Day 4: Lac Léman (Sheep herding)

The next morning we had to be packed and checked out and on the bus by 8 am (again!). We were warned that we might get dirty but none of us guessed what our activity would be: sheep herding!

We met this lovely shepherdess named Nathalie and her dog Scotty. Scotty was amazing and so so so enthusiastic. All he wanted to do was watch Nathalie and make her happy. 

So first Nathalie demonstrated how she and Scotty would move a small flock (6 sheep) and then we were split into groups of 4 and we had to guide these sheep through an obstacle course.  

We figured out early on that 3 of us needed to be the sheepdogs to pressure the sheep away from us and one of us would be the shepherdess and lead the sheep. We also figured out early that the shepherdess needed to NOT make eye contact with the sheep. Just turn your back and walk slowly where you want them to follow 

There were 2 flocks and after a few times of working with them, we had to stop and give them a break.  So then we tried using a hand spindle to spin wool into yarn. Our yarn was pretty lumpy, but we did manage to spin a few feet in a short amount of time (5 minutes?). i

Then we had to do the same course, but we weren't allowed to talk to each other at all.  This was the event that we did the best in.

After giving the sheep another break, they took the fence down that separated the 2 fields and we had to work with both flocks on the same ground.  They added a new rule that if one of sheep bolted, you were done. I think we lasted less than 30 seconds for each of our two tries. Or maybe it was for both of them combined.Read more