A cat arrives and the brewery birthday

My attempt at a winter scene

  the climbers

Birthday in the brewery

December 9. 2014

The weather changed from hot and dry to cool and wet. This helped us a lot, especially as we had not cut hay yet. (Others have not been so lucky and we see several paddocks full of cut damp hay as we drive each day to Yarra Glen.) The new trees and the vegetables leapt into growth action and I had a weeks break from watering.  It is starting to warm up again now, so the respite is over. When the sun shines it has a strange bite to it that feels stingy on the skin.

Indigo and her friends make use of the pool to keep cool but I have not been tempted in yet. Basically the house is such a nice temperature that I tend to head indoors if outdoors is uncomfortable. I have cleaned out the sunroom, set up Xmas decorations and repotted all the plants that had grown. Next I need to tackle the gardens by the ruins and the potted succulents down there. They have not been sorted for years so look very neglected.

We have been putting our effort into growing vegetables. Edd has built more raised beds and they fill up quickly so that there never seems enough growing space. At least we get plenty to eat and excess to sell. We have used up all the lemons and there are no limes ripe yet so we are bartering cheese for lemons.

At the weekend we all went to Beth’s restaurant where they had an open party to celebrate the 10^th anniversary of the brewery. They cooked meat pies and ice cream all containing beer. I do not usually eat ice cream but curiosity forced me to try beer ice cream and it was surprisingly good. The meat pies were pretty flash too. Beth’s youngest child and a friend occupied themselves by practicing rock climbing on the front of the building. I am not sure of the birthday cake had beer in it but it tasted pretty good.

Al’s eldest son and a school friend came to stay on the farm after the party. They brought bacon in Yarra Glen with the idea that they would shoot rabbits to make a hot pot. We have so many rabbits that you would think it would be difficult to miss but this time they escaped. I have been adopted by a cat and I had to warn the boys not to shoot it. We do not usually keep cats because they kill the native animals and birds but this cat arrives each night and asks for milk at milking time. We had rather too many mice in the shed so I am accepting it for the present. It is a rather battered tabby cat with wounds on its’ neck but it tries hard to act gratefully.