A Friday ritual.
A single photo – no words – capturing a single moment from the week
A simple, special extraordinary moment.
A moment to pause, savor and remember.
Participating with the SouleMama blog.
{this moment}
Tag: maremma
Muffy and Bella
Muffy has become quite the dog lover, and would honestly much rather spend time with them than the barn cats. Bella really seems to enjoy her visits, and is fascinated with her purring. They sure provide a lot of morning chore entertainment.
{this moment}
A Friday ritual.
A single photo – no words – capturing a single moment from the week.
A simple, special extraordinary moment.
A moment to pause, savor and remember.
Participating with the SouleMama blog.
It is Bella’s Day
Happy Birthday, Belladonna!
(Maremma – Pastore Abruzzese Maremmano – sheepdog)
Tending the Flock
Over the weekend, we brought the ewes and lambs from the paddock near the knoll back to the barn for CD+T vaccinations and FAMACHA checks. We brought them through a moving lane on the outside of the perimiter fence as that was the easiest and shortest route. We had one lamb escapee, but it ran alongside and found its way back in before we got everyone in to the barn. All the lambs had full bellies, and they and the ewes were ‘all present and accounted for’. We only had to treat one lamb (which may have been stress from getting its head stuck in a wire panel) and one ewe; praying that the rest of the summer goes as well!
When we finished, we made the return trip back to the knoll paddock where we had oats and corn waiting in the feeders and vinegar in the watering trough. By the way, we bought our first shepherd’s crook this spring, and we honestly don’t know how we ever got along without it. We bought a fiberglass one since it would be lighter; such a great investment!
We also moved Belladonna to the large adjoining paddock. She is very excited and happy to be right next to her charges, and she has a very large space to patrol. There are squirrels to tree, and all kinds of new things to explore.
Samson continues to guard the barn paddock where we hope to encourage Mr. Foxey Loxey to develop new stalking grounds. He is also guarding the yearlings and the triplets but more about that tomorrow.
{this moment}
{this moment}
A Friday ritual.
A single photo – no words – capturing a single moment from the week.
A simple, special extraordinary moment.
A moment to pause, savor and remember.
Participating with the SouleMama blog.
A Peek at Belladonna
Belladonna Bonding
As she nears 6 1/2 months old, Belladonna’s training continues and bonding with the flock grows. She still has a little too much unrestrained enthusiasm to be left with the ewes unsupervised, so weather permitting she spends much of the day in the corral. There, woven wire fence allows her to interact with the ewes but does not allow her to cause them any anxiety. She patrols her perimeter, barking loudly at any perceived threat. She also enjoys bringing her chew toys over to show her buddies. We divide a couple bales of hay and feed them leaning up against the fence to force encourage the ewes to spend most of their time near Bella. For her part, Bella has developed her very own method of gaining sheep trust by pulling through and chewing on the odd bit of hay; thus establishing her spot in the flock.
Winter Colours Week – White
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| White Maremma Puppy – Belladonna – guard dog in training |
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| White Wether – Jack – Romney Cross |
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| White Church – Mt. Olivet built by our community in 1900 named by our Great-Great Grandmother, Amy |
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| White Komodor – Samson – Guard Dog – The Big Guy |
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| White Washed Wool – Dreaming of All the Possibilities |
Well, it’s Tuesday of the Poppytalk Winter Colour Week, and we are adding our farm girl whites to the Flickr Pool. Take a look. There are some really great pictures over there.
{this moment}
{this moment}
A Friday ritual.
A single photo – no words – capturing a single moment from the week.
A simple, special extraordinary moment.
A moment to pause, savor and remember.
Participating with the SouleMama blog.