Scotland: At Home on the Farm

Farms have always held a very large place in my heart. I'm guessing it's because I was born in rural Vermont in the midst of so many historic family farms. I am drawn to the countryside, the barns, the animals, the kitchens, etc. I suppose I probably wouldn't be able to handle the physical stress of it all, but I like to dream that I would enjoy it.

So, of course, it was an added bonus that the house we rented in Scotland (Melville Lodge) was right next to a working farm! Even better, the farmers were so very friendly to us!

Soon the kids knew these sheep by name: Spike (a Jacob), Clive (a Texel), (a Zwartble), Demetri (a Romanov), Rupert (a Riland Brown), and Golden (a Texel).

I can never resist cows. In fact, I once carried around an antique wooden cow my mom had and pretended it was a doll. I guess there is something to that saying "big brown eyes."

 I think I could be quite happy mucking about the farmyard in wellies and jeans as my daily uniform. Of course, real farmers would just laugh reading this -- real farm work is hard!

 

In Scotland walkers are free to roam anywhere -- isn't that nice? But the farmers were happy for us to explore even without that law. 

One Saturday we were invited to help move the sheep from the lower fields to the barnyard. Best fun ever!

Apparently, this moving procedure can take a whole lot of time. In the end, because there were so many of us, it took longer to explain what we were going to do than to actually do it!

And here they are up in the barnyard!

A happy shepherd in training:

A moment of satisfaction that everything went well!

When the sun shines, this land is just beautiful!

It was pheasant season and we saw them everywhere, including the garden of our rented house!

I think everyone's favorite sheep turned out to be Spike. The farmer brought him over to say goodbye before we left. I couldn't leave the farmer out of the picture!!

Some of the sheep stayed up by the house and were fun to feed by hand:

Oh yes, you can't resist digging your fingers deep into that woolly coat!

Look at their sweet faces:

One day the kids decided to catch chickens:

 Learning something from the farmer:

Feeding the chickens:

I liked this one with his feathery feet!

A fresh egg to take home and eat!

Caught one!

Below the house where we stayed was this large pasture filled with curious sheep:

And one more close up of Spike:

I had to include a few videos to give you not only the sight but also the sounds:

In case you are interested to know more about this farm, you can check out their Facebook Page: Clive The-Tup or their other page Bluestone Rare Breeds.

I've just finished a wonderful book on shepherding in the English Lake District which I highly recommend:

The Shepherd's Life: Modern Dispatches from an Ancient Landscape by James Rebanks is written by a man who is currently living in the Lake District and shepherding flocks of Herdwick sheep (sheep native to that area and the kind that Beatrix Potter raised as well). I love reading about his family history of generation after generation shepherding this land as well as what the day to day struggles and joys are like. (Please be aware that this book does contain a fair amount of language.)

Rebanks title is a throw-back to a book written nearly 100 years ago by an English shepherd:


A Shepherd's Life: Impressions of the South Wiltshire Downs by W. H. Hudson. I've just started this, and it is not as easy reading as Rebanks but no doubt it will be good in its own way. Rebooks said it was such an inspiration to him.

That's all for now about farms and sheep!

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This and That

Today was our last day of school!! It is always a momentous event in my mind to write that "180" at the top of the page in my school planner. Of course I know all too soon I'll be writing "1" above there and starting all over again. In the mean time, I am looking forward to a change from our daily routine.

My mom got back yesterday from a trip to Maine to her cousin's sheep farm. The pictures are just too cute! I have to share a few:

I guess the next best thing to grand babies is sheep babies? It seems like it!! Now I want to hug one myself!!

Each of the new lambs got their own sweet name! Mom had to help with all the feeding, docking, tagging, mouth checks, etc. It sounded like hard work!

But the views were worth it!

This picture reminded me of a book I loved as a child: The Little Lamb

The kids and I are taking a Hiking, Camping, and Backpacking class through 4h. Secretly, I pretend it's our American version of the Arthur Ransome Society. It was rope tying last time:

 I came home from an errand the other day to find the kids had turned the garage into some sort of art workshop. I was so impressed I overlooked the splurge of making and ingesting an entire 1/2 gallon of apple juice.

