Tuesday, December 15, 2009

The comfort of sheep


I love the holidays -cooking, decorating, yet, no matter what the situation, it is always a stressful time of year. There are so many expectations, mostly unrealistic. It's times like this when I especially love venturing out to the barn after dinner. Even though the temp is near zero, I can't resist the allure of a cozy barnful of sheep. I don my coveralls, hat, mits, and head out. Belle, our great pyr is always the first to greet me, my demanding polar bear of a girl. The ewes are all well fed, snug, and for the most part, settled in for the night. I find a comfy spot to sit, and it's the yearling ewes that come up first for a visit. My loveliest F girl, Fionna settles in at my side, tail a-wagging, and along comes several others of the same "rank". Ewe lambs, the G girls hang back, waiting their turn. My older girls, secure in their position, don't always seek me out, though Charlotte always comes up for a pet. Comfort & Joy, this is it.

2 comments:

Kelly said...

We absolutely cannot wait to see your beautiful sheep and farm. Its interesting that your meat rams have far more gorgeous horns than many rams we see for sale. We just dont have enough pastures yet to separate rams and ewes till spring.And truffles our ram has taken to knocking me on my butt if he does not get the attention he thinks he deserves. Stay warm. -Alex

Terri said...

Thank you for your nice post! Our ram group headed for the butcher has quite a few nice little fellows in it, mellow temperaments, good horns, meaty... this is the hard part of raising sheep, sending excess rams or ewes to the butcher. Don't let Truffles bully you around! It will only get worse. Watch your back at all times. You stay warm, too. Maine must be quite frigid now, too.