It's been an interesting month on the homestead. Mother nature has been a tough old lady. June was more like July with temperatures hovering at the 100* mark for days on end. We seem to be living in our own little dust bowl, getting no rain for several weeks. We watched as the fields dried up, the pond level went down and crops literally died before our eyes. Our grand plan to be able to rotate pastures has been put on hold since the summer millet crop is severely stunted. On the up side, the heat and drought has kept the parasite load down in the animals.

We finally got the meat birds processed. It took them  an extra 3 weeks to grow out. Because of the heat, they preferred to hang out in the shade instead out eat. Butchering this year was so much easier since we finally finished our processing area. We purchased a large stainless steel sink and poured a concrete floor and have created a permanent area that does not have to be set up and torn down each time. Since this cuts the processing time down by about two hours, we will most likely be doing more birds each year with the hopes of selling some again in the near future.

The garden has been a dismal failure. Even though we have tried to water there is nothing like rain. The corn crop and onion crop produced nothing. We finally just plowed them up. Most crops have been planted 2 or 3 times. Our new saying is if at first you don't succeed plow, plow again. Late green beans seem to be doing ok and the tomatoes are hanging in there. We have started harvesting squash and a few peppers and the eggplant are blooming so we are hopeful for some late summer preserving. Fall crops are already being planned and started.

However, as tough as things seem, they could always be worse. We are thankful for all that we have and know that this too shall pass. Life on the homestead is good.