Spring In The Forest

Just behind where we live are some fantastic trails through the forest. I took my camera on my walk the other day to capture some of the things I saw.

The ferns are all growing. They look like prehistoric birds somehow !

All the trees are bursting into leaf.

Some more ferns I passed.

I come to a fork and turn right.

A bracket fungus on the side of a tree.

I met a few creatures along the way, this banana slug for instance.

And a caterpillar on one of the ferns.

I'm not sure what animal would have made these prints, a deer perhaps ?

A lovely flowering redcurrant.

And the view looking up.

I put the rest of the pictures on flickr otherwise the blog might be too image laden !

Bald AND Beautiful

Today was shearing day. One of my favorite occasions, as I'm sure I've mentioned before !

We had a new shearer come from Vancouver Island this year. His name is Grant and here is his website. You can take a look at their Clun Forest and Navajo Churro flock and more info on shearing.

He did a great job on the sheep, despite their small stature which is particularly hard on the back !

Here he is in action with Humbug.

And Marmite is almost done.

Here's Dandelion, just up from the ordeal ! Lovely and clean.

Kirby, our Babydoll Romney wether was determined to finish his mouthful of hay. He seemed to enjoy being sheared.And look at this handsome fellow, Womble our Babydoll ram.

I skirted the fleeces and packed them away in used paper grain bags until I get time to wash them all.

What a great day !

Comings And Goings

On Thursday Simon took the Fab Four, (A.K.A. Lilly, Rose, Snowdrop and Primrose), down to Vancouver to meet up with Leona who was driving them back to Grand Forks.

Here is a picture of them all a while ago at our place.

And here they are up at Leona's. Lilly and Rose are enroute to Nova's up in Fort St John but will stay with Leona for a few weeks. They seem quite content don't they ?

The day before the lambs left though, we had a bit of a shock as Cashew gave birth to a little ram.

Here he is. His name is Willow.

Here are Cashew and Willow on his first day out of the barn.

Kind of odd that she lambed three months after everybody else, but there you are !

The day after the lambs left, Simon flew out for a couple of weeks in the UK visiting the family.

We miss them all !