Sheep for beginners

The sheep and I have not got along since we met about a year ago at the saleyards.  It's been a troubled relationship to say the least.  And hopefully, it will end tomorrow morning without too much drama.  And honestly sheep, in this case it really wasn't you, it was me.

I had NO IDEA what we were getting into.  I have grown up surrounded by literally thousands and thousands of sheep and they all look so happy and fat and healthy.  I know they need crutching, drenching, shearing ... too easy.  NOT.  When do you do these things?   I've been driving about peering into paddocks noting what the farmers are doing to their gazillion sheep and inflicting it on our seven.  And what about their horny curly toenails?  I watched a tute on the web about how to pare them back with garden secateurs.  They were crutched with my sewing scissors after the hand shears proved impossible to handle.  Both procedures were effective but the poor sheep.  Each time they saw me approach they shrank into the furthest corner of the paddock.

Which brings me to our main sheep trouble - rounding the flaming things up.  First of all, in my defence, for the entire duration of their stay with us I have either been heavily pregnant or had a baby strapped on in a sling - so I haven't been the most agile jillaroo.  We have also been a bit hampered by lack of sheep dog / ATV and sheep yards.  The Gander very cleverly crafted some makeshift yards out of star pickets and old gates, which work a treat as a holding pen, but lack a race to funnel them in.  And the fiesty ones have been known to jump over the side.  Luckily the flocking instinct is strong and they jumped back in.

All this has resulted in a lot of us chasing them around the paddock, literally in circles.  The Gander seems to know what he's doing, but he tells me I have no affinity for sheep, that I can't think like one, because I'm always moving at the wrong speed in the wrong direction and actually help the sheep evade the yard. 

So, Plan B.  The past 10 days I've been feeding them lupins in the pen.  Apparently lupins, and other grains, are like sweets for sheep and ours certainly love them.  (Who knows how much to give them, or if lupins are good for them.  Two of my million unanswered sheep questions.)  My plan was to wait til they were all in there munching away, sneak up and close the gate behind them.  Two things I didn't anticipate - firstly, they eat the lupins at dawn.  I'm usually up, but in my pyjamas and home alone with the babies.  That hasn't stopped me nipping out in pyjamas and gumboots when it's 1C, but I find that secondly, there are always two keeping sentry while the other scoffs a snack.  The minute they see me they trot out of the pen.

Onto Plan C.  Yesterday we strapped kids into pram and left them outside the paddock.  Then the Gander, a skillful cyclist, lifted his deadly treadly over the fence, planted me by the gate, and with a few sneaky twists and turns herded the sheep into the pen.  I slammed the gate behind them.  Yay! We should have thought of the bike earlier!

Tomorrow they are going to be slaughtered, destined for our deep freeze.  And I'm very sorry to say they aren't in great nick.  While they are generally healthy and have had enough to eat and drink, they could have used a bit more TLC.  And I'm sorry these sheep were our guinea pigs, but I have learnt so much from this experience and expect the next sheep that come to stay with us will be much happier, fatter and relaxed.  I'll keep you posted!

Mother Goose's take home tips for looking after sheep.

• If you don't have a working dog or a motorbike, and suitable experience, buy the sheep young and treat them like pets.  They must be relaxed and happy in your company.  The problem with ours was we only rounded them up every couple of months to flip them upside down and do horrible things to their bottoms or toes.  No wonder they became hysterical when we tried to catch them.

• Get a local to help you develop a calendar of what needs doing when.  When's shearing? Crutching? Drenching?  And then just do it.  Don't wait til you think your sheep looks licey or might have worms.  Too late, the poor things are suffering.

Have you got any other tips?  I'd love to hear them.  As you will have gathered, I need all the help I can get!

Mount Gambier Public Library does it again!

A quick post just to remind you how much I love the library.

We went last Sunday to check out the Trash and Treasure event on the verandah.  Anyone could book a table for $10 and sell their odds and ends.  I found this gorgeous hand painted bowl for 50 cents and a few Playschool DVDs for a couple of dollars.  They're very old episodes - my vintage in fact!  I love seeing Noni, Benita and John again and Miss Gosling doesn't know any better. She has a pavlovian response to the theme song, it sends her straight to the couch, quiet and happy for half an hour.  So, very happy with my little haul.

Inside they had an ocean touch pool.  I'm not sure why, I didn't stop to read the posters, but spent ages bent down with the Goslings watching and touching a little shark, sting ray, lobster and an enormous hermit crab. How cool is that?

On the other side of the library were activities marking Environment Month.  There was craft with recycled materials for kids - Miss Gosling fashioned something out of an old toilet roll, with lots of dots stuck on it.  And there were talks on sustainable housing.  Right up my alley.

And no trip to the library is complete without a few laps through the tunnel, and reading some stories.  It is, after all, a library.
 

Keeping warm

There's nothing more comforting than a cosy fire on a cold winter night.  Ours is going constantly now, so our living area is an ambient 21C twenty four hours a day.  It's lovely sitting in front of the fire feeding the little Master in the small hours of the morning, watching the glowing coals, snuggling together on the sofa.  And it certainly makes it easier to get out of bed on frosty winter mornings.  Little Miss Gosling does a mad dash for the fire, and warms each item of clothing in front of it before putting them on.  The only draw back is fetching wood each day - no easy task in the rain with two little ones.

Miss Gosling helping collect firewood

Clothes swap party

I kept hearing about clothes swap parties - my sister went to one, I read about them in an eco newsletter, then again on a simple living / frugal living website. There must be something in it, I thought, and sent out some invitations.

It was tremendous fun.  People brought along clothes they hadn't worn in ages or had such sentimental value they wanted them to go to a friend rather than the op shop.  We hung them on racks, or folded them in piles, admiring as we went. When everything was organised, we dived in to try things on.  There was such a lot of beautiful clothing - everything from Cue work dresses to royal blue jumpsuits made out of parachute silk (whoever wore that?!  It's gone into Miss G's future dress ups.) 

The afternoon wore on but there were no signs of fatigue.  As we tried things on and built up our piles of treasure the kiddies ran wild outside (there were ten of them under five).  We kept our energy up with coffee, cake and red wine, and when all was done two hours later, we each had bundles of "new" clothes.  It was like shopping for free in your own lounge room.  The funny thing is, afterwards nearly everyone said to me they felt guilty because they had brought such old, ordinary stuff and taken home real gems... just goes to show beauty is in the eye of the beholder.

And one last note - when it was over there were six green bags of unclaimed clothes.  I took them to St Vinnie's that week, so everyone's a winner.