Ticked Off

Well, I'll be damned!

I found a tick embedded on the hairline of our horse's mane.

Nasty little creature

The little bugger did not want to let go and we were lucky Daryl could remove it with a pair of pliers.The horse is so tall it was impossible for me to reach it once he flicked his head up (wasn't too impressed when I tried to tug it out).

I must admit I was quite shocked when I found it. Ticks are nasty and can cause terrible issues with stock and pets.Now we will need to treat the dogs, just in case.  We just treated all our cattle, so hopefully this is the one and only critter we will find. After some research it looks like this could be a bush tick, but I will now be more aware of them.

On other farming matters I am delighted with our zucchini plants - producing an abundance of flowers, then succulent zucchinis.

Nice haul

As always there is too much at once, but we are more than happy to share with our friends and family.

Last year, I grated the oversupply and froze it using it in casseroles and pasta sauce during the colder seasons. This worked well, so I imagine we will do this again along with making a number of zucchini slices and sharing them also. I make a gluten free version as well as one full of 'glutenous' goodness, both are delicious, hot or cold.

While on the subject of yumminess our blackberries (the few bushes we didn't hack to pieces or poison) are also producing an abundance of fruit.

Blackberry jam on its way

Let's see if we can beat the birds and miss the snakes while picking these juicy little berries.

Sadly the rest of our garden is leaving little to be pleased about - tomatoes are slow, so slow, we are just seeing a few green fruit but not nearly enough. Hoping this improves greatly in the coming weeks. Other disappointments include the loss of all my bok choy plants and now something is attacking the spring onion and remainder of our lettuces :(

On a positive note the weeds are thriving,  as are our gorgeous rose bushes.

If you could smell the aroma - ah so beautiful

I hope your gardens are full of colour, fragrance and bees!

'Til next time

Cheers

N