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Shepherdess

Notes from the Field
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"I tackled the ewe, tipped her onto her back, put her hindlegs over my shoulders, and lifted the ewe's hind end off the ground. I slippedmy hand into the birth canal, along the side of the lamb's head. As my fingersgroped blindly for the lamb's legs, a silver bracelet slid down my arm andbanged the lamb's nose." Author and shepherdess Joan Jarvis Ellison wears silverbracelets and makeup. She grew up in the city. She has a master's degree inbiophysical sciences. She is a busy mother of two children. What was she doingwith her hand in the back end of a sheep? How had she come so far from theresearch laboratory and the city? InShepherdess: Notes from the Field, Ellison tells the story of her journeyfrom research associate and mother to shepherdess. Witha growing understanding of sheep behavior and health, Ellison deals with thethorny problems of what to do with too much manure, whether or not to eat yourown sheep, and how to find self-respect in a farmyard. Shepherdess: Notes from the Field is funny and sad. You'll learnmore about sheep than you ever imagined you'd want to know, and more about lifethan you knew before you opened the book.
Joan Jarvis Ellison grew up in the suburbs of a large city. Her closest encounter with farm life was a white rat in a plastic cage. After earning a master's degree in biophysical sciences and working for several years in a research laboratory, she retired to Pelican Rapids, a small town in rural Minnesota, to raise children and sheep.
"Ellison put her career in research biochemistry on hold inorder to raise two daughters. After 10 years, she wanted to work again but wastoo out of touch with technology and too attached to her rural home to go backto biochemistry. What to do? She turned her hobby of spinning into a business:sheepherding. These are her memories, advice, and lessons learned from thefirst seven years of the business, and they're delightful. Ellison's chaptersflow sensitively - sometimes exuding a mother's common sense, sometimesMcMurtryesque pathos, sometimes gently pointed Bombeckish humor. Undoubtedly this is a great acquisition for ruralarea libraries, but it's more than a farmer's account. This is inspiration forall women who may be contemplating joining the workforce yet feel unprepared orunsure that what they are interested in could become a fulfilling business." Booklist
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