Postcards From the July Homestead
The homestead has been in a bit of a summer holding pattern recently. No major new projects or large strides are generally made during this hot, dry time of year. We try to keep these little guys as cool as possible while keeping the animals and gardens and fruit trees somewhat vital.
We did get a couple of new farm cats. Rover and Teddy disappeared awhile back – a possible owl, we suspect – and since then the children have really missed having their kitties around. And Mama missed the mousers. So Jethro (mama’s name choice) and Rover (the children’s) are now on the prowl.
The children have grown into such little helpers. Some days I don’t even wash dishes anymore – it’s rare, to be sure, but it can happen. The girls are constantly wanting to bake and cook and plant and build. The older boys are usually helping Daddy, doing their schoolwork, working on their bird feeding stuff or gardens, or building the latest cart/tractor/airplane.
Joshie just kind of floats around with all of us and helps where he can. He seems particularly fond of the ducks… but not grasshoppers; never grasshoppers.
And the garden, like the rest of us, has been in need of much shade. Stewart built this shade over the tomatoes in the kitchen garden from pallets and an old sheet. He also put some up in the chicken field, where we could. It really does seem to help!
But there is a reason I’ve not been posting much about the garden and that is because I haven’t been doing much with it. The triple digits have lingered pretty much up until today and the pond is starting to get low. We now have to conserve the water for animals and perennials until it pleases the Lord to fill it back up. That is always a tough reality, when the time comes, but we pray the Lord would grant us rains as He might and that we would learn to lean on Him more and more every day for every single one of our provisions.
And above all that we would thirst after Him and His righteousness.
I so love your post card updates. I lived in Texas (El Paso) years back and I remember those hot summers. Here in AR, we also get triple digit heat but not until the end of July. We are getting rain about once a week. This week, we had two days of thunderstorms with a lot of rain. I am still watering between rains because our soil dries out so quickly. This week, I have prepped zucchini and yellow squash for the freezer and have started canning tomatoes, canning salsa, canning spaghetti sauce, and canning green tomato relish. Next week, the granddaughters and I will start making pickles. This year my husband and I planted yard long green beans and soon I’ll be canning, freezing, and pickling those wonderful treats. When I get off of here, I am going back in the kitchen to make a batch of cowboy candy. I sell a lot of pickles, salsas, and cowboy candy at my vegetable stand. I hate to buy store-bought anything that I cannot grow and make myself and it always amazes me how so many of the people who stop by and buy pickled or fermented vegetables from me also have a garden but do not do anything with the abundance of vegetables. Last summer I taught a canning class for the home extension folks and this year they have invited me back and have included teaching dehydrating. Maybe some of the younger women who are signed up will make the time to grow and put up their vegetables. Do you get many duck eggs from your ducks?
Jeannie – I don’t say this enough but I REALLY appreciate all of your comments. They are so inspiring and encourage me to get back to work. 🙂 You do so much!
We are not currently getting eggs from our ducks and I am a little worried that means we’ll be getting rid of them at some point. Any tips on getting them to lay?