The Collies at Red Fern Farm are the heart and soul of it. They bring laughter, light, kindness and a gentle yet serious protectiveness to the endeavor of living on the land with other creatures.
I began raising collies on a small hobby farm in 2005. I started with three lovely collies from Tapaderro Kennel. While Karol was getting out of raising collies, I was about to begin, and started with the last of her line to begin my own. Two young brothers, with the call names of Sparky and Ringo (soon to be renamed Marcus and Cody) and lovely Hallie, a tricolored female, were to be the foundation stock. I also took in an older male, "Bubba," (renaming him Trevor) and later found him a grand home with Chuck, of Collies of the Meadow. Trevor lived to a very old age with Chuck and his beloved collies.
Tapaderro's Blue Starlight (Marcus) and Trevor, soon after their arrival and Red Fern Farm. Interestingly enough, I gave Marcus his AKC registered name, "Tapaderro's Blue Starlight." He was literally my first collie (I had agreed to buy him first), the fact that I named him "Starlight" and then, many years later, began "Starlight English Shepherds" is a connection I only just made.
Early Days at Red Fern Farm Collies
"I wonder if it is heretical to believe that when at last my tired feet shall tread the Other Shore, a madly welcoming swirl of exultant collies--the splendid Sunnybank dogs that have been my chums here--will bound forward, circling and barking around me, to lead me home!"
Albert Payson Terhune
There are beginnings and endings, but all of life is a circle. It has been fifteen years since I first brought home the collies from Karol. I have raised both collies and other breeds of dogs in that time, but I have "come home" to the collies, and, in this last decade of dog raising, if indeed granted, they are to be front and center, indeed the very heart, of whatever work I am yet graced to do.
Tapaderro's Midnite Serenade, aka Red Fern's Hallie, in 2006.
Collies of the Meadow
Although I raised AKC Rough Collies for over five years, I found myself pulled in various directions, one of which was a growing interest in "farm collies" and also a nascent interest in the English Shepherd. Soon after I got the Rough Collies from Karol, a young wayfarer collie dog found her way into my life.
Lassie was a young collie of the meadow--and field, and forest...used to running the backwoods with her sister and her mother, Sallie. Sallie was a tri-colored English Shepherd who belonged to Fritz and Noreen Kehr, on old farm couple who lived about five miles from me. Fritz, now seventy, had had an English Shepherd as a boy, and was determined to find one more before his life ended. Fritz and Noreen traveled across Michigan and came home with Sallie. A few years later Sallie was bred by a sable and white Rough Collie who resided at a neighboring farm. This collie made his fortunate way down the hill when Sallie was in season and a few months later newborn puppies were nestling in the straw.
Sallie, English Shepherd, mother of Lassie, at age 12.
Lassie was one of those puppies. At six months old, only she and sister remained at the farm. Set far back from paved roads and human activity, Sallie and the pups spent most of their day roaming free, often gone for hours at a time. Noreen ran the antique shop in the little village of Paris. One day, while in there, I asked about a particular collie print, and we began talking about collies. She mentioned she had a couple of collie pups who needed a home. I had only recently gotten the AKC collies from Karol, and I didn't even know what an English Shepherd was, yet I was curious about these two older collie pups needing a home, although I certainly didn't think I would be interested in adopting one.
I was wrong. After meeting Sallie and the youngsters, one of them caught my eye immediately, as she looked almost exactly like the collie in the print I had been inquiring about at the antique shop!
Collie print, a birthday gift to myself, and Lassie, who followed close behind.
Lassie did come home with me that day, and became a part of the collie pack...the only "farm collie" of the bunch. With Lassie, an interest in English Shepherds and the old-style farm collies grew, and although I did go on to raise AKC Rough Collies, I was eventually to move in somewhat other directions.
Down the line, Collies-of-the Meadow, Chuck Foland, adopted a number of the AKC Rough Collies I had started with, and began his own work in raising them, while I moved, eventually, to working with the English Shepherd/Rough collie crosses, aiming for the old-style "Scotch Collie" primarily. I also gained an interest, mainly through inspiration given by Judith Kuhn, a long-time Rough Collie enthusiast, in making a small contribution toward helping the English Shepherd breed flourish once again.
A Transition
A home with a heart, where the red fern grows; yet the waves of time, lapping at the shore.
Red Fern Farm Collies is in the twilight of years, or, perhaps, one could argue, the "golden" years. It is time to begin winding down the decades long effort to help create beautiful, gentle, well-tempered dogs to be placed in loving homes. But there are still a few golden years to be cherished, and perhaps puppies for yet one more decade, if the Great Spirit allows.
To This Day
At this time, the energy and effort centers on the farm collies--English Shepherds, Rough Collies, and the glorious mix between them, often producing what is commonly thought of as the Old-Fashioned Farm Collie, or Scotch Collie.