Bed of Roses in May
- whitehousefarmoast
- 2 minutes ago
- 2 min read
With the warm sunshine of the last day of May on our backs, we visited the sheep yesterday. We leisurely made our way down the hill, carrying a bucket of feed and a song in our hearts. The sheep were staying cool in the shade of the tree by the gate and came up to greet us warmly, asking for little scratches under the chin or rubs along their backs. They all seemed well, not too hot, and there was no limping in sight. I wanted to capture this moment. It felt a bit like when your young children behave perfectly, and you feel inspired to open an orphanage. When it's a perfect day, the life of a shepherd feels like pure joy and blissfully manageable.
The Big Event for our sheep this month was getting their first haircut. Brooke came to help get the sheep in line for James our shearer who did a brilliant job, despite shearing on a slope in the blazing heat. He said our sheep seemed very relaxed, and I take that compliment. One of the many things I am learning from Brooke is you cannot get a sheep to do anything if they are stressed, so mastering the art of keeping calm and carrying on is very much the name of the game.
My little role was rolling the wool. There is a technique. We filled up two huge wool sacks which I delivered to Wool Depot. Apparently wool price is at a10 year high!
Bella, a Lund Fellow with the High Weald, visited us a few weeks ago and shared lots of information on resources to find out more about what to do with our sheep wool, like places to get our sheep wool tested, articles on sheep wool and leather and contacts for small mills and weavers. I am hoping one day to have a Whitehouse Farm Oast blanket on my bed! Lots to learn about wool.
As well as sheep, there has been lots of work in the Polytunnel and a new little enterprise Weald Garden Veg is taking shape. Along with two fellow small scale local farmers within 3 miles of us and our neighbour Colin next door, we are setting up to market our vegetables to local customers. All no dig, seasonal traditional veg naturally produced. We have our first local grocery shop signed up and garden gate sales planned.
It has not all be work, in the early summer evenings I enjoyed bike rides and park runs getting ready for Blenheim Tri next week and leisurely evening swims at Penshurst Place, bowls of home grown strawberries and yummy BBqs.
