The Sheep Are Here
Decatur Metro | September 25, 2013
We received a couple pics of the newly arrived sheep laying waste to hops and kudzu at Decatur Cemetery. It’s a sight you don’t see everyday, even in Decatur!
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That is awesome!
Looks like baaaaaad news for unwanted foliage.
Sorry…
How long will they be here for? I definitely want to go!
This makes me happy. If this does not make you happy, you are probably happiness intolerant.
This makes me happy, but being happiness-intolerant, it also makes me break out in hives, which tempers my happiness. I am currently injecting small doses of happiness periodically in order to build up a tolerance of happiness.
When you think about it, happiness is like snake venom in so many ways.
Same here, Lump. Not sure why, but a flock (herd? gaggle? congregation?) of sheep does bring on a smile.
Note also the presence of sheepdogs on the job in the first pic.
Looks like a well-organized effort.
In addition to chomping away at unwanted foliage, the sheep will also supply the wool desperately needed to knit sweaters for the city’s feral cat population.
Anybody know how long they’ll be there, and what rules there are regarding seeing them and the like? My kids would love to take a look, I imagine.
Original plan stated 7 to 10 days. They were delivered Monday or Tuesday.
Thanks!
You should take your kid and go take a look! It’s as easy as a stroll through the cemetery, just don’t touch the electric fence. We went today and it really is a nice scene. We will go back again on a prettier day. I happened to be there yesterday when a city representative and a Trees Atlanta rep were there. I raised some of the concerns people have shared here and elsewhere and was very satisfied with their answers. I think it is a win-win. And by the time this thread is through, the sheep will be, too.
What fun! I have used a smaller herd of these sheep at one of my job sites. My daughter loved visiting the site and it was particularly fun to watch the herds departure. The sheep were rather skittish and the sheep dog was very professional. No visits to the fence for pats on the head; he had work to do. We’re definitely going to stop by soon.
Yes. If anyone knows if they are still around, please let us know. I think my 5 yr old son (and his Aussie Shepherd) might enjoy seeing this, too.
Hops as in hoppy beer hops?
Good thing we don’t live close to the cemetery. Our border collie mix would go nuts trying to help herd those sheep.
From the Decatur Minute…
“For those of you wondering when the sheep in Decatur Cemetery will arrive, good news: the sheep are here! They should be at the cemetery for the next 7 – 10 days, depending on how quickly they eat. (The rule of thumb is 100 sheep can clear one acre in one week.) The community is welcome to come see the sheep and their guardian dogs anytime the Cemetery is open.”
Just have to comment that, yesterday when I first read DM’s headline about sheep coming to the cemetery, I thought “must be one of his periodic fantasies” huh… but crazily enough, it’s fact! Wish I were there to see them. Chomp away! (The guardian dogs I have seen here in Vermont are Maremmas.)
That’ll do, sheep. That’ll do.
yep, looks like date night
I laughed far harder at this than I should’ve.
My first response to seeing the sheep Tuesday evening was “Holy Sheep! That was quick.”
Someone has asked, who could be against this. I can tolerate some government fluff if it has a higher purpose. For example, the annual Touch a Truck day is fun fluff for the kids but it also builds respect and positive relationships between our police, firefighters, parents and kids. But I wouldn’t want to sample too much of our government’s cotton candy. The recent water symposium at the high school looked like a pep rally for the Obama administration’s climate policies. I suspect that the so called community circles, all the rage at the elementary schools, are just another way to introduce ideas that challenge the authority of parents who believe in traditional values (ok, for the haters, “so called traditional values”). The beer festival, supported and promoted by our government, has a darker side to it, of young people, especially women, having way too much to drink (full disclosure- my Close Up groups benefited from beer festival money on at least two occasions). So what’s wrong with sheep in the cemetery? Look in the photo. Imagine visiting your family’s burial site only to find 75 sheep corralled nearby. It is to me just another way our government is changing the cemetery from a sacred park to just another green space that needs to fit into the all important stragetic plan. You know, the goals that promote the idea that everything we do must be sustainable and eco-friendly.
I’ve used this quote from Ronald Reagan before, “The most dangerous words in the English language are, I’m from the government and I’m here to help”. An addition to this might be, “I’m from the government and you are really going to enjoy this.”
Yeah, we need more churches to help stave off the development of everyone else’s values and help reinforce the tried and true, traditional values I hold so dear, because mine are better than yours or theirs.
