Cheery cherry picking.

What a horribly wet and miserable month June is proving to be this year.  We had a pretty awful May aswell with only one weeks relief from leaky clouds.  Luckily that was the week that the vet was available and our fruit picking season began with two rather large plums being pruned from poor old Caramel.  He didn't appreciate it and the vet had a rather tougher time with him than he'd had that morning with a draught horse. A sedative, TWO general anesthetics and a local were needed to knock him out, and even then, after the deed was done, and the vet confidently predicted that he'd sleep it off all night, he was up and wobbling on his legs a mere hour after the vet had left. The donkpon will still have to be separate for another month though because it takes at least that long for the testosterone to drop so poor old Soph is in her field in the rain as she is waterproofish whereas Caramel is not - so he gets the barn.

Caramel's is not the only 'fruit' we have been picking this fortnight, as despite dire forcasts about lack of fruit and appalling harvests our early cherry tree is bent over with the weight of cherries on it.  So the children and I had an initial pick of the cherries last week and managed a 3kg haul, and that was just the first ripe ones that we could reach.  A second forey gave us as many again and now it looks like I'll have to get the 'secateurs on a pole' tool out (it probably has a name but I don't know it) or the birds will have eaten all the ones above hand height.  I have 18 pots of jam and the glut of cherries added to the nonstop egg production from the chickens has prompted husband to demand a clafoutis, I will try.  I don't like them so at least it will help my diet, I can't actually think of anything else that uses them but go ahead and google receipies for fresh cherries for me  - we do have three and a half more trees to get through