The sheep have been spending time lounging in the shade since it's been in the 80s and 90s for a week or so now. They seem to be managing just fine, but they're certainly drinking more water. Every morning they come running when I have a bucket of fresh water and get closer than normal since I have something they want. Big George lets me pet him on the nose some mornings and the little ones let me pet them while they drink water, until they notice I'm touching them. Goofballs.
In the meantime, I've been busy dealing with my 21-hen flock. The new batch just started laying this week, so we're about to be overrun with eggs I think. Keeping track of all that will be interesting.
We've been recording how much water, feed, grains and such we use for all the animals and how many eggs each day to get a better handle on our costs and possible profits. Some mornings, it's a wonder I get anything accomplished and forget to write in the record book, but some semblance of routine keeps me from coming unhinged during busy, wacky weeks at work
My garden is starting to show promise, after a rough start this season. Right after I transplanted tomatoes and peppers, it was ridiculously windy and hailed. The peppers are still going, but small, and only one of those tomatoes survived. I picked up a few started tomatoes from my favorite girl at the farmer's market and they seem to be doing fine.
The bush beans that I had entirely given up on sprouted in the last week and then more of the bush bean seeds sprouted, so I'm counting that as this season's miracle.
The corn seemed as if it was just refusing to grow when I dropped seeds in the dirt, despite being quick to sprout indoors and then never survive. But, now we have a few going pretty strong and another that just popped up in the last week. I'm not sure why, but the prospect of eating corn I grew myself is thrilling. I really love corn, even when it all gets stuck in my teeth. The corn we bought at the store last week was entirely disappointing, so good, fresh corn will be a joy.
The carrots don't appear to have worked at all this year and I keep fighting the urge to drop in more seeds. I've not been particularly aggressive about weeding that section and it just frustrates me when I start. Maybe once we've mastered corn and peppers (haven't had an edible pepper in two years, third season is a charm right?!), I'll get back to carrots. You'd think they'd be easy, but whatever variety we've tried the last two years didn't turn out too well and I have a tendency to overcrowd plants, so that's a challenge to tackle another season.
Broccoli and cauliflower also seem uninterested in growing for us this year, but it has been so hot that I think they may be revolting. A few have sprouted, so I think I'll just plant more later in the season since they're a cool season crop really. But maybe the few that sprouted will turn into something edible.
A few of those seeds did well, the others we replaced with starters from the farmer's market. I'm just thrilled that the squash seeds I planted there and at home are doing pretty well. My pepper seeds there never sprouted, but the starters we added a few weeks ago seem to be doing alright. We're planning dinner parties with our bounty later this summer or early fall.
When the weather is good and not too windy, we've been working on the temporary chicken run to get those birds out in the sunshine until we're ready to put the whole thing together.
And when I say we, that's mostly M. He's a serious workhorse around here.He's been hard at work rebuilding the farm truck this week, and well, for months really.
I hate to think of myself as a housewife who does laundry and dishes and cooking and cleaning, but I'd rather do most of those things than dig post holes. So, I help outside as much as I can, but if I'm trying to avoid some of the manual labor outside (especially post hole digging) you can almost certainly find me vacuuming. Besides, I'm starting to like cooking more than I ever have, especially when it's not blazing hot in the kitchen like it is now.
My 'bama roommate, co-worker and dear friend sent me this cookbook as a wedding gift and I'm having fun trying the recipes. In the fall, I imagine I'll go nuts testing more recipes and baking up a storm, but for the hot summer days, I'm avoiding the oven like the plague.
If you follow me on Pinterest, you might have noticed that I went on a bit of a bender pinning macaron recipes and I keep wanting to have a baking day to learn to make them, but as mentioned above, it's too hot. But, until it cools down a bit for baking, I'm acquiring ingredients like almond meal, lavender oil and other odd ball ingredients that are harder to come by in Great Falls. I think I'm about to order this lavender extract. Do you have any recommendations?
And just for a dose of real life, this is what our desk/work space looks like right now. This is what happens when you're mid-renovation and nothing really has a home in the house and you're behind on a million things, like this blog. Not pictured, my giant glass of wine.