I am grateful for the rain. I have been discouraged by the water in the basement, the weeds I can't pull, and the mud, but I am grateful. We have had too many years of dry summers and dry winters that the soil 12" has been so dry that watering plants is challenging when the deep, dry soil sucks away the moisture.
Our turkeys have doubled in size with the return of the warm weather. They're also experts at scoping out the flaws of their coop. The first day we released them into the fenced and covered yard, we discovered them several hours later in the strawberries. For the record, the strawberry bed is NOT part of the fenced and covered yard.
Our meat chicks, due to a delay in the original shipping date, coupled with wet and cool weather, have not gained weight the way we would like, so the new butchering date is June 16. We lost two chicks in the last two days to illness and deformity. I'm not good at ending the suffering of a wounded animal, but I did bury the chick James had to kill. Death is not my favorite part of homesteading.
The weeds... Oh, my goodness! The weeds. If only my tomatoes could grow as much! We are ankle deep in mud in the garden since the soil is pretty soft, so the weeds have a reprieve as we experience day after day of (eventually needed) rain. I can't even tell you what the onions and potatoes look like as it's too muddy to venture down the road and onto the field.
Strawberries are ripening in less fantastic fashion, but they are enough to keep us busy.
James is busy completing another coop. Soup's brood needs to be in a tractor so they can get to fresh grass. The mud in the fixed yard is smelly after days and days of damp.
Thank God for the rain! (And bring on the sun!!)
Until next time, remember, this is not paradise. It's Purgatory Ranch.
Our turkeys have doubled in size with the return of the warm weather. They're also experts at scoping out the flaws of their coop. The first day we released them into the fenced and covered yard, we discovered them several hours later in the strawberries. For the record, the strawberry bed is NOT part of the fenced and covered yard.
Our meat chicks, due to a delay in the original shipping date, coupled with wet and cool weather, have not gained weight the way we would like, so the new butchering date is June 16. We lost two chicks in the last two days to illness and deformity. I'm not good at ending the suffering of a wounded animal, but I did bury the chick James had to kill. Death is not my favorite part of homesteading.
The weeds... Oh, my goodness! The weeds. If only my tomatoes could grow as much! We are ankle deep in mud in the garden since the soil is pretty soft, so the weeds have a reprieve as we experience day after day of (eventually needed) rain. I can't even tell you what the onions and potatoes look like as it's too muddy to venture down the road and onto the field.
Strawberries are ripening in less fantastic fashion, but they are enough to keep us busy.
James is busy completing another coop. Soup's brood needs to be in a tractor so they can get to fresh grass. The mud in the fixed yard is smelly after days and days of damp.
Thank God for the rain! (And bring on the sun!!)
Until next time, remember, this is not paradise. It's Purgatory Ranch.
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