Animals

Catching Up

Goodness, I have so much to share with you.

The last few days have been a whirlwind of activity.

A quick 5:00 AM train trip to NYC with "the girls" on Thursday

had us exploring the West Village and the Flat Iron district.

We searched out the bakeries, Italian markets, and a trendy thrift shop.

We stuffed ourselves with Brooklyn bagels on the High Line

(an elevated traintrack-turned-park)

and enjoyed a terrific authentic Italian lunch with wine.

We searched out the Victory Garden, a ice-creamery that serves

goats milk ice-cream made in the Middle Eastern tradition with a hint of floral and herbal essences.

In the middle of harvesting/food preservation season, a day exploring the city

was the pause that refreshed... despite the fact that we were all exhausted by the time

the train brought us back home at 11:00 PM.

Friday and the weekend brought a return to the garden,

where we busily harvested tomatoes

cukes, pattypan squash, acorn squash, peppers, cantaloupes, and pumpkins.

Saturday we picked blackberries and the last of our blueberries.

It's been a great year for berries with the copious rainfall we have received.

I have to tell you, I am a little confused by our weather.

As you can see, Saturday morning looked more like a September morn,

than an August one.

The air was cool and moist as we walked through the woods in search of berries.

Becky and Sid were practicing in the arena...

surrounded by fog.

Even the wild critters seem to be ahead of themselves a bit.

The swallows are flocking and the spiders have been busily spinning autumn webs,

as if Halloween is right around the corner.

Somebody loves photo-bombing!

By the end of Saturday we had 4 more jars of spaghetti sauce in the freezer,

(for a total of 22 quarts)

and mixed berry jam and hot pepper relish processed.

Hot pepper processing is a group effort.

Note the required attire...gloves and ski masks for the less seasoned pepper cleaners!

Sunday's task was garden weeding,

followed by ground cherry/orange jam preserving.

Mixed in with the kitchen chores was another goat moving.

We herded the fainters into the large pasture....

moved a couple of their houses...

(in addition to the run-in shed that is already present in that pasture)

This field gives them lots of room to romp and graze...

a big change of pace from their smaller goat yards.

After that it was time to check the temperature of the compost/manure pile.

We have taken a rather scientific approach to composting.

The desired temperature of a compost pile is somewhere between

130 degrees and 180 degrees.

It needs to be 130 or above to kill weed seeds,

and under 180 to prevent killing bacteria, which is necessary for breaking down the compost.
When the temperature falls below 120-130, it is time to turn the pile with the tractor.

Optimally, your compost pile should be 40% green matter (grass clippings, veggie compost, etc.)

40% brown matter (wood chips, coffee grounds, etc)

and 20% manure.

While our pile is a little heavy in manure,

we are trying to introduce as much of the other organic matter as we can.

Hubbs plans to get even more scientific about his compost by

attending a course at the Rodale Institute this winter and studying our piles

under his microscope.

Yep....that's my Hubbs... always approaching things scientifically!

Sorry this post was so long winded, but there was just so very much to catch up on!

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Animals