Autumn has arrived. With it has come several rainstorms, including one with major power loss (when lightning strikes a substation, the electric company takes a deep breath and you can hear them wince) and following up with a nice flush of secondary grass growth.

The sheep appreciate the greenery, and we have moved almost all of the bantams from the porch to their permanent home behind the house. The exceptions are three: two broody hens who seem to swell larger every time we see them, and one bantam hen who had been in the company of two bantam roosters. The roosters have been captured; the hen remains on the loose.

Our full-sized maran rooster is old and no longer dominant, as has been proven by the frequent sight of him running and ducking away from one of the bantam roosters. We are considering putting him out of his unhappiness when we butcher sheep in a couple of weeks; we plan to cull the flock substantially, particularly tending to our oversupply of rams. In the meantime, we continue apace with our plans for winery equipment (one piece done, another piece about to be tested) and getting our hides tanned - that is to say, the pile of hides in our freezer from past butchered rams and the like.

Soon October will be upon us, and decisions will include whether or not to have a festive pumpkin on our porch. If only that were the largest of our tasks ahead!