Thursday, May 19, 2016

Some Days are...

Rosa -August 2005- May 2016








Market List - Salad Mix, Endive, Grass fed Lamb, Cilantro, Spearmint and still
Lot and LOTS of Tomato Plants
Caspian Pink, Golden Jubilee
Early Girl, Dr. Wyche's 
Lemon Boy, Pork Chop
Pantano Romanesco, Arkansas Traveler
Japanese Black Trifele, Homestead
Pink Girl - Green Zebra
Gold Nugget-Green Copia
Paul Robeson-Striped German
Purple Carbon-Cherokee Green
Black Plum-Cherokee Purple
Washington Cherry-Violet Jasper
Juliet- Eva Purple Ball
Chocolate Cherry-Rutgers
Mortgage Lifter-Sweet Carneros
Black from Tula-

I know a lot of you were disappointed  because Moscovich was dropped off the list but they just weren't performing.






Some days on the farm are warm and rewarding but others are without seeming too dramatic- heartbreaking. Today we lost our Great Pyrenees Rosa. She was our first Large Guardian dog. This pic was taken the first day we brought her home from Dave Heinkbein's place-remember him? He used to sell lamb at the market. His dog's were never socialized and they never came to the house- they stayed in the field with the sheep and goats 24/7. They were so wild that when Dave caught her to see if she was the female we wanted, Rosa bit him. When he caught her again for us to take home, she bit him again. As soon as I saw her, I knew her name but she was not happy being on Bill's lap. Our vet told us that if we wanted her to be a good sheep dog, we should not handle her. It was good advice but we did not account for the generations of lack of socialization. For years, she followed us around but would not let us touch her. Billy courted her and sang to her, made up a song especially for her. Finally the last 4 years she got to where she would come to us, especially if there was a storm. She was a barometer. Vicki Lander would send me a pic of the radar and I would send her a photo of Rosa already in the greenhouse telling me without a sound that a storm was coming.

In later years she followed us to the lake and waited for us to swim and then would follow us back












All of this being said, she had a way with the sheep. A bark from her would send the sheep flying from anywhere they were, in seconds they would be at the barn awaiting her command. She braved storms, coyotes, blizzards and many dangers of which we were never aware. We never lost a lamb to a predator. I have over the years put many photos of Rosa on the blog with the flock.











A few of you may remember the popular picture that I posted of the snow storm before market a few years ago. Not sure how I got this effect as it is not a video but it sure made a great pic.

Snow on the Pyrenees

All dogs touch us in the soft underbelly. Always there for us without a word but farm dogs are extra special. Maybe this doesn't count as Farm news but it just didn't seem right that it should go unmentioned.
Rosa will surely be missed.

We'll see you Saturday.

God's Blessings on you and yours

TTFN

Sam and Bill minus Rosa



2 comments:

An At Home Daughter said...

She sounded like a really good dog. She lived a long time for a GP. I hear that a lot of them only make it to 7-8 years old. That is an adorable puppy photo of her. Did you ever have any puppies from her?

Kimberly

Sam said...

No, we had her spayed early on. I wish we would have because the one we got last year guards the perimeters but does not care about the sheep.
Thanks for your interesting comments.