June, July

June began with a new collection of hay wagons. The school year ended for Rog and each night when I returned home from work a new wagon was in the driveway. Some people collect cars, some shoes, some artwork and apparently, some prefer haywagons. Notice how they are lovingly lined up to catch the sun. Ivy treats them like hurdles.

We finally completed the new pergola with 'party lights' but as usual we didn't do much in the way of sitting.

We decided the chickens needed new digs. We had previously converted a horse stall into a coop in one of the big barns but they outgrew their welcome. Chickens stink, no matter how much or how little we clean up after them, they stink and produce a lot of dust. The previous setup didn't offer too much in the way of outdoor space either so we moved them across the yard into a new coop. Later in the year we'd add electric net fencing and a movable pasture, eventually we hope to let them 'work' the manure pile for us which will make the birds quite happy as well!

This years early summer heat prompted us to buy Ivy her very own pool. She looks positively uncoordinated and ridiculous swimming 'for real' but she enjoys it immensely so we thought this would be another way to tire her out. Having a long-haired weimaraner is quite different than our previous traditional weim, Ivy is quite intolerant of the heat and the sun and hopped right in the pool every chance she got. 

Soon we grew jealous and bought a pool of our own. At just the right angle it looks quite luxurious...and at just the right angle we can both fit in it. Didn't stop me from buying a little raft or from having a pool party...

The summer heat brought an early harvest. The strawberries were perfect and plentiful despite being overgrown with weeds. Unfortunately the dogs thought so too. Little bites at the bottom and big bites at the top, they all learned to play. It was funny at first but then they learned to pick snap peas, tomatoes, asparagus and raspberries. 

As the baby goats were weaned, we brought on a new batch of milk drinkers. Again we remembered how much harder 3 pigs are than 2. I know,  3 pigs is not a lot but 3 pigs worth of pig shit in a confined space can be a bit much. They're cute for such a short time then they become crazed foaming eating machines.

Added a new cheese to my repertoire this summer, Norwegian gjetost. It was made purely from whey left over from ricotta and was unlike any cheese we've ever tasted. It was quite labor intensive, lots of stirring, waiting, reducing, thickening to end up with an end result that looked much like a bowl of odd caramel. It was caramel on first smell and on first taste but quickly morphed into a very salty aged cheddar. Not bad, not good, just different but worth another attempt. It is traditionally eaten with brown bread (not to be found in Brighton township) and raspberry jam. We dishonored it with melba toast but will be more prepared next time!