SHEARING DAY

I'm back from the barn after cleaning up a bit after our shearing and tucking everyone in for the night. They all look so much more vulnerable after losing all that fleece, I feel just a bit more of my shepherd self coming out on nights like this. Even Melody, our guard llama, looks more cartoonish than the grand mistress of the pasture she has been. I swear I saw a hint of embarrassment in her eye as she brought her girls back into the barn for the night. Shearing went very smooth and all seemed to really enjoy themselves. As usual, we had more people here to help with the shearing than we had sheep - and I'll always take that as one indication of our success. Most everyone had a job to do including sheep wrangling, hoof trimming, drenching, vaccinations, note taking, gate keepers, skirting, and of course shearing. To make sure the barn was completely full of activity, we had a nice contingent of young people exploring the hay stack. With only a couple of exceptions, the fleece we sacked today was of excellent quality. Some even exceeded our expectations. And after looking at the girls sans fleece, we can safely predict that all but one are pregnant. So our flock will be growing quite nicely.

After a day like this we realize what great friends and neighbors we are blessed with. Many of our shearing help are repeats and I know they would be offended if we failed to invite them to help out each year. What I appreciate the most is their pride in accomplishing the most mundane tasks and, even though they may not have an abundance of experience, their self direction in recognizing a task that needs to be done and figuring out how to do it.

Shearing was completed in time for a late lunch of chili prepared by Jan and, even though we didn't ask for it, jalapeno cornbread, fresh avocado, baked beans, home-made bread, and desserts appeared on the table next to the pot of chili. All to be washed down with smoked porter beer from the Mt. Hood Brewery. A good day, I'd say.

And the best of all - I have a fresh mountain of fleece to wash and process just as I was getting to bottom of the pile from last year. - Jeff