Bless Ewe Sheep Company & Sanctuary

06/09/2026

WHO THE FLOCK IS THIS? 🐑

We have a lot of sheep around here, and if you’ve followed us for any length of time, you probably know that no two of them are remotely alike.

So we thought it was time for a new series. 🤗

Every so often, we’re going to introduce you to one member of the flock. Not just their name or how they came to us, but the important stuff. Their quirks. Their questionable behavior. Their likes and dislikes. Their criminal history, when applicable.

Basically, who the flock they actually are.

And to kick this off…

Meet Fernie.

Fernie came to us in 2022 at just 30 days old. She was an orphaned bottle baby, and her breeder wanted to make sure this tiny girl had a safe, lifelong home.

Fernie is a dwarf Wensleydale, about half the size of a normal Wensleydale. Basically, she looks like someone put a perfectly good Wensleydale through the dryer.

Please do not confuse small with meek.

Fernie came with an attitude, and no one pushes Fernie around. She loves cookies, snacks, attention, and being told how beautiful she is. Which, to be fair, she is. Her fleece is absolutely glorious and Fernie is well aware of it.

She also believes snack time should be conducted with a certain level of decorum.

Cut in front of Fernie for a cookie, shove her out of the way, or otherwise behave rudely, and Fernie will back up, lower her head, and launch your arse.

She has been known to slam an offending sheep directly into their shepherd, causing said shepherd to eat dirt. 🥴

Fernie regrets nothing.

She may be a half-pint…but nobody told Fernie. What she lacks in stature, she has more than compensated for with an absolutely unreasonable amount of confidence.

Tiny sheep. Glorious fleece. Firm opinions. Zero tolerance for cookie related BS.

That’s Fernie. Now you know who the flock she is. 🐑😂

05/09/2026

Back in February I wrote a post about Betty Lou and how simply coming a little closer to me was a REALLY big deal for her.

For those who don’t know her story, Betty Lou was bought at an auction, hog tied, stuffed into the back of a hatchback and intended for slaughter. She escaped and spent two days running loose through suburbia before animal control eventually called us.

Betty Lou wasn’t shy or just a little nervous around people. She was absolutely terrified of them.

She would not voluntarily walk toward a person. Ever. If you moved toward her, she moved away. So from the beginning we decided nobody was going to force her to trust us.

In February I wrote:

“It might take a year.
It might take two.
She might never decide people are her thing.

And that’s okay.

Because for the rest of her life, she gets to choose.”

And we meant it.

This spring Betty Lou spent a few weeks in the sick bay because of problems with her feet. Unfortunately she came to us with some pretty significant foot issues that are going to require care and management for the rest of her life.

While she was in there she discovered something VERY important.

Scritches are actually pretty great. 😂

She started letting me scratch her and eventually seemed to really enjoy it, but there were rules. It was ONLY in the sick bay and ONLY on Betty Lou’s terms. But taking cookies or eating anything from a human’s hand? NO WAY! Out of the question.

Outside the stall? Forget it. 😂 Don’t get closer than 20 feet. Nope. Never.

Then last week something happened that I honestly couldn’t believe.

Betty Lou walked up to me ON HER OWN and ate grain FROM MY HAND.

For most sheep that wouldn’t be a particularly exciting event. Around here I usually have more sheep trying to eat out of my hands than I have hands. 😂

But this was Betty Lou.

She had to make the decision to walk toward me. Nobody was making her. She could have walked away and instead she came to me….AND Kaylie!

Well, Betty Lou is back in the sick bay right now because those troublesome feet need some extra attention again.

And apparently Betty Lou has decided we need to renegotiate the terms of our relationship. 😂

Because now we have COOKIES. 🍪

The first time Betty Lou took a cookie from my hand was on my birthday.

My birthday!!

This sheep who once wouldn’t voluntarily take a single step toward a human walked up to me and took a cookie right out of my hand.

I couldn’t have asked for a better birthday present. ❤️

And as you can see in this video, it wasn’t a one time thing.

Betty Lou has decided she likes cookies.

A LOT. 😂

She comes to me for them now. She walks right up, takes them from my hand and comes back for another.

But the cookies apparently came with an unexpected side effect.

Betty Lou started hanging around after the cookies were gone.

And then…

SHE STARTED ASKING FOR SCRITCHES.

Not just tolerating them.

ASKING for them.

She leans into my hand to be scratched. I can stroke her face and tell her what a special girl she is and she doesn’t flinch. She doesn’t brace herself. She doesn’t move away.

