That’s what I’ve been wishing for. Everyday. When all I see is brown.
I seem to have gotten my wish. Driving home from Cumberland today everything was lush and green. The grapevines in Phenix were absolutely stunning, lush and leafy and draped romantically over their arbors, which rolled over gentle hills back toward a white farmhouse and outbuildings.
The soybeans are knee high with thick, luxurious leaves and stems.
The tobacco, well, it’s doing well too. Field after green field of it. Some fields were being watered this morning as I left out on my way to Cumberland. The plants are waist-high and I can only imagine the water that they need to stay healthy and green.
The humidity is rising, and it’s not possible anymore to walk from car to store without sweating.
Profusely.
A good way to detoxify I’ve heard. And in some places people pay a lot of money to sweat. Maybe they should just move south.
Our small pastures are green and the grass is short, but thick. The horses actually have something to graze. But, they still want their hay two times a day. And they get it.
I bought turnips in Farmville at the co-op. We’re going to plant a small test plot for the goats. I bought a pound which is way more than I need. Hopefully the rains keep up and the chickens don’t eat all the seed.
Instead of flowers in front of the house, we’re going to have turnips. It’s pointless to grow flowers now anyway since we have to redo both the front porch and the back deck. Might as well grow turnips.
The spring hens have began laying. I put a big nest box and feeding area up for them, which they are ignoring. Instead, they are laying their eggs under the tarp that is over the hay. The eggs are very, very clean. One of the new hens is laying bantam sized eggs. So far I’ve gotten about 5 of them, so I guess they will stay that size. It’s funny though, we don’t have a single bantam hen on the property. No bantam rooster either.
The little goat girls are all in with the big goat girls and things are settling down. Not so much picking at each other and they are eating the weedy pasture down beautifully….leaving the grass and chomping on the weeds, baby trees, young briars, etc. It’s good to be a goat right now.
Milk production is lower, but steady. We’re getting around 4.5 gallons per day, milking 4 does. We’ve done better, but that’s really all the milk we need. More than we need in fact. I’ve been making a lot of cheese and soaking the chickens grain in the whey and also feeding them the leftover milk or kefir we don’t use. I’ve only once had a soft shell, and it was more like a mistake than an ongoing problem. Seems like the chicken forgot to lay down the hard part of the shell. The egg only had the tough inner membrane. No more eggs like that though. One was enough.
Anybody heard what the Farmer’s Almanac says about the coming winter? We’re all expecting the worst. How about you?
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