Our shepherd neighbour and friend, Antonio Lopes needed some help again to herd his precious goats from his farm to another on the slop of the mountain. A group of us gladly agreed!
We got up at dawn and arrived at the farm. First thing was that Antonio made us all shepherding sticks from a black bamboo cane – light and strong.
Jade and Mayan, Eva and Isik, me, Barbara and our amazing volunteer Alex had a super duper morning…
The babies were too small to walk the long journey so they went in the back on our trusty truck, Soraia….
Of course at the start we had to learn quickly how to handle the goats….
And we had a Serra de Estrella shepherd dog with us too – i’ve temporarily forgotten his name – but when I do it will be added here because he was a character!!
And then we were off…
….into the beautiful morning, imitating the professional and having a magic experience.
When Eva got a little tired she took refuge in the back of the van with the baby goats. Both she and Isik had been hosting a creative residency at the Mount of Oaks the precious days, so they had every reason to be tired!
We emerged from the country roads onto quite a main road – the N18 and the adventure really began…
There we were, parading down the main road, slowing traffic on their way to work – but really hardly anyone was annoyed at all surprisingly.
We arrived at the destination where the baby goats and their families will stay for the winter.
And we celebrated by eating melon that Marcia and Eric brought as a snack and congratulated ourselves for the waking early and not loosing any of the precious animals.
Thank you Yoruk for the photo of Antonio – he loves it!