Of the three border collies on the farm, Luc is the one who’s discovered the sensual pleasures of the hay loft. This morning when I was throwing down bales for the ewe lambs, he nestled into the old hay in a patch of sunlight at the south end of the barn.
My dream is a cliché, and I’m at peace with it: Boy gets border collie, boy introduces border collie to sheep, border collie likes sheep, boy chucks it all to become a shepherd. The story reached its logical conclusion, ad absurdum, when I moved to a 56-acre hill farm in southwestern New Hampshire this October. In my defense, my longing to live somewhere rural began many years earlier, intensifying when I adopted Musti. I found myself spending every free moment exploring the local parks and forests with him; Boston’s urban playground, whose appeal was already fading, became a barrier rather than a perk. Shortly after Luc joined us, the vague sense of needing to get out of the city sharpened considerably — must…
Tagged: border collies, Dogs, Hollow Oak Farm, livestock guardian dog, maremma, New Hampshire, sheep, winter