Andrea Harrell of iiidogfarm

People who raise animals are perpetually busy and in motion.  Attending to their basic needs, including feeding, watering, and exercising, are only part of the day.  Procuring food, giving vaccinations, and in the case of Navajo-Churro sheep, shearing once and sometimes twice a year are part of life.  Andrea does her own shearing.  Lambing and general clean up make certain times of year busier than others.  From having Connie Taylor - head of the New Mexico Navajo-Churro Sheep Association and expert in the breed - as a neighbor for nearly twenty years, we had some expectation of what we would find upon meeting Andrea Harrell in the beautiful Los Ranchos area of Albuquerque.  As is true with Connie, Andrea is a woman of great energy and many interests, another wonderful overachiever.  In addition to being a neonatal nurse practitioner, and a great photographer - andreaharrellphotography.com - she and her husband grow crops in the fertile soil that skirts the Rio Grande.  She also has a flock of sheep including several Navajo-Churro.   Her "boys" include Bigs, Kam, and Fisher.  Andrea cares for them deeply, as is clear from the photographs below.  She enticed them with Baker's Bits treats.

Take a smell first.  Fred being introduced to one of the boys whose fleece will eventually yield a beautiful charcoal wool for one of his rugs.  Check out that gorgeous coat!

You can almost feel the lanolin in the wool.  Fred can't wait to weave with it.

Andrea with one of this year's lambs.  And she was a quick one.  Note Mama, always present, in the left hand corner of the shot.

Thanks to Andrea and all the sheep for letting us interrupt her very busy day (she is already working her twelve hour nursing shift as I write), and for keeping Navajo-Churro sheep alive in north Albuquerque.

Christina, Suz, Mary G., Kay, Steve, Wayne, Jean & Sam, Orlando T., TTT, M. Fred, Pauli, Barbara, TPLue, Claudia, Donna C., Marta, Victoria, Ingrid and Dianne for commenting on last week's blog.  Although the fires continue to burn in New Mexico, we are hoping the worst is in the rear view mirror, and the forecast for possible rain this week comes to pass.

until next Monday,

DB

a passion for the image©