Back to Business

It's time to settle back in and get caught up around here. Before the weekend, the pump we are using to bring water up to water our garden areas had quit, so Jim had to drive into town to get a replacement part. Unfortunately what he thought was the problem actually wasn't, so it's back to the drawing board. Even though it's a headache to keep having to tear apart that particular pump, Jim is really enjoying the hands on part of farm life. One thing we are learning is there usually is not a quick fix to anything, but many steps are involved in order to get something done. It's just a part of the learning process, I guess.

A friend raises flax, so Jim and some of the boys went over to his place to pick up more flax screenings for our chickens. When they returned, the boys came in grinning from ear to ear, because Wendell had invited them to pick raspberries. Even though we have our bushes they figured one can never have enough raspberries for raspberry jam! I guess I better get busy and make some for them.

Still no rain ... Last night I was awake about 2:30 (it's a bit tough to sleep when it doesn't cool off very much at night), and heard rain falling for all of 3 minutes. By morning it was very hard to tell that it even rained. This afternoon it actually rained approximately 3 more minutes. The rain clouds just seem to float right on by. This year we have grasshoppers all over the place, and I sure hope they don't decide to make a feast of our gardens. Not many mosquitoes, but many of those critters.

Our son David had been bugging the older boys to help him find our cat that had the kittens. I showed them where I had seen Funny Face climb down by a bunch of hay bales, and sure enough, we found her inside our old chicken tractor with her 4 kittens, which must be all of 3 days old. They are black and white just like mom, so we figured dad must be our oldest cat, Shem. He is also black and white, but sleek and short-haired instead of fluffy like the mom. We brought them into the house and set up a large box for mom and babies, and then spent the rest of the afternoon catching Funny Face as she would drag a kitten out of the box and head toward the door. Late in the afternoon she must have gotten the hint that we wanted her to keep her babies in the house, so she quit being so persistent. I have never been around cats before, and this is a whole new world to me! Hopefully they will be on the quiet side tonight, since the box (and litter box) is set up very close to my side of the bed in the bathroom area (we only have quilts separating the various rooms of our basement house).

The boys pulled out a rather large onion today, and I wonder where I will be able to keep them so they won't spoil. We have catnip tied in bunches, drying above the wood stove, and comfrey in the dehydrater, waiting to be crunched and placed into glass containers. There are a lot more herbs to be harvested from the garden, so it will be a busy day tomorrow. The tomatoes are starting to ripen, as are the peppers. Carrots need to be further thinned out, and raspberry jam should be made. It's funny: No matter how many times I make raspberry jam, the boys tell me that I have never made it as good as Grandma Wagman does! Must be all the love she places in as well!