A few years ago when I was visiting a vascular surgeon’s office in Allentown, I met Monica Melo, an adult health clinical nurse specialist. In her office, I noticed she had a lot of sheep figurines. That was when I found out that she and her husband raise sheep.

This spring, I was back at her office, and she told me that she and her husband, Salvador, now lived in the Mahoning Valley at a 31-acre farm. And at their farm, it was lambing season. Monica invited me to visit their farm.

Visiting sheep on a farm was a flashback for me. Back in the 1970s, my sister and I belonged to 4-H and we raised sheep as our projects on our small two-acre farm in East Penn Township and showed them at the Carbon County Fair.

Salvador and Monica Melo raise Gotland sheep, a breed named after the Swedish island of Gotland. They had 15 adult sheep - 10 females and five males. This spring, they had 20 lambs born. In addition to the sheep, they have steers and cow, horses, rabbits and chicks.

“I always wanted to get a goat, and my husband always loved horses,” Monica explained “After our children were born, we moved out to the country and got some goats and some horses. As soon as the kids were old enough, they joined 4H.”

That first year, they jumped into the farm life with both feet.

“My son had dairy cows. They both had chickens, goats ... it was insane. We didn’t know how much work it was; but, they just loved it. Then one day, my daughter said to me, ‘Mom, I’d like to get sheep’. She did some research and found the Gotland breed, and that was in 2011. When she was done with 4-H, I decided ‘I’m going to keep the sheep’.”

The sheep get sheared in the spring and the fall. The wool from the spring shearing they sell. They sell some in it raw form, and some gets woven into yarn. The wool from the winter shearing they use as mulch for their garden.

While farming is a challenge, it’s also a good learning experience. And it’s a great way to grow up. Neither my sister nor I have ever had any allergies. I suspect the farm life helped with that.

Want to learn more about 4-H? https://extension.psu.edu/programs/4-h