh my word, what a gorgeous place for guests to stay! And the sheep! Sheep aren’t my friends right now, though, as I rode one and was thrown off… though that was probably my fault. I mean, it was a great experience! But not for everyone. But your sheep are gorgeous! (black sheep are my favorite!)
You have such a wonderful home, it’s so inspiring to see how you’re sharing it with others. The Christian farmers I know of are the coolest, they share everything and do what they can to make a bountiful living to bless others. It’s so great! (:
Love the pictures, the farm looks lovely! We have a few sheep ourselves, and I agree that they do provide lots of learning experiences – working with their antics has taught me why God speaks of us as sheep!
I jsut listened to you on Woolful! how exciting to see you here. I’m intreigued by this Gotland wool and would love to knit with it.
Thank you for the generous giveaway! Yarn and maple syrup – two of the best things on earth!!
Oh my, if we were younger! You are living a dream. We hope to visit you someday in near future. We haven’t strayed far from our rural roots but never made the plunge as you have. So happy for you and it does look like a blessed life.
How beautiful! Thank you for the chance to win
I love yarn and my husband loves maple syrup, we would love this!
Oh! Such a beautiful farm! I would love to visit one day. The yarn looks wonderful! Thank you for this giveaway!
What a lovely post! I enjoyed reading about the farm.
How lucky that you live the life you choose! Your home is beautiful and your sheep are just darling. So happy to have a peak at your farm. I am going to follow your blog and live vicariously through you! As a knitter, how I would love to learn to spin. Your yarn looks delightful. Yum! Nice to meet you. Good luck in all that you do!
You certainly live in a gorgeous corner of Vermont! I will be a blog follower from now on.
beautiful farm! thanks for this opportunity would love to try that maple syrup and work with such a beautiful wool yarn!
Thank you….I would love to win.
Oh, lovely! My home state! Thanks for the chance Ginny and Kim!
I would love to visit your farm someday. What a wonderful way to raise a family.
What a beautiful place and I love your orange door!
What nice photos. Would love to win this giveaway!
Would love some of your awesome syrup…and yarn too
What an amazing farm, lovely sheep and an awesome giveaway. Thanks!
Oh, I hope to meet some of the new Gotlands in person next month…
Your farm is lovely. You are living my dream life,thou I’m now past schooling my children and on to the grands. You truly are blessed.
Looks beautiful! Especially the bedroom with the four-poster bed. I am looking forward to visiting your blog.
I wish we were a bit nearer to Vermont than TX–we’d love to have a farm stay!
You have such a blessed life!! I am so ready to move to the country. Our small town is in the process of quadrupling the amount of people living here and it is getting out of hand. Too have a small plot of land and have a few chickens and a goat, pig and maybe a sheep would be so great! I am a new knitter and am in the process of a sock. And ugly sock but hopefully a sock none the less.
I have always wanted to go to Vermont to visit two places, now three!! Beautiful farm and wool.
What beautiful images! Your farm sounds lovely – Vermont is a favorite place of mine to visit. Thank you for the opportunity to enter your giveaway 🙂
Yummy and yummy!
Absolutely beautiful. I love my garden and chickens. Sadly no sheep.
Beautiful yarn. And syrup, too! What a New England delight.
Awesome!!
<3 this combo!!!
Lovely wool and maple syrup always yummy.
Oh I want to visit! Beautiful.
Kim is a dear friend and I’ve stayed at her enchanting farm many times….. you can never have too much wool or syrup 🙂
My goodness- what a wonderful lifestyle! And such marvellous produce!! The wild n free kids… Sheep… Fibre arts! I think I’d love to visit someday if our roaming ever stretched that far… 🙂
Thanks for the chance to win.
That farm looks blissfully peaceful. Thank you for sharing.
Leanne
Loved seeing the pictures and the wool is gorgeous, !
What a special – and unique – farm & giveaway! Thank you, Grand View Farm!
100% Maple Syrup so delicious with fresh blueberry pancakes!
this all sounds wonderful, and have fond memories of maple syrup boiling…
I love real maple syrup. I would love to serve it to my family.