Living with lambs

So I was standing in the kitchen yesterday, doing dishes, when I heard the familiar sound of bleating from behind me. I smiled to myself, thinking how nice it was that my hand-reared pet lambs were so tame that they came right up to the house and would play with the children. So then I turned around to watch my friendly little lambs in the garden, only to realize that the bleating was not coming from my garden but from the lounge room! My oh so tame lamb had just walked straight into the house and was bleating at me from the middle of the room, with his muddy little hoofs planted on my nice new carpet!

That was when it suddenly dawned on me just how much my life has changed over the last year. I mean, think about it, a lamb in the lounge room?! Sure I have had sheep before, and they drove me insane, getting out of the yard and eating the neighbours roses. That was in the days when I had neighbours that were within walking distance. But I can't say, I ever really saw myself as an animal person. In fact all my previous attempts at having pets have been a complete failure! The beagle that spent more time in the pound then in my backyard; the chickens that my children confused for ducks and took for a swim; the countless hens that were eaten by foxes; and then of course the runaway sheep that are possibly still wandering the Warburton Highway.

This was all before my farm days! In actual fact, apart from growing a few gourmet vegetables and attempting to keep some pets alive, the idea of a country lifestyle was a far off dream for our family. Until about 9 months ago.. when we suddenly found ourselves in a little red house surrounded by paddocks, 40km from the nearest sign of civilization.

And now! The girl who has always claimed not to be a pet person, is now surrounded by 8 chooks, 7 (very tame) lambs, 3 pekin chickens and a sheepdog. But it is much more then our little herd of animals that has transformed my lifestyle, it is:

Waking up in the morning and seeing the sun shine over fields of yellow canola,
Picnicking in the paddock with my family,
Watching my son driving around in the 'tractor' with daddy,
Driving one and a half hours just to do my grocery shopping (and dodging kangaroos on the way),
Mail that only comes twice a week (if it comes),
Going to sleep to the sound of hundreds of bleating sheep,
Trudging through the sheep yard with my 'girly little princesses' in their bright pink gumboots,
And discovering beautiful new friends to share this good old country life with us.

So here I am, living in remoteness,.. and loving it! Even if the occasional sheep does roam into my house!