Farming can be interesting. Last night Lacey dug out of the pasture she was in with sheep { but if needed she could have gone back in through the same hole}. I forgot to put the chain across the gate where Beau was supposed to be attending sheep, so he was not in that pasture (though again, the door was open so he could get in if needed. 5 of the sheep went through a door to get the grain put out for them, but somehow, one of them backed into the door and closed it so the other sheep couldn’t get in and they couldn’t get out. Did I say “Farming can be interesting”? And just look at these predicted temperatures.
Guess where we’ve been again. DH is spending the night there for observation. He had some chest pressure and better safe than sorry. He will undoubtedly come home in the morning.Bee watering and moving sheep
The boxes on the left are the best thing I’ve seen yet for the bee watering. They are coated so that they hold liquid, yet they have the slatted boards inside so the bees can land and not drown. They are meant to be able to feed the bees sugar water in times of drought, but since bees need water all summer, I think I can just put water in them and the bees can easily find it. The screens are for on top. One can just pour the liquid through them and not have to open the bee box and get the bees upset. So these came home with me.
The spent most of my day with a friend going through the wool that I have here. She showed me how to clean the finest wool and we looked at the sheep which her husband brought to me. It appears he didn’t find the list she left him and brought some of the correct sheep and some will be replaced. After she left, I moved the Cormo sheep to the big pasture behind the house, which has been empty for 4 months and left the Shetlands where they were. There are plenty of blackberries for them there. The Shetland rams are moved up to a hot wire enclosed acre. We also decided which ones should be sold. It was a very productive day, but I’m ready for the Sabbath.
I pray that each of you will have a restful Sabbath and happy weekend.
Another day in the sun
We were delighted with another day in the sun through children’s eyes. They found a beautiful garter snake down by the pond, which after showing us, they took back to be with his family.
More learning to drive. They brought a cousin with whom to enjoy the day and to teach the new skills they had learned. So there were two 13 year olds and a 12 year old. What sheer joy they have!
And after all the hard work of driving the mower tractor, they need a refreshing dip, which the neighbor willingly shared.
Yes, other things were started, but other than a lot of weed whacking and watering, nothing else was finished.
Sunbonnet Sue #1 finished
Sunbonnet Sue quilt #1 FINISHED – well no label, but whether that happens will depend on who eventually gets it. The batting said it was good for a 10″ spread and these squares are 8″, so I decided not to mess around inside the square. It is backed with a pink flannel that matches the light pink on the front and is soft and cuddly. The finished size is 52 x 63″ – just perfect to wrap around a young lady and/or have as a bed covering.
The weather for the next 10 days is saying daytime highs at 80 and full sun, so we will be out there with hoses going. Fortunately we have about 6″ mulch on the blueberries and grapes, so they will probably be able to go a week between waterings which will help. This is absolutely beautiful weather and I don’t want to be inside sewing, cooking, or cleaning. I’m soaking up as much Vitamin D as possible. I’m thankful that I can sew/quilt from January through April when it’s too wet and cold to be outside any more than necessary.
Happy Independence Day
HAPPY INDEPENDENCE DAY
Summer and it’s produce have official arrived. We are scheduled for an 80 degree week and we have started picking zucchini, cucumbers and tomatoes. The tomatoes and zucchini, I’m fine with. And I can make some pickles, but these plants are loaded. Besides pickling and eating fresh, how else does one save cucumbers.
And we now have 12 cups and 1 pint of strawberry jam. In this house, it’s not good to run out of strawberry jam or peanut butter and we ran out of both. Therefore, tomorrow must include a run to Costco for their Kirkland brand organic peanut butter.
That was the limit of our work today. We enjoyed a bit of sun and are listening to all the crackers that are popping while still daylight. The noise scares the animals, so they are locked up for the night. Enjoy the sights and sounds tonight.
