Year 1 - Spring - Shepherd (Yeoman Sheep Farmers)
Not gonna lie, I think this is the cutest lot I built for the challenge. A farming cottage equiped for the aptly named Shepherd family! Though once again it being on a slope was kind of a mistake, as they often had trouble reaching the sheep to inspect, sheer or milk them…
A recent widow, Hannah inherited her late husband’s flock of sheep. While she doesn’t particularly care for the beasts, she does enjoy cheese and fine fashion! So she was sure she could make an honest go of things and become a lady-farmer.
She didn’t count on how troublesome raising a toddler would be all on her lonesome though, on top of the flock of sheep. Emily was a demanding child, and Hannah always did have trouble sleeping. For a while they made no income at all - the pair were fully in survival mode.
It was sheering season though, and that meant plenty of wool which needed spinning into thread. Then it was lambing season, which meant the sheep could be milked. It was all tough work, and it the midst of it all somehow one ram died of sickness and the other wandered away and became lost. At least one of the lambs was probably male though, right? Hannah hoped so…
Any sheep that hadn’t given birth or become pregnant were sold off - as with no rams around it they weren’t going have lambs or produce milk. They needed money! A few lambs were sold off, too, along with some fertiliser made from all the dung they’d picked up.
Things got easier once Emily grew up and could help pick up after the sheep. She didn’t complain about cleaning dung or filling their troughs, and seemed to have an appreciation for animals and nature which Hannah herself lacked. She has half a mind to never go though the hassle of getting remarried and getting pregnant again, and just leaving the farm to her daughter, however unconventional that might be!
