We will begin each morning of Shepherdess Camp by gathering to share our experiences and learn from each other. Each shepherdess brings a valuable and unique knowledge of what has succeeded and failed within their flock, and each participant has curiosities and important questions. We aim to cultivate a safe space to ask questions, tell stories, and offer support. Each Shepherdess Circle will start with an opening question and give an opportunity for everyone to speak to the question, share an experience, or ask follow-up questions. 

 Join shepherdess, Joy Miller, for an introduction to the Driftless Curiosity flock. Learn about a variety of cross breeds within her flock. Joy will discuss the purpose, temperament, and other qualities of the members of her flock. Participants will have the opportunity to interact with different breeds throughout the weekend to learn which breed may be the best fit for their land and purpose.   

Session #1:

Dr. Sarah has 23+ years of experience as a vet specializing in livestock & dairy. She also operates an organic farm with her husband, Noah, and family while creating her own line of products for her vet practice.

Over the years, many of her veterinary clients began using some of her animal products on themselves finding great relief from their own aches, pains, and irritations. Because of this feedback she expanded her research and products to serve animals and their humans by offering high quality, all natural, non-toxic products that promote health and healing naturally.

Due to her broad knowledge of both organic and conventional methods for use in prevention and treatment, she proudly blends knowing when to treat naturally – what’s going to work and not going to work – and if/when to use conventional medicine when treating animals. Dr. Sarah believes education is the key. 

Session #2: Have you ever wanted to ask a veterinarian about your sheep questions? This session is an opportunity to satisfy your curiosity! Our local vet will talk about some of the most common areas of care she comes across for homestead flocks – hoof care, minerals, deworming, and lambing. Then we’ll take questions from the group. Learn what you can do to manage the health of your flock, measures you can take before you call the vet, and when it is time to ask the professionals for help. 

  In this session, co-owner of Ewetopia,  Kathryn Ashley-Wright, will teach participants about commercial fiber farming, fiber processing, and marketing wool products. She will talk about the mill and fiber processing, followed by a class on washing and skirting wool. If you are curious about producing fiber for the local market, you will not want to miss this part of the program! Kathryn is an amazing advocate, knowledgeable mentor, and a wealth of wisdom for the curious shepherdess. 

Kathryn started knitting as a child, since then her passions of crafting and farming have grown into a woolly empire. She started Ewetopia Fiber Shop in Viroqua in 2007, and then began her true passion of fiber processing with Ewetopia Fiber Mill in 2017. She raises an 80 head fine wool flock of Cormo cross sheep with her family in rural La Farge.

In this session, join the shepherdess team to see examples of how to setup grazing systems and move the flock to a fresh paddock to graze. There’s nothing quite like the satisfaction of bringing animals onto new grass, but it can also be grounds for entanglement and frustration, so we hope this session will teach you some skills and build your confidence in grazing your flock. 

 Join shepherdess, Rachel Parker, from Parker Hill Century Farmstead to learn about her flock management. We celebrate the reality that all farms, farmers, and flocks are unique, and each of our management styles as shepherdesses will reflect that. That’s why we want to highlight some of the women in our community to learn what works for them to discover what may (or may not) work for us. Rachel manages a small flock of 10 ewes and has experience with organic practices, rotational grazing, fiber production, meat production, and direct marketing in her on-farm store, FarmerSown. She has a lifetime of experience raising animals and is wealth of knowledge for the sheep curious.  

Rachel grew up on a small farm in the Driftless and has worked in co-op finance and ag lending. For 32 years, she has co-owned and operated Parker Family Farmstead, Viola, with her husband Mark.  In the early years of their 156 year family farm, it was primarily sheep. Today it’s a diverse 600 acre certified organic dairy, grazing, and crop operation- along with fiber and meat sheep, fiber goats, beef, hogs, and chickens. Rachel has extended her farming, food, and wool passion to their farmhouse store featuring “FarmerSown” goods from livestock, land, and hand.

Bringing new baby animals into the world is one of the highlights of the shepherdess life. In this session, join shepherdess, Mary Peters, to learn how she manages breeding and lambing on her family farm. Each farmer approaches breeding and lambing a little differently depending on their land, infrastructure, breed, and philosophy, and we can all learn from each other. We’re excited to highlight how Mary manages lambing season with her flock of 70 ewes, including Babydolls and Texels. This shepherdess grew up showing sheep at the fair and has a great eye for selecting breeding traits. She primarily raises sheep for meat production. 

(Not yet confirmed for 2026)

In this session, we’ll answer one of the most common questions for a new shepherdess and tell you what we keep in our lambing kits. Shepherdesses Mary Peters, Rachel Parker, and Joy Miller will open up their lambing kits to share what they have found to be the most important tools, supplies, and medications to have on hand when lambing begins. Participants can draw from the experience and management style of each shepherdess to make a list of supplies that will be important for their particular flock.    

We have invited a couple of Shepherdess friends to show us how they shear their sheep. We are still waiting on confirmation, but we have high hopes that we will be able to see some sheep shearing at camp. Stay tuned for more details coming soon. 

Sheep are an amazing multipurpose animal that can produce fiber, milk, and meat. In this session, join shepherdesses, Rachel Parker and Mary Peters to learn some of the basics of raising sheep for meat. They’ll cover a range of topics based on participants’ curiosity including lambing timing, feeding, body condition, licensing, food safety laws, direct marketing, and the importance of making an appointment with the butcher way ahead of time.