July challenges and Elm Street’s OMG
I didn’t quite finish all of June as I didn’t get the Sparkling snowmen done for Judy’s challenge. The others I did finish. Now for July is seems there are more that I want to get done, but there is strawberry jam to make and pickles to start preserving, the tomatoes are starting to ripen, the garlic will need to be pulled in about two weeks, and the garden is needing watering 3 or more times a week. Plus there are 4 birthdays. However will I fit all this into a month that is always shorter than I need. Summer is here and I am loving it. So I’ll do what I can.
July challenges:
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Linking up to Elm Street OMG with the Winter woodland paper pieced fox. 
Patchwork times #12 will be to finish the binding on the sunbonnet Sue that has been quilted.
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Washington state quilters to finish the Sparkling snowmen -
My Hatched in Africa challenge will be to use one of their designs on something, but as of yet, I haven’t decided.
Have you committed yourself to some challenges this month? If so, I’d love to hear about them.
Wonderful day
What a wonderful day this was! This great blue heron was waiting his turn at the bit of water left in the pond.
Then John showed up to put the posts in the ground for the blueberry netting, but we messed up. He thought I had the poles and I thought he was bringing them. So instead he brought the lumber for a room he is closing off in the barn.
Our daughter and two grandsons came over to visit and have fun. They loved finding these tiny frogs as we were cleaning branches etc out of the pasture.
First they each pull tiny of a row of blueberries and then after some treats
Then a most wonderful day for the boys. They were allowed to drive!The older boy is 13.5 and the younger one will be 12 later this month, so this was a real big treat. The older one even mowed this section of the pasture as the sheep left the stems and chose to eat only the greens. They both did a terrific job and I can’t wait for them to come back again. By next summer, they could be real help here on the farm. I hope they continue to enjoy helping
Tomatoes and Potatoes
These are the tomatoes. As you can see, they have become wild. Plants are growing so fast, one can almost see it happening.
I brought in 15.6# of potatoes today and planted some new ones as well. All of the ones I brought in today were volunteers from the tiny little ones that don’t all get seen or pulled up. We are spending a lot of time watering.
As focus on this holiday – America’s Independence, I pray each of you will stay safe and remember to thank God for all we have. He has been so generous to us.
We lost another neighbor this week, and I’m so happy I know the end of the story…… JESUS WINS!
Lemons and skips
Yes, we have lemons – that is 4 lemons the size of cherry tomatoes. It’s time study up and see what went wrong. The little tree is now full of fresh blossoms and seems to be very happy out in the hoop house this summer.
I continue to have new experiences and usually just when I think I have learned this machine. This is a scene put down with heat and bond. The quilting machine didn’t seem very happy about that. See those skips. I continued on and then took it to the sewing machine, which also refused to sew on it. I washed it and then I was able to stitch it on the sewing machine. I have quilted through this before without any issues. Does anyone have any ideas what was happening?
I did finally finish this “cabin in the woods” hanging and it’s okay, but I wish the quilting would have gone better. This was a test quilt for the on-line Quilt Magazine. I think it was featured in the October 2016 issue. It was in line to be quilted last fall when it decided to vanish. I found it after Christmas sitting between two stacks of drawers. It finished at 34″ square.
Baby maples trees, the dentist
These baby maple trees are from last fall’s “helicopters” that the big maple scatters. If I don’t get them pulled now, by next year, they will have such a root system, I won’t be able to pull most of them out. It takes about an hour an a half to pull one section of these. I have mentally divided the blueberry and grape area into 8 sections. Yesterday I pulled one section, today I pulled another. If I get out there in the morning the weather is perfect for crawling all over this mulch and pulling them out. Hopefully after my gym lesson tomorrow, I can get another section done. It will look and feel good to get this area cleaned up.
Today I followed this act by going to the dentist who is an hour away. By the time I got there, they had already had two emergencies so he was running l a t e. The total trip was 4.5 hours. I am now happily done with the dentist until next time the teeth have to be cleaned. But I was too tired to get anything done when I came home. I was very happy to have already cooked the rice and beans for dinner.
After dinner we have been relaxing while watching Vegan chef Mark Anthony make some quick and interesting meals on his YouTube channel. It’s always fun to watch someone else do the work.