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Simple Flock Moves

Musing, Prairie / May 13, 2023 May 13, 2023 / By admin

I moved the flock from the winter pasture to the pasture showing the most promise of available grass. The dry years combined with a modest grazing rotation have wreaked havoc on certain areas of the farm while other areas continue to hold on and grow grass. I no longer carry any burden of expectation that there will ever be enough fencing in place for regenerative agriculture to happen here. There just isn’t enough man power for that amount of labour. Plus I’m now at an age where I don’t want to see more fences go up, in fact, I’d prefer that some come down. I’d prefer to see this place be wide open prairie land once more. I think that the land deserves that destiny once again.

It is a simple matter to move sheep to places they want to go to and right now the ewes want to go anywhere there is grass. Nonetheless less there is always sincere enjoyment in the work of the Kelpies. My crew of Kelpies are well aged now and the eldest fellow has recently passed. I feel a deeper commitment to not taking simple flock moves for granted but appreciating them for the milestone they are.

Sounds Of Spring\’s Return

Musing / April 28, 2023 April 28, 2023 / By admin

Rise up. The lure of spring is apparent. It feels like Mother nature has grasped our hands and is pulling us to our feet.
There are whispers all about…
Get up. Feel your feet solidly under you again, there will be no more sinking in the snow. Breathe outdoor air more than indoor. Turn around and see, have a second, third, fourth look, as many looks as you need. And listen, always listen. Listen deeply enough to hear the grass growing.

This is the northern prairie so no greenery has dared show itself yet although it is about to. And even though they are traveling in the day looking for greenery the sheep still return to bed down in a familiar place nearby and so do the dogs.

There is the barking of guardian dogs, sometimes the Kelpies answer; this dog song is not a whisper. The early morning is a chorus of bird calls and dog barks. Country life is solitude but not quiet.

The guardian dogs are suddenly busy. Metaphorically, they too get pulled to their feet in the spring and are encouraged to have a listen and another look around. And now they hear, and see, and scent the fox, and geese, and coyote, and ground squirrel, and the neighbouring farm dog… The dogs also know how to listen for the sound between the sounds. And after a winter of recharging they have the energy to investigate it and be vocal about it; it is the sound of Spring’s return.

wasp nest on prairie land Reflected light from the sun appears on the horizon by 5 am. With each passing year the arrival of Spring sharpens my awareness of just how short lived this season of growth is on the prairie. Every little thing that lives here is a bit of a miracle.

The White Dog

Artwork / April 9, 2023 April 9, 2023 / By admin

The moment life gets busier than usual keeping up with this blog always takes a back seat. And once a thing lands in the back seat I tend to go a long time before remembering that I stowed something there awhile back.

We are finally seeing the first signs of Spring. My last blog post was back in the February, right in the midst of winter. Several weeks later and the landscape is still under full cover of snow.

Shearing of the sheep took place a couple days ago and since then we’ve been turning the ewes out to feed in the day but bringing them in overnight on account of freezing temperatures. We had a beautiful turnout of people to help out on shearing day even with shearing taking place on Easter weekend. Shearing is our one big work-bee event and I am always amazed and grateful that people come out and help. Our shearing day is much shorter than it used to be on account of fewer sheep, but it is still a pretty hefty day of work and many hands certainly make it a lighter day.

On account of a long winter, April marks the six month of feeding hay to the sheep. I have to wonder about the sensibility of keeping livestock on the northern prairie. Surely winters like this give merit to the idea of community managed livestock herds migrating south for winter, following the grass, and coming back north as it warms up.

I continue to draw, or maybe it’s that drawing continues to compel me to show up for it. Either way is good. Light colored sheep, white dogs, black and white magpies, they are all tough subjects to draw but when facing an empty white page with a stick of black charcoal in my hand, drawing the white guardian dog feels close to impossible every time. I know these dogs well, I live and breathe with them and part of the difficulty is the fear of not being able to do these dogs justice through drawing them.
When a drawing does pan out it feels a bit like the arrival of a season you’ve been long waiting for.