A rare thing – a quiet day on the farm. No visitors, no mail, no crises. Sean and Briar and Avery stopped by to feed the donkeys, and that was nice. It began as a cold and rainy day, then turned into a warm and sunny one. Yesterday, Rose and I took the sheep across the street for a month. We are rotational grazing. The donkeys, guard animals, are always a bit confused when the sheep leave. They don’t seem to quite know what to do. This afternoon, I wrote and then took four dogs – Anthony’s Lab Mo, a great ride-a-long dog is visiting today and the three border collies – into the meadow. I have never herded sheep with four dogs before. Mo, being a Lab, ran up and licked No. 57 and the sheep stared him curiously, perhaps preferring his approach to that of Rose, who nipped No. 78 in the butt to get the group moving. Emma, terrified of sheep, actually walked nearby, keeping her disance. Izzy and Rose split around the flock and moved them to the far side of the meadow.

Then I went back to work. This evening, I will get into the Kubota – Van Morrison playing – and try and finish clearing the manure out of the cow pasture. This will be a milestone in my year.