By Hand, with Heart

From a sheep farm in Stockton come freshly spun and dyed wool, woven goods, forged tools and implements, and jewelry more finely crafted than Tiffany’s. It’s all part of the Covered Bridge Artisans Holiday Studio Tour.

By: Ilene Dube
   Although the roads you’ve taken should place you somewhere between Sergeantsville, Ringoes and Stockton, it feels like the English countryside: gently rolling hills, a bit of mist, the 200-plus-year-old stone farmhouse, and Angora rabbits and sheep from the Romney Marsh area of Kent, England. Foxcross Farm co-owner Anthony Cordasco even drives an Austin-Healey.
   With his wife, Julie Gerow, Mr. Cordasco has been raising sheep here for nearly a decade. "She’s the shepherd and I’m the hired hand," he jokes. Foxcross Farm offers 20 acres for the sweet-tempered sheep — along with chickens and white peacocks — to roam freely.
   None of the animals is ever slaughtered, but the sheep’s high luster wool grows in long locks that can be easily spun. The natural colors of the wool are white, cream, silver, charcoal, chocolate brown and black. Ms. Gerow and Mr. Cordasco’s list of who buys their sheep includes some influential people, but client names are kept confidential. "If you are planning on mentioning who buys our sheep it might be more interesting for readers to know our customers are mostly people who keep the sheep as pretty outdoor pets, for farm assessment, spinner’s flocks and, of course, the 4Hers," Ms. Gerow writes in an e-mail.
   At dusk, Mr. Cordasco calls in "the girls." (The boys, Fred and Willy, live on the other side of the road.) With an occasional "baa," they all come running and show off their gentle nature. There’s Lara, and Debbie, who won second place in a show in Massachusetts. At the Garden State Sheep Show in Ringoes, the Foxcross sheep won first, second and third place in both the white and colored wool category, says Mr. Cordasco.
   The animals wear cloth coats to protect the fleece. "We sell to hand spinners who are fussy," says Mr. Cordasco. "We launder the coats but don’t wash the sheep." The darker wool below the coats, called skirting, is thrown out, he adds.
   Ms. Gerow cards and spins the wool, dyes and weaves it. Both her woven scarves and the yarn itself, as well as knitting kits, will be for sale at the 12th annual Covered Bridge Artisans Holiday Studio Tour Nov. 24 to 26.
   Before becoming sheep farmers, Mr. Cordasco and Ms. Gerow lived in Westfield with what Mr. Cordasco describes as a "postage-stamp size lawn" he cut with a hand mower. "It was good exercise," he says. He brought the hand mower to the farm, and when the task turned out to be far more daunting than imagined, Ms. Gerow suggested they get sheep to keep the grass down.
   The couple laughs in retrospect, because of course raising sheep is a far greater commitment than simply mowing the lawn.
   "I never had a single pet growing up," Mr. Cordasco admits. "We had to go to school to learn pasture management, sheep management and diseases, worming, trimming hooves. You have to be your own vet — diagnosing the problem, giving medication and shots. Julie had to learn about fiber, and taking care of wool."
   As members of the Garden State Sheep Breeders, the couple also learns from the community of breeders.
   The sheep’s diet, he says, is very important, especially when pregnant. "They are extremely hardy but delicate at the same time; you can’t let them get overweight or there could be birthing problems."
   The pregnant sheep will lamb in early January. "Nature wants them to lamb in March when food is growing, but we bump them up for show," says Mr. Cordasco. "People give us orders for sheep." They have to be ready for the Maryland Sheep and Wool Festival in May.
   "They lamb on their own but we keep an eye on them," says Mr. Cordasco. The lambs are born after dinner, usually at about 9 or 10 p.m., and can continue until 2 a.m. "We sit out in the shed in 5 degree weather," he says. "We don’t interfere but dry off the lambs and make sure they are nursing.
   Despite the cold, Mr. Cordasco describes it as a beautiful experience. The artist Robert Beck has come to paint this scene.
   "I hold the babies in my arms every night and sing to them until they fall asleep on my lap so they are very friendly and people-oriented by the time they go to their new homes," writes Ms. Gerow in an e-mail.
   "They are never taken to market or eaten, they always go to nice homes," says Mr. Cordasco.
