Once upon a time, a romantic couple went to Norway on honeymoon, fell in love and never went back......

This may sound like a strange thing to do but, after many years of searching, Norway was the only place we felt we could live our dream of running a small farm. So here we are.

We bought our farm at Svoen just before Christmas 2009, and, after an agonizing wait to make sure nobody else who might have prior claim on the place wanted to take the farm (complicated Norwegian law), we moved in on Norway's national day, 17th May, 2010. And so the work began.

The farm had not been run for almost twenty years, but at least part of the barn was in good enough condition to allow us to buy 25 beautiful spælsau (old Norwegian breed of sheep) in the autumn of 2010. This autumn we plan to keep a number of their ewe lambs to increase our flock. They will, I am sure, feature regularly in this blog.

We feel very privileged to be able to build up this farm again and, despite the hard work, occasional disappointments and battles against the weather, we don't regret our decision for a moment and know that it will all be worth it!

Saturday, September 7, 2013

Sheep

Myrna's lambs
Sheep are not stupid.  Obstinate - yes. Infuriating - often.  But not stupid.  They know how to find their way around the mountains and how to get home again, they know where the best food is and they are accomplished escapologists.

We have spent most of the summer chasing around after a small flock who were particularly insistent that the grass is always greener on the other side, and that the grass at home is certainly greener than the grass up in the mountains...where they should have been!

But I suppose you can't blame them; they are just obeying their sheep instincts.  And this is where
Billie and her three lambs
the key lies.  Just because an animal doesn't do what we want it to, doesn't mean it is stupid.  Our demands are probably the exact opposite of what their instincts are telling them.  Perhaps if we tried to understand their behaviour and communicate in their language, life would be easier for all concerned.
Pretty ram lambs

This seems to be a popular approach with horses, dogs and even cats these days.  "But you're talking about sheep" I hear you say.  It did come as a surprise to me that sheep would follow you for a bucket of nuts and come when you whistled, but it's true.  Many of my sheep love to come for a cuddle and a good scratch under their chests.  They even wiggle their tails and close their eyes with pleasure.  Some of the cheekier ones even tap you with their front leg if they think you aren't giving them enough attention.  All true!

So you see, I get as much pleasure from being with my sheep as I do from being with any other domestic animal.  Well, most of the time.......