I have to start with Jim Athearn of Morning Glory Farm on Martha’s Vineyard. For some strange reason known only to Jim, he responded to a cold email inquiry about sheep farms on Martha’s Vineyard, and off we went. Jim organized an all-island sheep farm tour, which turned into an all-island history tour, and history being a shared favorite subject of ours, we’ve been kibitzing ever since. Jim also graciously agreed to proof the manuscript for bloopers—despite my many visits to the Vineyard, I’ve spent most of my life on Cape Cod, and I knew better than to assume that what’s true on the Cape is true on the island. For example, did you know that on Cape Cod we call them spring peepers and on Martha’s Vineyard they call them pinkletinks? Or that what we call shadblow they call wild pear? Or that it’s always better to harvest your hay when it’s “in the bud”? Jim set me straight.
I also have Jim to thank for introducing me to the “Painter who Farms,” Allen Whiting. I may have fallen in love with the beauty of Clarissa Allen’s sheep farm in Chilmark, but when it comes to sheep, Allen Whiting’s historic Cheviots are the ones that own my heart. Allen graciously spent an afternoon talking sheep with me as we stood knee deep in newborn lambs. I even got to bottle-feed one—I guess that explains my love affair with those Cheviots. Allen and I also exchanged books, a deal in which I came out far ahead: he got a paperback edition of The Widow’s War and I got a gorgeous hardcover coffee table version of The Artist at Sixty.
I first met Andy Rice at the Taylor-Bray Farm Sheep Festival in Yarmouth Port here on Cape Cod. To watch Andy shear a sheep is to watch an artist at work; to listen to him talk sheep is to enter into a whole new wonderful world of entertainment. An additional bonus was the reading list he provided, and I suspect I now know more about sheep and sheep dogs than any non–sheep farmer on earth.
Archivist Bow Van Riper at the Martha’s Vineyard Museum gave generously of his time while I sank into the museum’s collections of all things Portland Gale, Summer Institute, Gold Hoax, and artist Amelia Watson, whose watercolors of Vineyard sheep got me hooked on my setting. The folks at Vineyard Haven Public Library allowed me to sit spinning through microfiche of the old Vineyard Gazettes for hours and answered every call for various obscure bits of information. I am grateful.
Artist Odin Kaeselau Smith managed to stop laughing long enough to teach me what I needed to know to make Ida’s struggles at the palette (hopefully) ring true; her words are sprinkled throughout these pages. Artist Geoffrey Smith graciously allowed himself to be cornered at a Christmas party to discuss the differences between landscape painting and portrait painting. William Morris Hunt’s words can also be found within these pages; he was one of the first artists to offer classes to women at the Museum School in Boston in the late-nineteenth century.
Thanks also to Paul Daley, who provided the proper rifle, figuratively speaking, and to Bill and Patsy Roberts, who read—and in Patsy’s case, reread—the manuscript and offered much useful feedback.
My editor Jennifer Brehl is a true partner. We dance to the same tune, but she always knows when I’m off a note. It’s been wonderful to get to work with assistant editor Nate Lanman—his sure but light footprint can be found throughout these pages. My agent Kris Dahl helped me shape my tale by refusing to accept “a sheep farm on Martha’s Vineyard” as the answer to that annoying question “What’s this book about?” She also reminded me my sheep were characters too, and suggested that we share an odd affection for farm animals. I would also like to thank copy editor Victoria Mathews, production editor Dale Rohrbaugh, and especially Mumtaz Mustafa, for her persistence and patience with the cover design. It is much appreciated. My family of readers, Jan Carlson, Diane Carlson, Ellie Leaning, and Nancy Carlson always see what I never seem to while simultaneously providing the necessary enthusiasm to drive the project forward. Jan also accompanied me to art classes and provided that needed impetus. My husband, Tom, critiqued, encouraged, and chauffeured, each of those things many times over. He also made sure I kept painting, and I now have two whole paintings of sheep that I haven’t (yet) thrown out.
One last thank-you, and it’s a big one—to my readers, you can’t imagine how you inspire me when I mention there’s a new book coming and you respond with a chorus of “When?” Many a day it’s sent me back to the desk instead of out for a beach walk.