Autumn House Farm Celebrates 30 years of Green!

In 1978 we returned to our valley here in the Chestnut Ridge Highlands of Western Pennsylvania. Determined to restore and renew our wonderful old farm and it's land, we set about establishing the natural and ecologically sound philosophies we were raised with as children thereby ensuring that our children would grow up also understanding first hand what it means to be "stewards of the land."

My husband's people came to this area in 1840 from Scotland and Ireland and have farmed here for almost 170 years. For 4 generations they've understood very well what it means to live with the land and the privilege it is to be "of the land." Kenny and I and our children have spent these years working as ambassadors for the natural side of PA agriculture. Sharing our belief in the sustainable practices of those early family farmers has been one of our most important goals. The other has been the re-introduction of sheep and shepherding to our area of Western PA.

Offering first hand opportunities for visitors and students to come and experience the partnership of our ecologically sound practices of farming, livestock and fiber enterprises allows us to demonstrate the enriching aspects of this type of family farming and the diverse vision of conservation American agriculture holds for our nation today. We have led by example and will continue to do so through our children and grandchildren.

Our natural manures feed our soils, and raising our own hay and grains lets us custom prepare the feeds for our animals using no antibiotics or hormones. Our prime natural lamb is backed by the highest guarantee we can give our customers-- our children and grandchildren were raised on it.

All "edibles" are recycled to our chickens and border collies with the vegetable trimmings and remainders from our neighbors vegetable farm providing 'alternative' forage for our flocks, thereby completing the "non-waste" circle of our livestock system.

Our largest studio building is heated with a "deadfall" wood and trimmed tops from neighboring wood lots. We're proud to say that we've never cut a live tree for heat here on the farm.

Our wonderful wool fleeces are scoured with the pure spring water here on the farm and bio-degradable soaps. It is this spring water that gives us the amazing variance of color we've become known for. Oak woods and rocky soils add their natural chemical elements to the mordants of nature which "fix" the rich colors of our yarns and roving. Our dying processes exhaust the colors and that water, and along with our scouring "manure teas," aid in naturalizing our acid soils through filtration.

We "pack ugly" when we ship our orders. Re-using the boxes that come to us whenever we can and have recycled thousands of plastic grocery bags from friends and neighbors as our packing fillers through the years.

The carding waste and skirtings from our fleeces are often used for stream bank erosion control in our various conservations practices.

Our commitment to our community and to you our customers is one of dedicated natural practices for our land and our products. We thank you from our hearts for the appreciations and support you have shown for our products through these 30 years. Without it we would never have been able to share our dream with you.

Thank you from all of us here at Autumn House Farm.





Welcome Gavin Dicken!

On August 18th we were so thrilled to welcome our 5th grandchild and 3rd grandson to our family. Gavin Dicken entered the world at a hefty 8 lbs. 12 oz. All is well with mother and son.