Choices... and Consequences

As Christmas 2019 has approached, I've been doing some thinking about the life our family has chosen to lead. As anyone who reads this blog knows, we've chosen to raise sheep. We've chosen to live in a semi-rural part of the Sierra foothills. We've chosen to spend our middle-class income on keeping chickens, feeding horses and mules, and raising sheep dogs (rather than taking long vacations, driving new cars and trucks, and manicuring our front yard). Not that there is anything wrong with any of these choices - our choices happen to be right for us. But with these choices come consequences. We rarely take long vacations, for example, because we raise livestock. But during the lead up to Christmas, I especially recognize - and enjoy - the consequences of the choices we've made.

Our approach to raising sheep has always been to take the sheep to the forage rather than to take forage (hay) to the sheep. Depending on the year, this can sometimes be a fair amount of work in late fall and early winter. Even with the above normal rainfall we've enjoyed this month, the dry autumn means we have less green grass than normal at Christmastime. Pastures that in a normal December would take our sheep four or five days to finish are taking three. This may seem like a minor difference, but it means we're moving the flock more often. As we do every year, we try to set up enough fence so that we don't need to move sheep on Christmas; all we need to do is feed livestock guardian dogs. This year, that meant I spent the better part of December 23rd taking down and re-setting electro-net fencing to give the ewes 4 acres of fresh grass. And since the grass is short, it also means we'll spend a good part of December 26th moving them again. Tomorrow, after we exchange gifts and enjoy homemade cinnamon rolls for breakfast, the girls and I will drive out to the sheep (about six miles away) and feed the guard dogs. We'll take them some treats, and we'll probably also take some hay to the ewes (not out of necessity, but as a way to say "thank you" to them, as well).

Another choice we've made is to participate directly in heating our home. Rather than rely on Pacific Gas & Electric and a thermostat, we use our woodstove to keep our house warm. Consequently, we cut three to four cords of firewood each year, filling our woodshed. Once or twice a week, we bring a cart-load of wood up to the wood box at the house. Yesterday, we made sure the wood box was full - we're set until a few days after Christmas. As long as we keep the fire going, the house will be warm!

These choices involve work, and I'll admit that there are times throughout the course of every year that this work makes me tired. Building sheep fence in the rain after a long week at work is not always my idea of a relaxing weekend. Filling the wood box after dark when we get home from a meeting is not my first choice for unwinding after a long day. But Christmas helps me remember to slow down and enjoy the work that comes from the choices we've made as a family. In our culture, I think, work is often viewed as a means to an end - to earning the money that will pay for that vacation or new car. As I think about the choices we've made, I realize that perhaps the most important consequence for me is learning to enjoy the work itself.

Merry Christmas!