New sightings of the Indian Gaur

One of the distinct rewards of driving back home to the farm late in the evenings is the sighting of wild animals. In the past, we have invariably had at least one sighting on every such late evening drive - of gaur, elephant, or deer. In the recent months, however, we realized we had not had any sightings at all, if you do not count a few hare that we spotted.

Last week, we were again thrilled to see not just one, but two separate sightings of the Indian gaur on the same trip. These are massive creatures, muscles rippling under the dark, shiny skin. These pictures are grainy, but you must give allowance that they were taken from inside our vehicle, in the backdrop of a screaming spouse warning me not to go any closer :-)

For all the mud they trample, I wonder how they manage to keep their "socks" in a reasonable shade of white!

From our very own Amla trees

We've been blessed to have several trees of the mountain amla, native to these parts of the Pulney hills. One year, we tried selling them in the Oddanchatram market, and we quickly realized that was not a feasible option. We them found out they were excellent for making preserves such as jam and pickle. So the last two years, we have plucked them and have made delectable preserves.

The jam has been made with brown, unbleached sugar. The candy, however, could not be made with brown sugar, so we have made the concession of using white sugar to make them.

The picture above is this year's products. 

 

Here a quack, there a quack...

The addition of ducks to the farm has added much life. We bought them from two places; one set we bought were coloured, and the other white. No racial overtones,just telling it as it is ;-).

They are such timid creatures. For the first couple of days, they would not budge from a nook they found for themselves. Slowly, they started moving around a bit and then they discovered one of our rainwater storage tanks. What a joy to see them splash around. Interestingly, while they enjoy swimming in the water, they also keep the surface clean of all mosquito eggs and other flies, so that's an additional usefulness.

I know we are not supposed to count the eggs beforehand, but we do look forward to some duck eggs in a few weeks from now!