Fresh Straw

When fresh straw is strewn across sheep pens, lambs and ewes dance in the crisp stems. Good-quality second-cutting hay looks even greener against the gold bedding.

I cleaned pens and moved sheep around on Friday afternoon, listening to an episode of the podcast “Sheep Stuff Ewe Should Know” as I forked old bedding into the wheelbarrow.

By the end of the day, my hands were stiff. At home, I massaged the sore joints with special lotion made by neighboring shepherds, soaking in the fragrance of calendula, cocoa butter, and various seeds and oils.

Thanks for Reading!

And I hope you feel refreshed and rejuvenated for the week ahead with this moment preserved in picture and prose. Consider:

• What makes you feel refreshed, and how can you do that this week?

Share your answer and this newsletter with a friend.

If Sylvan Sundays was forwarded to you, welcome! Subscribe to receive this newsletter each week by clicking the button below.

This Week on the Farm

The surprise lambs are five weeks old now, and they’re eating creep feed in a pen that only they can enter (that’s where the sideways gate on the right side of the picture comes in). We’re still waiting for our next batch of lambs.