Thursday, June 18, 2009

A Month of Rain

Lots and lots of rain. 10 inches and change so far. As Steve wrote in the farm blog, with that much rain comes rot. It has me gravely concerned for our potatoes, near ready to harvest, sitting there in the slop. It has been too wet to cultivate or weed, which is frustrating. It's not all bad, though. The frogs are living easy, they have stocked all our catchment ponds with tadpoles.


We have been enjoying some beautiful wild oyster mushrooms, a variety named Angel Wings, and have been admiring all the lovely fungus growing everywhere.
Did I mention the wildflowers? Untidiness does sometimes have its benefits. There are some areas on the farm that I protest being mowed. Well, so far I haven't had to lay down in front of the tractor. This year, my "weeds" have been spectacular.
In other news, all the kids are growing up and doing well. The little turkeys will be ready to go out on pasture before too long. The Buff Orpington family continues to be delightful. These are the most playful bunch of chicks I have ever known. I am especially impressed with how good a father the rooster is. He has infinite patience, and is very gentle with them, even when they invent such games as Hop on Pop to play.
Not to be outdone, the lovely Ms Elberta has hatched some wee ones of her own. Her hatch was more complicated, unfortunately. She hatched her babies in the goat house, which was a pretty good idea in terms of security from predators, but I couldn't feed them in there once they hatched. She was also living with another hen and a rooster, one of which killed three of the babies before I realized what was happening and relocated them. I kept a close watch, and when she was done hatching, moved her and her six biddies to a little cottage nearby, where she can bring them up in peace and safety.


Our little goat Djali, a Saanen cross, has begun to produce milk. She has never been bred, but being a dairy breed, they sometimes lactate anyway. This was news to me. We have been milking her, and so far have about a cup and a half, but hope we will perhaps collect enough to make a little cheese. I have enjoyed learning to milk, never having done it before. However, I am hindered somewhat by the antics of our other goat Thunder, who doesn't have, shall I say, the most sparkling of personalities. While I am hunched over, she likes to sneak up on me and grab a mouthful of my hair, then jerking it out of my head. When I scream, she looks at me with a devilish smirk, several strands of long blond hair dangling from her lip. My threats of barbecue don't seem to faze her at all.

2 comments:

ACE said...

Thank you for the proper spelling of "faze". Hallelujah.

Jane Le Galloudec said...

I love your wild meadow... so beautiful! And I dream of goats (sad I know!) and learning how to make cheese... if you do get enough for cheese making do tell us all how to do it... please.