Titia Geertman - JustADutchie

Front view from my house, blooming flax,

You think farmland is dull and green?
Then this, I'll bet, you've never seen.
An ocean blue, short time each year,
Flax is presenting its beauty here.

Click the photo and it will bring you to my sheep album at Pbase.com.

The Drenthen Heathsheep is one of the 5 native heath sheepbreeds of The Netherlands. Its ancestors roamed our country as early as 1300. The farmers up North were poor and needed a sheep to fertilize their land, but it had to be a low budget sheep. .



The breed has been rescued from extinction, but we still have a long way to go. In due time I'll write an article all about my sheep, but in the meantime you might like to take a peek at the lambs that were born this year.

My husband used to be the only photographer in the house, but since we got a digital camera couple of years ago, I'm addicted. I live in the midst of beautiful nature with lots of old creeks around me and with an open view right to the horizon in front of me. My land is flat as a cookie on a tray, so we have lots of sky to look at and especially in the Fall season the colors are sometimes byond imagination. You can find more about my photography and poetry on my lens Rhyming Images

My place

The place where I go sit to rest, is not far from my house.
It is a dike where my sheep graze, away from kids and spouse.
The quietness will calm me down when stress seems to evoke
and sheep are such good listeners, each time I came and spoke.

Serene is what I call this place, at least most of the time.
Wild flowers used to border ditches, but now I often see black slime.
I see the changes in the land and beauty that won't last,
with sadness, I think back to things that were here in my past.

I see the horses plowing through the thick and greasy clay,
Now there are noisy roaring tractors, pulling blades today.
Before you know, the grain is gone, swallowed by machines,
who spit it out in wagon loads, the same happens to beans.

My dike though is from ancient time, untouched by human hands,
It was build to keep the water out, sometimes straight, sometimes it bends.
So, when you feel the urge inside, to be alone and talk to sheep,
I'll gladly lend you my little dike, a place where angels go to sleep.