Out of Drought

I am pleased to report that we made it out of our drought and abnormally dry conditions.  We are back to normal moisture levels in the soil!

That’s exciting, but I don’t want to jinx it.  I am literally about ten miles from the yellow.  Last spring we spent about two weeks out of any drought conditions, and then pretty much all rain stopped.

Goats coming up because it was sprinkling

The required goat in the barn door because it’s raining photo (Ava with a bonus sparrow on the fence)

Can hardly see Pluto and Dolly

And Ms. Goose playing in the rain gauge

So let’s say I am excited to be here and optimistic that it will last.

Lots of dandelions

Maybe I’ll actually get to harvest wild grapes instead of them drying up

Lilacs after the rain Saturday morning

Of course, with rain comes lots of mowing.  I managed to mow after work on Friday, but I had to wait until it dried off Saturday to use the push mower and weed eater.

Sky in the yard after mowing and rain, but before trimming

It also means that my fence in the Back Forty is damaged again.

I mean, why on earth would the neighbor want to have waterways and do anything to protect the soil from eroding or not destroy their neighbor’s fence every time it rains?

Aphrodite with Cruella and Estella; Odie behind

How I would dearly love to find some place without neighbors.

Spring Yard Work

It’s time I had to start spring yard work.  My front yard was getting really tall. The back yard wasn’t quite as bad, but it needed mowed as well.  It’s so hard to get yard work done this time of year when I’m still teaching.  I don’t know how people do it when they work year round.

Sky in the front yard

But my dad helped me change the oil in the riding mower, and this past Saturday morning I decided I just had to do it.  When I went up north to get the mower, I saw that my dad had taken pity on me and already mowed up there!  I am so grateful.

He even mowed off the garden spot–glad I cleaned it out last fall.

It wasn’t too bad to get the yard mowed at my place.  But I have to trim.  It’s just impossible to get very close to the fences and trees without a push mower.

So I loaded it up and took it in for my dad to help me change the oil in it also.  For some reason it doesn’t want to run, so we’ll see what happens.  Either we’ll get it fixed or I’ll have to get a new one because I can’t get anywhere close to the fences without a push mower.

He said he’d do it the next morning because it wasn’t long before the rain arrived and put any more yard work on hold. Sunday wasn’t much better with gale force winds.  And, unfortunately, he can’t keep it running.  I swear this place is just death on push mowers.  So I have to replace it before the grass gets too tall to get through it.

(Frodo behind) I need to get the panels and gates off this fence because it’s being destroyed. Then I can mow all the way to the fence again!

I also asked my dad if he could bring his chainsaw out sometime and help me cut the scrub brush out of the ditch.  Dang wild birds pooping mulberry seeds.

I did get a start this weekend, but I think I need a whole week (without crazy winds) to just get ready for summer yard work.

Catch Up

Now that I am back to teaching full time, my weekends are for catching up.  Last weekend, I had to do copper in the goats again.  I still prefer the peanut method.

copper hidden in the peanut shells

Some goats cooperate with that.

Cupid

But there’s a whole lot of them that make me use the pill pusher.  I’m not a fan of this new pusher, but at least it can’t come apart and end up in a goat stomach.

The goats were not very cooperative (shocking, I know), so I swear I was catching those stragglers all week.  I just finished with Benji and Frodo today.  But it’s done!  I’m caught up with copper for a little while.

The garden is another thing I have to catch up on.  I’m struggling to get it picked.  I have to pick the tomatoes when they are just starting to turn or the bugs get them.  The bugs are horrible this year.

I already spent Friday evening canning tomatoes.  This is a box ready to go to my mom.  I have one more batch, and then I’ll be done canning for me.

This is my plan for tomorrow.  That is more than enough to finish my canning.

Of course, I am still planning on doing a lot more canning for my family.

Now that I’m milking again, I have to play catch up with it on the weekends too.

Thankfully, Heidi and Simon drank a lot of milk, so I can just freeze it and throw it in the big freezer for next summer when I’m busy during the week.

Heidi coming to see if I brought a bottle.

The weekend is for making Mozzarella cheese and yogurt.  I’ve already done one double batch of mozzarella and plan on doing another tomorrow.  I also hope to get a gallon of yogurt incubating this evening.

grating mozzarella

This weekend, I had to do something with my yard.  I haven’t mowed in probably three weeks, and with the drought, it’s mostly just weedy, but I had to do something with it.

dormant grass; weeds everywhere

So Saturday was a catch up day for the yard too.

Sky (I can’t get him to pose for me)

It’s not the best, but I did get a lot taken care of, and now I need to get back to tomatoes!