Every time I mention the sheep being shorn at the Open House this weekend, I get a number of messages and e-mail asking me why they are being shorn so close to winter. These are not annoying or intrusive to me, nor are most meant to be critical,  they  are from people who live apart from animals like sheep and are just curious.

I should be honest and say that I rarely answer questions posed to me on  Facebook, mostly because I rarely see them. I want to talk about shearing, but I also want to be forthright and take a moment to explain why I can’t or don’t always answer questions on Facebook, and my theories about social media boundaries.

I have developed some comfortable and clear Facebook boundaries, and they work for me: I don’t ever argue my beliefs on Facebook or Twitter, and I never attack anyone for theirs.I do not answer personal messages from strangers.

I am not seeking unsolicited advice about my life or animals, I do not grieve for my losses on social media, or generally follow the grieving of others.

And I do not have the time to answer questions that I have repeatedly addressed on my blog, or that can be answered by reading the post or with a simple Google search. I know far too many angry and nervous people who have obsessive and addictive issues with social media, I do not care to be one of them. I’d rather spend my time writing, taking photos, loving Maria and the animals.

The most precious commodity of a writer or artist is the space in and around his head, and I work very hard to protect mine so that I can actually write and think. Facebook does not generally support that.

If you want the whole story, you have to read the blog, I’m afraid. I work very hard on the blog, and every day.  I have explained at least a score of times on the blog why we sheer the sheep in October, and I will do it again here. I understand that not everyone can read my blog every day, and I respect that.

But I can’t really do anything about it.

Facebook is important to me, my blog feeds directly onto Facebook.  But I see my writing online as a monologue, not a dialogue, I do not wish to be on Facebook all day, arguing or answering even the perfectly valid questions people have. Somehow, there is this expectation that if we are on Facebook, we are intimate friends with everyone on the earth and are always available to chat and argue,  that no social boundaries exist between us.

That is, to me, invasive and unhealthy.

I’m not sure what being a “friend” on Facebook really means, we are all still figuring that out. But I don’t think it means we are close friends simply because we both have accounts.

Boundaries do exist and should exist.  Psychologists tell people like me that if you pretend you are friends with people you don’t know, the day will come that they will hate you for not being their friend and consider you a liar and a hypocrite.

I am rarely available to chat,  I am busy almost every minute of the day.

I don’t want to spend my time that way, and my friends are people I know and can talk to. That is not to say that my online world is not a community. It is, rich and deep and powerful. I share my life with them, and many send me precious measures I treasure and read carefully. (People send me the most wonderful letters to my post office box, P.O. Box 205,  Cambridge, N.Y., 12816.).

But I don’t want to be online all day, I want to be thinking and writing. The space in my head is my life and work.

I go on Facebook once in the morning, and usually once in the late afternoon or evening, I read the replies if I can and delete the occasional hateful messages of broken people, the haters are like zombies online, they live forever and there are countless millions, they seem to reproduce without love or sex.

I reply to comments when possible and when it is appropriate. I enjoy reading them when I can. Sometimes we have remarkable discussion in the Facebook comments section. It just happens.

But back to the sheep:

Every farmer has his or her own ideas, but generally, sheep need to be shorn at least once a year, some breeds twice a year (their wool grows very fast.) People are understandably concerned about winter, and they should know that it takes sheep about six weeks to grow more than enough wool to stay warm in the winter.

The deep cold comes in January or February, so an animal shorn this weekend will be ready for the winter in late November. Beyond that, our animals have shelter available to them every day of the year, our Pole Barn is built to provide protection from the wind, sun, rain, ice, cold and snow.

Stock animals like sheep are extremely hardy, they are mountain and desert animals, they can withstand extreme heat and cold. Our sheep often sleep out in a snowstorm rather than take shelter, they love fresh air and freedom of movement, they don’t feel much of the cold. The only weather that bothers them are wind and icy rain together, then they come under shelter.

We shear twice a year for several reasons. One, it keeps the sheep bellies and rear open and clean, and also, Maria has the wool spun into yarn and sells it, our sheep’s wool grows fast enough to be shorn twice a year (shearers don’t generally shear sheep that are not ready to be shorn.) The wool is cleaner, the sheep healthier.

I believe there are all sorts of good health reasons to shear sheep twice a year. The area around their butts gets filthy when the wool grows, clogged with urine and feces and manure-laced dirt. The wool around their underbellies can get matted or felted. It is very important, I think, for the sheep to be shorn in advance of summer, for their own comfort and mobility.

By October, most are more than ready to be shorn again (not all.) If they are not shorn, their wool will be a filthy mess over the winter. Some spinners put jackets on the sheep to keep them clean, that has never worked for us. They just take them off.

If any are pregnant (we might have four), it is very important for them to be shorn for health and hygienic reasons.

There is absolutely no discomfort for sheep shorn this time of year, they will have more than enough wool for even extreme cold by Thanksgiving. And if for any reason they are uncomfortable, they have good shelter available to them every day and night of the year. They don’t need all of their wool to be warm, just an inch or two.

I hope this helps understand sheep shearing and my approach to social media.

I appreciate the questions and the opportunity to answer them, I just wanted to explain why I can’t answer them all the time. If you are truly curious about our animals, read the blog. We explain everything we are doing there. And thanks for caring.