Ivar’s Workshop

My name is Ivar. I am 14 years old and live on a farm in southern Minnesota with my parents and five siblings. On our farm we raise sheep, chickens, rabbits, honeybees, cats and a dog. Also, in the summer we get pigs and we raise them through August when they are butchered.

I purchased my first sheep from my dad a year ago. Over the course of this past summer I bought the rest of my dad’s sheep and now own the whole flock. I do management intensive rotational grazing, rotating the sheep onto a new paddock every day. There are two reasons for doing this: 1) by the time the sheep have grazed every paddock in the pasture, the grass in paddock number one has had 45 days to regenerate and regrow. 2) parasites live in sheep and are passed onto the pasture in the form of eggs in the sheep’s manure (or “fertilizer” as I like to call it.) When those eggs hatch in three days, the sheep have already moved. This leaves the parasites to die, since they have no animal to live in, which greatly reduces the risk of parasite overload in the sheep. I am breeding them and selecting for parasite resistance, no medicine (including de-wormer), good mothering instincts, big lambs and “bullet-proof” hardiness- sheep that can stand up to harsh conditions and still hold up fine.

I am also learning hand-tool woodworking. I spent a month last fall apprenticing full time at a woodshop in Texas learning hand-tool joinery, chair-making, turning and working on a shaving horse making spoons and spatulas- all by hand. Now I am trying to implement all that I learned there back home.

I have a small workshop in our basement with a workbench and all of my hand tools. This is where I do most of my projects, including designing and laying out pieces. We also have a workshop in our barn with more space and power tools (chop saw, band saw, drill press etc.) This is where I make Wooden Tractor Kits (wooden toy kits that I created with the intention of creating a bonding experience for dad and son not only making a toy, but also a memory.) All of the wheels I use for these trucks and tractors come from branches that grow in our woods right behind the barn.

In short, I would like to make my career in shepherding and woodworking- trades I believe are viable and stable- while being the two things I enjoy doing the most.

So why blogging? After sharing my enthusiasm for raising sheep, farming and woodworking with others (friends, family and people I have met through conferences and events), I began to realize that there is a lot of interest towards what I am doing- especially coming from a 14-year-old. I want to write this blog to share what I am learning, and to document what I am doing. I want to share stories, lessons, and skills in a simple way. Almost like a “public journal” if there were such a thing.

So whether it is moving sheep, cutting dovetails, planting potatoes or carving spoons I hope to have something exciting to write about and share with you!