Homesteading: The Dog Days of Summer
It was the best of times, it was the worst of times.
We had kind of hoped that this year, there would be less travel. And at first, it seemed like maybe that would be the case- but as the year has progressed, our calendar keeps getting more and more full.
However, last week - was not travel for a conference, speaking engagement or a meeting. It was for the pleasure of going to Greece with friends and cruising around a few of the islands.
Except the news just wouldn’t quit, as President Trump was almost assassinated, and the Biden campaign imploded. On top of all that, Crowdstrike/Microsoft blew up the Internet. Then just like that, all airline travel, just as we were about to head for home, came to a screeching halt. So, the trip turned into a bit of a working vacation and then it was a frantic scramble in the middle of the night for viable tickets home and a mad dash for the airport.
Due to connections, we were able to re-book onto a British airline’s flight from our original United flight, and our trip home turned out to be well… kind of special. As in first-class tickets - kind of special. Somehow, we managed to get on a non-stop flight at 8:30 AM from Athens and be home in time for dinner on Saturday night.
Now, we are back at the ranch.
Olivia, our farm manager, has a few days off, so all of the farm chores are on our shoulders. That means feeding, cleaning, and watering horses twice daily, watering the gardens, and harvesting. The temperature is pretty brutal outside. So we are bringing a few horses into the barn daily. Basically, the little leucistic (white) yearling colt - as his skin is pretty light, and the two stallions that are being ridden are getting let into stalls each day. The boys (horses, that is) in the barn all have fans - so basically, for a horse - this is as good as it gets when it is 90 degrees outside and 98% humidity.
Frankly, it feels good to be outside, hanging out with the dogs, and being in the fresh air.
The six pregnant mares, due to give birth in the next month are all exceedingly huge and not moving much. Their daily schedule seems to be eating, drinking, and trying to move as little as possible.
At the end of this week, I have to go to Rome, and it will be one of the rare trips on which Jill doesn’t come with me. But she is worried about the mares, and so staying home just seems right.
The garden is now in that stage where everything is ripe all at once.
First, the netted raised beds have been a huge success. The netting has done exactly as we had hoped, and the peppers, cucumbers, Swiss chard, and sweet potatoes are producing like crazy. We probably have 20 pounds of cucumbers and 75 pounds of sweet potatoes to be harvested!
Goose and emu are also enjoying the produce. These two never seem to stop eating! Goose pretty much lives on greens, so a lot of clover is stuffed into his gullet on a daily basis!
The tomatoes are also going to town.
This time of year, the vegetable garden always gets a bit “messy.” We can hardly keep up with it all. But having such a wealth of produce and fruits is truly a blessing.
An update on the baby hens that were hatched out late last winter. They are finally laying, and this week, we collected our first batch of eggs! We have twelve hens, so their “production line” should kick in big time within the next few weeks - thank goodness. As we weed, prune, and pick damaged produce and fruit - it all goes into the chicken coop. As do a lot of our leftovers. The truth is that our harvest has been exceedingly good this year, and I am glad to be able to feed the chickens food that will eventually nourish us.
Our potted annuals are starting to look a little peaked now. It is time to do some re-potting and to supplement the pots with some fresh plants. Also, we harvested the garlic before we went to Greece. That has been hung to dry out more thoroughly. We also have many herbs among the potted flowers that need cutting back and drying. Jill likes just to put the cuttings in paper bags; then she hangs the bags in the closet to dry out before crushing the leaves and packing them in glass jars.
A little issue with Gizmo the emu is that Gonzo the goose likes to eat Gizmo’s feathers at night. So, Jill ordered some bitter apple spray to apply on Gizmo’s backside in the hopes that this would deter Gonzo from his feather-eating spree. But Gonzo can be quite tenacious, so we shall see if that works. Jill’s “Plan B” is to arm wrestle Gizmo into one of my old T-shirts… That should be fun!
Here they are - both eating pimento peppers and Swiss chard leaves that were just harvested. Gizmo has clearly bitten off more than he can chew.
On Sunday evening, we had the unfortunate loss of Jill’s favorite peacock, Waylen. Waylen was the friendliest of the peas and had no fear of dogs. Unfortunately, based on the feathers found in a paddock, Mr. Fox was able to corner Waylen in a horse corral, where he met his end.
The other birds are a bit traumatized and have now decided to move up to where our main house is during the day.
Jil is also traumatized and spent Monday mourning the loss of her favorite pea.
Such is life on a farm.
But today is a good day - and I look forward to reading about how your gardens and animals are doing.
Now, back to editing and merging in the copy editors suggestions…. Getting close to final! Then off to the printer, and to producing the audible version.
Our book, PsyWar can now be pre-ordered on Amazon.
An audible version should be available on the release date also.
Thanks for the descriptive update of life on your homestead! Hugs to Jill on the loss of her favorite peacock and prayers for safe travels always.
Nice hearing your stories on the farm. May God bless you both!