November and December: late strawbs, amorous sheep and fairy lights!

Blink and you'll miss them... That's certainly how the last two weeks of November and first two of December have felt here at the Sparrowholding. So here's a quick compilation of photos of the local flora and fauna (including HunterGatherer!) taken over the past four weeks...

We love this pretty pink shrub that flowers all winter in
 the garden, though sadly we haven't a clue what it's called.

Loch Leven (seen in the background of the photo above
is just over a mile and a half from our house). Stunning....

This strawberry was growing in the polytunnel in the
 third week of November - not a bad effort :-)

Same goes for this tomato - we harvested the last of them
in the third week of November, too. The chutney is busy
"ripening" in the jars as I type!

Yikes! After yielding asparagus, carrots, parsnips, potatoes
grapes, herbs, strawberries, tomatoes, courgettes, spinach
and runner beans, the polytunnel looks exhausted!
HunterGatherer has some digging to do, methinks...

Mid-November was "tupping time" - Mungo the Magnificent
Shetland ram was looking his best for the occasion.

Initially most of the girls seemed quite interested...

But not everyone was that keen! HunterGatherer's rugby
skills proved advantageous!

Meanwhile, the postie arrived to find the track blocked
by our rudimentary sheep gates...

Eventually everyone was where they should be, and
Mungo wasted no time in snatching a quick kiss!

Couldn't resist photographing this year's wool - the
colours never cease to amaze me. So varied :-)

Someone was NOT amused at all the attention being
paid to the sheep.

There's always something needing done outside on the
Sparrowholding. Our wood-burning stove is a hungry
beastie, so HG has been wielding his axe.

And the result of his hard labour means that we'll stay warm,
come sleet, frost or snow.

Heavy rain, followed by frost, left a huge skating rink in the
pony's paddock.

The colder weather means that mice gravitate towards the house,
so FatCat is kept busy. Only I can't bear to let him kill the poor
wee souls, so I set them free whenever I can! (Supergran tells
me that this slightly defeats the purpose...)

The Sparrowholding by night during the festive period. The sheep are
 slightly bemused. But then that doesn't take much ;-)