My starting place, goals and purposes for shepherding.
I have been making a lot of progress in several key areas lately. Here are a few things I have been working on I will enjoying continuing to develop through the winter! The crochet pattern for Dotty Spot, 1 of the key characters in Green Grass, Still Waters, is currently being testes by experienced crochet [...]
"When he puts forth all his own, he goes ahead of them, and the sheep follow him because they know his voice. " John 10:4 (NASB)
This was one spring at Restoration Farm in Louisiana a few years ago. When I talk about setting up the electric fences to allow sheep to graze the 2 acre front and back yard of the house, this is what it looked like. I love the little "baby voices "of the new lambs!
This is what our sheep are doing today in the blizzard. You can see Laurie Ellen laying down by the play house, and Truffle (the brown one encrusted with snow) behind her. The rest are sheltering from the high wind by standing behind the playhouse. Good thing they are Icelandics! Not shearing until May. You [...]
This 5 month old, little black Icelandic lamb is named "Lavender". She joined on flock on Restoration Farm, Wyoming just this summer (2017). I love hearing Lavender's loud, persistent greeting every time I go outside! For the time being, our flock is being dry lotted in our back yard. This is to protect them from [...]
Like sheep's wool, our lives (habits, personalities, choices) reflect where we have been. When I sheared Gracie for the first time, (and many more since) I found "souvenirs" in hung in her wool that gave evidence of how she had been living her life, where she had been, and something about her troubles and circumstances. [...]
At long last, our hot, wet Louisiana summer is ending. Our next door neighbors have made hay, which has been our sure signal Fall is on the way for that past 10 years we have lived here. But this Fall 2016 is bringing some big changes with it for Restoration Farm! We have accepted a [...]
"Like people, sheep believe there is safety in numbers. When they lose a sheep-friend they love, they notice and may even show signs of grief. When sheep are isolated, they get lonely and can become depressed."
So there I was, not in the best of physical health myself, with my new sheep, who in her way, kind of mirrored my own situation. Since I didn't know how to hold a sheep properly for real he-man shearing, and probably couldn't have anyway, I did what I was able to do. I sat [...]
My first, real-life experience owning, caring for, and shearing my sheep.
A Sheep-Like Faith 