The Farm Update

This heat wave is NOT my favorite time of the year.  Picking, digging and caring for animals gets unbearable by 8 am so it means we are outside at first light.

The blackberries are slowing down and we have made Blackberry Jelly and will be making Blackberry Sage Jelly later today.  The rest of the Blackberries are going in my freezer for smoothies.  I didn't think that Blackberries were something we could do in our area but my Blackberries are doing wonderfully.  In a few weeks we'll be carefully picking leaves for great herbal tea, cleaning out the weeds and getting ready to add a deep layer of perma-mulch down under them.  We will also be going through and thinning the blackberries and potting them up for sale to those of you who would like to add them to your landscape.  Our Blackberries are the thornless variety.

The Goats are doing well and this years Boer Cross kids are growing incredibly fast!  We have decided to keep the doe kids and only sell the bucks for meat.  The Boer/Nubian Crosses will be bred to a Boer buck next year.  They were born to late for breeding them this year.  All our Nubian Does except two will be bred to our new Nubian Buckling for purebred Nubian kids for 2013.  After kidding next year we will have one two year old doe available plus doelings and bucklings.  They will be listed on the pages above.

We are in a inbetween stage on the garden.  Still picking and canning green beans.  We'll be pulling beets this next week; fermenting some and pickling & canning the rest.  The Saurkraut is looking awesome.  Tomatoes and cucumbers will be starting in earnest in the next couple of weeks.  I have lots of pickles and tomatoes to can this year.

There is always wonderful herbs coming out of Grandma Farmers Garden.



In looking at the yard I've decided to reduce the area we mow and mapping out garden beds that can be added.  These beds will be added in the Back to Eden method.