Labour day indeed

It has been a productive time.

We finally found a couple of men who will do some of the fencing we need, fencing off the easternmost pasture. This is good, given the amount of time we have had to pay attention to the movements of the sheep. Within another week, all should be done with a pair of gates hung to afford access.

The weather has finally taken a firm turn for the moist, and the plants are clearly responding. Many of the deciduous plants have already lost their leaves, but the bulk of the leaves are still to fall. The apples on our property don't seem likely to be good cider apples, but we shall see what we shall see. Some are attractively scented table apples. The sheep like them as well, the windfalls which they can reach.

The process of getting fencing under way means that we have started to trim tree branches as well from the lines of douglas fir on the property. With any luck, once we have finished this and a few years have passed, we will get a good price for the timber.

The raccoon depredations have continued, and we are back to sixteen ducks (of which eight are juveniles), but we hope to address this in a fairly final way soon.

We are investigating, given the rapacity with which the sheep attack scotch broom, bracken, wild carrot and even nibble at thistles, the practicality of renting them out as weed control. How this will play out remains to be seen.