Animals

The Best of Summer

It took me no time to get back into the rhythm of normal daily farm life yesterday.

I awoke to a cool, sunny morning...

a bright blue sky filled with storybook clouds.

After morning chores were finished, I headed up to Becky's to pick some peaches

from her tree's heavily laden branches.

By the time I finished, I had about 10 pounds of peaches.

(Which also included the 8 peaches that were on my own tree.)

I decided that rather than make a peach pie right now, I would peel and slice the peaches

and freeze them.

I simply clean and slice the peaches and pack them in a vacuum sealed bag.

Then, when I am ready to bake a pie, I will thaw them and add sugar and bake them.

Mmmmmm....how wonderful a peach pie will taste in the middle of winter!

After the peaches were done,

I cleaned and chopped yesterday's hot peppers and canned hot pepper relish.

While I was out doing afternoon chores, the clouds began to darken and I thought a storm

might be brewing. Unfortunately, we got no rain...and boy do we need it!

I took a few watermelon treats to the pigs...

something new for them.

Ginger loved the watermelon.

MaryAnn wouldn't even try it.

(Just like kids!)

Curiously, after weeks of hanging out in the barn, Kenny finally emerged

and went for a walkabout.

(I dropped off a piece of watermelon for him as well.)

Even though temperatures were quite hot yesterday, with relatively no humidity

the animals didn't seem to mind the heat.

The goats rarely seek shade...they don't seem to mind the heat.

The sheep spend their hot afternoons in this grove of trees.

You might notice that there is no underbrush or leaves for the first three feet from the ground.

The sheep are excellent landscapers and will clean out all manner of brush.

I wanted to show you how pretty Faith has gotten.

Her brown fur with black accents is just lovely, I think...

and next to Hope (who always looks a little dirty) Faith always looks clean.

As for the garden....

the corn is ready.

A few ears were lost to a fungus....I presume due to the weeks and weeks of rain we had.

Tomatoes

and cucumbers are gifting us generously.
These are lemon cucumbers. They look a little like lemons, but taste exactly like a cuke.

There is tons of basil as well, so I will be making spaghetti sauce in the next few days.

I am still harvesting an occasional squash, but they are almost done now.

I love the way the gourd vines have covered this trellis.

And my favorite corner of the garden is this little sitting area,

shaded by perennials, vines and an umbrella.

(You can see I need to do a little weeding!)

Beets are in, so I will be roasting a bunch of them...

What you don't see in most of the pictures that I post are the ever-present
turkeys, Tom and Chuck.
It's hard to believe these two are six years old now.

The rest of this week will be spent continuing the catch-up...

mowing the front pasture,

cleaning out garden boxes in preparation for fall gardening,

and putting up tomatoes, and tomatoes and tomatoes!!

I'm really looking forward to the weather at the end of the week....

highs in the 70's...

sounds heavenly!

What are you up to this week??

- Baaaaa, Baa Brown Lamb...why's Your Wool So Wet?
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- Have I Mentioned That We Have A Lot Of Tomatoes?
I continue to be knee-deep in tomatoes.(Note to self...perhaps 40 plants was excessive.) The vines are beginning to die, but there are still so, so many tomatoes left to finishripening. Yesterday I harvested Amish paste tomatoes and Roma tomatoes...my...

- And Now A Word From Our Sponsor, The Tomato!
Spectacular, cool summer weather continues and I am happy as a pig in a pool! Yesterday was a beautiful sunny day with a couple of passing rain showers...short, rainbow-producing showers... Don't you just love rain when it is sunny? That kind...

- Blame It On The Storm!
If you happened to stop by the farm yesterday for a visit,you may have noticed that I was AWOL! A storm right after midnight on Monday night rendered me incommunicado for the nextday and a half. (Did you think that maybe a grand baby was born?...not...

- Harvest Time
I remain in disbelief of the incredible stretch of temperate weather we are experiencing!Every day is just as beautiful as the one before and the one after. It's as if Pennsylvania has become the new San Diego. Although I know it is just a temporary...

Animals