Sheep Sitter

This morning, at the Wednesday Farmer Market, I was talking to my neighbor who was selling her beef. She was saying how she loved going by and seeing the sheep and lambs and said they looked so happy. I asked her if they needed any sheep that I had too many. A woman, who looked familiar, was listening to us and asked me if I needed a sheep sitter.

I have been thinking about trying to find someone who could come over and keep an eye on the sheep occasionally if we want to go away for a week or so. I thought, here is yet another example of just thinking about something you need and it shows up. As we got to talking it turned out that she wanted the sheep to come to her house. She wanted them to graze so she didn't have to mow. She said she would keep them all summer and give them back to me when the grass stopped growing. Humm, I thought, this could be the answer to a different problem. I told her that I was trying to sell a few but if that didn't work out in a timely fashion I might take her up on it or I could have the ones that I was planning on selling go over there and let prospective buyers see them over there.

She was anxious to get some sheep soon as we have been having alot of rain and everything is so lush. We have lots of grass everywhere except the main pasture where the sheep have over grazed. She gave me her card and that is when I realized who she was. I met her at Karen's last winter when we were making maple syrup. She has chickens and good fencing and organic grass-- she was really trying to sell me on the idea. I told her that real lush grass isn't good for sheep and then she explained she has panels she could use to control grazing. I gave her a card and we agreed to talk soon.

I ran into 3 other friends at the farmers' market and the library before meeting another friend for lunch. I was also introduced to the town arborer, another woman who has animals, and invited to two events this weekend. Wow, alot happens when you go into town.

It was a fun day but when I got home I had to take a short nap and then it rained again so the animals did not get to go out to the lower pasture. I may need to move some sheep to the sheep sitter or do some better fencing soon.

Aside-- With John's help holding, I trimmed 40 hooves yesterday. All that is left is Annie and her two little ones. It just worked out that way and I am glad because- though Annie is over her scours, she and her lambs could use a little extra cleanup.