It’s #wovember on my Instagram feed, and all the shepherds and knitters I follow (my aspirational endeavors) have been posting inspiring stories of what they do and make every day of the year.  At this novice stage of my shepherding life, my stories are limited to three things: enjoying my farm animals, coping with their needs, learning from my mistakes.  Coping and learning take up most of my time, and make for rather boring stories.

For example:I left the business of deep bedding until yesterday, when it was frigid and icy outside.  Mucking out the stalls took all day, with many interruptions from Bowie and the flock, who decided to make a game of my comings and goings with a wheelbarrow full of barn slop.  The compost pile is on the side of the barn that faces our little village, and with all the leaves off the trees I was conscious of being in full view of those who cared to look up the hill and watch the antics…and laugh.  But, I guess that’s part of #wovember, too.

Summer and Fall have flown by, and I have yet to skirt the lovely fleeces gifted by my flock.  The farmhouse has been torn apart for months now with construction, and then my step father passed away, necessitating a long trip to London to help my mother transition into a new stage in life.  The saying goes that weddings and funerals bring out the best and the worst in a family – and I saw a good deal more of the latter than the former, I’m sorry to say.  It’s taken me a month just to sort out my thoughts and feelings about all the events, just as Old Man Winter arrived this past Thursday, with a dusting of snow and frigid temperatures.

Our farm on a hill (a rather steep hill at that) will make winter a challenge, but I mean to continue to cope and learn.  Construction wraps up next week, and I hope to get to those fleeces the week after, and perhaps to salvaging what three-month-old Bowie left of the knitting I’d started in June.

#wovember might have to wait until December for me.