Now is the time to go out for the day without a bad feeling that so many things are left undone at home - the ground is so wet anyway and growing things are certainly winding down! So we went on a day out yesterday to the Durrus to Ahakista Cheval Ride, making the most of the lovely sunshine. What beautiful views of Dunmanus bay! And both Henry and Winnie enjoyed the event, although they are not quite used to the speed of these rides and made good use of the lunch break in Ahakista beofre returning to Durrus a bit slower at the tail end of the ride...

Today the horses were left behind to enjoy the wonderful sunshine, doing nothing all aftyernoon, because we were away to our November Meitheal at friends near Ballydehob where we helped to fell a few trees. Plenty of wood needed to be hauled around the place, but it was not a site or job which would have suited the horses, so it was down to human power. But with a group of 8, a lot can get done in one afternoon, and there was still plenty of time to walk to the top of the hill to watch dusk settling in and turning into the most brilliant starry night.

We recently returned to Friendly Cove near Durrus where we had worked already last year. More felling had been done in the small larchwood and it was our job to pull the logs out to a place where they could be stored until use. Some of the logs were quite tricky to haul out of the woods, as they were long (8 metres or more) and it was possible to get them jammed between the dense standing trees. But in two hours the job was finished and we had hauled 25 logs and stacked them along the track. It is always astonishing and somehow very satisfying to see the horses pull heavy loads whilst finding their way through dense trees, avoiding branches and tree stumps, and looking like they actually enjoy doing a good job!

Our new dog Annie is settling in very well and got the hang of being around the horses very quickly! She doesn't really mind them at all and trots along down the road next to the trap or across the field behind the harrow as if she had never done anything else - being a rescue dog from Cork city, this is quite impressive! And of course, sometimes she gets to ride with me on the trap, too!
P.S. One of my blog readers pointed out how well camouflaged Annie is...down the line of "Where's Wall...ahem..Annie" - well,she IS very black! - so I hope this green circle will help to spot her!!!

In late October, we finished the potato harvest at the Brown Envelope Seed Farm at our second meitheal. Again, Henry and Winnie shortened our work day by digging the potatoes up with the plough, saving us hours of digging through the weeds and grass with spades and forks.
Of course, we had to try the potatoes afterwards, and they were yummy!!!