Maria went out into the pasture to clip the remaining leaves beyond the reach of the sheep and the donkeys. The collapse of two huge tree limbs has been a great gift to the ruminants on the farm. None of them would touch the Maple tree leaves, which were poisonous to some animals.

They all love leaves from apple trees. We have a lot of rounded bellies out there. Small wonder that they follow her around. Because I always had a border collie by my side, the sheep learned to keep their distance from me; they are beginning to warm up to me.