Raining Trees
At the end of July I was out filling a trough with a bucket in the morning in the paddock at the top of the vegie 'garden' and the trees in the forest were raining. The poplars near the shed were not only raining but 'hailing' tiny icicles. The forest trees were probably doing the same thing. I wish you could hear this photograph. It had been an icy night and the sun was melting the ice that had formed on the leaves. I actually went back inside to get the camera because it was so amazing.

The Ewes have Lambed
After selling a few lambs and sheep, I now have 14 sheep in all, including one ram and one wether. That leaves 12 ewes. The first lamb was born on 15 June and the last was born on 11 August. Of the 12 lambs only two died and we didn't have any twins. I have 10 lovely little lambs, all jumping and running around together. Actually, there are a few who still stick closely to their mums but most are social. Even Spotty Nose, my oldest ewe, had a lamb, who's father was Arnie. I think that was the only lamb that he fathered, as Spotty Nose was the last to lamb on 11 August. I have included a few photographs below.

Wood Shed Water
Way back at Easter my Dad and Russell connected an old piece of guttering to the wood shed directing the water to an old metal tank. It worked wonderfully until we discovered that the outlet has a dripping leak. But when it rains this water can be directed via an underground pipe, installed by the previous owners, down to troughs in either the Triangle Paddock or the Dam Paddock, which has been very useful at times.

Fruit Harvest
I forgot to mention that I had a bumper crop of apples earlier this year. They were fairly free of fly but had odd bumps on the skin. Once peeled they were fine and made lots of stewed apples for the freezer. Although I didn't take a photograph of the apples, I did take a photograph of the plums on a tree planted way back in 2004. These made beautiful jam and some stewed plums too.