“Did you have beef or lamb?” It was the first question a design-world veteran asked when I mentioned I’d been to visit Johnny Swing in February. For the last 25 years, the sculptor and furniture maker with the boogie-woogie name has been based just outside Newfane, a quaint southern Vermont town sometimes described as one of the most photographed in the state. Mr. Swing’s home is an updated old farmhouse that sits on 50 hilly acres of woods and pastures he uses for grazing cows and sheep. The property includes an improvised chicken coop with several hens that provide fresh eggs, and Mr. Swing is building a new sugar shack for making maple syrup. There’s also a guesthouse to accommodate visitors, whom Mr. Swing — an affable host and enthusiastic cook — often treats to meals of lamb or beef from his own animals, roasted for hours in his vintage Boston Stove Foundry wood-burning oven. (For the record, the beef was delicious.)
