Fat Sheep Farm Berry Ricotta Scones
You can choose your favorite berry to include when making these scones. Suzy’s favorite is raspberries, and she recommends freezing them before adding them to the dough.
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Fat Sheep Farm & Cabins
Make Some Cheese, Bake Some Sourdough, Escape from Life
Suzy Kaplan offers hands-on workshops on cheesemaking and sourdough bread baking at Fat Sheep Farm & Cabins in Hartland. Classes run year-round and are open to the public. Suzy packs each three-hour session with practical information and skills that entice many participants to make cheese or bread back at home.
Sometimes it’s fun to book a hotel room and to have a night on the town. But when you feel like pampering yourself or want to change up the routine and have a little adventure, here’s another option: escape from the busyness of daily life; settle in to an immaculate, well-appointed, modern cabin at a small family farm; and enjoy a peaceful, restorative experience. All you have to do is reserve one of the five cabins at Fat Sheep Farm & Cabins located 20 minutes from Woodstock in Hartland, Vermont.
You’ll feel your blood pressure drop as you drive up the long country road (aptly named Best Road) that meanders high into the hills. Worldly cares melt like snowflakes as you park your vehicle and enter your cozy abode. Waiting on the small kitchen table is a plate of freshly baked scones made with something from the farm—pumpkin chocolate, roasted rhubarb, blueberry—and a basket of eggs from the farm’s laying hens. This cabin is your castle, and you are now the master of your time. Take a walk on the trails, wander into the barn and visit with the flock of sheep, pop in to the little farm store and pick up some artisan cheese made right there in the cheese room, then head back to take a nap under a thick comforter. Continue your mini-retreat by cooking at home: the kitchen is fully equipped by owners who love to cook and spared no expense.
Participants get a chance to cut and stir the curds. The fragile curds taste surprisingly sweet and creamy; salt doesn’t enter the process until the firm wheel of pressed curds sits in a brine bath.
Photo courtesy of Fat Sheep Farm
Suzy Kaplan and Todd Heyman created this pastoral haven in 2016. “We always dreamed of starting a farm together, but wanted one that was more than just a farm,” Suzy says. “I had thought about a bed and breakfast, and Todd was imagining a retreat center, so we landed on this idea of a farmstay experience where guests can stay in the cabins and interact with the farm and the animals and get the whole immersion. Everything we’re doing now is exactly as we dreamed!”
The couple renovated the farmhouse and barn and built the cabins. Todd started growing vegetables, and Suzy added animals. “I knew I wanted to work with dairy but Todd didn’t want cows. He brought me home some sheep milk yogurt to taste, and I fell in love with it! So I did some research and bought some East Friesian sheep. They’re the sweetest animals in the world, so gentle and friendly, and they’re great milk producers.”
Suzy dove in and spent three years making cheese at nearby Cobb Hill Farm. She also did a series of workshops with artisan cheese gurus Peter Dixon of Parish Hill Creamery and David Asher.
“East Friesian sheep are the sweetest animals in the world, so gentle and friendly, and they’re great milk producers.” –Suzy Kaplan
Photo courtesy of Fat Sheep Farm
“Cheesemakers are so generous about sharing their knowledge,” she observes.
Suzy now offers fresh and aged cheesemaking workshops in her small, pristine creamery. Classes are open to farmstay guests and the general public. “I gear my classes from one to six people, and each class lasts about three hours. Some people take the workshop because they just love cheese or are looking for a unique hands-on experience. Others want to learn the process and start making small batches at home.” Suzy makes a gouda cheese during the workshop using cows’ milk from Cobb Hill.
A teacher by training, she demonstrates and explains all steps and related science as the heated milk slowly transforms into curds that she will ultimately drain and press into a wheel. (Fun fact: Five gallons of cows’ milk will yield a 3½- to 4-pound wheel of cheese.) Participants get a chance to cut and stir the curds. “After you cut the curds, you have to stir gently for 15 minutes to keep them moving and releasing whey.” The fragile curds taste surprisingly sweet and creamy; salt doesn’t enter the process until the firm wheel of pressed curds sits in a brine bath. The class ends with a visit to the adjacent cave to gaze longingly at wheels of cheese neatly arrayed on wooden planks. Suzy will even ship the wheel of cheese you made during the workshop after it ages for six months.
Suzy also offers a popular sourdough bread workshop. “We gather in the kitchen, shape a batch of dough, let it rise, then we mix up a new batch of dough for the next day. If you’re going home, you take your dough with you and bake it the next day. If you’re staying on the farm, you can take the dough back to your cabin and bake it the next morning in the Dutch oven we provide.” Participants in both the cheese and sourdough workshops receive a comprehensive packet of materials with suggested resources to continue the hands-on education at home. “These classes, which are available year-round, are a great way for people to try their hand at something new,” she notes.
If you’re fortunate enough to stay in a cabin, you can kick back in an Adirondack chair on your private front porch and enjoy the views across the farm’s rolling pastures. Suzy and Todd welcome guests to help feed the animals, collect eggs, and make themselves at home on the farm. “We created this experience so folks can see firsthand how a farm works, how food is produced,” Suzy explains. “I absolutely love watching the look of amazement on people’s faces as they interact with our animals. It’s a life-changing opportunity for so many.”
And an experience you can’t get in a hotel.
A well-appointed, inviting kitchen in one of Fat Sheep’s five guest cabins
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