Sheepish

In my relaxed state at home I pulled out a book my friend lent me, called Sheepish, by Catherine Friend. It's about a woman and her partner, trying to make their sheep farm (as well as their relationship) work. Throughout the novel we learn of the wisdom in shepherding, the struggles of menopause and the beauty of relationships.
Now, this is a perfect opportunity to mention my love of sheep. Like Steph has a love of bears, I have a love of these wooly animals. I had to stop myself multiple times from dropping the book, leaving Minneapolis-St. Paul's airport, and running into the fields to start my own sheep farm, despite the struggles they kept mentioning. The funniest part is that her farm is only 45 minutes away from St. Olaf! Don't worry, a field trip is already in the works. I'm more excited than any normal person should be.

Now, relevance! Friend made some references to the modern farm. I couldn't help but think about our discussions of My Antonia, and even my thoughts on Ethan Frome. Friend never was a huge fan of farming- she mentions how she was more of a backup farmer than an actual participant on the land. That's more of her partner's job, Melissa. Friend writes, and eventually starts spinning the wool her sheep produce. While Friend frequently dreams of abandoning her farm during times of trouble, she realizes towards the end of the novel that she can't leave it. There's too much power in the oxytocin loop (oxytocin is a pleasurable hormone released in animals and humans when they interact- it facilitated the original domestication process), and too much value in owning land. She references the 5 eras of farming; it has evolved from sustenance farming to mass producing animals, but now there's a fifth movement, back towards small farms (yeoman farmers, hm?) and caring for our land and animals. It's as if we've made a loop, rotating away from My Antonia, where land is valued for the wealth it can bring, to now, where we value the land for its inherent worth.