We are the Hettick Family. I am Heather and my husband is Kelly and we have two kids – Jade and Alex.
We live on a small farm in NE Ohio, about an hour South of Cleveland. On our 5 acre farm, we raise a small flock of registered Jacob and Icelandic sheep for breeding stock, handspinning quality fleeces and meat lambs. We also have a pet llama and a horse who share the pasture with the sheep. Our llama is very sweet and gets along well with everyone, but he’s not much of a guard.
Our other livestock is poultry. We keep a few laying hens and a breeding group of heritage turkeys. Right now, our Tom is a Narragansett and we got him some unrelated hens for next year, but we also have an old Blue Slate hen, who is an amazing mother and we are probably keeping one or two of the young hens too. The excess young turkeys end up in our freezer or are sold locally, mostly to people we know or family. We also raised a batch of colored broiler chickens this year. They are much more active and pretty than Cornish cross chickens. We decicided to keep two of them over the winter to see how they do too.
We participate in a farmer’s market on Saturdays in downtown Wooster, Ohio from June through October. We sell mostly produce like Garlic, onions, beans potatoes, tomatoes or whatever we decide to plant each year. We have two gardens and plant what we like to eat and experiment with a few new things each year so it’s not really a serious production garden, but we enjoy the interaction at the market and it’s a way to share our excess. We also grow a variety of berries, grapes and fruit trees on our property. Sometimes these make it to the market as well. We are not certified organic, but avoid chemicals in our gardening. I am a member of OEFFA and the local Real FOODS chapter so I understand and use organic methods when possible, but not 100%, but am always happy to discuss my methods.
Our family enjoys sharing our lives with pets. Alex, our seven year old son, likes cold blooded critters and has some warm weather water turtles and a salamander along with a variety of fish. Jade, our 11 year old daughter has a baby iguana and is our cat lover. We have two spayed outside cats – Ginger and Pepper, who help with the rodent population when they aren’t getting cuddled. We enjoy dogs as well and currently we have a Basenji named Shadow (Dual Champion Moonstruck Me and My Shadow), but he’s almost 15 and in fragile health at this time. Our newest dog is from the Humane Society. His name is Sky and we had a DNA test done on him and his results said he is mostly collie, then some Lab and possibly a little Wiemeraner and Jack Russell Terrier. He looks like a short coated collie with floppy Lab ears and face. He is handsomely marked with white feet, muzzle and collar and is blue merle in color, although he’s getting a bit browner as he grows. His eyes are golden brown. So far he’s turning out to be a good farm dog. He likes to go on chores and eat manure, and is a little afraid of the sheep, but he’s still young with much to learn.
We are an active family and besides our farm and animals, we enjoy active sports. Jade and Alex both play youth ice hockey. Alex has also starte playing basketball.
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Very interestign website! I enjoyed checking it out.
Hi Heather!
I enjoyed your website! It sounds like you keep pretty busy on your farm. I will be sending an email soon, I promise!
Karen