A Precious Life: Preserving the Legacy of Canada’s Original Shetland Flock

3 July 2024
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Ad description: Cover of the book Sheep, Shepherd & Land, and the words, "THE book about Canadian Wool, by Anna Hunter. Photos by Christel Lanthier. Buy now."

Ontario Shepherdess Carole Precious is a modern-day Renaissance woman. A writer with a master’s degree in English, children’s book illustrator, watercolour and oil painter, wood and soapstone carver, calligrapher, knitter, mother, and grandmother.

From a young age, Carole hand-raised exotic animals including lions, tigers, cheetahs, apes, and bats—and later trained and flew bald eagles for feature films and commercials.

Carole Holding Invermere

Carole Precious, holding Invermere, a member of her Shetland flock.

She has also competed as a member of the Canadian Equestrian Team at the World Championships for Single Horse Combined Driving.

She established her farm, Chassagne, in Puslinch, Ontario, in 2007, and continues to play an integral role in preserving Canada’s original flock of Shetland sheep. I spoke with her from Florida, where she was preparing for a carriage driving competition.

Carole Kissing Two Cuties

Carole with two of the newest members of the flock.

Find out more about Carole, Chassagne Farm, and her Shetland flock at www.chassagne.ca

Photos courtesy of Carole Precious.

Copyright © Michale Raske except as indicated.

About Michale Raske

Michale Raske learned how to crochet from her talented Romanian grandmother at the age of ten. Forty-five years later she picked up knitting needles and revived her passion for all things craft and fibre. A veteran of the film and television industry, Michale now takes time away from her many WIPs to focus on writing and editing.

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