Lower Connecticut River Valley Region Farms
Featured Farmer | Vivienne & Robert McGarry | Cold Goats Farm
It was Bob who came up with the name. The goats are cold because they've been sheared. It's not really a problem for them, Vivienne assured me, but their tagline is, 'We're shivering so you don't".
Cold Goats Farm is the next to last property at the end of Clarkhurst Road in the hamlet of Haddam Neck. "Road Closed" warns the sign beyond the steep bend in the road. A more peaceful setting would be hard to find, and you can sense immediately that it suits the McGarrys very well. They have lived here with fifty-odd chickens, Angora goats, and different breeds of sheep, working dogs, and independent-minded cats for nearly 30 years.
Bob and Vivienne were teenage sweethearts, growing up on the western side of the Connecticut River a few miles apart. Eventually Bob joined the Coast Guard and promised Vivienne that, on his retirement from the service, she would be able to keep a horse “at home”. When the time came, the promise extended to a pony for their daughter Amanda. True to his word, the family left their final Coast Guard posting in Virginia to house-hunt in the same idyllic countryside that Vivienne herself had been raised on a small farm.
Over Memorial Day Weekend in 1996, the family looked at nineteen properties without finding that magic something that cried "home". But then the realtor had an afterthought. It was partly the views that were so relaxing and partly a real desire to save the barn that sealed the deal. The barn had been hit by lightning in the 1960s and was the first "structure fire" to be put out by the newly formed Haddam Neck Volunteer Fire Department. It was in a very bad way 140 years after its construction, with a gaping hole in the roof, when Bob was struck by what became his avowed obsession.
Samuel Arnold farmed the property from 1840 to 1896, and his name is given to the barn in historical records. Today the McGarrys own five acres, a welcoming home built in the 1850s, and lease an additional 15-20 acres for grazing and hay-growing. The well-restored barn maintains its original size, and 1854 is carved on the cornerstone. It provides two levels that are easily accessible from the road and the homestead.
The oldest barns still found in Connecticut are simple post and beam construction with a rectangular plan and pitched gable roof. The English bank-style is based on the grain warehouses familiar to the English colonists with its flexibility reflected in its 3-bay construction. The middle bay was originally used for threshing, separating the seed from the stalk in wheat or oats by beating the stalks with a flail. The flanking bays would be for animals and hay storage. The 19th century typically saw a basement under the barn, achieved by building into a hill or creating a foundation. Later improvements included multi-paned windows for light and ventilation as Bob has done.
The McGarry’s farm may be isolated, but it is committed in all ways to legacy, community and the power of connection. Bob is First Selectman of Haddam, comprising five villages and hamlets with a population of over 8,000 and still finds time to do half the shearing twice a year, the lambing and the many chores an active farm requires. Vivienne confesses to an addiction to animals, to dyeing wool and mohair, and creating and promoting products from their farm and neighboring farms as well.
It started with that pony needing a goat companion. There was an offer early on of a free angora goat which led to spinning-- Vivienne has three spinning wheels now-- and more adopted animals as people learned of Vivienne's affection for and open door to ruminants. It wasn't long before sheep joined the goats, and chickens became part of the scene with eggs for sale on the honor system.
Farmers' markets, agricultural and artisan fairs, fiber meetings and festivals fill their calendar. Vivienne makes Facebook videos for virtual interaction when she can't be somewhere herself. She is extremely generous with her time and expertise, inviting viewers, farmers' market visitors and fair-goers to contact her with their questions. She sells fleece in all its forms, from raw wool to the finished products depending on who wants what. Custom dyeing is no problem, just give her advance notice. Spinning-related hobbyists are catered for, no matter what form their crafts may take.
Vivienne has learned to streamline the process of making yarn so that she can get to the fun part-- dyeing. After the goats and sheep are sheared-- sheep belly and 'socks' wool thrown out as being too rough-- the remaining wool is skirted, washing the fleece. This is the least fun part, requiring very hot water and white vinegar to melt the lanolin and release soil. The fleece is then placed on a screen to dry before being sent off to a mill to be carded and combed. Pelts are finished in Bucks County, PA after the final tanning. Vivienne chooses her dyes from W. Cushing in Maine (est. 1879) reconstituted with ½ cup of white vinegar to every 2-3 gallons of water. She dries the dyed yarn and hangs the skeins on racks in the most stunning vertical rainbow of colors, to blend or use as is.
The characteristics of different goat hair and sheep fleece give different results after dyeing, not only within breeds but also from year to year. The McGarry's favorite sheep breed is California Variegated Mutants (CVMs) for their gentle behavior and the fiber they produce. Bob maintains their flock's health and organizes shearing while Vivienne steps in by sorting, prepping, and selling the fiber and finished products at markets and on their website. Her wool-and-mohair fingerless cabled gloves are a winner. A few inches of extra yarn thoughtfully comes with them.
Breeders of the Romeldale breed originally selected for natural “white” sheep (and wool) due to market pressures, but mutations offered other possibilities. Occasionally a multi-colored lamb with “badger-face" markings and darker fleece below would be born. Selective breeding has resulted in a wide variety of color variations and even more desirable fleece characteristics. It is elastic with good memory and fine enough to be worn next to the skin. Both white and variegated are recognized as Romeldales and are genetically identical breeds except for color variation genes. Fleece colors in the CVMs darken as the sheep mature which makes them even more desirable to breeders and to spinners. Romeldales/ CVMs are unique to the U.S., and both white and the darker mutants are listed as endangered or critical
The McGarrys sell their sheep as pets, or whole for their meat, and pelts and Connecticut-made plaid blankets in a state-wide cooperative. The wool from the farms is co-mingled, blankets are created by a third party and sold by shepherds and farmers throughout the state. Cooperation extends in the time-honored way to the fields where collaborative hay-making is still an annual event. Cold Goats Farm needs some 700 bales of hay to fulfill winter needs.
Deep devotion to their work underpins their success. Bob may face the challenge of drought, affecting how hay grows in the fields, in the full knowledge that shorter grass encourages parasites. The fields may be cut just once that growing season. Fields that are fertilized may result in increased fecundity in the sheep the following Spring. One year there were five sets of triplets -- with its own challenges-- when birthing usually results in one or, more typically, two lambs.
Everything about the McGarrys existence is time-honored from the devotion to and promotion of legacy breeds, their hands-on animal welfare, to sharing their know-how. Their creative opportunities are found in 21st century adaptations to farming in Connecticut as it is now, increasingly responsive to economic pressures and the benefits of collaboration and scale.
The dreams Vivienne and Bob shared during those years in the Coast Guard have found fruit in the life they lead today. They share their personal outlook that sounds like "Use it, don't lose it" in a manner they hope to perpetuate. They love farm visits from multi-generational families, some speaking other languages, and all visibly happy with their rural experiences at the farm. The McGarrys continued enthusiasm is infectious, and we wish them continued fulfillment in all they achieve and believe.
By Sandra Childress | December 2024
About the Author: Sandra Childress tends to her herbs on 1/3 acre in Essex. She is reluctantly moving toward growing them exclusively in pots above ground as an appeasement to her creaking joints. If it's edible and medicinal, Sandra is willing to give it a try. If they have a perennial inclination in an east-facing exposure, she's a dévotee for life. Hello sage, rosemary and thyme.