Her eyes have softened.

And that’s the part that gets me.

We are still treating her feet. We are still handling her and sometimes doing things she probably doesn’t particularly enjoy. And even with all of that, she is choosing to come to me.

Somewhere along the way Betty Lou figured out that being handled doesn’t always mean something bad is about to happen.

She figured out that she is safe here.

And maybe more importantly, she figured out that she has a choice.

For more than a year we let her say no. We let her walk away. We didn’t need her to love us. We didn’t even need her to like us. If Betty Lou wanted to spend the rest of her life keeping humans at a comfortable distance, that was perfectly fine with us.

Maybe that’s why this feels so huge.

Because now she is saying yes.

Yes to approaching us.

Yes to being touched.

Yes to scritches.

And apparently a very enthusiastic YES TO COOKIES. 😂🍪

Back in February I wrote, “We’ll be right here. As long as it takes.”

Betty Lou chose to trust.

And it turns out trust tastes a whole lot like cookies. ❤️🐑🍪

(Video of her eating grain from my hand in comments)

26/08/2026

People underestimate sheep.

I see it all the time when people visit us for the first time. They are genuinely surprised when I call a sheep by name and that sheep looks up and comes to me.

“You mean they know their names?”

Of course they do.

What surprises people even more is when one of the sheep recognizes someone who has visited before. They remember people. They remember experiences. They remember who was kind to them and who made them feel safe.

For a very long time, humans have had a strange habit of measuring animal intelligence by how much an animal thinks and behaves like a human. If they don’t communicate in ways people recognize, it’s easy to assume there isn’t much going on in there.

And I think human ego has a lot to do with that.

It’s much easier to use sheep for food and other purposes if humans convince themselves that they aren’t particularly intelligent, don’t have complex emotions, and don’t experience the world in meaningful ways.

Sheep may be one of the best examples of this. Their name has literally become an insult for someone who is stupid and blindly follows others.

Spend some time actually getting to know sheep and that stereotype falls apart pretty quickly.

They learn routines. They solve problems. They recognize faces. They form friendships and have very definite preferences about who they spend time with. They experience fear, comfort, excitement, frustration and curiosity. Some are bold. Some are cautious. Some are mischievous. Some are deeply affectionate.

And every single one is an individual.

Sheep were never stupid. Humans just found it more convenient to believe they were.

🐑❤️

24/08/2026

This is what an incredible act of kindness looks like. ❤️🐑

Alice recently needed a visit from Dr. Jason to have her teeth floated. Like many of our older sheep, she needs a little extra care to keep her healthy, comfortable, and happily munching away.

And today, we received news that left us absolutely speechless.

Someone who wishes to remain anonymous paid our entire veterinary bill.

All of it, with a credit remaining. ❤️

That bill represented care for sheep like Alice, routine visits, medications, emergencies, and all those unexpected things that come with promising animals a safe home and good care for the rest of their lives.

It was a very heavy weight on our shoulders.

And someone quietly lifted it.

We hope they know just how much this means to us. Their generosity gives us breathing room and, most importantly, helps make sure that when someone like Alice needs us, we can simply say, “Yes. Take care of her.”

To our anonymous angel, thank you. From every one of us, two legged and four legged. ❤️🐑

We may not be able to tell everyone your name, but we will never forget what you did for our flock.

23/08/2026

Cashew has his favorite people, and Joanna is most definitely one of them. 🥹❤️

These two have the sweetest relationship. Cashew absolutely adores Joanna, and judging by that little tail going while she brushes him, he’s not exactly trying to hide it. 😂🐑

And the feeling is very, very mutual. ❤️

23/08/2026

It was manicure day for the special needs flock, and Sarah, our gloriously rotund Border Leicester, was up for her turn.

We had her tipped back in the sheep chair, Carrie and Kaylie working on her front feet while I handled the back. And because no one should be expected to endure a manicure without refreshments, foot trimming comes with frequent mouthfuls of Frosted Mini Wheats. 😂

Everything was going beautifully.

Until it was time to get Sarah OUT of the chair. 🤣

Sarah got a little…stuck.

She was fine. Her feet look fabulous. She was well compensated in Mini Wheats. Her dignity may need a little time to recover. 😂🐑💅

22/08/2026

📺 We were on KIRO 7 News today! 🐑💜

What a day!

KIRO 7 came out to spend some time with us today, meet the flock, and learn a little more about Bless Ewe and the work we do here. The sheep were absolute ROCKSTARS and, as usual, completely stole the show. 😂🐑 We had so much fun during the interviews and are incredibly grateful to KIRO 7 for taking the time to share our story.

