Fencing party...

We have two acres of meadow surrounding our home. When we first moved here 8 years ago we hired a man who put up a fence that gave our dogs a nice big area of lawn to play on. Then three years ago I started buying a couple of spring lambs to raise for "freezer camp." They helped mow the lawn and were fun to have around, (and later? delicious!) This year I went from two lambs to 5, knowing we would need more space for them to convert sunlight to protein!

So yesterday, on a fine spring Maine morning, our driveway filled with cars. Sister Deb and her husband John came from Massachusetts, neighboring friends Scott and Marion were here with their magical tractor, and niece Emily and her husband Jeff came from Portland, (bringing their very cute new dog!) too. John and Chris put up 70 or so "T" posts, then Scott and the rest of the crew pulled the very heavy "field fence" and attached it firmly to the posts. Later in the day Marion climbed on the tractor, (I hopped a ride for part of the time, whee!) and bush hogged some of the meadow to encourage new growth for the lambs to enjoy once they nibble down the existing tall stuff. (The night before Scott used the bush hog on the tractor to annihilate an ugly wall of Sumac bushes and clear up our property line on one side. It was an awesome sight!)

Deb and I did a lot of cooking... quiche for lunch, roast lamb and roast chicken (both home raised last year) and a big ol' bowl of sweet potato salad for supper. There was pie and ice cream and snacky stuff, too, and lots of cold drinks for the people fencing in the sun.
In this picture Chris and Jeff are fastening fence to the sturdy "T" post. They were almost at the end here, sunburned, tired and bug bitten.
When the last fence clamp was crimped we opened up a spot in the old yard fence and showed the lambs where the tall grass was. Tired from his day-long efforts, John rested on the yard fence and we all smiled to see the lambs explore the vast new territory! They waded in and commenced to eat. And eat. And more with the eating. The grass is so high they can't see each other if they get separated so there has been a lot of "baa-ing."

The fence came out beautifully and it makes me extremely happy to look out and see my properly fenced from corner post to corner post. I can hardly wait until the chickens and ducks realize they have so much space to roam!

That new fence represents space and security for my dogs and livestock, but it also represents how very fortunate we are to have friends and family who will give up their precious spare time to help us complete a daunting project. It is a blessing on so many levels.