Esperienza Carsolina – an afternoon with a shepherd

On Friday 27 October our CAS activity ‘Esperienza Carsolina’ joined a local shepherd and his flock of sheep for an afternoon of fun, interactive and outdoor learning.

We learned what the life of a shepherd is like and what the life of a sheep in the Carso is like: they wake up incredibly early – at 3:45 AM (every day!), first milking is 5 AM and then the sheep are taken out to pasture with the help of Tessa, the sheepdog. They spend all day out munching on grass, herbs and shrubs, to return to the barn for evening milking at 4 PM. They spend the night indoors in fall and winter, where they have plenty of hay and water to keep them happy.

Because of the mild climate in the area, sheep are out at pasture from April to November, sometimes even December. They enter their ‘dry season’ between September – October and January – February – this means they do not produce any milk because they have no lambs to tend to. In January we will be visiting the farm again and there will be lambs, hence milk and hence we will learn to make cheese.

Stay tuned for more updates!