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Two weeks ago Dominique and I pulled the rye-straw mulch off the garlic.  The shoots were pale, spindly and 2 inches tall, now look at these “little soldiers.”  Garlic will grow 4 feet in height and flower in what is called a scape just before harvest in early July.

In the photo, behind the garlic to the left of the nearest silo is a lean-to shed that we call the shepherd’s room; it is also where we dye the yarn.  Further left of that you can see the boys hanging out in a barren area (sheep will eat grass down to dirt) around a round bale of hay.  This year the grass is slow coming on; it has been cool and dry.  But yesterday, after a dry spell of two weeks, it did rain; in a day or two, when the soil temperatures rise, the grass will begin to grow faster than the sheep can eat it and at pasture they’ll be.

On the horizon, you see silos which are next to the barn where the girls are lambing; they are due to finish up Sunday. On Monday or Tuesday, with eager Poem, we’ll slowly drive the ewes and their baby lambs down the hill to the green pasture at the left of the garlic field where they will graze through the summer months. We got through another winter.

Summertime
And the livin' is easy,
Fish are jumpin'
And the cotton is high.
Oh yo' daddy's rich
An' yo' ma is good lookin'
So hush, little baby,
Don't you cry.

George & Ira Gershwin
Porgy and Bess