How to trim a sheep in North Ossetia? Vika Volchenko @iamdronegirl will talk about this today, whom OneTwoTrip sent to Vladikavkaz as part of the “Kudablin” project.
Vladikavkaz
Ossetia began to surprise me immediately upon arrival. At the airport, tourists were greeted by local residents with dancing. As the taxi driver later explained to me, such honors are usually given to celebrities or athletes, so you could say I was lucky to see this rare sight.
After lunch at the Mangal cafe, located right next to my hotel, I went for a walk around Vladikavkaz. If you, like me, have never been to North Ossetia before, you will be pleasantly surprised by the opportunity to ride a tram along the main street, examining the silhouettes of the mountains on the horizon. In addition, along Prospekt Mira there are ancient mansions, many of which are architectural monuments.
The capital of the republic is a beautiful green city overlooking the Caucasus ridge. When I say “green,” I’m not exaggerating at all. There are a huge number of parks and squares in Vladikavkaz. Even along the Terek embankment, trees and shrubs are planted so that residents and guests of the city can relax in pleasant shade.
I highly recommend visiting the Central Park of Culture and Leisure, located opposite the Vladikavkaz Hotel. It was recently renovated, but the original layout with a staircase and fountain, as well as Shteingel’s mansion house and General Erofeev’s gazebo, have been preserved. Here you can take a boat ride, visit the National Museum of the Republic of North Ossetia-Alania, or admire the swans in the pond.
The next day I had to complete a task from my readers – shearing a ram. For everything to work out, you only had to make one call…
— Hello! I need to trim the ram tomorrow. Where can I get it?
— And this is absolutely necessary?
—Yes, you can’t do without it!
“Okay, then we’ll come up with something.” See you tomorrow at 8:00.
… said my Ossetian friend and hung up.
At 8:00 we were already heading from Vladikavkaz towards the mountains. On the way we stopped at Dargavs, better known to tourists as the “City of the Dead”.
This is the largest crypt burial ground in the North Caucasus. There are a total of 95 tombs here. Locals say that in the old days a plague epidemic raged in the mountains. To avoid infecting others, sick entire families went into pre-built crypts and died there. This place is still shrouded in secrets and legends, which Ossetian guides will tell you.
Assignment from readers – shearing a ram
I don’t know what it took for my Ossetian friends to arrange a sheep shearing, but when we arrived at the farm, they told us that they only had one unshorn sheep left! I think it’s fate. The sheep was waiting for me!
Usually sheep are sheared twice a year – in March and September (before the summer and winter seasons), and then it turned out that almost the entire herd was sheared in August.
I was given scissors. As it turned out later, the farm has been using an electric machine for a long time; with its help, you can shave one sheep in just seven minutes. But since the Ossetians decided to make this entertainment as unusual as possible for me. A haircut with ordinary scissors takes about 30 minutes for an experienced farmer.
In fact, the process is reminiscent of cutting out mats from a cat, so if you are familiar with this matter, then you can safely say that you can handle shearing sheep.
While shearing is going on, the assistant holds the sheep by the leg. You need to take a piece of wool and move it away from the skin. Then, placing the scissors on the belly, so as not to injure the sheep, you need to quickly cut off the hairs and move on.
Despite the fact that I had already started to succeed, my hands were tired after 15 minutes due to unaccustomed use, and I only cut a small clump of a few centimeters in size. I hope readers are not offended that the farmer then completed the process on his own.
