syrinx

My husband was tired of mowing the lawn. At just over 3 acres, it would take him several hours, and lots of noise and gasoline fumes from the lawn tractor to get it done. We read that sheep make excellent lawn mowers, so we went out and purchased 5 delightful little creatures. Little did we know...

What they didn't mention in any of the articles was that sheep are actually excellent mowers of anything green. Not just grass. Roses are particular favourites. And all my hollyhocks, daisies, cosmos, hostas, bleeding hearts, lily-of-the-valley, hops vines, peonies, purple coneflowers...any and all green plants around the house have been trimmed neatly to the ground.

Except of course for the plants that I don't want. Such as the wild oregano that has taken over part of my front yard, and the mint that has spread over most of my garden beds. Oh no, the sheep won't touch that!!

Unfortunately we have no way to restrict their movement without locking them away in a field that isn't quite large enough to sustain their food requirements.

Oh well! Live and learn. We have decided to use this 'opportunity' to landscape our front yard next year. Now that all the plants are gone, we can see better what we want to do, and we will build in sturdy fencing as part of the new look.

In the meantime, the sheep still wander lose around the property, and they have begun to think that they are dogs. But that's another story.