Todd Mason put up some split rails around the foundations of the old barn, which is now a feeding area for the donkeys and for Rocky. In wintry weather, the sheep can come out there too. It’s a good use of the foundation, and it is functional as well. We can put a hay feeder right in the middle, the rails will keep Rocky from stumbling over the side and then we can shovel the manure out the other side and down the small rise. In the Spring, a tractor will come and shovel it all out and spread the manure around the pasture for fertilization.

This is my feeling about mourning things, a natural tendency: we give birth to ourselves again and again if we are alive. So do barns. Several people wrote me today suggesting the sheep escape was reminiscent of my early days on Bedlam Farm, and I smiled at these messages. On a farm, this is not a  crisis, not a drama. This is life. I told my neighbor – the sheep ended up on his farm – that I meant to introduce myself in a different way. Oh, Bob laughed, this is how I meet all of my neighbors.