Melting

We’re back into a heat wave, with no rain in sight.
I think this is the driest I’ve ever seen it.
We need rain.
Bad.

The heat makes getting things done a little more difficult.
I feel like I’m melting.
lol
So the birds get let out at the hint of dawn, while it’s still (relatively) cool.
I’ve been working on weeding the garden early too…which doesn’t happen some days because the sprinkler needs to run to keep the food plants alive and that has to happen early too.
Truthfully, I’ve been feeling a bit defeated by our garden this year.
At least…until this morning.
When I saw that some tomato plants have rebounded from what I thought was certain death in our June 21st frost. The irony, right? First day of real summer and we get hit with a killing frost?

So I was excited to see a handful of tomatoes in the mulch, with several having blooms on them!
*swoons*
I might get a tomato sandwich yet this year!
And this morning, while I was weeding the thistles, I discovered a fair bit of our corn was up…and quite tall already.
Just hidden in the thistles.
So there’s hope for that too.
I planted mostly feed corn (for homemade libations, if y’know what I mean 😉 ) and for the silk.
Corn silk is dried for tea for a handful of things, including inflammation and urinary health.
I’m happy to find a few stalks coming up amidst my thistles…which I have also been harvesting and drying for teas.
Thistle is excellent for your liver (I’m hard on mine 😂😂😂 I admit it).
Plus the goose bebes love it!
I had hoped to harvest flowers for a mead, but I haven’t gotten there yet.

Stinging nettles will be collected this weekend for stinging nettle beer.
I was supposed to do it earlier in the week, but by the time I got the basic chores done, I just wanted to melt…so tomorrow morning I’ll don my gloves and pick a whole bunch of them.

Oh, and we have another house duck…temporarily, of course…

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I hadn’t planned on this one coming in, but the hen was in a poor spot when she hatched them, and chickens killed the rest of the clutch off…so we snagged this little and brought her in.
She’s been named Oreo.
I am hoping this is a hen, because she’s just so darn pretty!
And we don’t need anymore drakes…extra boys are Freezer Campers.

And, our final round of incubation is finishing up.
Pipping and peeping started in the incubators yesterday.
By the end of the weekend, everyone who was going to hatch, will have hatched.
And we’ll be done ’til next February.
All that’ll be left is the butchering.
Which should start in a couple of weeks, as some of our first hatcher roosters are close to size now.
Then my weeks will be filled with butcher, process, can, sleep, repeat.
Until the end of November or so.
😂😂😂

This weekend will be a fiery hot one, but we still have the final wall of the greenhouse to build, then we put it up…
And I have hay to cut.
And more weeds in the garden.
And a fence line to move.
And boxes to flatten and lay out over the next garden area (to kill the grass).
And somewhere in there, some sleep…
😂😂😂

We’ll get done what we can, and keep picking at the rest.
That’s just how it is.
🙂

Maybe I’ll go have a nap with Ruby…or a beer.
Prolly a beer is a better idea.
😂😂😂