The Art of Sitting with a dog

livestock guardian dog

Sitting with a dog who is keeping company with his surroundings rather than with us as we so often expect dogs to do. (Why is it that we make every occurrence be about us anyway – particularly where dogs are concerned)? Sitting with a dog who is making his time be about whatever he has going on, rather than making his time be about us.

Leaving them alone to do so; not making demands on them to do otherwise or calls to insist they come over and keep you company or to show you reverence by obeying you.

Not making demands on yourself to be with dogs in a particular fashion arising from the latest training guru.

There you sit in the same time and place, each observing deeply but differently; not needing to be each other’s company but by being there becoming each other’s company, and by doing that connecting to the nature you both live and breath.

Do they know they are my wonder and my world?

Wool artwork, each piece 28″ square

Along the journey of being an artist I have been drawn time and again to neutral tones, to pieces made with the natural colors of wool. I have often questioned what the fascination is and with these two pieces a little nugget fell into place. Working with only three of four shades of natural wool takes me to the moments of lived simplicity. Moments of making no demands on another being, but just sitting in the same time and space with them. In a similar vein working with natural colors of wool makes no demands on the fibre to be other than what it is.

The above artwork is two seperate pieces. I realized upon making this blog post that the photo of both of them together looks like one piece was cut in two. Not the case. Each piece is 28″ square and made entirely from wool. I’ll take proper photos yet and each one will go up for sale but meanwhile they will hang as a headboard above my bed where they will be the guardian of my sleep.

The Art of Sitting with a dog Read More »

Winter Grazing Sheep

January. A new calendar year is upon us. The longest night has passed, the daylight slowly lengthens and, on the prairie, the cold winter continues.

Speaking of grass based sheep in a place where winter reigns for 5 months of the year seems a little ill matched. Thoughts of grass blow out with the first wind swept snow and are replaced with more immediate thoughts of where to shelter and feed the flock. But even though grass is not first in our thoughts during winter the decision to keep the flock out on pasture is made with the prairie land in mind and the natural inclinations of livestock.

When people hear of sheep reared on grass in a cold climate place like the prairie there is curiosity with how well they do with foraging in the snow. I think sheep posses an exceptional will to forage from the land, and if I possessed half as much will as these ewes my life might be in a very different place. If there is morsels of grass where hay is being fed they will forage. Heavy snow, ice crust and bitter cold will stop them, but once these pass, exploration and grazing resumes. The tough part is stopping them if you do not want them to keep picking at the grass.

The ewes grazed on stockpiled forage up until Christmas when we moved them to a pasture that could use more hay residue and natural fertilizer that results in areas of hay feeding. However, the ewes are showing signs that they are not as content on this pasture and it took a couple days before they quit trying to return to the previous bed ground in the evening and use the new one.

Once snow load builds up and serious cold sets in one’s choices about where to feed become limited by the inability to get around out on the pasture. Then you balance what you can get done in extreme conditions with what you want to see happen. In this fashion winter provides a reprieve from obsessing about grass and grazing. I welcome this reprieve. I can shelf the worry and let Mother Nature hold on to it for the winter.

Winter Grazing Sheep Read More »

Gift of Drought

Due to the drought of the past few years, and subsequent selling of animals the flock is one third the size it normally is and thus chores and all that feel pretty light this winter. Allen is also home a bit more regularly right now and the extra pair of hands makes chore time a breeze and provide added assurance during the very cold weather we’re experiencing. With the deep cold and new snowfall the ewes have ceased traveling anywhere to graze and we’re feeding them daily. Dog houses have been moved out for the guardian dogs and walks with the Kelpies are brief.

The smaller size of this flock equals a change to my day to day and also to my future time and income. Whenever I sit on the prairie and ask the question of what to do next ‘do more social media’ does not come to mind. So early in the month I made the decision to leave social media for stretch, a choice that spilled over to being on the computer at all (I did manage to get the December issue of Crooked Fences out the door). I unplugged for a spell and by gosh it felt good. You know the saying, “it’s all in your head” – you realize its truth when you step away from social media. I’m tempted to say the decision to put social media to the side for a spell has something to do with hibernation but that isn’t what this break from social is about. This is almost the opposite.

Felted wool wall tapestry, work in progress. Can you see the dog taking shape?

Hunkering down for the winter is the usual way of it for me and being guilt-free creative is icing on the cake. My sideline hustle is being an artist / photographer, the subjects of these pursuits being the sheep and the dogs. The operative word here though is sideline, so with a bit of extra time in my lap this winter I want to use it wisely, to refocus on being a creative person, to dive in and let the extra time be the gift of drought. I feel certain some good will come of it. A new year is also near and while I am not one to make resolutions I do like to enter a new year doing at least one of the things that I wish to make more prevalent in my life – artwork, photography (and writing) are a few such things.

Gift of Drought Read More »