Winter Farming

I used to think of winter farming as a few tomatoes in the greenhouse until Christmas. Today I was introduced to a whole new kind of winter farming which entails getting to the barn and giving the sheep and Beau food and water. Not a difficult task unless there are 18"s of snow on the ground for the entire trek. Fortunately, my daughter Lyndy gave me snow shoes a few years ago. When I finally arrived at the barn, Hildegard came out to greet me as usual and then had that expression of "Oh no, what have I done, and how do I turn around". None of the critters seemed to mind the snow really except for being confined in the barn and a couple of small areas that I shoveled out just outside the doors. I felt sorry for them, especially Beau who likes to come down to the gate and see what we are up to so I shoveled from the barn to the gate. Then I began to worry that if they followed each other, as of course they always do, someone would end up getting pushed into deep snow that they couldn't get out of when one of them decided to turn around. So I made the path wide enough for 2-way traffic plus a big turnaround by the gate. I hate all the "dumb sheep" stories that people feel obliged to tell me when they hear I have sheep. Hearing all the stories makes me think my sheep are going to do something really stupid which they haven't yet. How long before I can put the stories behind me. It took quite a while to shovel but it was a delightful day; not too cold and not windy.

I love being a sheep farmer even with 18"s of snow.