Meet Siri + Colin

Siri Swanson and Colin Siegmund are first generation sheep farmers and owners of Yankee Rock Farm where they raise Border Leicesters and Finns. When Siri was young, visits to her uncle’s farm ignited an interest in farming and livestock. Before she began 6th grade her family left the suburbs and moved to Vermont so she could be closer to the farm. Meanwhile, a young Colin had become enamored with sheep thanks in part to a shepherd named Polly who sold him his first lamb. And this led to his family moving to a home with land enough for a small flock.

Obviously, these two – and Yankee Rock Farm – were meant to be! (and you can read the longer version here). Siri and Colin were recent guests of ours on the Lamb Stand and we wanted to give you a little more opportunity to learn about this inspiring duo! Read their answers below, watch their virtual lunch here and be sure to check out Yankee Rock Farm as well.

What excites you about your work?
Siri: Handling sheep every single day. No matter how my day is going, when I get to work that closely with these animals over and over again I’m content. I hold them, know every inch of their body, sense their behavior, and know I’m providing them with a life-saving service. There’s nothing better to me.

Colin: The animals and the variety. Everyday is different. Each stop is different from the next. Small flocks, big flocks, small and big sheep, grades of wool, etc.

What is one idea that has fundamentally changed you/your life trajectory?
Siri: A quote from Will Durant referencing something written by Aristotle: “We are what we repeatedly do. Excellence, then, is not an act but a habit.” I first saw it in a sports stadium and it’s influenced my approach to everything I do.

Colin: 4-H and a mentor I was very fortunate to have, Polly Hopkins, showing me what a lifelong passion for the sheep industry and Border Leicester breed could turn into.

What analog object or activity do you enjoy?
Colin: Landline telephones - with a cord attached to the wall because you could get away from them. There wasn’t the expectation to answer all the time.

Siri: Same as Colin!

If you could live in another time period when/why?
Siri: I wouldn’t want to. I’m grateful for modern medicine, the conveniences granted by industrialization, and how many more rights I have as a woman than my mother and grandmother did at my age.

Colin: 1950s-1970s before the massive decline of midsized agriculture in this country.

What has living during a pandemic taught you?
Siri: Just how different my life is from the majority. Very little changed about our lives during the pandemic. Most of the changes we had to make were minor too; missing a few events and getting groceries differently. Shearers received essential worker status to waive travel restrictions and nothing slowed down on the farm. We’ve been fortunate in this situation.

Colin: How fragile the systems in our society are. The two of us have made it out alright but many who rely more on modern systems are struggling and I feel for them.

In one sentence your positive prediction or hope for the future.
Siri: Feeding average families by supporting smarter, mid-sized agriculture since current trends towards all small, independent, organic practices does not produce food accessible to less privileged demographics.

Colin: Hopefully more people begin to recognize the fragility in the systems around us - including but not limited to agriculture both big and small.