19 Jul '07 12:45 pm A Spring morning.It is really winter,but the first signs of Spring are around,with snowdrops,jonquils,and lambs. I took this photo this morning.Sorry it is a bit dark.It is looking over the fence into our neighbours.Each ewe has twins.The little lambs are fun to watch as they all go round together,then have a sort-out to find the right mother,for a drink of milk.
Dixie.
PS click on the photo to get a bigger,clearer pic
Mark
Home gardener & plant fetishist
Berkeley, California, USA
Lambs are too cute to be so tasty.
19 Jul '07 4:56 pm I may just have to take them off the menu until I can get that image of them out of my mind. How nice for you to be around other animals like that.
Jack Holloway
Passionate Gardener
SEQUOIA FARM Haenertsburg South Africa
Lovely!
23 Jul '07 5:20 am What a delightful picture, Dixie, drawing one ever deeper into the countryside and the atmosphere of the moment...
How pleased I am that unlike Mark I know they are Merinos, destined to produce wool, and that the lamb we eat is flown in from Mars where it is created in a factory.
Dixie
garden enthusiast
Waikato-New Zealand
Romneys
23 Jul '07 6:46 am Romneys,actually,Jack.Just think of them having an idyllic life in the Spring sunshine and green grass until they join the mint sauce at Xmas.What some farmers do when it comes to the crunch time is to swap lambs.These are the main North island breed.The Merinos are South island sheep-the wool Merinos produce is superb,and is made into light weight high fashion garments.Also used in AirNZ flight uniforms.
Jack Holloway
Passionate Gardener
SEQUOIA FARM Haenertsburg South Africa
Romantic?
23 Jul '07 7:25 am And I thought you were a romantic, Dixie!
Actually I've never had a problem with the incongruity - I love venison, I hate hunting. So what!
Mark
Home gardener & plant fetishist
Berkeley, California, USA
Spoken like the salt of the earth I thought you to be Dixie!
24 Jul '07 7:44 am Jack, you are a bit of a romantic I think and very sensitive to others. (No insults intended.) I tend to tip toe around other's feelings myself, though I am an unrepentant omnivore who prizes meat highly. I think I would have a hard time whacking a lamb for dinner but I'm a mean man in the kitchen once someone else has done it. That the farmers would trade lambs before slaughter make me feel less of a wimp.
My best friend in school used to argue that if God hadn't intended us to eat animals, he wouldn't have made them out of meat. The way I look at it, if I'm going to eat something has to die whether that entails ripping a potatoe out of the earth, the leaves off a lettuce or a package of lamb wrapped in plastic out of the butcher's refrigerator.
