Well, I am not sure where to begin ...My absence from blogging may be from the overwhelming amount of work Mother Nature has added to our work load. It could also be from the frustration I feel daily when I head to the garden only to find there is NOTHING to harvest or preserve. Maybe the incredible number of days without sunshine, dubbing us the "Seattle of the East" has something to do with it. The bottom line is that we have dealt with the wettest summer on record. Just two weeks ago we logged 6 1/2 inches of rain.
We have spent a huge amount of hours fixing and repairing driveways and fences due to torrential rains at least twice a week, where normally twice during the summer may be our max. Trying to stay ahead of weeds and the growing grass has been a huge challenge.
There is always something to be thankful for..though lots of rain and high humidity, the temperatures have remained fairly low..mid 80's and so the animals have managed to stay relatively healthy. I am extremely surprised and expected way more issues with parasites. It has been minimal. The older girls are doing very well and the lambs are holding there own. We have, sadly, lost 3, but considering the circumstances, I think we are well on our way to building a good parasite resistant flock of sheep and goats.
The garden on the other hand has not fared well. The potato crop was good, yielding about 9 bushels. However, after the first decent crop of green beans we have plowed under 3 more plantings. The same with the corn. I think I may have picked 3 cucumbers this year! Squash was barely better and the eggplant finally just gave up and died due to drowning. Tomatoes and peppers have done fairly well, though not what we had hoped with the number planted. I have managed to can salsa and a homemade "Rotel". The cantaloupe have started to ripen only to have a mushy consistency..oh well, the chickens are enjoying them. We are holding out hope that the late peas will do well.
It has been just "one" of those years and we will hope for a better fall. It will soon be time to sow the fall garden and if it does not do well it will just have to be a meat and potato year!! ;o))
Sounds like what we're dealing with here exactly! We can complain together and be thankful for the low temps that are keeping the parasites in check. Sorry you've lost 3 sheep, though. That's always difficult.
ReplyDeleteYes it is difficult loosing lambs ;-( My flock is now over 30 head and we have had to do very little deworming and so I guess I can be thankful for that! I will continue to wage war with those nasty parasites and hope to win at some point!
DeleteThe sheep are all doing a happy dance today. Temps in the 70's!!!