2024 September 24
Kona’s torrential rains caused the guinea grass to grow as high as 4 feet this month. So it was time to return the flock above the campus so they could eat it down. However, their current 40-acre jungle pasture is filled with haole “koa,” kiawe, aka mesquite trees, and a woody plant with annoying stickers that will stab you in the legs. When it coats the wool of the sheep, it makes a wooly mat that feels worse than a steel dish scrubber.
In this “koa” jungle it’s easy to stumble over loose lava rocks or get kiawe thorns into your shoe or feet. I detest walking back there and it turned out that the sheep were too far away to hear my voice. Once I located them at the bottom of this hilly jungle, I wanted a shortcut. I let them out the preschool gate to the paved road, hoping they would behave themselves.
On the uphill trek to the Hulalai Village pasture, the sheep ran and skipped like horses let out of their stalls. Even though I have my oldest and tamest sheep in this group, they all got caught up in the excitement and took all the wrong turns. A friend offered to come with me, and he sprinted around them to help me get them in. …to be continued.
