Visiting the shepherds' communities
Signs of the rainy days and the mud: girls and boys stay at home. They participate in grazing near the house and in other livestock work.
Another obvious sign: the ever-boiling water can for use perched on a perennial wood-fed fire. The water is used to wash dishes and launder the fabrics that wrap the cheese blocks.
The fabric protrudes beneath the pressed wooden boards under the stone blocks and whey runs down the sides. We wash our hands with the whey.
Everything is suffused by the smell of the wood fire.
Another component is leakage and water infiltrating into the living structure (shared bedroom). We are widening the water ditches around the living structure and also around the pens.
The morning visit that started at seven was short. In most families the women and men are engaged in milking, or with the milk buyers or are free to make the cheese, the yogurt, and Samna (or ghi).
The later visit is for inquiries and information exchange, for relaxed sitting and a longer conversation when the landlady's hands are busy.
The intertwined and opposite components: cold, rain, mud and a fresh start of plentiful new grass for sheep to feed on.