The Breakers

© September '08   photo by smck

In the far distance is the old homestead known for some long time now as "The Breakers".  The trusty hikers are standing on yet another fast eroding drumlin cleared generations ago for the free ranging sheep that roamed hill and dale most of the year, only returning to the farm in late fall for winter's feed. (Though on second thought I think the visible house and barn are the Robinson's place).  In the '70's  before the coyote had moved into the area in the numbers that they now maintain, Kenny Angus, the last of the free range sheep farmers in this area, had a large band roaming for miles up and down the shore-land , eating shore grass, kelp and whatever greenery and eatery  they could find.  Generation of such sheep had riddled the miles of stunted shore-spruce thickets with sheep-worn warrens of passages into which they gathered in times of storm and cold wind and in which lambs without number had been born in early arctic-like spring.   John had shown me these warrens back then (late 70s) and they were amazingly wind proof giving great protection from the bitter chill of on shore wind.  We would often cozy-up in them when long winter shore hikes would get us to numbs edge as we trudged the hoar ice shore in icy gusts of wind.  Fencing sheep in home pastures was beginning when I moved here but in general most places only fenced to keep sheep out - and same was often true for cattle also.