Musing

Pastoral Tasks

Moving the flock is one of those tasks that has me feeling slightly annoyed knowing I have to do it but as soon as the Kelpies and I are underway, feeling glad that I get too. There is a feeling of assurance and rightness in doing one of the oldest pastoral tasks there is. The smooth flock moves are golden of course. Yet even the rough flock moves where things go awry leave their pastoral stamp upon the soul.

Last night’s plan was to night pen the ewes and release them to a new pasture in the morning. It wasn’t a long move but what I didn’t take into account was how frisky the ewes were feeling on account of cooler weather after several days of intense heat. I let my assumption of an easy move with a flock I know blind me to the real mood of the ewes. The move was soured when we lost our sheep. My frustration got the better of me and I wrongfully chastised the stock dog who was helping me. He had no clue what his misstep had been – he hadn’t made one at that point.

In the grand scheme of things a move gone awry is trivial. We always get the flock where needed and we all still show up for work the next day. In hindsight, the injury lies in knowing that I let wee frustrations interfere with the pastoral nature of the task in front of me. Letting haste and frustration steal those moments feels like wasting a vital and precious piece of my own nature. Wasting those moments feels like disregard for the very thing I am searching for in raising sheep in this manner.

wool sheep with cowbirds

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Whispering Sweet Nothings

Have you ever noticed there are occasional days that are full of sweet nothings. They are some of the best days and I’m having one today. These days are not lazy ones as you would expect. They never start out with a plan or a to-do list either. Instead these sweet nothing days unfold with steady tasks that are received with grace and conducted with assurance.  You move through the day heeding the nudge that says do-this-next, and so you do. And the sweet nothing feeling arises from the flow from task to task with no urgency behind any of it.  And when you decide it’s finally time to look up you are immensely pleased with what has been accomplished even though none of it may matter tomorrow.

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Simple Flock Moves

[vc_row][vc_column][vc_column_text]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.[/vc_column_text][vc_single_image image=”3150″ img_size=”large” alignment=”center”][vc_column_text]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.[/vc_column_text][/vc_column][/vc_row][vc_row][vc_column][vc_single_image image=”3147″ img_size=”large” alignment=”center”][/vc_column][/vc_row]

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