Breakfast is Served | Foxfire Fiber & Designs

I know twelve sets of eyes are watching me when I turn on the light and look out my bedroom window each morning. My cormo guys spend summer and fall grazing the field behind my house at the top of Patten hill. This arrangement maintains a safe distance between the rams and ladies down at the farm. It also saves Mike a lot of time on the rotary mower.

All but two in the group are wethers, which makes them fairly companionable and easy going. We enjoy their company all summer long, just steps from the back door. They keep track of our comings and goings and have become surprisingly accustomed to the presence of our three golden retrievers.

They are giant sweaters on the hoof, with giant appetites to match. By seven o'clock, they get pretty antsy. They stare a little harder at the back door until Mike lugs out a bale of hay and shakes it into the hex feeder.

– which is a sloppy, inefficient way to feed this group. As you can see from Quiznos, on the left, they rip a mouthful of hay, then drop half of it on the ground while chewing.

Since there's not quite enough elbow room at the feeder, we put a few additional flakes in small galvanized bins. There's less pushing this way, but this too wastes quite a bit of hay. Yarrow (above) doesn't appear bothered.

And Fennel, mugging here for the camera, doesn't appear to mind.

In the meantime, Daphne (below) waits somewhat patiently her turn for breakfast.

It's time to move the boys back to the farm before the snow flies. Tomorrow is moving day. They'll catch a ride down the hill in the Kingston trailer and spend the winter in the carriage barn. I will miss seeing them just outside the kitchen door . . . .

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