Beauty and the Sheep
Tucked away on a hilltop in Hartland, VT, sit five stand-alone cabins offering breathtaking views of the Green Mountain State. It is rare for one to be unoccupied.
But the owners of these cabins, Todd Heyman and Suzy Kaplan, whose Fat Sheep Farm & Cabins was named the SBA’s 2022 Vermont Microenterprise of the Year and New England Microenterprise of the Year, believe it is the agritourism as much as the beauty that attracts visitors to the site.
“We have these five stunning cabins with spectacular views, but they are not the draw,” Heyman said. “We would not have this success without the farm — the farm is the draw.”
Fat Sheep is a farm-stay experience Heyman and Kaplan started on their 60-acre farm in 2017. Kaplan manages the livestock and is the lead cheesemaker, and Heyman oversees the crops. Kaplan invites the guests to participate daily in morning animal chores, which include milking the sheep, taking the animals to pasture and collecting eggs. She also offers classes in sourdough bread baking, and will soon offer cheesemaking classes. The property also features beautiful walking trails and a firepit perfectly situated to take in the summer sunsets.
Photo: Fat Sheep Farm cheese. Photos by Danny Monahan.
“The animals are the most popular attraction. A lot of the kids like hanging out with them,”. said Heyman. “We had a family recently whose daughter sat in the pen for hours just petting the lambs. It’s all she wanted to do, and she was so happy.”
Another great attraction for the children is the newly installed natural playground that blends in seamlessly with the farm’s surroundings. Made primarily from the rocks and trees on the property, it features a sand pit, caves, and a seesaw and balance beams made from locust logs.
Upon arrival, most visitors will see the other guests partaking in all the activities. It is so lively, it’s hard to believe all the work is done by Heyman and Kaplan, and their sole employee.
“We started the business with no employees. Currently, we have an employee who helps clean and maintain the cabins and supplies. Otherwise, the cabin business is pretty much a husband-and-wife operation,” said Heyman. They also have a farmhand to help with the farm business.
Looking it at now, it's difficult to believe that so much of what makes Fat Sheep Farm an agritourism destination did not exist as recently as 2016. There were no cabins, the barns needed work, the land had been out of production for years, there was no cheese creamery or aging cave, and there was no playground.
Heyman and Kaplan weren’t even life–long farmers. He had quit his life as a lawyer in 2012, and had only been farming for a few seasons. She had grown up around horses and had worked with animals for many years, but had given that up to become a third-grade teacher.
The two had a love for the farm life and wanted to make it a reality. They hatched the idea to build a unique farm-stay experience and eventually found this property.
“When we started, most reservations were taken manually over the phone and tracked on paper calendars,” Heyman said. “The first big uptick in business came when The Boston Globe featured the farm on the front page of the Sunday travel section. From that moment until the start of the COVID pandemic, our occupancy rates steadily ticked up. We are now up over 90% with bookings a full year out.”
When the state allowed Fat Sheep Farm to reopen in June 2020 after a brief shutdown due to the coronavirus, Heyman said the site became a popular destination for people wishing to get away from densely populated areas and for families wanting to hold mini-family reunions.
Agritourism has been on the rise throughout this century — tripling between 2002 and 2017, according to the 2017 US Census of Agriculture report. Heyman jokingly asserts that Fat Sheep Farm is primarily responsible for that growth in popularity. In talking with Heyman, it's not difficult to detect his passion for his farm and for agritourism.
“We are proof agritourism can be successful here in Vermont — we have a serious economic impact on our community,” he said. “Our little operation brings thousands of people to our town each year who spend money in the area on their vacations that help our local economy, and we do a lot to direct them to operations that support local farmers, either directly or through restaurants that support local farms.”