   Mr. Cordasco and Ms. Gerow are of that rare breed of human being who seem to have 68 hours in their days. He teaches wood-burning and computer science at Hills borough High School and she is a senior systems analyst for Bristol Myers- Squibb. When home from their day jobs, not only do they care for the sheep and rabbits and chickens and restore the pre-Revolutionary War farmhouse, but he forges tools from iron, and makes fine jewelry and sun dials. In addition to all the wool processing, Ms. Gerow weaves, knits, hooks rugs, and teaches classes in all of the above.
   Is the couple afflicted with 1850s syndrome, wanting to go back to the past? "I like modern plumbing," Ms. Gerow admits. But they are committed to and passionate about making things by hand.
   Mr. Cordasco had worked as a computer programmer for 18 years, then returned to teaching because he wanted to use his hands, rather than stare at a computer screen all day. He taught himself jewelry making and blacksmithing in 1975 when he was teaching industrials arts.
   He used to use the shed as his workshop, but now the sheep and chickens have taken over.
   Inside the house, he is replumbing an upstairs bathroom, but is challenged by the stone walls and horsehair and lime plaster walls. He says he keeps looking for Colonial treasures — notes, messages, coins — and, not having found any, leaves his own.
   The living room is filled with spinning wheels — these are great wheels, used standing up, Mr. Cordasco explains; Ms. Gerow uses these in her spinning classes. Mr. Cordasco brings out copper and steel ladles, spatulas and fireplace tools he has made, as well as a Colonial chandelier for setting candles in. He has made brass tea strainers perforated in a heart pattern; sterling candle snuffers; a salt spoon in the shape of a scallop shell with a twisted handle; a food chopper using the Japanese technique for Samurai swords; pewter fluted bowls; quill pens; and so many pieces of fine jewelry.
   Ms. Gerow demonstrates carding the wool, explaining how it opens up the fiber and prepares it for spinning. The family room is filled with more spinning wheels, a loom, shelves of wool, fleeces to be sold to spinners, and a rack covered with ribbons the sheep have won.
   There are boxes Mr. Cordasco made of walnut, mahogany, cocobolo (a tropical hard wood), ebony and bird’s-eye maple Ms. Gerow uses for her spinning supplies, as well as a drop spindle with a sterling hook and a Shaker writing desk. There are signs carved for the wool shop, and a warping board for weaving, all made by Mr. Cordasco.
   He first had the desire to make jewelry when he saw a pendant he wanted to buy for Ms. Gerow but couldn’t afford, so a fellow teacher taught him to make it. He went on to make her engagement ring and a sterling baby spoon for their son, now 35.
   Mr. Cordasco describes a crossroads in his life when he "took the road more often taken and it has made all the difference." Tiffany’s had invited him to come on as a master silversmith, and instead he went into computer programming. Although he preferred working with his hands, he says Tiffany’s is no longer making jewelry by hand, but by machine. Even Colonial Williamsburg no longer makes things by hand — the re-enactors appear to be, but machines are used behind the scenes, he says.
   Speaking of re-enactors, that’s another hobby in which Ms. Gerow and Mr. Cordasco fill their "spare" time. They can be seen at Washington Crossing, Pa., Christmas morning; at Princeton Battlefield; the Battle of Monmouth; and the Battle of Quebec. Ms. Gerow has portable spinning wheels she takes to re-enactments.
   And then there is the garden in summer, where Mr. Cordasco sells 27 varieties of heirloom tomatoes he raises from seed in the basement.
   "It’s your interest so it’s fun — you do it because you love it," says Ms. Gerow.
   Mr. Cordasco and Ms. Gerow recount the time they had reservations at a fine restaurant to celebrate Ms. Gerow’s birthday. They dressed in their fine clothing and were all set to go out when it was time for the lambs to come. So they quickly got back into their old clothes and went out to the shed, and had a better time than had they gone out to dinner.
   Ms. Gerow says the sheep greet her when she comes home from work, and in the morning when she looks out the window, they are all lined up for a good-morning "baa."
   "And they really do mow the lawn very nicely," she says.
The 12th annual Covered Bridge Artisans Holiday Studio Tour will be held Nov.
24-26, 10 a.m.-5 p.m., in artisans’ studios in Lambertville, Stockton, Sergeantsville
and Locktown. Tour maps are available at www.coveredbridgeartisans.com
or at the General Store in Sergeantsville. Potters, stained-glass artisans, metal
designers, sculptors, rug hookers and more will demonstrate and sell their work.
For information, call (609) 397-1535. For information about Foxcross Farm, spinning
lessons and supplies, e-mail [email protected]
or call (908) 788-7866.