Weeding, mulching, replanting, transplanting and planting some more has taken up most of my free time. And holy crap does the grass seem to grow faster then ever this year??
Summer 'bicker' #1 involved the garden. We love fresh veggies, we have plenty of fertilizer, plenty of space but we seriously lack ambition, time and have a complete absence of love for gardening. We also have plenty of neighbors with farm stands full of quality produce at very tiny prices. But as always, we've already bought seeds, no one sells beets or salad greens or squash blossoms and it's tough to grow pumpkins on someone else's poop pile.
So here's my garden. We pulled out all the raised beds and tilled it up, dug out and moved the asparagus, probably killing them in the process. Waaaay behind schedule and we keep using our upcoming ( and long awaited) vacation as an excuse not to finish the job. Gardening, to me, is boring, repetitious, wearying yet considered a measure of status to those who feel differently. Pull the weed, smother it, suppress it, cover it up, yet it rises again. Dig a hole, plant something, cut it back, pull it out. Ick. We'll get the plants in the ground someday, hopefully someday soon. We're late, very late...and once again dysfunction trumps good intent. We will over plant, I will over cook. We will under water, we'll mow and weed whack, sending weeds and seeds into the beds to start the cycle again. Again, ick.
We picked up 10 new laying hens to add to the flock. We had butchered and given away some of the older hens so it was time to build the numbers back up. 2 of them promptly committed suicide by trying to stack themselves into a 4 inch gap between nest boxes. And then there were 8. Ever wonder where the term 'bird-brained' came from? I think I know...
The meat chicks are at the gross in between stage where they don't have enough feathers to cover their rapidly expanding bodies. 3 more weeks.
To add to our daily stress, we thought we should bale some hay. The weather has been exceptional and our supply was dwindling dangerously low. We usually work with our neighbors and tackle both fields at once. To ease into the season we did half last weekend and half this weekend. Last weekend was fraught with broken strings, dull blades and broken pins. Our allotted afternoon for baling lasted well into the night but ended well with dinner on the grill and a bottle of wine to toast the season. This weekend we thought, let's start a little earlier in the day so we aren't having dinner at 10 pm. So we did. 50 bales, 60 bales, 80 bales...like clockwork. Then bam, everything went to hell. Naturally it was Sunday when parts stores are closed and Mennonite neighbors are huddled down with family on their day of rest. One part broke. Then another. Then another.
The knotting mechanism seemed to be the problem so we all put our heads together. My job was to fashion a lever to press on one of the gears with a bottle opener that was just the right thickness. A few wrenches, a saws all and a grinding wheel later we had a new lever. 20 bales later it broke too. Next we made another one from a letter opener. Then a knife. Then we were swearing. Then bolts started breaking in another area. We finally got it working so that every 3rd bale was a good one with 2 knots. The other 2 would get pulled out of the baler and re spread by hand to be bales again....and again.
Our pockets were full of twine and more than likely my brain is full of metal shavings too. The rain was coming, so what choice did we have?? Day 2 of baling, dinner at midnight. Day 3 of baling after some light rain and maybe a few tears, we scrambled from the bottom of the empty fridge and threw together another late night meal, this time 9 pm.
It's been a rough week. Exhausting, physically, mentally and then there's our real jobs! But the end result is hay. Happy goats, happy llamas, happy alpacas and a large pending parts order at the New Holland dealership. Already counting the days until we do it again.
Sometimes when I overwork myself I get a little nuts. So I went to Target to get cat litter and I stumbled upon this painting that I just had to have.
I had just the spot for it. But it would only look nice if I replaced all of the throw pillows on the couch so 3 stores later I found those too. After I rearranged all the artwork in the great room I realized none of it was my own so I framed an old painting from college and hung that as well. And then I decided it would look better if I rearranged the furniture. And moved the piano. And steam cleaned the floors.
A few hours in to the project Kaelyn got really pissed at my antics, all the chaos and moving was cutting into her nap time so she threw herself on to the love seat in protest.
Can't you just read her mind?
Eventually she gave up entirely and squeezed herself into the chihuahua's bed.
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