Excerpts from a Journal Junkie

from the homesteading journal . . .

 I picked our first garden bounty - radishes and sugar snap peas.  Started to keep track of produce on the blog too.  I baked a red potato/kohlrabi/garlic scape dish I found on-line, and for the peas, we made a stove-top mix of sugar snap peas and asparagus.  Yum!  My husband paid a commercial fisherman to catch us some local perch.  It's not cheap either.  We may be renting a boat (or borrowing one) to take a trip up to catch our own.  Delicious fish.

Cheddar and Tim are spending a lot of time with me outside.  I'm pretty sure they love their new home.  One day I picked berries and Cheddar was all around my legs, rubbing back and forth.  I bent over to pick some low berries and he jumped on my back - OW!

We discovered bats in the goat barn.  Babies were falling from the ceiling and we didn't know what to do.  We contacted professionals and found out that we had what's called a Maternity Colony - they have babies in June and begin to leave the barn in July.  Very interesting stuff.

I spent the week washing up the wall tent linens, getting caught up with housework (bathroom cleaning etc.) and making more jams - some jams for us and some for the Farmer's Market.

While picking berries, I discovered purple thistle growing nearby - one more wild flower to add to my wild flower journal.


The vet came out for a house call and was able to cut down both of Orion's horns.  He's less dangerous now, and we hope that will help stud him out this fall.  The one horn we have trouble with, will continue to grow, but the vet was able to cut it down enough, so that it wasn't touching his head (the horn that grew in and downward).  Right now, we are able to put surgery off the list.  Thankfully.

Canned 9 more 1/2 pints of strawberry-Honey Jam, and 5 - 1/2 pints of Wild Black Raspberry-Honey Jam.  However, one of my burners quit working.  I'll need to replace one now.

from the personal journal . . .

I actually took time for myself last Sunday. I was feeling a bit under the weather from a very long Saturday (did laundry at 5pm and took it down a few hours later etc.).  

I didn't feel up to anything, and took a library book to the front porch.  There I sat and read the entire book.  I really did.  I haven't done that in years.  

 I needed more places to store my canned goods, and my 15 year-old daughter reminded me about a bookshelf in the living room that had books on it.  I pulled some off and decided to barter many that I had already read.  I found one book that I had read and marked pages on.

 One chapter I marked, was titled "Make sure you get enough rest."  I think I will read this book one more time.

 I found a book I have not read yet, and have already started to read it - Hope and Humor for Pooped Out Parents, by Pam Vredevelt. 

from the family journal . . .

The two younger girls baked their dad a cake for Father's Day.

My brother, his girlfriend and her boys, stopped over for a surprise visit.  They got to see the buckling, the chickens, the bats, and the garden.  They tasted the goat's milk, and they tasted kohlrabi and sugar snap peas from the garden.  I gifted them a jar of homemade Strawberry-Honey jam, a dozen eggs, and a bag full of garden lettuce.

The power went out one morning for 2 hours.  We could not do anything - dishes, laundry, jam making etc.  The kids got out the board games, one painted, one did some drawing, and I had the change to gain a few more rows on my shawl.

from the  gratitude journal . . .

Today I am thankful for:

~having taken a full day of rest without work (not even cooking)

~my son and 15 year-old daughter for helping me pick wild black raspberries.  This is a tedious job.  Especially when it's in the 90's.

~rain, the garden really needed it

~snail mail, I love getting letters from my Aunt
 

from the crafting journal . . . 

I've been working on a knitted shawl for myself.  Still knitting away on a block blanket and a crocheted Christmas lap afghan.

from the exercise journal . . .

I am down 14 pounds now, with several more to lose.

Note:  I apologize for such a long post.  Summer work can be tedious and time consuming.