Maria has never shorn a sheep before, but Rosemary was big and anxious and covered in awful crud, her wool was the worst mess I think I have ever seen on a sheep, especially one with such beautiful wool. Our friend Donna (she works at the local hardware store) and her friend Treasure were working on the sheep when we arrived.
Maria and Treasure took turns with the scissors and the clippers (Maria got a blister or two) and kept at it, as lawyer after layer of filthy wool was cut and trimmed off. When Rosemary tried to get up, Donna just leaned over on her, and sometimes Maria did. The three worked well and patiently together and got Rosemary to the point where we could take her home and she can survive the coming heat.
Maria seems to rise to every challenge life offers her, she will always be able to take care of herself. Those of us from the farm each had a role — I directed Red and was responsible for getting the sheep where we wanted them, Maria worked hard to get Rosemary in shape, Red was…well, Red.
When I saw Treasure, I said “I have to take your portrait,” and she said, “sure.” Another strong woman. No shyness, hesitation, worry about her hair, she is who she is. The animal rescue world is complex, wonderful and sometimes disturbing. But it draws people with big hearts, and you can see Treasure’s heart all over her face.
She spent the day with an aching back, coughing through her allergies and asthma (she smokes non-stop) and resisting any suggestion that she take better care of herself. She talks almost non-stop lecturing the people around her on animals, their care and how machinery works. She was dazzled by Red and wants me to give her some sheep herding lessons.
I told her she first needed to get hold of a herding dog and that slowed her down, for just a minute. Happy to introduce Treasure – her name got my attention for sure – I hope you will see a lot of her here.
I meet a remarkable woman named Treasure Wilkinson this week, she comes from Providence, as I do (she comes from the toughest side). She is an animal lover and rescuer who moved to the country near me a year ago and is staying, she says, for good.
She was instrumental in our rescue of Izzy and Rosemary this week, she is tough and nails and quite fiercely individualistic. She smokes continuously, while coughing and remarking on her asthma. She loves to drink Gatorade and share it with her goats. She is tough as nails, talks endlessly, has a heart as big as a tractor-trailer and a body as durable.
She was knocked out by Red, we have agreed to come back and help with the shearing of the other sheep. Maria and I don’t plan to take any more.
Treasure and I became friends right away, we just clicked, my camera absolutely loves her face and bearing, I signed her up right away for my Portrait Show, she was happy to join. We are already in the hugging stage, she is the real deal, they don’t get much more real.
This morning, she was wrestling with big and rebellious sheep, ordering goats around, carefully shearing Rosemary, holding her down, she pulled up her pants leg to show me all of the bruises she has collected working with needy sheep all week. She loves animals, and is a proud animal rescuer.
I am proud to have her as a friend, and very excited to be taking her photograph as often as she will let me. One of the many things I love about the country is the idiosyncratic people it attracts. I plan for you to see a lot of Treasure, from her name to her personality, she is unique and compelling.
I got the first installment of her story this week, I plan to get the rest. If the curator permits, she might be the only one in my show to get three portraits.
Rosemary is perhaps the most beautiful sheep I have ever had on my farm. Underneath all the dirt and feces, her wool was white and silken and beautiful. Maria and her community of fiber-lovers will be very happy when this wool is spun into yarn. She has a strong and regal bearing, it turns out.
Her head is held high, her chest forward, she walks with great pride. Even in her slightly messed up condition, she is a beautiful creature. She walked right up to Chloe and the two became fast friends, she is looking for her flock, calling out, scanning the horizon. By Thursday or Friday, she will have settled.
It is rare to come across a sheep as beautiful as this one, rarer to be given one. We paid for it only in blood and sweat, she was worth it, and it is gratifying to take her in, she was in danger of going to slaughter. We have a good home for her and good work for her to do, and she Red seemed to have made peace.
She does what he tells her to do. She has already chased poor Fate away several times. She is a meaningful addition to the farm, we will take good care of her, enjoy her and bring her quite exceptional wool to the world. This is why were are here in many ways.
Maria, Red and I went to the small village of Shushan this morning to rescue Rosemary – a beautiful white Romney – and bring her home to the farm to join Izzy, another Romney. The owner of the two ewes lost her home and our friends Donna and Treasure took them and two other sheep in and have been looking for homes for them.
Rosemary was well fed but her wool was in dreadful condition, about 30 pounds of feces and mud were hanging off of her, totally obscuring her very beautiful wool. When we arrived Treasure and Donna had begun sharing Rosemary – we named her after a good friend – themselves. Maria joined in to help.
First, Red had to round up Rosemary and the other Romneys, all big and powerful sheep who had never been herded before. Red was heroic, he and I went out into the field and began a 45-minute struggle. Red was butted, kicked, run over before he finally nipped one of his tormentors on the nose and ended the rebellion.
He was steady, brave, appropriate and unrelenting. He never wavered, yelped or backed off, even as Maria worried we should call off his herding. The sheep ran back and forth to their barn, their safe spot and Red dug them out again and again and drove them up to the top of the hill, where a small white fence had been set up.
Donna, Maria and Treasure and a helper got a rope on Rosemary and we all wrestled her to the ground and lay on her while Treasure and Maria each took different ends and began hand-shearing, a strenuous and very physical process. We couldn’t get a shearer in time, and the Donna couldn’t bear to send her off with feces-swollen wool hanging off her body.
Maria, who had never sheared a sheep before, jumped right in, holding the exhausted ewe down and using scissors and an electric shear to trim off the tool – it had probably been a couple of years since she had been shorn. Every now and then she struggled to get up and it was a wrestling match, with Red dodging goats and other worried Romneys. I’ve never been prouder of Red or seen him do more impressive work, and we could never have gotten hold of Rosemary and sheared her without him. Got to get him a sirloin burger.
I came up with a good plan for Red – pressure the sheep, turn the ram around and get them moving up the hill. Some false starts, some changes in direction, but Red came close, he drew a bit of blood once, on the ram’s nose after he ran over Red. No more serious resistance. He was restrained and efficient.
Sometimes I take for granted just what an amazing working dog he is. I am equally impressed with my wife, who just seems to grow stronger and more confident and adventurous by the hour. We are a good team, all of us. It feels good to have gotten Rosemary cleaned up a bit and her, we took some awful stuff off of her, I’m not sure how she was able to get around or eliminate.
When we were done shearing, we all lifted and pushed Rosemary into Donna’s Subaru and got her to the farm, where she is getting acclimated to our flock. A grueling but exhilarating experience for us – her too – and we will get her shorn again in October, along with the others. We’ll check her tomorrow, I think she’s okay for now.
We are glad she is here, and Izzy two. Both are gorgeous and very grounded ewes with amazing wool for Maria to get spin. Heaving a bit of a beefier flock will be good for Red. Rosemary was quick to ignore Fate and keep a close eye on Red. I was sorry to see a sheep in that condition, we are grateful to Donna and Treasure for saving her and getting her to us.
