photo of two sheep in our goat barn

Like it or not, the island place compound involves a lot of mowing. The Hired Hand has been helping out, but the mower is still noisy, burns fossil fuels, and adds greenhouse gasses to the atmosphere. I don’t think electric robot mowers are quite up to the task yet.

HA is confident that sheep will be able to help without being noisy or contributing to climate change. We got two hair sheep (no wool, so they don’t need to be sheared) from a neighbor. They’re now hanging out, apparently comfortably, in the half of the old goat barn that isn’t going to form the new hen house. I know nothing about shepherding, but it looks like I’m about to learn, starting with teaching the (as yet unnamed) sheep and Luna the Big Dog™ how to get along.

Retirement is full of surprises.

—2p

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