For more than three months in 2024, Faith Tyldsley shared with Drummer readers a primer on all things goat. For those who don’t already know, Granby and North Granby are home to a substantial number of goats. Her three-part series, The Goats of Granby, included interviews with those who simply love goats as pets, children involved in 4-H goat activities, conservation advocates who use goats to clear invasive vegetation and those involved in the production and sale of products, including yogurt, cheese and goat milk lotions and soaps.
Tyldsley noted that, following publication of the first article of the series, previously unidentified goat residents were brought to her attention by Drummer readers. One Granby couple even invited her to their farm “to meet their 13 huggable Nigerian dwarf goats.” In order to give full due to the many goats in Granby, what was originally meant to be a single article grew into a three-part series.
For Tyldsley, the writing process often “begins with a phrase that enters [her] mind unbidden, followed by a narrative seemingly developing by itself in its own direction.” The Goats of Granby struck her as a promising title after several visits to Sweet Pea Cheese, a goat dairy in North Granby.
Writing comes naturally to Tyldsley, whose father was the editor and publisher of the Millbrook Round Table, a weekly newspaper in Millbrook, N.Y., established in 1906 by her grandfather. Within months after moving to Granby in 2018, Tyldsley became involved with the Drummer as a proofreader and writer. Both writing and gardening put her “in the zone, when several hours will pass by unnoticed; I’ve missed more than one appointment immersed in my immediate world,” she admits.
Tyldsley also serves as a volunteer at the Salmon Brook Historical Society where she is currently transcribing a journal (1936-1938) written by William Shattuck, eldest son of the renowned painter, Aaron Draper Shattuck.
Her award-winning goat series can be found by visiting these links:
The Goats of Granby: The Goat is the G.O.A.T.