Couple raise a variety of sheep and goats, offer milk and handcrafted items
MOUNTAIN VIEW, ARK. – Whether it’s teaching others about fiber art or growing their own livestock, Jeanette Larson and Shawn Hoefer are building a legacy around their farm outside Mountain View, Ark. Havencroft Farm is where they maintain their herd of sheep and goats that includes East Freesian sheep, Nupian/Alpine cross goats, Jacob sheep, and Angoran goats.
“We have Jacob sheep and Angora goats for fiber. The Alpine/Nubian cross dairy goats, East Friesian sheep and Jersey cow are for milk,” Jeanette said.
Jeanette has been working with dairy goats since 1982, she said, and she started working with sheep after that. Shawn was raised with goats but didn’t get back to them until he and Jeanette got together in 2000. They moved to the Ozarks in 2006. Shawn said he originally started with Nigerian goats, and he also had Alpines but switched to Nubians and now Nubian/Alpine crosses. While he misses the Alpine personalities, he likes the milk quality from the Nubian and Nubian/Alpine crosses.
“We’ve been making cheese since the kids,” he said. “It’s better fat in the milk. It’s better cheese milk.”
The family also has a Jersey dairy cow, chickens, and pigs on their farm.
“It’s a zoo out here,” Shawn said with a chuckle.
Jeanette said they graze the sheep and goats as much as they can, and Shawn added that they also use local hay and a blend of grains and pellets they purchase locally in north Arkansas.
Both Shawn and Jeanette agreed that as the interest in homesteading grows throughout the region, many people say they want only grass-fed animals, but that has not been possible. They do, however, keep their herd small so the animals can thrive.
While they would prefer to do more grazing, the 7-acre farm is not big enough to make that a reality.
“We don’t have enough land for that,” he said.
Jeanette added that they feed based on the animals’ health needs and also what produces better fleece, which is a higher protein diet.
“We really focus on keeping the land and grass healthy,” she said.
In 2008, Shawn started making brooms through an apprenticeship at the Ozark Folk Center. Shawn not only still makes the brooms, but he teaches others how to do it, too.
Jeanette weaves and spins yarn and works on her looms.
“There’s always something fibery going on,” she said.
Shawn makes so many brooms – up to 4,000 a year — and sometimes still struggles to keep up with the demand.
The couple has given tours of their home and property to showcase their fiber arts. They are in the process of renovating their 1920s home, so Jeanette is reducing her workshop schedule this year to accommodate their remodeling schedule. That still means she will teach about four or five times this year.
“I love to teach,” she said.
Jeanette teaches cheesemaking, natural dying, spinning, “sheep to shawl” (a whirlwind primer in the natural arts), weaving, and beginner fiber arts.
Shawn teaches the broom-making, chair weaving, and calligraphy to a variety of students.
“I love seeing the lightbulb going off,” he said.
Shawn said his students often fall within three categories: those who are eager to learn something new, others who already have some knowledge and are there to pick up more information to fill in their knowledge gaps, and those who want an expert to help finish their product.
When they aren’t teaching others, Shawn and Jeanette sell their works. They have an Etsy store, Jeanette sells during the Off the Beaten Path Studio Tour in Mountain View, and Shawn has the Broom Shop at The Ozark Folk Center.
In addition to the various styles of brooms, they sell scarves and shawls, fleeces, felted balls, and hats.
Jeanette also used to maintain a blog about the farm, but her work and the renovation project have prevented her from updating it. For more information about the farm and its wares, visit Havencroft Farm online at havencroftfarm.com and on Facebook.
