Getting ready for winter

Another long break,
a lot has happened, not much nice though: my ducks have gone!
One morning they were attacked by something, and I found one of the bodies later on, and another one is in the bush somewhere. And the rest either have run away, or didn't make it either. Absolutely devastated! With a heavy heart I salvaged the one, the attacker had only eaten the neck. While handling it, I was choking, as I hadn't been able to caress them while they were alive, and I didn't realize just how fluffy they are!!
Now live traps for cats and a stoat trap are set, but so far no luck.
When I called the breeders they were of course less upset, and offered their support and more eggs for next spring!

And then the cursed flu came into our house. First it got Hubby and my daughter, and then me, and as the holidays are approaching my boy is coming down with it! What an evil virus this one is: totally debilitating, fevers, hacking coughs and tiredness. I keep telling myself, as we're surviving it without any medications, other than Paracetamol, our immune system is getting primed to withstand this one! You got to try and find that silver lining or else it would be just too depressing.

On the bright side, the rest of the animals are doing fine, hens are moulting, rabbits would like to breed (hehe, not yet girls) and both the goats have come into heat, so the next time Poppy, the bigger and gentler one of the two, will go for a date to a buck in Martinborough. And in 5 months time I will have to deal with goat babies and milk! Hopefully.

In a sense it's comforting preparing for the next spring, it'll mean life goes on and something to look forward to during winter. And on that note, my herbal seeds that I planted a week ago are starting to sprout, so by spring time I should have a whole bunch of big green stuff to put out. I got 20 medicinal and culinary ones, and they will go into an enclosed garden in the goat paddock, so that the goats can nibble on them through the fence. Close to the manure, and the goats can eat whatever they need, when they need it.

 As for something to look forward to: I started another batch of Camemberts, two this time, so one will have a chance of aging properly!

TTFN,
ta ta for now.