Ninety degrees meanwhile out with the goats, 2016

I'm always surprised at how resilient Boer Goats can be.  This breed originates from South Africa and has become one of the best meat goats ever bred.  As other animals, including the human variety, head for the shade or the AC, the Boers are all out sunning themselves, enjoying the lovely day.

 I'm the first to admit, that I love our goats.  They are such personalities!  Fluffy is herd queen.  Although very pregnant, no one challenges her.  First to the pasture.  First to the water bucket.  First to eat.  First to get pats.  Everyone waits patiently until Fluffy indicates everything okay.  She's sweet as can be to the boys, gently correcting them when necessary. 
The boys are busy!  Like little perpetual motion machines with only two settings: High and Off.  Like most toddlers, they race every where: hurry to the pasture! hurry to the barn!  hurry to the feed tray! hurry to the milk wagon! hurry to see what grandma brought!  Most pictures I take of them ends up where one or the other is blurry.

I think I saw some cookies in Grandma's pocket!  you knock her down, I'll grab em!

I think I caught them sharing a secret.  We'll never know.

With a little rain and sunshine

It has rained nearly every day for the last few months.  Fortunately it has not rained constantly and, fortunately, we're on high enough ground that most has drained away from the orchards and gardens.  The hay fields and parts of the pastures are still quite wet so once again, we continue to wait and hope to dry these out long enough to rescue a few bales from them.

Meanwhile out in the garden, last spring we did a small experiment but putting in a few raised beds.  These have turned out to be a blessing in many ways.  The vegetables are protected from too much rain and standing water. 

 In the last week the bean box has exploded to life.  Although the rows were planted about 18" apart, you would never guess it by how thick and bushy these have become.  Provided that conditions don't suddenly make an unexpected u-turn, we should be harvesting beans by next friday.

yellow beans

There are two different types of snaps growing: bush green beans and yellow snaps.  They have a similar flavor yet add a little splash of color to the summer table.

The cucumbers are growing slowly however with the warmer days, little cukes are appearing.  Other pleasant surprises include the peppers: red bell, cherry bombs (hot), and poblano peppers (med hot to very hot) are all doing well.

Toward the back of the garden, the squash, gourds, and pumpkins are going vigorously.  This year, we planted these in one of the raised beds.  Since they are going in close proximity to each other, we will probably not save the seeds.  These plants will cross pollenate with each other and with the cucumbers resulting in some unexpected off spring.

Sidebar: with all the rain, powdery mildew has become a big worry for many farmers.  Rather than spraying with poisons, I'm trying another remedy: milk.  By spraying the leaves and stems with a solution made with 1 part milk to 9 parts water, one raises the pH on the surfaces just enough to kill the mold spores.  One has to reapply after the rains however after just a few applications, the powdery mildew goes away.  This can be used on a variety of different plants and your garden stays safe for all the little beasties (dogs, chickens, children, husbands, etc) who may come and go.

Just remember to take care of it promptly.  This disease can rapidly wipe out a garden if left to spread.  To read more see Organic Gardening dot com. 

Something pretty I wanted to share, part 6

Early in the morning, just after sun up and before everyone else starts to shake the sleep from his eyes, you can find me out walking the pastures or down in the wood looking for treasure.  The chickens have all been fed and watered and are out doing their chicky business, looking for bugs or squabbling over some choice clover bit.

I love the colors and textures I find as I walk along.  This yellow flowered ground cover, has a blossom shaped similar to a cover but is a deep buttercup gold.  Along the edge of the wood, wild lilies are coming into bloom.

There are also a wide variety of daisy-like flowers.  I have no idea what the actual names are of these plants, but I keep looking and hoping to learn something new.

It continues to be too wet to mow and bale hay.  I fear that means that hay will be especially expensive this year and the quality will be way down.  On top of that, many of the grain growers have also had trouble getting into their fields this spring.  That means that bread, feeds, and meats are going to be expensive this fall and winter.  (side note to those who enjoy only grass fed meats: cattle and pigs can be very hard on pastures that are soft from too much rain.  Their feet punch holes in the sod making it difficult for grasses to continue grow.  Wet soils can also lead to other unhealthy conditions in the animals themselves.  Ranchers must stay continuously aware of their animals special health concerns under these circumstances.)
As the grass seed heads ripen, other plants also put out their long stalks to dry.

Down in the cool, damp regions the ferns continue to thrive.  One needs to be a little careful when going down to take a look, for the poison ivy is also flourishing these days.

 I'm on the look out for more orchids however the poison ivy has made me a bit of a coward to go in too deep into the unpathed areas within the wood.