Not to be outdone by Wisconsin, this was Monday morning's Oregon sky:
While I was away, several things of significance occurred. 1) Rick and Brian finally unloaded the trailer full of green oak firewood so they could 2) pick up and stack the last of our year's hay supply, two tons of third cutting orchardgrass for the sheep. 3) Josiah, the guy who has been staying in our basement guest quarters since Memorial Day weekend, moved out and 4) sold Brian his old car (he bought a new one while living here). The boy has his own wheels! (Well, almost; he has 30 days to pay for it and get his own insurance.)
 |
| 1993 Toyota Camry; he got a deal. |
As for me, I pretty much hit the ground running. The garden needed water ASAP, and I picked cucumbers (English and my first Armenian!), tomatoes, and parsley for a big batch of tabbouleh.
There were still useable prunes on the tree, so I've filled the dehydrator three more times. (Chuckie is always positioning himself for attention, and if he doesn't get it, he'll snag me!)
On Wednesday I did a major sheep shuffle in order to put together my breeding group. Spot got a fresh coat (and obligatory fleece shot) to replace the one with the broken leg strap and was secured in one side of the Ram-ada Inn; Bing and Bittersweet got corralled in the other side; Bette, Bridget and Bernadette got pedicures, then got moved to the Ram-ada Inn lot with Blaise; Bing and Bittersweet were moved to the Sheep Sheraton; and Spot was turned loose to terrorize romance his chosen ladies. The three maiden ewes were truly alarmed at first; Blaise less so since she was in Spot's breeding group last year. Now I'm crossing my fingers and toes that everyone settles in the next five weeks! That's all the time they get together as I don't want lambs to arrive while I'm gone for my annual women's retreat at the coast.
 |
| Ladies in waiting Bette and Blaise |
 |
| Bette, mid-side |
 |
| Ladies in waiting Bridget and Bernadette |
Speaking of lambs, Berlin needed a bigger coat so today I changed it out and got some photos of her, too.
 |
| Look at that tiny little tail! |
Monday morning before I went to work, the farrier came to trim the horses and noticed that Lance's right hock was really swollen. No way to know what happened or when; Rick had been cleaning stalls every morning, then turning the horses out in the lower pasture during the day, and he hadn't noticed anything. By Monday afternoon, gravity had pulled the swelling all the way down Lance's cannon bone, which makes me think the injury was pretty fresh that morning. Even though Lance wasn't lame on it, I kept the horses in a couple days as a precautionary measure, but it wasn't until I turned them out that the swelling went down – temporarily. This morning the leg had blown back up and was painful. We've added antibiotics to the anti-inflammatory; we'll see what happens.
 |
| Monday morning |
 |
| Monday afternoon |
 |
| Today |
The old hens are dropping feathers instead of eggs these days; the four youngsters are still growing.
 |
| Kate |
 |
| Lottie and Kate |
 |
| Lottie, the largest and most likely to approach me |
 |
| Supermodel Spangle |
 |
| Splash, the smallest of the four |
 |
| Splash and Spangle, the Whiting True Blues |
With heavy rain predicted tonight, then off and on over the weekend, there was a flurry of activity today. Rick picked all the grapes (while workers in the winery's vineyards frantically did the same); I picked the garden produce I thought most likely to crack or split:
 |
| The parsley was added to the tabbouleh already in the fridge |
We got the window put back in the henhouse, and Rick cleaned out some of the gutters on the house. I kept thinking how relieved and refreshed all the flora will feel with the dust rinsed off and moisture around their roots.
Oh! Earlier in the week, inspired once again by
a post on Leigh's blog, I decided to plant some seeds for fall harvest where the snow peas had been. I found two partial packets of beet seeds, but ended up only using the Chioggia seeds as there were plenty for my one row (and they weren't as old as the others). Hopefully the coming rain will give them a boost, not wash them out!
Poppy's ready; her fleece coat is on hand for cool mornings and rainy days:
We're all ready for rain at . . .
6 comments:
WOW! I'm super impressed with your garden produce. You've been busy. Mine is a total flop this year. NEXT year! as we say. Maybe I should start some fall/winter things in the greenhouse. I DO have some late green beans still in the garden, and the potatoes need dug. I'm ready to move on to firewood cutting though. Cheers
Good golly! What a whirlwind of busyness! But it's the time of year when "everything" seems to be needing to be done. Either before rain OR freezing temps. Hope you do get the rain you need. We've gotten 1-3/4" in the last couple of days and it's been loverly. Poor Lance. One problem for him after another.
Tim, I always forget how long it takes many things to come into heavy production – and of course, ALL AT ONCE. The dehydrator will be loaded up with the tomatillos and eggplant tonight; might put some Sungolds in there, too, to see how they do.
Mama Pea, if my old eyes are feeling correctly (Rick got my rain gauge up last night), we've gotten an inch so far; that's a LOT for us overnight!
Busy, busy! And that doesn’t even count the horse stuff!
You HAVE been really busy since you got home from WI!!
I do hope that Lance's owie will heal up quickly. Poor guy.
You'll have lots of prunes and other garden stuff, for sure!
I hope your sheep will do well and that all the ewes will settle. I'm looking forward to adorable little lambs in the spring.
You HAVE been busy! The crimp on that black sheep is fantastic and while I enjoy catching up with your farm, I'm to the point where doing it myself gone and bittersweet.
Lance's injury is worrisome so have tucked him in prayer for complete and quick healing. Sandra at Thistle Cove Farm
Post a Comment