A day in the kitchen

The forecast said hot and sunny today so I promised the kids we'd go to the water park.  Then I woke up this morning to feed the animals and clean the coop and it was raining.  The weather report said rain and scattered thunderstorms all day and the waterpark actually posted to say they were closed for the day.

The only option was to swap our plans for later this week and try the water park another day.

So it was time to make some dill pickles.

We had picked up pickle size cucumbers at the farmers market last week but hadn't had a chance to pickle and can them.

The dill liquid

 We haven't tried them yet, so I can only hope they taste as good as they look.

We bought peaches at the farmer's market yesterday and while peeling them was easy one I did the boiling water dip, getting them off the seed and slicing them wasn't.

We only ended up with two quart jars, although I have enough peaches to make 2-3 more quart jars.  I was getting tired.

And then I made some biscuits from a new recipe I found.  These are all for the freezer and can go straight in to the oven when we want to eat them.

I may or may not have eaten a raw biscuit....

I was as tired as Faith looked

Wouldn't she be more comfortable in another place?

I will never understand why she chooses to attempt to lay on pieces of furniture that are clearly not big enough for her... And underneath her is a binder, a huge pile of papers, a few DVDs, etc.  Clearly, she doesn't mind.

The garden is looking good, but not good enough

We spent several hours in the garden today.  I was weeding all over the place and then the oldest son was helping to bring wheelbarrows full of the new soil into the garden for a few projects.  It isn't done but he promised to help tomorrow if we quit at about 2 today.  :)

We've gotten lettuce from the garden, but nothing else.  Everything is growing, but not fast enough for me.

Tomato plants from seeds on the left, broccoli and cauliflower down the middle, calendula in the back of the row

Calendula - flowers that will be fed to the chickens if they ever grow

More tomatoes, some from plants

One of two bell peppers, at least I see something growing

A sign of good things to come

Onions and Garlic

The cabbage is not looking good

Green beans, there are a few there to pick, but only a couple

Two types of leaf lettuce (right before he started cutting for dinner)

Sunflowers (minus the two the goats ate) :/

Carrots and parsnips

Parsnips

Six potato cages

Another view of how tall they are

Pumpkin plants in the front with the new soil around them

Watermelon plants, not doing very well

Squash

Zucchini

Brussels sprouts that the goats got to :(

Sweet potatoes

The herbs

Basil

Parsley

Dill

I never got around to planting more herbs in the ground, but I'm hoping I can still get some seeds out and still be able to harvest it because these pots didn't do as well as I had hoped.

There is still a good size area that needs to be weeded, mixed with the new soil, and then planted once I figure out what can be planted now and harvested in times.  Worst case scenario, I will do more potatoes.

It was time to get dirt-y

I finally gave in and had some quality soil delivered so that I could complete some of the projects around here.

Ten cubic yards of compost-soil mix was dumped.  When the truck pulled up I was a bit scared about how much ten cubic yards would be, but once it was dumped I knew I could use it all.

The first project was to finish the raised flower bed.

The second project was to raise one of the flower beds so that it was level and would help hide the foundation better.

It took a few more boulders that we brought over from the goat pen and several loads of soil, but we finished it.

I weeded the other flower bed and then we raised it so that it is almost level.  I'm thinking another wheelbarrow or two full of soil will finish the job.

There is still plenty of soil level for the next projects.

And then I took a quick break to repaint the rooster for the summer theme.

There's nothing wrong with giving a chicken a bath

Big Red is still holding up.  She seems more swollen, but each night I watch her going to eat and she manages to get out of the coop every day.  Thursday night when we went to go lock the birds up, my heart ached for her.  There, standing at the door, was Big Red.  She couldn't get up the ramp into the chicken door because the goats broke it and it's too steep for her now, so she was just standing there at my door.  I don't know if she was waiting for me to come let her in, or just standing there because she didn't know what else to do.

This afternoon she was standing in the goat pen for awhile before I scooped her up and brought her in the house for a warm bath.

After soaking in the warm water in the sink for twenty minutes, I bundled her up to dry and went back outside.

She hates me now, I'm sure of it.

I did get some pictures of her bloated belly...

I keep thinking that I am going to have to have a vet put her down, but I haven't found a bird vet around here and I keep trying to convince myself she will be fine.  I know that's not true, her belly is so large that it's usually resting on the ground and she has a red area that's rubbed raw now.

How to Milk a Goat

Saturday, several of my students came down to the farm because their parents had bid on "Farm Day" at the school's silent auction fundraiser.  They hung out with the animals, ate hot dogs, and roasted s'mores.

At one point they were asking questions about goat milk and since Jenny was in the goat house, and therefore easy to catch, I decided to let them try to milk a goat.

I wasn't exactly dressed for goat milking

 Each student wanted a chance to milk Jenny.

Faces removed for the privacy of the innocent :)

 Clearly Jenny was not thrilled.

Later, one of the girls wanted to try to get Jenny out of the house and to milk her.  She couldn't get Jenny to budge so the older son decided to step in to help.

I wish I could leave her face on this picture, it was pure amazement.  :)

What we don't have pictures of is when the kids were each getting Jenny's milk to squirt at each other.  The youngest son had goat milk all over his face.