The rainy season

Our most fluffy cat has been very unimpressed with current climatic events and takes her punishment of being captured and dried in a towel with the usual amount of cat enthusiasm. This is what my face really looks likes when I have to fold up my market umbrella after a wet market day, which have been decidedly frequent since the beginning of the year, but we have persevered and on the whole people turn out to make their purchases come rain or.... well, in fact..... rain ;) It is however a beautiful sunny day today, and although Sunday does not include any selling product time for me, I have successfully dried some washing outside on the line. All is good.

There has been a bit of an explosion of animals on our little farm and Gavin has a lot of running around to do after all of our new young stock. Our early lambs of which there are a number of twins, are continuing to arrive, not thick and fast more a slow trickle, which actually suits us at this time of year when so many hours in already short days are being consumed by wood carting and fire tending. We have had some goat kids as well to swell the numbers, and we are now waiting to see if the grass will start to grow. There is some evidence of its arrival. With more to come as there will be a slight increase in temperature which after all the rain is often a good sign for grass growth. We could certainly do with some early grazing as the season last year was really not good.
Talking of population explosions, 10 days ago we had 35 pigs and this week I think we have 56. Hmmm I think pigs are actually just rabbits in disguise. Who knew! 

As you can imagine all the big children have returned to their various study locations and we 3 are back in the swing of term time and general day to day stuff again, however I am trying to inspire myself to make some progress with organising our home environment so that we can put things away and then find them again,  which would be a novelty for us. Anyone who knows where we live and how much Gavin is a collector of anything that looks like it might be useful will be laughing hysterically, and I can feel it all the way down the internet fibres. I may need to let Gavin in on my secret plan for him and me, although he may start to come out in hives at the thought of throwing something away ;) wish me luck.
​So for all you European readers here is a photo of my mother-in-laws vegetable garden in Zimbabwe this week with her 14 feet ish or 4.2metre ish tall maize....The rake in the foreground is a standard garden rake. :o

Now it is February we can all start listening out for the returning cranes and also the returning delivery runs that we do around and about. 
See you all soon come rain or shine. 
​Helenx