Kinda of sort of back, please bear with us.  So many things going on in life we're a bit overwhelmed right now.  The garden has been disaster this year; first the cold and wet well into June, then the mosquitoes, next grasshoppers by the millions, then the coons ravaged our Indian corn and now the deer have moved in to feast on the rest*sigh*  We've barely had enough produce to keep our customer's baskets filled each week, so needless to say we've been working our backsides off for little to nothing for ourselves.  We've already suffered a light frost and some damage, so holding our breath and praying we're able to fulfill our commitment for our customers, three weekly baskets needed.  No tomatoes, we're even afraid that the plants in the greenhouse won't ripen in time, so we'll harvest these for our own use.

Where to start and not entirely remembering where we left off either. Okay as of July 14th Mike quit working for others and has become self employed, PTL so far so good and we're enjoying more free time for him to work around the farm. Needless to say over the years of him working outside the farm we've gotten behind and now hope to catch up alittle.  We need to re-fence the section of fence line we lost due to high water on the river in mid July, but not entirely sure how to reroute it yet.  Mike is also doing quite well with his banjo lessons and can play a few simple songs and does well with picking up cord and key changes when playing with our friend( his teacher), he mostly plays background and is working hard to learn different rolls( for those of you who know this can be difficult) We can't wait for him to be accomplished and we can do sing alongs around the outside fire pit with fellow pickers. :o)

Cortney has been working several jobs, two cleaning jobs and early each morning picking sweetcorn for a fellow farmer friend. this leaves me alone much of the mornings to get chores, garden, yard, house and meals going.  I'm really missing her help, that's for sure!*wink* 

Besides all of the above things to keep me busy I'm now in the midst of canning jams, jellies, some relishes and a few beans( mainly Basil Dilly Beans) and pickled carrots. I'm also planning ahead for winter projects and holiday gifts and trying to get started now so we're not so rushed on finishing gifts. This also requires some thriftiness in finding bargains for needed items. Secondhand stores are a wonderful resource if you know where to look and what you need. Another great source is just to let it be known what it is you are looking for to fellow crafters and you'll be surprised at what turns up for free or on trade.*wink*

The animals are all doing well. We're getting 1 gallon of milk a day from our dairy goat, Ginger. :o) and Angel is just being the companion goat for now, she was in such poor shape when we adopted her and with birthing twins we decided to dry her off after the kids were weaned and let her build herself up for winter. Angel looks great and has such a fun personality, we love her, she is very entertaining.  The turkeys are growing and we pray will be heavy enough for Thanksgiving butchering. All 7 remaining poults are sold for butcher( well one is ours). We sold two other poults to a gentleman who wishes to start a small flock for himself and also gave him an older hen( good setter and mother) as part of the deal, besides she needed a good home as we've decided to thin down our flock for overwintering due to ever rising feed costs. :o(   We've also thinned down our layer flock to 15 hens to make winter feed bill more manageable. IN mid to late Oct. we'll again be getting two feeder pigs to raise up for Feb./ March butchering.  The steer is growing but we'll need to overwinter him and plan on a spring butcher, unless we get our heifer sold, then we'll butcher him this Fall because he can't be alone. We've decided that it's simply to hard to get a cow bred if you don't have a bull and we don't want to deal with a bull for 1-2 heifers at most. Goats just seem to be more doable for us right now. We'll feed up a steer or two for beef as long as we can afford to purchase weanling's and feed them up for 2 yrs.  With rising feed costs, it's worth figuring your costs invested verses buying from a fellow farmer/rancher.

Well supper needs tending and chores are coming up fast so better sign off for now here are a few pictures of some of the animals, the weedy garden, the overgrown( with weeds) root cellar and some of our successful crops( beans, cukes, and millet)

 Turkey poults, now 4 months old.

 Weeding the cellar, overgrown with Kosha and wildflower stems

 Our weedy garden and self-sown sunflowers.

 Cabbage, mini pumpkins and raspberries

 Climbing beans and cukes with sunflower hidden greenhouse in background

 Millet

 some of our firewood for winter store. These two trees had to be loaded with a big Cat front loader

This makes it look as if Mike is picking these up, but in reality he is simply trying to guide it as it falls off the trailer, approx. weight of each piece 300lbs each. These two trees and some other odds and ends wood should finish off our wood supply for this winter. Now onto cutting up another fallen tree on a friends property as well as clean up of a few trees on our own property.