Re “Imagine visiting your family’s burial site only to find 75 sheep corralled nearby”: I think my ancestors would have felt more comfortable with sheep grazing around than with big noisy mechanical mowers spewing gas fumes. And I will truly turn over in my grave if it is covered with kudzu. Kudzu is an ugly, stubborn, invasive plant not natural to the cemetery. Please ask the sheep and goats to eat the kudzu off my grave! Sheep grazing is bucolic. Mowers shake up the coffins and vaults. Kudzu has invasive roots that will grow right through anything including graves and their contents.
If the sheep are still hungry, they are welcome in our yard. I’m just not good at herding so bring the dogs.
+1
You’d be right, but it would even more historical if the city was renting out grazing rights to the sheep owners
Here is a link to similar doings in the early 19th century.
http://www.manchesterhistory.org/reprints/MHS3_BucklandCemetery.html
Cool! And I’ve seen sheep grazing in old cemeteries in New England even in this century.
To be fair to Mr. B: Originally, I made a comment near the top of the thread, something like “How does Mr. B. feel about this?” because I remembered his objections on this blog to the cocktail party in the cemetery. I see that it’s been removed. I hope it wasn’t considered offensive or a personal attack. I meant it in the same humorous spirit as Mr. B.’s remarks. Mr. B. rocked as a teacher and still rocks!
Yes, animals grazing in cemetery lands is pretty common throughout history. Good grass there!
Actually, if I were visiting the grave site of a loved one and looked over to see a bunch of sheep grazing on a hillside nearby as in the photo above, I’d be perfectly OK with it–if anything, I’d probably find it rather soothing. And I doubt the sheep are corralled right next to a gravesite.
As far as your dark suspicions regarding the community circles, I invite you to visit Oakhurst Elementary on 8 am Sept 27th to see for yourself. The focus is on “Collaboration & Competition.” It’s one of the liberal “Expeditionary Learning Principles” (see http://elschools.org/educator-resources): “Individual development and group development are integrated so that the value of friendship, trust, and group action is clear.” Other EL challenges to traditional values include Service and compassion (“Students and teachers are strengthened by acts of consequential service to others”) and Empathy and caring (“Learning is fostered best in communities where students’ and teachers’ ideas are respected and where there is mutual trust.”). We also undermine respect for traditional values by spotlighting student accomplishments and having students sing songs in Spanish.
You forgot the ritual orgies and the animal sacrifice! (Better keep an eye on those sheep.)
Chai Pani has lamb sliders…now that’s local sourcing!
Colbeh has excellent lamb kebab.
Just add kudzu jelly.
This doesn’t make any d*mn sense, Mr. B. The cemetery that you, and the rest of us, love so much is owned by, yes, the government. The government has a responsibility to take care of it. They could use “traditional” lawn mowers and nasty chemicals to keep it looking good. Or they could try using sheep. Somehow, this leads you to a conspiracy on behalf of the government to undermine the sanctity of the cemetery? What? They’re sheep. Eating grass and weeds. That’s it. I imagine that sheep have been eating grass on top of graves for, what, 5000 years? 10,000 years? I’m sorry, your line of reasoning is way off the rails here.
It doesn’t happen often, but you and I agree again.
But, what I really want to know is how I get the sheep onto my neighbor’s overgrown mosquitio breeding ground/ivy farm after they are done at the cemetery. 75 sheep could clear that lot in a couple of hours and I could enjoy my backyard without dousing myself in Off.
Are we neighbors? I respectfully refer to my backyard neighbor’s yard as “The Jungle”.
Maybe I can wait until they are out of town, and do a stealth sheep run.
In case, that’s us, just bring over the sheep.
exactly, i’d much rather visit my family’s burial site and before even getting there hearing the lovely sound of tractors and taking deep breaths of the beautiful smell of diesel. then having the privilege to set my eyes upon the sacred beauty of a john deere mechanically cutting and tearing the unwanted vegetation that obama let grow all over the place.
I hope that’s satire.
If it is, it’s less Swiftian and more GlennBeckian [Glenn Beck is supposed to be taken as satire, right?]
If it isn’t…
Overthinking there, dude. It’s a flock of sheep. It is temporary.
grumpy old men even hollering at the sheep to get off their lawn…smh
Excellent! Love that sheep are being used instead of nasty chemicals.
I am looking forward to taking my daughter and checking it out. At least we are not the ‘Atlanta Neighborhood’ with the Feral Pig problem…
OK, how come my comments are moderated/vanishing? No attacks, no links…??
You typed in your email address incorrectly.
D’OH!!!! Thanks!