Woolgather Farm Home Page

Above, Carole & David Presberg with (l. to r.) Flash, Chance, Bess, Kate, and Sage

This page has music available that you may turn on by clicking the right arrow above.
You can hear "Web of Birdsong" (written by Bob Coltman and sung by Kathy Kallick)
You may also turn it off by clicking on the two parallel lines.
(With kind permission from Kathy Kallick. "Web of Birdsong" appears on Kathy's album, My Mother's Voice).

SEE OUR
INDEX OF MUSIC USED ON THESE PAGES
AND LINKS TO WHERE EACH TUNE CAN BE FOUND

Woolgather Farm is currently located in the Merrimack Valley of Massachusetts where we had lived for 23 years before moving to New York State in 1992. From 1981-1992 we owned a much smaller version of our farm in Merrimack, Mass. When we moved to New York State we bought a 40-acre farm in Candor, south of Ithaca, NY. On Thanksgiving Day 1997 we moved to our new (smaller) farm in Tyngsboro, Mass., bringing with us our sheep, llamas and pony, our cats, and our Border Collies.

Carole is a fiber artist, writer, publisher and editor. David, a.k.a. "Pres", was a software engineer for many years and is currently working as a computer technician.

We have had Border Collies for over 30 years. Our Border Collies have all been working dogs.

Our Willy (Highland's Willy Scott) herding ducks ca. 1980.

The thumbnails link to pages for each dog. (Photos of Willy, Jute and Moss by Tony Esposito of Bethany, Connecticut.)

1978-1994
"Highland's Willy Scott"
NASDS 27702
bred by
Maurice MacGregor

1980-1995
"Ettrick Linn"
bred by
Jack Knox

1982-1996
"Watermoon Jute"
NASDS 36938
bred by
Dennis Moonan

1984-1999
"Woolgather Moss"
NASDS 44344
bred by
Carole Presberg

"Corinlea Black Suede"
KC P1353801P01
1989-2004
bred by
Mrs. Karen Holliday (Dalgleish)
of Sheffield, England

FDX CGC
ABC 34844
1993-2008
bred by
Francis Raley
of Crawford, Texas

FDX CGC
ABC49811
1994-2008
bred by
Francis Raley
of Crawford, Texas

FDCh CGC
ABC 120802 b. 1997
"Westwood Fenn"
bred by Suzanne West
of Oliver Springs, Tennessee,
currently owned by
Kathy and Craig
Chittenden
of Sugarbush Farm in Stephentown,
New York

CGC
ABC 183159
b. 11/13/2000
bred by
Christine and David Eisensmith
of Chafee, New York

b. 1/23/02
bred by
Anja Dassen
of Belgium and the Netherlands

CGC
b. 11/30/02
bred by
Chris Caswell
of Dyer Brook, Maine

b. 2005
Our Foster Dog
as of 23 June 2009

In 1984 we bred Jute to Willy and at the end of October of that year Jute whelped a litter of five pups. We kept Moss and sold the others. They are all sadly gone now but we have their photos on our website to remember them.

"Woolgather Jess"
NASDS44345

"Woolgather Maize"
NASDS44346

"Woolgather Wizard"
NASDS44348

"Woolgather Ruby"
NASDS44347

"Woolgather Moss"
NASDS 44344

We don't currently breed (been there, done that), and all our dogs are neutered.
Please don't call us about buying puppies, because we don't have any.

For almost 15 years, we did Border Collie rescue. I (Carole) am the founder of the North American Border Collie Rescue Network (NABCRN) and one of the founders of New England Border Collie Rescue (NEBCR). In 2006 I retired, as president, intake coordinator, website manager, and a foster home, from NEBCR. My husband and dogs are happy to have me to themselves again. See all the dogs we have fostered and/or placed over the years.

Bess herding duck in Tyngsboro, Massachusetts.

A freight line runs behind our property.
We actually like having the train in our backyard,
as it runs infrequently, goes slowly and adds some interest to the day.
As you can see, it doesn't disturb the animals.

We raised sheep for their wool since 1981.
Our sheep were mostly colored Border Leicester crosses and a few Jacob's sheep.
Currently we are no longer in the sheep business,
and the last old ewe, Doris, a Jacob's, who appears at the front of the photo above, died on June 19, 2006.

Our fleece was sold to handspinners
through our wool business,

or used by Carole for spinning, weaving and felting.
Carole is a fiber artist who makes small bags of wool, felt, and leather
Her bags may be seen on the Thistle Woolworks web pages

Above, Eva Lambert and Carole Presberg
with their tour van in Scotland ca. 1986.

For ten years, from 1983 to 1992,
Carole ran the Sheep to Shawl Tour of Scotland, a sheep and wool tour,
with Eva Lambert, who lives on the Isle of Skye in Scotland.
Eva now runs
Shilasdair Yarns.

In the summer of '96 we added two llamas (Ranger, far left, and Hennessey) to our flock, also for their wool. For those of you who spin--their wool is absolutely beautiful, and also yields soft guard hair which feels like human hair and will be good for making soft cordage. Although we had been told that llamas work best as flock guardians if they are by themselves rather than in pairs, Ranger and Hennessey really have protected our sheep. We've seen them do it. They worked as a team. One day a friend's dog got into our pasture. Hennessey drove the sheep to one corner, and Ranger went after the dog. Sadly, Hennessey died in 2003.

Prince-the-Pony is about 35 years old. He was originally bought as a working (finished driving) pony, but, although he is still with us, he has long since been replaced as a workhorse by John D. Tractor.