Labor Day Weekend

After Labor Day the farm settles down to a dull roar. However, the weekend itself, is packed with the end of summer chores. My husband has a long weekend off , my son is out of school for a day and we pack as much work as possible into those three days.

Saturday started off with me baking and the guys heading to the garden. They dismantled the tomato cages and plowed all the areas not being used. We still have crowders, okra, some peas to dry and a few peppers. All in all ,the garden is done for and we will be planting the Fall garden in the next couple of weeks. Next on the list was a tree that needed to be cut down for fear that it may fall on the Fall garden! It was a huge red oak, that has an equally huge poison ivy vine on it. I decided to pick okra instead. Unfortunately I finished before they did and had to help split the wood and stack it.

Fence repair was next on the list. We have section that is old and we tend to just patch, patch, patch. The goats know this. We did what we thought was an excellent patch job, corralled the escapees one more time and headed to the next job.

The millet field was plowed and readied for the fall planting of winter rye. We will graze the dairy goats and a few sheep on this field. The rye will be planted as soon as they are calling for rain.

Lastly we completed the new equipment shed. This will house our baler, teddor and rakes.

The weekend always ends with a large supper of farm fresh food. This year we had hamburgers, homemade baked beans with maple syrup, slaw and chocolate goat milk ice cream. Yum! We linger a bit longer on the porch, bid a fond farewell to summer and take a deep breath. Soon it will be time to think about breeding groups for the animals, shearing and planting the garden, but for the next couple of weeks we just relax a bit and enjoy the break..