You can watch and read the KIRO 7 story here:
👉 https://www.kiro7.com/news/local/video-hot-dry-summer-hits-bless-ewe-sanctuary/1b8cd5ae-29a0-40b9-9a23-d8e6952c26c1/

One little thing got missed in the story: the link to our GoFundMe!

We are currently raising money to help feed our 154 sheep and get Bless Ewe ready for another Pacific Northwest winter. The summer heat has taken a serious toll on our pastures, and funds raised will help with hay, pasture renovation, tractor repairs, gravel, shelter repairs, and keeping this very large, very hungry family cared for. ❤️

🐑 Operation: Feed the Flock
👉 https://gofund.me/901f2e0d8

If you can donate, thank you. If you can’t, sharing the KIRO story and our fundraiser helps more than you know.

And a huge thank you to KIRO 7 for coming out and giving us the opportunity to share what we do and why it matters. Of course, the sheep were quite certain the entire story was supposed to be about them. 😂🐑📺

Every fleece has a story. Today, KIRO 7 helped us tell a few of them. 💜

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19/08/2026

🐑 Sometimes you just gotta roll with life. 😂

I was showing one of our new workers a few things around the barnyard while our blind lamb Babette was nearby, happily playing and hopping around.

Our barnyard camera caught the best part.

There she goes, bouncing along without a care in the world when suddenly… WHOOP. Babette rolls completely over sideways. 😂

She gets herself back up, lets out a big BAAAAA! and comes over to me.

Like, Did you SEE what just happened to me?!

No lasting trauma. No shame. Just a brief complaint filed with management and on with her day. 😂❤️

19/08/2026

🐑❤️ Friends, we could really use your help.

This summer’s heat has been brutal on our pastures, and with 154 sheep depending on us, we’re looking at about $10,000 just for hay to help get the flock through the coming months.

On top of that, we need to renovate our struggling pastures, repair our tractor, bring in gravel before the winter mud arrives, rebuild a shelter that collapsed this spring, and keep up with ever increasing veterinary costs.

So we’ve started Operation: Feed the Flock, with a goal of raising $15,000.

I know things are expensive for everyone right now, and I never take it lightly when I ask for help. If you can donate, thank you. Truly. If you can’t, sharing this fundraiser helps us too. ❤️

Every $21 buys a bag of grain.
Every $22 buys a bale of alfalfa.
Every $80 puts a big round bale in front of the flock.

These sheep don’t know what hay costs or that tractors break or that western Washington mud is apparently determined to swallow us whole.

They just know they’re safe, they’re fed, and they’re home.

And we’d really like to keep it that way. 🐑❤️

You can help us here:

https://gofund.me/090304808

Bless Ewe Sheep Sanctuary is a federally recognized 501(c)(3) nonprofit organization and a registered charitable organization in Washington State.

02/08/2026

Clara would like everyone to know that this smile is NOT happiness.

This is the face of a sheep who has just been cruelly and unjustly evicted from the Special Needs Palace. 💔

For nearly a year, Clara, her brother Colbert, and their mom Wren enjoyed the finer things in life: premium dining, room service, and all the alfalfa a growing sheep could dream of. Then came the whispers…

“I think they have enough padding for winter.”

“Are they walking…or rolling?”

“I can no longer identify where the ribs used to be.”

“They’re less ‘athletic build’ and more ‘artisan ottoman.’”

“They’re one hay bale away from needing backup beepers.”

Next thing they knew, eviction notices were served.

They’ve been demoted to the main flock where the menu consists of… gasp… second cutting hay and pasture. Like common peasants. The horror. The indignity. The emotional trauma. 😱

Clara would like to formally file a complaint with the Board of Directors citing:
• Cruel and unusual reductions in snack quality.
• Defamation of her pleasantly aerodynamic physique.
• Wrongful termination of unlimited alfalfa privileges.
• Emotional distress caused by having to mingle with the general population.

Management would like to point out that Clara’s definition of “starving” appears to be “I finished breakfast 14 minutes ago.”

The Board has reviewed her complaint.

After careful consideration, they have unanimously ruled that Clara is, in fact… adorably fluffy, slightly overconditioned, and perfectly capable of surviving on second cutting hay and pasture like everyone else in the main flock.

Clara has announced she will be appealing the decision immediately… preferably while chewing with her mouth open. 🌾

😂