stories about sheep

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I’m reading a book about sheep. “A Short History of the World According to Sheep” by Sally Coulthard. I love how it meanders through the centuries, touching upon everything from the incredible properties of wool to how we started making cheese. Did you know that we have the domestication of sheep to thank for the invention of the scissors? Ancient shepherds needed something better than knives to shear the sheep with.

A thing I find particularly enjoyable with the book, is that it has nothing to do with my thesis.

Except, maybe, that there should be more sheep grazing in the forest pastures in southern Sweden, to increase multifunctionality, generate ecosystem services, and promote biodiversity.

Shit. I can never get away.

Anyway. There have probably been many generations of sheep grazing on the hill where the pictured tree now stands. The Montjuïc hill was where Barcelona’s shepherds grazed their sheep and other animals, before it was turned to parks and now houses, among other things, a magnificent botanic garden.

Photo: Jardí Botànic de Barcelona, Catalonia, Spain, October 2018. Posted on Instagram March 25, 2021.