valerie jarvis: goat farmer, cheesemaker, mother of ten

I spent much of the summer in Concord hanging out at a local farm, getting to know Valerie Jarvis, who is one heck of a driven lady. The story ran in the Monitor yesterday, so now I'm free to blog.

Thanks to all who helped me agonize over the visual and written edits. Your input and support were invaluable, not just with this story, but throughout the summer.


Valerie Jarvis has always been, to use her own description, "a person of odd choices." Labor coach. Licensed pilot. Home-schooling mother of 10. And most recently, goat farmer and cheesemaker.

Fifteen years after her family acquired its first goat - a birthday gift from Jarvis to her then-husband - she continues to perfect the craft of making cheese. But now she has a hundred goats, and her Gilmanton Ironworks business, Heart Song Farm, is thriving. (To read the full story, see the Concord Monitor article)