Well isn’t nature doing its best to make up for all the bad weather of the past eight months. A couple of weeks of warmth and sunshine and there’s a smile on most people’s faces.

For sheep farmers, shearing is an important job to be completed as soon as any good weather appears.

Ewes are inclined to go over on their backs and when they do they can die in a matter of minutes. They can also be attacked by crows who will put a finish to them in no time.

Worse still, if the weather is at all muggy then they can succumb to blowfly strike and you will be dealing with maggots.

Our shearer comes from Kerry and he shears a couple of our neighbouring flocks on the one day.

Our slot was in the late afternoon, so Sean was like a cat on a griddle until the job was complete and the wool safely bagged.

On Friday the skies were thundery and it looked like rain was on the way, so we put the hoggets and dry ewes in one group within easy reach of the shed in case they had to be put indoors in a hurry. You cannot shear wet fleeces.

The rain came down in buckets in Newcastle West, but it stayed dry at home. Early on Saturday morning rain threatened again, but we held our nerve and left the ewes outdoors.

By noon the skies were dark, with spits of rain, so we bit the bullet. It was time to get the ewes and lambs separated and get the ewes under cover.

Well you never heard the likes of the commotion. You couldn’t hear your own voice with the baaing.

And it never let up until the lambs and ewes were back together and the shearing completed. Thankfully that’s one less job to be worried about. It’s a fright that what we get for wool won’t pay for the cost of shearing.

Throughout most of history wool was as valuable as meat and it was the sheep flocks that provided the money that build the magnificent cathedrals of England. You wouldn’t want to be depending on it today as it’s only making about 50c/kg.

On Friday I was in Co Clare to visit Carl Wright’s award-winning garden at Caher Bridge near Fanore. What a wonderful experience it was.

But talk about a difficult site. Never again will I complain about the heavy ground at home.

Built on limestone pavement, Carl has hand-sifted 1,500t of soil to make a garden that blends effortlessly into its environment.

We will be featuring this gorgeous garden it in the next issue of Irish Country Magazine. I heartily recommend a visit to this amazing place.

As a reward for getting the sheep shorn, on Sunday we hit the road early to have a look around the Bloom Festival.

As I’ve said before, let me loose in a dress shop and I will leave with my purse unopened, but it’s a different story when presented with so many wonderful plants.

I stuck to the tried and tested, buying two wonderfully scented Gertrude Jekyll roses and 20 lily bulbs from the Dutchman. Next job is to get them into the ground.

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