Since today was our last day of school I decided it was time we made another "seasonal poster" as we have done in years past, thanks to inspiration from my friend, Heather. The kids were SO excited to do this again.

Laura loved participating and colored most of the items in the bottom right corner. Whoa! The poster is so bright this year (I was imagining pastels....). But, I think the poster captures the kids as they are right now and I was very pleased with their complete involvement in the project.

After lunch, those that were willing took a hike in Eagle Creek -- it was a nice, long, two hour hike and we saw lots of nature including a baby water snake, a man hunting morels (nonchalantly carrying one in a clear sandwich bag at his side), lots of woodland wildflowers, downy woodpeckers, cardinals, snails, and several dead snakes.

The pink honeysuckle was my favorite!

The biggest change in our lives is that we are now a two-car family! It's hard to believe! For 15 years we have managed with either no car or one car. But, this has become increasingly difficult in recent years and so we have finally taken the plunge. Red was not our first choice, but with used cars you can't always get what you want. We are thankful to have what we hope will be a reliable car!!! Life is going to seem strange with two cars.

The boys are nearly done with soccer. One more cold Saturday morning for me to face, and maybe one for Michael and then it will be over. Andrew and James love it and they've had a great team to play with.

And now I probably can't ignore my kitchen any longer....happy weekend to you all!

Scotland: Skye Sheep Safari

It's time for the promised sheep safari!!! I've collected a bunch of photos from our drives around the Isle of Skye:

Poor Michael was so very patient with the six photographers who never got tired of photographing sheep. He soon made a habit of slowing down, stopping, hitting the automatic door openers, and letting the children unbuckle to grab their best shot.

Many of the sheep are spray-painted with the owner's colors. It kind of takes away from the romantic picture, but it has a practical purpose.

I was trying to think back to how I became interested in sheep. My first association of sheep comes from a lovely piece of needlework my mom created for my sister, Christina. It included either Christina's name meaning (follower of Christ) or a verse from Psalm 23. But it also included two white sheep done in French knots. I remember watching my mom do the French knots and being fascinated with them. The piece hung in my sister's bedroom for most of her childhood.

Then I remember my dear friend, and former employer, Mrs. Blackwood's obsession with sheep. She too had to get the car stopped for every sheep she passed -- and that was in the days of real film that had to be developed! She had sheep art all over her house.

Then my mom and sisters and I made it to Scotland for the first time and I think we all fell for the sheep.

And my mom started painting sheep and the more she painted them the more we loved them.

Then my aunt started raising sheep and my mom had even more fodder for her paintings.

So somehow we are hooked on sheep.

It appears other people in the world are too.

Don't these sheep have a beautiful life?!!! (At least when the sun shines!)

Here is the littlest safari member:

And do you see the shepherd's crook, just waiting for when the shepherd arrives.

A little height makes for even better pictures!

The sheep are everywhere you drive.....

It turned out that at our Cumbernauld house we were staying on a farm that raised rare breed sheep. One of the highlights was getting to help move the sheep from the pasture to the barnyard (another post!).

Sheep don't mind steep hills! Yikes!

Hard to get over the beauty of the landscape and how much the sheep add to it.

One thing we kept noticing was that most times we stopped to look at the sheep they would suddenly pause to relieve themselves. This boggled my mind and I thought it was odd that sheep needed to relieve themselves so frequently. Thanks to my aunt, we now know that sheep relieve themselves when they feel threatened. Empty bladders make for faster running!

Of course sheep in the road is the most fun of all!

Three little sheep went to market....

Aren't they too cute? And look at that peat bog behind them -- you can just see the long strip where the peat has been cut away for fuel.

Hello Pretties!

There's "our house" in the top right corner of the picture. These sheep were our neighbors.

And in places like Skye, or Scotland in general, these kinds of signs are a necessity!!!

So those are the sheep. But there are still so many things to show you about Skye. Next time I'll take you on the hike that was one of our two favorite memories of the trip.