I've been gardening for most of my life and have been a devoted fan of organic gardening the whole time. It just makes so much more sense to work in harmony with Mother Nature than to fight her. Besides which it is better for the planet and better for our bodies. Here you can see what I'm planting and harvesting, with gardening hints and resources thrown in for good measure.
We have had weeks of high heat at least 105 every day and some days as high as 113. Pretty much anything in a smaller pot has fried to a crisp, I've probably lost a seedling tree that I planted this spring and the figs aren't looking too good since the squirrels tunneled under them and dried them out big time.
But I do have tomatoes! And after all the years of dealing with root knot nematodes I *think* I am finally clear of them. Now I just need some rain and cooler tempertures to get some more things planted. Not much thrives in this heat and dryness. Even the prickly pear cactus are dried out and shriveling up!
Just as I was starting chores this morning I hear a goat kid hollaring in distress. And find Midnight and Chocolate have hopped the fence again. One of Midnight’s boys was hollaring because he couldn’t find mom.
Got them back in and worked on changing out the pintles for the gate so it won’t fall off every time I open it.
Then things began to get complicated. It looked like Chocolate was coming into heat. She was even trying to ride the little bucklings. So I slipped her into Bashful’s pen and yep she’s in heat. So likely December babies to come. But in this pic you can see what happened later. Gazelle and Chocolate began fighting through the fence. They bent up a brand new cattle panel. Mostly dented from Gazelle’s side.
So I found a metal beam from an old shed we tore down and wired it right across where they were butting heads. That seemed to put a stop to it.
Stopped to unload the car and clean up the driveway to get ready for hay delivery. I scored this cool packing crate yesterday. With some legs and some beefing up will make a great hay feeder It’s about 6.5’ long and about 2’ wide.
But it’s longer than this little roof so started to add on. I got the T post set and another pallet put in place and was scrounging around for some long enough 2x4s to make the roof wider when Gazelle started pounding the fence so had to stop and fix that like I explained before.
Puppies are like toddlers. When it gets too quiet you better go check. In this case Digger was just napping in his mud hole.
I did work over here where they are hopping the fence.
I found a long board to add in. I meant to cut some weed trees to put in the gaps but by then it was getting really hot. It was 81°F at 5:00 am and by 10 it was miserable.
I did manage to change out the biggest pad on my cooler. That by the way is a blue pad. It was so clogged up with lime no air was getting through. Hopefully I’ll get the other 2 sides done tomorrow. But changing out just one side made a big difference in air flow in the house.
Went to feed the bottle baby at noon and Digger decided he needed to cool off in the goats water. Of course I had to clean and refill buckets after that.
And at milking time the storm rolled in. I got Posie milked ok and then Mocha and I got soaked I didn’t even strip her out like I usually do. But that’s ok since she’s still nursing Latte.
Then I put stuff in the shed and ran to the house sopping wet. Dried off and changed my shirt. Waited for the storm to pass and finished up milking. Fed Digger and the bottle baby. Trying to decide what to have for dinner. Something simple. I’m too tired to think. Good night.
Up at 4:30 outside at 5:00 to hay the goats. Started a batch of soap and started laundry to wash.
The cheese I set last night is ready to drain.
Shade cloth up but I ran out of zip ties.
Found a chain for the gate.
Hung out the pile of udder washing rags I washed earlier
Took hay to my buck Bentley who is staying at my friends house for now. He got a hoof trim while I was there. Realized I was missing a meeting at work. Went anyway because I need zip ties. Meeting was over of course. Realized I had no cash and new debit card hadn’t arrived yet. So go home for $, go back and also get feed.
On the way home. It’s not even 10:00 am. It was actually reading 100 down on the highway.
Check on goats. Got a big piece of tin off the back of the pen so they have more airflow. Water goats and chickens while I’m out there.
Get to taste a White Marseilles fig for the first time. Yummy. Thomas Jefferson brought them to the US from France.
Finished this batch of soap. Unscented with colloidal oatmeal.
Check weather. Supposed to rain next weekend. But we have already exceeded the predicted high for today by several degrees. Afternoon heat check. Chocolate (in back) and Gazelle are fine. I have decided to move Gazelle along so message me if you want to know more.
Got the chèvre draining.
Put away all the milk things I washed last night.
Had toast and cheese for lunch.
Went out and checked on everyone again, filled up water buckets, wet down shade cloth and of course played with baby goats.
Feed & water chickens, pick up eggs. Get ready to milk. Midnight’s udder feels hard so I coax her the milk stand by carrying her twins. So then Chocolate and Gazelle are yelling because they want to go too. Midnight has the tiniest teats ever! They’ll get bigger but it was hard to get much milk out of her. She did super standing for her first milking and after they went back to their pen her boys were nursing. I hope that relieved some pressure. I’ll check her again in the morning.
Bambi is last in the milking line and I decided to move her and Bashful in together in the new pen. Bambi isn’t very nice to Esmarelda, always butting her around. I’m afraid if Storm and her kids get in the way the kid would get hurt. Anyway took some coaxing and manipulating with a pan of grain to get Bashful in. Bambi immediately began yelling and testing the fence and gate. Cross my fingers I did a good enough job.
I grabbed my clippers and trimmed some tree branches to give them something to do. But there was still a lot of yelling even past dark. On the other hand Storm and Esmarelda didn’t seem too concerned that Bambi didn’t come back to their pen.
By the time I brought the milk in the house it was going on full dark. So I filtered milk, washed up all the milk things, a few people dishes, got a bath and went to bed.
It’s been a busy week but I did squeeze in some hill time to go from this…
To this. A bit more picking to do but getting there.
The sun doesn’t come over the mountain until about 8:30 now. It’ll be after 9:00 Dec 21.
Sent some extra cockerels off to freezer camp
Doing chores by headlamp in the morning sucks but the sunrise is pretty
Made a yummy cheesecake from chèvre. Cheated and bought crust. Did you know they come in pecan now? It’s so yellow from my egg yolks.
This poor chicken had a bad case of fowl pox but also somehow it’s eye is infected. Not sure it’s going to make it but she’s up eating and drinking so I’m doctoring.
Mmmm. Posie your legs are just too short. I did find my beat up, dented 40 year old milk pail. It’s a bit shorter than this new one so using it now. The new one is fine under big tall goats but Posie has really short legs.
I worked a bit getting grass out of this bed. Will take a few days before it’s all done and ready to plant again.
Mmm. Pulled some carrots to cook. Not sure if they have nematode damage at all, it doesn’t look like it although forked roots can be a symptom these look more like the soil is not deep enough. I should probably double dig these beds before I try carrots again.
And I found a heart rock
#appreciation
Today I appreciate that the weather has been really nice.
Still working on this bulge. The ground in this spot is almost as hard and dry as a rock. There are layers of calcium gluing rocks and gravel together
Caramel is still being ridiculous and is trying to dry up. I don’t think she’s cut out to be a long term milker in which case she may be looking for a new home.
After some days of zero eggs due to the fowl pox epidemic here things are starting to pick up a tiny bit.
I cleared all the vegetation in this bed and raked up as much of the nematode infested roots as I could. Those go straight to the trash.
Added gypsum for calcium
Made furrows and filled with worm castings
Planted salad mix, spinach and cabbage
The pink cosmos have started blooming. And the mums should start this week. I can’t believe how fast this year has gone by.
#appreciation
I so appreciate that the weather has been beautiful so I can work outside a lot.
You know I need to work right there Posie 
