admin – Page 44 – Wool Stone & Prairie

The Flow of A Flock

Artwork / March 3, 2019 March 3, 2019 / By admin

Creating the flow, or going with the flow, or even watching it, there is a soul satisfying feeling in the flowing movement of a large bunch of animals traveling. I’m positive some intangible asset we intuitively recognize resides there.

Before the flow happens though there is a great deal of effort and energy into starting it, into convincing the animals to go somewhere not where they currently are when they have little notion of why they should.

It’s all very much like living every day life. The amount of effort to start a blog post is far larger than the effort that exists when the flow begins and when the flow is carrying you. Same with a piece of artwork. The seed of an idea is planted far easier than the actual first step that takes so much energy and trust.

And in the event that you are brand new to a task, or have not done a task for some time, the flow can be rocky and hard to feel until we learn again to relax into it and trust the overtaking energy of flow will carry us where we need to go.

I think this is what animals know, certainly it is what sheep know. This is why they are so routine and so comfortable with every day, never panicking that there isn’t more to life than what is present.

Moving Them Home
38 inches wide x 18 inches tall
100% wool including fibres from Rambouillet, Clun Forest, Merino and Corriedale sheep.

Joy is in Process

Dogs / February 26, 2019 February 26, 2019 / 2 Comments / By admin

The other day I took Coyote Mic around back to bring wether lambs into the building. I returned to the house, put Mic inside and took BlackJack and Copo out. BlackJack and I worked the lambs inside the building until they settled a bit. Then I swapped dogs again and did some training on Copo, the greenhorn. Using the experienced dog to bring training lambs in, working the semi-experienced dog to settle the training lambs, and then working the greenhorn dog, just means one has too many dogs.

I recall having to move the first hundred odd sheep and using my first border collie to do so. Oh, how little we knew and how elated we were at the try. Every accomplishment we had with that first flock was a small miracle because when we stepped out to do it we didn’t know how these things got done. There was no experienced dog to use, nor any experienced handler, nor any experienced sheep for that matter. We didn’t know what we didn’t know and the mere try was success. And amazingly, within that unknowing was the joy of the process. And even if we didn’t manage to get the particular task done or it went all the way south, we always ended up where we needed to be.

Fast forward several years; when I work the dogs I find myself regularly doing a mental check up, not necessarily looking for anything joyful but looking for meaning, value and understanding, all of which equates to a sense of well being, a sense of internal joy – for them and for me. When working that first dog I wasn’t aware enough to recognize that finding joy in the process was something to strive for. Nowadays we’re all looking for it, needing to be reminded to slow down enough to be able to enjoy the process.

I hope this post serves as one reminder for today.

On Warmer Days

Sheep / February 23, 2019 February 23, 2019 / 1 Comment / By admin

On warmer days Oakley finds a place on higher ground; the flock is just over our shoulder feeding on hay.

On warmer days I sit and watch him watch, being there but not with him. A small moment of life well enjoyed by both of us I think. I love watching the dogs in this way of not being together all the time. Such moments are everything and more to me because of the intangible gift they give and I always breath a little lighter afterward.

Winter season in saskatchewan gets a pretty bad rap because it is so brutally cold but it is also brutally beautiful.

I catch myself stewing about the sheep and dogs, wondering if they are bedded well enough and did they stay out the wind or did they move. Has the wind changed direction again. Allen repeatedly assures me they are fine. How quickly I forget how often all the critters have handled each season for what it is.

Recently the yearlings have really taken to playing, especially on the warmer days, and thus give me a regular reminder.

Last evening I watched them race up and down a hill, bucking and kicking just like young lambs do during lambing time. To see them acting so freely tells me Allen is right, they are doing just fine and taking the cold as it comes because that is what they know to do. Witnessing them adjust so readily makes me thankful to be raising sheep.