"I tackled the ewe, tipped her onto her back, put her hindlegs over my shoulders, and lifted the ewe's hind end off the ground. I slippedmy hand into the birth canal, along the side of the lamb's head. As my fingersgroped blindly for the lamb's legs, a silver bracelet slid down my arm andbanged the lamb's nose." Author and shepherdess Joan Jarvis Ellison wears silverbracelets and makeup. She grew up in the city. She has a master's degree inbiophysical sciences. She is a busy mother of two children. What was she doingwith her hand in the back end of a sheep? How had she come so far from theresearch laboratory and the city? InShepherdess: Notes from the Field, Ellison tells the story of her journeyfrom research associate and mother to shepherdess. Witha growing understanding of sheep behavior and health, Ellison deals with thethorny problems of what to do with too much manure, whether or not to eat yourown sheep, and how to find self-respect in a farmyard. Shepherdess: Notes from the Field is funny and sad. You'll learnmore about sheep than you ever imagined you'd want to know, and more about lifethan you knew before you opened the book.