The frost was magnificent on the trees this morning. Thick, white, and sparkling against the bright blue sky, it seemed to announce — along with the five-degree temperature — that the rotational grazing season was over.
Adding to that feeling was the sense of accomplishment that came with hauling our second and last load of meat lambs away to the locker and sale barn yesterday. We worked hard and I’m proud of what we did during this growing season.
When the grass is growing taller by the day, the biggest daily job for the shepherdess (that would be me) is to move the electric net fencing we use to keep the sheep and lambs in, and coyotes and dogs out. It’s a lot of work but often turns out to be my favorite hour of the day as I walk the lines of new and old fence, pulling up and pushing in posts and picking up panels of flexible fencing. Hauling water, salt, and a solar powered fencer around is a good workout, if not my most beloved chore. What I do love is watching the sheep trot into their new pasture and graze with great fervor on their new grass. Their enthusiasm seems a heartfelt thank you for the daily chore that validates the effort.
Most days when I was out fencing this season, my 3-year-old (we’ll call him O) came along. If he was reluctant to leave the comforts of home and his bevy of toy tractors, a suggestion that we could go toad hunting got him motivated, and he rarely left the field disappointed this very wet year.
Being outside doing good work with O was often a joy. However, I did a lot of fencing for the sheep in our fairly dense shelter belts this year, to maximize our land use as our sheep numbers swelled, and to use the animal impact to control weeds. The downside, aside from electric netting tangled in burs and branches, was that O often lost sight of me in the thick brush and we ended up having a shouted conversation back and forth as he looked for me.
I just had to laugh every day (to keep from screaming!) as the same shouted conversation would play out over and over. Because I did find it quite comical, I thought I’d share it here to remember forever, or at least as long as the Internet lasts. And perhaps you’d enjoy this peek into the life of a mom-farmer, too.
O, losing sight of me among the bushes and trees: “Where are you, Mom?”
Mom: “I’m over here!”
O: “What?”
Mom: “I’m over, here, fencing!”
O: “What?”
Mom: “I’m over here, by the sheep!”
O: “What did you say?”
Mom: “Follow the fence! I’m by the sheep!”
O: “You found a toad?”
Mom: “No. I’m over here!”
O: “What did you find? You found a toad?”
Mom: “No. Nothing. I didn’t find anything.”
O: “What did you find? You found a snake?”
Mom: “No! I didn’t find anything! You asked where I was and I said I’m over here.”
O: “You found a frog?”
Mom: “No! You started this talk. You’re looking for me!”
Eventually we’d find each other and then I would find a frog or toad for him and all would be well once again.
And now our sheep are in permanent fence for the winter, sipping out of heated water fountains and munching on hay, dreaming of greener pastures while the landscape turns from verdant to frosty white.
It’s been a good one, 2019. Pasture, we’ll see you — and the toads — next year.
