A Wonderful Summer Day

Yesterday was the type of day full of activities that make Summer so wonderfully special around here. Farming, swimming, and canning. That's pretty much what my days off will consist of from now until the first rains in late Fall.

Justin and I started the day off with our usual copious amounts of coffee and my now ritualistic morning yoga routine. Then it was time to farm before the day got too hot to think straight. We took wheelbarrow fulls of compost here and there throughout the garden. It's been 2 months since we actively began composting this pile and I'm still amazed that this dark brown earthy-smelling substance was nothing but a giant pile of cover crop, straw, wood chips, and sawdust at the start. Composting is gardening alchemy at its best and I am unnaturally intrigued by the process. Everything literally explodes with growth as soon as we top dress it with the stuff.

We had a lot farm maintenance and improvements to do because of our looming family vacation next week. In an effort to make the farm chores more automated and streamlined we've installed low-flow automatic waterers and Justin built the goats a fancy new feeder that reduces their wasteful eating habits to nil. Right now we have 2 goats, 19 laying hens, 1 rooster, 30 meat birds, 2 turkeys, 2 cats, 2 dogs, and 1 fish. That's 59 heartbeats that regularly need food and water to get through the day. For us it's not such a big deal because we are used to the usual tasks. At most the farm take 30 minutes to get all the animals taken care of and the watering done in the garden each day. We're cutting that time in half with our new improvements, so the gal coming to take care of the farm will not be completely overwhelmed.

Before we left for the river at 2 pm we had trimmed goat hooves, cleaned out the barn, top-dressed plants with compost, cleaned out and prepared a spent bed for winter crops, harvested a ridiculous number of cucumbers, planned a watering system for our front yard (which we installed later that night), and started a batch of compost tea.

The Yuba River was wonderful. We explored a new spot where the river is wide and lazy and surprisingly warm. We swam with the dogs in the gentle current for hours. The water is so clear blue that you can see straight to the bottom where the fish are swimming just beyond your reach. I was surprised at how docile their were since I don't think people fish in this spot. Daisy spent most of the time in a shallow sandy eddy pawing at the school of minnows swimming close by. Ayden just swam in and around our little rock jetty using the current at his personal doggy treadmill. It's days like this that make you appreciate the seasonality of Nevada County and the special things you can only do for a short time each year. Right now we've got juicy peaches, beautiful sunshine, and the swimming holes. And might I add that my tan is fabulous!

The end of our day was spent processing the fruits of our labor, literally. We are now beginning to ride the tidal wave of vegetable harvest. It begins placidly enough with cucumbers and squash before rising to a crescendo of tomatoes, beans, corn, peppers, more cucumbers and squash. Then in the fall will crash upon us with pumpkins and other winter squash, melons, onions, garlic, and leeks. Pickling ingredients dusted the bottom of brand new Ball jars then were joined by some sliced jalapenos and speared cucumbers both fresh from the garden. Fifteen minutes later Justin poured the simmering brining solution into the jars, we tightly sealed the lids, and turned all the jars upside-down to sit until cool. In the morning we would have 7 sealed jars of spicy pickles.

I am so thankful for all of this.

Back in the world of the technological!

I was looking at the date of the last blog post I did: March 26 huh? I cannot believe I've been without a computer for that long. The first few days after our Mac crashed I felt major withdrawl pains. By July it felt perfectly natural. In fact, I don't think I've been more productive in my life, but I did really miss sharing our farm story on the blog. So, thanks to my wonderful dad we are now in possession of the family's old gateway desktop computer and boy is it wonderful!

Let's breeze over the catch up. The garden has been exploding with green and delectable fruits and vegetables. Our baby laying chickens are now gangely teenager chickens and one of the older birds decided she wanted to have a clutch of her own, so we have 4 mixed breed baby chicks running around like they own the place! Justin and I got in a new flock of 32 meat chickens and 4 Bourbon Red turkeys. Away from the farm Justin and I have achieved some wonderful feats too. Justin and his friend Ryan climbed their longest multi-pitch route to date in Yosemite. I've been awarded a promotion at Yuba Blue! Things have been on the up and up.

My dad, step-mom, and step-brother came to stay at the farm last weekend. We had such a good time cruising around Nevada County taking in the heat and great food. It was really cool to show my family, who haven't seen the farm at this stage in it's life, just how much we have accomplished in the passed few months. They also got to experience the realities of farm life first hand when a critter of the raccoon persuasion helped itself to one of my prized turkey poults in the middle of the night. We didn't realize what happened until we were doing morning chores and noticed the chicken wire pulled away from the pen and 1 turkey missing. These are the lessons I hate learning on the farm. While I realized long ago that this life we have chosen on this farm will include regular deaths of creatures he have cared for, I would rather my animals feel that death at my hands than at the vicious paws of a wild animal. Justin and I made a promise to the rest of our flock that day to do a better job protecting them from such attacks. We were lent a pellet gun from Justin's step-dad and reinforced all the edges of the chicken pen to prevent a second raccoon feast.

More to come soon!