This Week

This week, the garden is really growing:  salads with every meal:  lettuce of a few varieties, calendula, cilantro, and snap peas!  The beets are looking nice, the zucchini and cucumbers are flowering, tomatoes are still small but sturdy.  Thanks to a side dressing of kelp and Lobster meal  the kale is filling in beautifully.  The spinach unfortunately has done nothing this year, and the basil will have to be farm bought thanks to the chickens.  Onions are looking good, beans are coming up (after a second planting), and the cabbage and broccoli are holding their own against the slugs.  Its not an amazing year in the garden, but its coming along quite nicely.  

 

floating row covers over the squash--so far not a cucumber beetle in sight!

 

 

This week started with 90 degree heat, and unbearable humidity, and is ending with pouring rain, and 60 degrees F.   We escaped the heat with friends at the beach, where we gathered hermit crabs, giant clam shells, and walked the sand dune, before I stepped on something sharp underwater.  No stitches were needed, and fortunately my Tetanus shot is up to date, but I've been hobbling around a bit, trying to find the best way to walk without re-opening the wound.  

This week Rob declared the wood "finished for the year!" (not including shuffling wood around, into the wood shed as it dries)  Just in time for his birthday later this week.  Six cords, cut, split, and stacked by many busy arms.  This should last us the next 2-3 years, allowing Rob to drop a couple of trees here and there as needed or as time allows, rather than the typical yearly scramble to get it in by fall.  

     Roxy

This week our goldfish, and our oldest chicken both  died.  Each death was met with a bit of quiet sadness, and some guilt on my part for not noticing our sick pets soon enough to help them.  Juniper and I had noticed our lady, Roxy, didn't seem well, more than a week ago, but she was behaving like a chicken should, so we didn't intervene.  Three days ago I noticed her backside was caked with chicken poo, so I soaked her in a tub and washed her clean.  Yesterday we realized she was having completely liquid poops, and was no longer walking about with the others.  We gave her a mixture of butter milk and rice bran (per "Mother Earth News") from which she grudgingly ate only a few bites, and tucked her into a wooden crate with fresh shavings and her own water dish.  I suspect she became dehydrated from all of the diarrhea, which may have been going on for some time.  Now we'll need to watch the others closely, and do a thorough cleaning of the coop to prevent contagion.  Worms can sometimes cause diarrhea in chickens (so I've read) so we may need to medicate.  Anyone out there have any experience with this?    

This week my boy went off to sleep away camp for the first time. It's a mini-camp, only two nights and three days, which is just right for me--and him I suspect.  The night before he left I stitched up this pillow case with special little pocket for Boris, who was happy to have made the packing list.  We'll pick him up this afternoon, soggy, and tired I suspect, but hopefully full of smiles and new memories.  

 

A friend found and gifted this old cap, with two tiny LED lights in the brim.  A perfect hat for our gear loving guy.  He wore it for two days straight (even to bed!) so he wouldn't forget to bring it along to camp.  

 

This week has had a different sort of speed, with several pockets of one on one time with each of my children falling into place, relatively unplanned. 

And, headed into a rainy weekend we decided a painting project was at hand.  Juniper has been asking to re-paint her room (the color was one we slapped on last minute 8 yrs. ago before moving in).  So, at 6:30 pm on a rainy evening, we got to it.  This morning we're priming the last two walls, a little patch work, and then the color!  Can't wait to see how it turns out.  

Happy Weekend!