Name: Midsummer Night’s Meadow Farm
Address: 67 McComb Road
Garland, Maine 04939
Phone: 207-404-2399
Email: susanwatson1@myfairpoint.net
Website: www.mainehighlandsfarmers.com
Products and Services:
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-white and colored Corriedale/Merino sheep
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-handmade felted hats, scarves, jackets
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-felted accessories
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-beautiful handcrafted wall hangings
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-one-of-a-kind artistic creations
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-sheepskins
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-yarn and roving
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-woolen blankets
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-cuts of lamb and sausage
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-handmade soaps
What Makes Midsummer Night’s Meadow
Farm Unique?
There’s a good likelihood that you may know or may have heard about Susan Watson. She is a recently-retired USDA Soil Scientist and Resource Conservation Project Coordinator who traveled throughout the state of Maine for twenty-three years. She conducted soil surveys in some of the most remote areas of Piscataquis and Washington Counties. Her work with sheep farming and her artistic abilities have garnered a great deal of attention in the fiber arts world. She is regarded as a master artisan in various endeavors including felting and rug hooking.
Susan credits several individuals with contributing in her journey as a fiber artist.
Her father, Dr. Neal H. Watson, is a sheep farmer and well-known and well-loved veterinarian who taught her a great deal about the needs and care of raising a flock of sheep. His sheep are highly regarded as a registered fancy flock that participate in various show events.
Susan’s mother, Viola Watson, is a past member of the Maine Spinners and Weavers Guild, and a gifted homemaker who is extremely artistic. While Susan and her sister and three brothers were growing up, Viola sewed, knitted, dyed wool, and specialized in making everything possible from scratch including a variety of foods, butter, breads, homemade soaps and clothes. Neal and Viola continue to raise Corriedale sheep and operate Baptist Hill Farm in Corinna. Susan followed in her parents’ footsteps as she, too, operates a thriving sheep farm. Her flock is a cross of Corriedale and Merino sheep who are raised with organic practices on MOFGA-certified pastures.
Chris Guida of Dennysville became a mentor to Susan as he instructed her in the Australian locker-hooking technique of making rugs. The method can be used to produce thick-textured rugs, as well as pillows, wall hangings, and blankets. Susan has shared what she has learned from Chris and has conducted Locker Hooking workshops.
Susan is also grateful to Beth Beede of Massachusetts for sharing her expertise with various methods of felting and to Ewa Kuniczak of Scotland for instructing her in the Nuno felting technique. Exploring various artistic mediums has been a defining characteristic of Susan’s path in the fiber world.
If you have ever attended the Common Ground Fair and recall seeing an incredible hand felted wool yurt that is adorned with beautiful vines and flowers, it is a true masterpiece that was created by Susan in 1994. She often uses it as her booth at festivals and craft fairs to display her various products.
Every one of Susan’s hats, scarves, rugs, sheepskins, and wall hangings are distinct. She has a creative and artistic approach which is so unique that her work seems to be set apart from other fiber artists. Her use of vibrant colors and original designs draw people into her booth. While some of her work embraces traditional natural wool colors like her woolen blankets, she also offers some fiber products that are very imaginative and even whimsical in design.
Unique Maine Farms is extremely grateful to
Susan Watson. From the beginning of this
project, she has been extremely supportive.
She welcomed our family to stay at her farm
while we traveled through the Maine Highlands visiting farms, and she proved instrumental in offering information about various farming endeavors taking place throughout the state. She is an exceptionally positive and generous individual with a down-to-earth approach to life. It’s a joy to engage in a conversation with Susan as she incorporates some priceless country sayings and a great sense of humor.
While spending a few days at Susan’s farm,
it became immediately apparent that she
is an extremely hard-working individual. She tends to the upkeep of her twenty-eight acre farm. Her efforts have been focused on renovating the 1800’s homestead and clearing and renovating the pastures. She shears her sheep; washes the wool; and dyes the wool. She also hand cards some of the fiber.
Susan seems to relish learning new things and expanding her horizons. Over the years she worked as a weaver at the Abbott Mill in Dexter,
and in Corinna at the Eastland Woolen Mill, and in Newport and Augusta. She was also employed by local restaurants. She recalled camping in a trailer on the barrens one summer and the back-breaking work that resulted from raking blueberries all day with her children. She participated in a soil science mapping project in Finland.
When Unique Maine Farms visited in late August, Susan was busy tending her flock of sheep, of which four ewes were ready to lamb.
One of the ewes delivered twins on the morning of our departure and it was exciting to be able to view them so soon after their birth. Susan’s love for her animals is obvious. In addition to raising sheep and chickens, Susan enjoys the company of Maggie, her black labrador retriever, and Walker, her blue heeler.
Family is of paramount importance to Susan.
She is very proud of her son and daughter and her four grandchildren. Susan was raised in a family of five children. All of the Watsons have continued with some aspect of farming. Her brother, Dave Watson, is a big hay producer in Corinna. John Watson has a farm in Dexter and Millar Watson raises sheep in Garland. Susan’s sister, Laura, recently moved to Corinna from New York with her flock of sheep.
Susan’s son, Winston Sinclair, a forestry major, and his wife, Karen, operate Sinclair and Son Farm, and raise sheep and chickens and grow grain in Dover-Foxcroft. Her daughter, Sarah Sinclair, is an oncologist who shares an interest in fiber arts with Susan.
While visiting Midsummer Night’s Meadow Farm, Susan was busy preparing some of her lamb to be brought to Smith’s Smoke House to be smoked for sausage. She sells various cuts of lamb including shoulders, chops, legs, roasts, ground meat, and sausage. Her Sopressata salami is always in demand. Much of her lamb is purchased by restaurants and meat shops, but she also takes orders from individuals and families.
For the first time this past August, Susan had requested the fat from the lambs that had been slaughtered since she was experimenting with making soap with her neighbor. She rendered the fat on the stove for several hours in a large roasting pan. Several different batches of soap that incorporated various ingredients such as oatmeal, lavender, anise, essential oils, lye, and poppy seeds were successfully produced.
A willingness to experiment with new projects
and methods seems to always be a part of Susan’s approach to life. She has attended many workshops and her home is filled with various sheep and farm-related books and magazines. She enjoys learning from others and sharing what she has learned. She has been asked to conduct several workshops and has been invited to exhibit her work throughout New England. She is a member of the Maine Highland Farmers, Maine Fiberarts, Designing Women, and the Maine Crafts Association. Susan helped with the initial development of the Dexter Community Farm Project. She belongs to the Small Woodland Owners Association of Maine and actively manages her woodlot. She is a very active member of the Concerned Citizens of Garland who is fighting the development threat of the East/West Corridor to their town and their livelihoods.
Unique Maine Farms commends Susan Watson for her generosity, creativity, work ethic, and her genuine interest in promoting all types of agriculture in Maine. If you attend the Common Ground Fair, the Harvest Festival in Bangor, the Mount Desert Island show, or the Camden Harbor Arts Festival, be sure to stop by her booth and check out her incredible fiber arts creations. She participates in the Maine Fiber Arts Tour Weekend and also welcomes visitors at her farm in Garland by appointment.