Agriculture Reference
In-Depth Information
actually seeing a renaissance as unprecedented numbers of women and men
are committed to taking up the time-honored skills of knitting, spinning, and
weaving.
One particularly bright spot, in my opinion, is the increased awareness
of consumers who ask,
How was this animal raised, how was it handled and
processed, where is it from,
or
was child or slave labor used?
These educated con-
sumers still want to eat lamb (or wear wool), but they also want to be assured
that their purchasing choices refl ect their personal values. They care about
the state of the environment and the humane treatment of animals; they sup-
port family farmers as integral members of our society who help maintain
our countryside with the “rural character” most of us recognize as impor-
tant. They care about the aesthetic qualities of farmland viewscapes and the
wildlife, water quality, air quality, and other keystones of sustainability that
a vibrant and healthy rural place embodies. In fact, consumers have shown
time and again that they are willing to put their money where their mouths
BEST OF THE WEB
The Internet has so many sites (many are mentioned throughout
the text and are included in Resources to consult at a later date),
but the absolute
must-visit
site for sheepish information is a
labor of love from Susan Schoenian, the Extension specialist for
sheep and goats at the Maryland Cooperative Extension Service
and the University of Maryland. Susan has done more outreach
to small shepherds and has helped more to keep a small-scale
sheep industry functioning in the United States than any other
person in the academic and Cooperative Extension universes, and
she deserves recognition from all of us who care about sheep
and shepherds. In her spare time, Susan raises a fl ock of mainly
Katahdin sheep on her own farm in western Maryland.
At the top of the main page of her Web site (
www.sheepandgoat.
com
), you will also fi nd links to other pages she has created,
including her Shepherd's Notebook blog, educational pages, and
a dedicated marketing site. She also has a link to her collection
of marvelous photos of sheep and goats, shepherds, and other
interwoven subjects from around the globe at a Flickr site.
