Plant:
3.5 rows of lettuce, 50 lbs Yukon gold potatoes. I got the potatoes cut up this week, and Jim got them in the ground yesterday in the crazy heat we're having.
Harvest:
red salad bowl lettuce, romaine, d'avignon radishes, snap peas, swiss chard, spinach, cilantro, thyme, citrus thyme, oregano, tarragon, chives, strawberries, milk, eggs.
Preserve:Made and froze 3.5 lbs butter. Jim made ground pork from the piglet he butchered using his grandma's Sunbeam with grinder attachments that we inherited.
Store:
Purchased several dairy cultures that now reside in my freezer for use in preserving some of the milk we're getting.
Prep:
Prepped a stall in the barn for our Nigerian Dwarf goat, Latte, who's due to kid any day now. She's the one with the brown markings; the white one is her little boy from last year, who will likely be in our freezer soon.Set up milking stand and area for her in the barn, so my daughter Julia can milk her, starting 2 weeks after kidding.
Found a silver fox bunny doe for Julia's rabbit breeding, and she and Jim began building the hutch. Jules is definitely the one most into the farm, and the one most likely to actually take care of said bunnies. She wants to be a vet when she grows up, so she's very interested in learning all about animals. More power to her!
Manage:
Cleaned and organized the refrigerator to accommodate all of our new dairy products. Weeded the market garden and put up a row of agribon over the beans that were being crushed by bean beetles. Patrolled the potatoes for Colorado potato beetles, larva and eggs. Bees: installed foundation in 20 frames, 10 for each deep hive body, and added them to our two hives, which are filling out really nicely. Laid soaker hoses in the market garden. Sprayed Serenade to try to control botrytis in the strawberries, courtesy of the wet weather we've been having.
Cook:Made neufchatel cream cheese for the first time, also chevre, which I've made before, and sour cream.
(Gratuitous barn cat photo.)
Add:
Seasonal CSA started last week, so I harvested produce shares for 10 families.
Reduce:
Compost, reusable bags, etc.
Learn:
I continue to learn all about cheese making.
7 comments:
Your place is always so much fun to hear about.
The milk is wonderful. We're enjoying the milk from someone else who doesn't quite want to be so innundated with milk and learning cheese making very slowely.
Right now we're all flirting with being 'whelmed! Sounds like you're getting plenty done and then some. Love the photos of goats and cats.
Sounds like you are very busy!! Simple living on the farm, yeah right there is always and endless list of to do's! Have a nice week!~Kim
whew! It's good you are blogging so those who are considering farming/homesteadin' can get a reality check. I read "two weeks after kidding" and read "Kidding" as in Joking - and so saw me! I know what you really meant and it is all very exciting. I recently saw someone make mozzarella cheese in their kitchen and it was surprising how simple it was - yet, it is, just one moooore thing to do! Good. luck. Despite the crazy heat, we are truly just at the beginning (a sad reality for me, who dislikes summer). You rule.
Thanks for the kind comments. Definitely an endless to-do list around here. Not to mention the money enough and time list.
I love hearing about everyone's independence updates—I find them very motivating. They help me keep up the energy for doing around my place.
Madeline, I don't know how you deal with that Georgia heat! We've been in a heat wave since Thursday, and it's been so brutal. Thank goodness the weather broke last evening, and I can get back out into the gardens and do what needs doing.
I would love to get the Neuftchal ( is tht how it is spelled?) cheese.
Its a shame I don't make any cheese with all the milk here.
How do you make sour cream?
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