The weather has just turned cold. We're using the new reverse cycle air conditioner on heat for the first time tonight, the signal for warming the house was when Ryo Okhi and Asante (two of the cats) were cold enough to touch backs for the heat when curled up. Normally they hold each other in contempt.

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The time has also come to dry Big Moo off. The dry weather has continued to pull all the nutrition out of the pasture so she is down to one litre a day, and with the end of daylight saving I'm struggling to get her milked in the gap between work and dark. Drying her off now will enable her to put that extra energy towards staying warm and give me time to start training Flora now that Edo is getting old enough to wean. Flora isn't having any trouble getting enough nutrition, I've never seen any animal stack away the amount of food she fits in ! She looks nine months pregnant with triplets and it's all food ...

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The vege garden is now in autumn mode.Onions, garlic, radishes, spinach/silverbeet, peas and beans are now up and starting to get going. Hoping the beans have enough time to crop before the first frost as summer was too hot. They are predicting a long autumn so you never know. We look like still having sweet potato, potato and artichokes to harvest. Having a full tank of water pumped up from the dam is allowing the winter plantings as there has been no rain.

We are having a small harvest of tomatoes now the extreme heat has passed, next year we might try all of the tomatoes in pots under a shadehouse.

Artichokes in flower, they are related to sunflowers and 

I understand they are called sunchokes in the US.

Asparagus in the first year. They should die off over 

winter and then come back with lots of shoots in spring.

The birdhouse among the grapevines