March has certainly come in like a lion. The winds have howled for days. I almost feel the need to wear a hard hat while doing chores under the trees. Today was no different and the winds have blown ferociously all day. As I was warming milk for the lunch time feeding of the babies, I noticed the sheep pasture seemed very empty. Yes, it was definitely empty. I finished filling bottles and went to investigate. A very large pine tree had blown down sometime in the last couple of hours and of course the sheep had all discovered it immediately.
And so like a good shepherdess, I went in search of my missing flock. Upon escaping they had split in two different directions. Half was grazing peacefully in my neighbors meadow and the others had headed toward the reservoir. The ones at my neighbors were the most important to retrieve first lest they find their way to his grape vines or prized bushes. Now normally my sheep are pretty well behaved and when I yell "sheep, sheep" they come running. Today I got blank stares. Maybe the wind was drowning my voice. I yelled louder. No response. And so the now mad shepherdess, climbed back over the fence and went for a bucket of grain. Even that was not as enticing as I had hoped but finally one good girl started following me which led to the others coming along. Around the fence line we went to the opening where they had escaped. The second group saw us and came running, thank goodness. Finally all the sheep were back in the pasture and all that was left to find was one rogue goat.
The sheep were glad to be home after their long journey and in need of provisions, food and water and must have been tired because soon after, were all resting.
The goat made her way home on her own and I blocked the lower pasture until we can get the tree cut up and the fence repaired.
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