Life in the field is not the same as in the city.
The days go by slowly, and the shepherd’s boss is the flock, the one who marks the times. It seems like a quiet job, just what we need to escape from the hustle and bustle of the cities, but winter is hard, and summer does not fall short. This boss, who doesn’t give verbal orders, calls on you seven days a week. It doesn’t understand holidays or discomfort. The flock is a tough boss, it needs the shepherd as much as a living being needs to be fed.
Nino, at sixty-three years old, still works as a shepherd with his twelve hundred sheep, which he takes out to graze twice a day. His face, skin tone and wrinkles tell us what his working life has been like since he was nine years old.
Every June, Nino shears his sheep. It is a process that serves to free the animals from the sweltering heat that scorches the fields in summer. He locks them in the stable and with his skill he manages to shear the whole flock, taking a couple of minutes for each sheep, which sheds between two and five kilos of wool.
The wool is ultimately recycled for textile drying, as it is a way of sourcing from nature itself in a way that both animal and human benefit from. This material is very resistant and warm. Once again, we value what nature offers us.