Yesterday as we drove down Towne and took Riverside towards Chino Hills, past the back end of the now closed Hostess factory, we saw about 20 some sheep, happily munching and walking around the weeds in the 100 degree plus weather. I bet this is how the area looked before Hostess came to town to make Twinkies. Blog reader Robin has pointed out that she likes the vacant lots about town, and Isee her point. Hopefully we can fill more of them with livestock.
The nice thing about being deserted by corporate America, is that something better, and simpler, takes it's place, and makes you question why you wanted a Trader Joe's in the first place.
I called the Humane Society, but they knew nothing about Pomona's newest residents. Hopefully they are not just a temporary fix for that area's dry weed population.
P.S. I stand corrected. Mr. Big has just told me that they were goats, not sheep.
THE END
1 comment:
The big hill between Westmont and Phillips Ranch was grazed by cattle until the 1970's. The hill was terraced with dozens of parallel paths beaten down by the big grazers, just like many of the hills in Chino Hills and Diamond Bar. They made me think of Asian rice paddies carved into mountains. Every evening around sunset all the cows would turn east and head back home to a farm not far from where Decker school is located. I could see them following each other single file way up on the sides of the hill. At the base of the hill was a large fenced pasture area where dozens of horses frolicked. They often came to our back fence and hung their heads over hoping for an apple or some lettuce. After rains came, wildflowers bloomed all over the pasture and the hill.
Construction began on Phillips Ranch, and the cattle disappeared. Sheep took their place. Accompanying the sheep was a Basque herder and his sheep dogs. I sometimes saw him when I hiked through the hills, and he often had a dove or two hanging at his belt for his dinner. There used to be a large Basque community in Chino, even a locally famous Basque restaurant. The men would come to this country to herd sheep for a few years before returning home.
So, I'm glad you saw some goats. It's just a little taste of old Pomona. Goats often find work these days in the field of brush clearance and fire prevention.
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