We apologize for the delay in further posting; as you can clearly see, we were unavoidably held up. The summer has proven busy, and the cats have been stern taskmasters in keeping us focused on the work to be done at all times. Not that they have found it too unbearably arduous; even with such demanding work as keeping farmers busy at our purpose, they've managed to find some time to get some rest. Of course, not every restful nap is as sleepy as it looks.
What has kept us so busy beneath our feline masters, you may ask? Many things, not least of which has been further fencing in of acreage, rotating of sheep for pasture management, getting our porch screened in, baking countless loaves of bread, putting up gallons of strawberry preserves, guarding our chickens from owls and our ducks and geese from hawks, planting, weeding and generally maintaining our garden, and shooting not one but two skunks coming after our eggs.
The cats have been somewhat helpful in the last bit; one of our largest cats has shown great alertness and excitement when skunks show up, kindly informing us of their presence. Unfortunately, shooting them causes quite a stink - not so much with the neighbors as much as a more literal stink, which even now is still lingering, and in the hot August air, carries quite a ways. After the second one was shot, though, while we startled a raccoon in its stalkings, we haven't seen another skunk - yet.
The bees are happy that it is August, and put even we tired farmers to shame with their industry. Whether it's catnip flowers, daisies, or the humble dandelion, they can be seen almost everywhere, pollinating and collecting. Humble bumblebees these, for the most part, they present no real malice or menace, although the mosquitoes which have been showing up in the recent dry weather are driving us to distraction. Still, the fencing in of the porch means less duck and goose mess - which means fewer flies in the house. Always good.
There have been a surprisingly favorable number of ducklings hatched, although the percentage which make it to adulthood with our somewhat firm hands-off policy is fewer than we'd like. They are fairly adorable and tiny when they're new; by now, the first few clutches are only just beginning to pass out of adolescence, soon to be gaining their final adult plumage. The geese have taken a protective liking to the ducklings - inasmuch as the geese ever 'like' anyone or anything. They bully the ducklings, but not to extinction, and behave protectively of them while they are still small enough. The ducklings' worst enemy is always themselves, or occasionally an insufficiently careful mother duck; though the mother ducks can't entirely be faulted, when they've hatched out clutches of fifteen. Let it be noted for the record that however high ducks can count, it is definitely nowhere near as high as ten.
This moth was resting at length on the outer wall of the farmhouse. Its wings' patterning is reminiscent of Navajo or other tribal patterns; striking, and compared to the mosquitoes, if not welcome entirely then harmless. The cats however welcome the moths with great delight. Fun to play with AND delicious! This one at least was smart enough not to come into the house.
Our garden pear trees have finally borne us fruit! One pear apiece, to be precise, still hanging beautifully on the branches. As the trees are still quite young and have only been in the ground here at most 2 1/2 years (if that), we are delighted - and hopeful that next year will begin to see heavier crops. The volunteer apple trees all show signs of heavyish crops, despite the hot, dry summer we've had so far. It's a hopeful sign for our land and orchards in general, although we're keeping a watchful eye on our younger trees. The dolgo crabapples, however, are showing absolutely no trouble despite the heat and lack of rain, and are going like gangbusters. It's a promising development for the future production of our wines, and we have an order for some custom grafts of a couple of kinds of cider apples which we will be planting in the fall.
The garden is doing well also, although lessons have been learned; too many plants in too small a space, and while they're growing quite remarkably well, it's difficult to reach some of them. There are green tomatoes on the vines, there are pickling cucumbers coming in with increasing speed. There are pumpkin vines trying to take over everything. The beans, artichokes and peppers just never got big enough - possibly starved of sun too much by the pumpkins - and the onions and potatoes seem happy as can be, while the cabbages, while not numerous, are showing every indication of forming heads considerably larger than a human's. We look forward to pickles and pumpkin puree and sauerkraut to keep us over winter, with tomato sauces and soups on those days when we haven't the time to do more than heat things up.
The skies have been lovely and blue - and lamentably clear, with fire hazard warnings everywhere. The sheep are not altogether thrilled with this warmth in their woolen coats, and we top their water off daily. A neighbor's dog had been going after tennis balls under the fence into the rams' enclosure; we've spread plenty of rich soil there and strewn it with pasture mix seeds to close off that opening. The dog, fortunately, wasn't malicious or violent in intention - but we prefer not to play roulette with the rams, who have been getting themselves into enough trouble as it is. In their efforts to graze, rub off wool, or otherwise stick their noses in where they oughtn't, they've been getting their horns caught on fencing with unusual regularity - fortunately, we've been working outside so much that we've been able to come to the rescue each time. It's an unusual thing, thankfully - but alarming if we weren't to make it in time.
Mosquitoes, moths and bees aren't our only nonmammalian visitors. This spider caused considerable curiosity until we were able to identify it as a fairly harmless local. It wasn't happy about holding still to have its picture taken, and thus has been immortalized in annoyance. Still, on the whole, as busy as we've been, summer has had its joys; now comes the real work of autumn, with sheep examinations and dewormings, garden harvest and canning and pickling, slaughtering and butchering the excess ram lambs and tanning the hides, planting hundreds more trees, finishing up fencing projects and fertilizing and examining the other trees, setting up the breeding roster for the next season, and winterizing garden beds and farm as a whole alike! It doesn't get much better than this; a purposeful life, involved in what we do and aware of our place in it all. And, usually, looking forward to bedtime.
