3rd week of June 2007

After a dry spell with only ticklings of rain it was a blessing to have a 2 1/2" root-soaking rain this week. Everything looks happy and vigorous again, including the weeds! My helper Shanelle and I rescued beds of peppers, beans and basil from weed oblivion this week and there are more to go. The areas that are mulched are looking quite good, we just need to keep at it. We are still picking lots of peas and eating plenty of stir fry meals and last night we had a special treat with a pot of the first new red potatoes. I was pulling weeds in the potato row and accidentally pulled up some good size potatoes. So I went "grappling" along the row for more and ended up with enough for our meal along with pints to round out several veggie baskets.

I am enjoying observing some of my experimental plants. When I plant them I'm never sure what the young plants will look like and whether I'll be able to tell them apart from the weeds. Milk Thistle My milk thistle plant, a medicinal herb, is quite striking with it's white streaked leaves and vicious spikes and I was surprised to see that one globe artichoke plant survived the winter and has two buds on it. (see photos)Jerusalem Artichoke I was surprised to see the brilliant orange blossoms of a butterfly weed that a friend gave me last year and I thought didn't make it among the yarrow and weeds. After trying for several years, I finally have a single Bells of Ireland plant growing and its green cups are quite fascinating. Perhaps some of the pleasure of trying new things is from the desire to experience all of God's marvelous Creation and to create a small corner of Eden at our farm.

This week we sent four Herefords off to the butcher. In the past two weeks three new calves have arrived to fill in the gap - Buttercup, Popeye and Sir Loin. Seeing them skip about the pasture is great entertainment. The pastured chickens are getting plump and the first round will be ready for butchering the end of the month so we are busy lining up butchering equipment from friends.

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