Day 352: Now we have come to the part of the Fair I'm always afraid I'll miss. They brought the sheep in today! I am not sure of the technicalities, but sheep cannot be on the grounds at the same time as some other species of farm animal due to the possibility of communicable disease. For that reason, sheep are among the last critters to be exhibited. The dates they are to be shown are often difficult to locate in the Fair schedule, and it was just by chance that I happened to be working in the Park booth at the same time. I was overjoyed when I saw them in their pens after my shift.
Y'see, I used to have sheep. Oh, it wasn't much of a flock...six at peak...but running Romney-Suffolk and/or Romney/Corriedale crosses meant that I got both wool and meat. Since I like mutton stew and mutton-burger, I usually kept any given animal through two shearings before sending them off to the butcher. I sold cleaned fleeces to a couple of shops catering to hand-spinners and also to Pendleton Woolen Mills in Oregon. I kept the sheep in "sheep coats" throughout the year, so their wool was always in prime condition.
Quite honestly, I miss the woollies, but there are too many predators here and no shearers willing to travel the distance for just a few sheep. Time has made me forget the cold, rainy nights in the sheep shed during lambing season, and the occasional unfortunate engagement between a porcupine and a curious ewe. I only remember the sweet smell of lanolin and capering in the yard with lambs who followed me around like puppies. Ah, those were the days! But now I buy spinning wool by the batt and lamb-burger from the grocer, and only dream of having my own little sheep station when I walk through the stalls at the Fair.
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