DUSTY DAYS.
Everything is dry. The gardens, the grass, the humor––our once verdant farm is slowly beginning to brown. It hasn't rained in two weeks, which wouldn't be so bad if there was any rain in the forecast but sadly, it's a bunch of over-zealous, smiling suns and near 100 degree temperatures for the next several days. Of course, weather changes and our food should be fine, but it's an eerie feeling...standing in a dusty garden wondering when the next rain will come. We're not quite in a drought yet, but we could be at the first two dry weeks of what? Three? Five? Ten? Who knows. Last year at Bugtussle we went almost forty days without rain, and it was hard, but it could have been worse. It could be worse this year. The radio is already starting to caution farmers about rotating their livestock to preserve grass, warning that things could get pretty dry this summer.It's funny to think back to when I lived in the city and would hardly notice a drought. When I was a teenager I used to love them––droughts meant I could skateboard on the grass. Now, however, as a farmer intimately linked with the whims of mother nature, I feel very differently about droughts and those smiling suns. I feel less in control, less excited about nice, dry weekends unless there were a few rain drops that week. I feel the need to be prepared.Hannah and I feel ready, though. We don't irrigate, but we've done a considerable amount of mulching to preserve the moisture, and we operate on a small enough scale that if worse came to worse, we could always haul buckets of water from the pond to reinvigorate our poor soil and plants. For now, we're just watching the forecast in awe, hoping for a day soon where rain will fall and we can take a few hours off, sip some tea, and relax.- Jesse.
WINE WORKS.
Blackberry season has indeed proved fruitful––pun only mildly intended––and now we have three different batches of blackberry wine in the works. We could probably at least get one more batch out of those bushes, but with four carboys already spoken for, we'll have to find some more containers. I added some beets to one batch––because why not?––and I'm eager to see how that one turns out. Beets are wildly healthy and a famous vegetable in the fermented world, especially in the Ukraine where beet kvass is a bit of a staple. Why not throw some into the wine?The mulberry wine is bottled, the blackberry wines are rolling, the oatmeal beer seems to be maturing nicely, and we haven't even arrived at melon or pear season yet... it's going to be a bubbly summer. And hopefully, if all goes well, a pretty fortified winter!- Jesse.
ANIMAL FARM.
So, for those of you waiting to find out what brand of creature Hannah and I were preparing for this week...we'd like to officially introduce you to Johnny, June and Reba––our new RABBITS! We drove to Lexington on Thursday and purchased two young bunnies and a pregnant "doe" as they are referred to in rabbit terminology. They will be our breeders and, according to the wonderful people who sold them to us, we will have baby bunnies from Reba on July 16th, or thereabouts!Between the chickens, the new bunnies, and Wendell, it's nice to finally have a variety of animals around. Animals are the heartbeat of a farm, the life, and they give your day routine. They are the first thing you tend to in the morning––even before yourself––and the last thing at night. And even though they do require sacrifice, because you have to be around to feed, water and shelter them seven days a week, they also reward your sacrifice ten-fold. The chickens will soon give us eggs for food and shells for compost. The rabbits will provide us with manure for fertilizer, along with meat and bunnies to sell for more income. Wendell will help protect them. And they all make us laugh and smile. With the addition of the rabbits, Hannah and I are beginning to feel as though, even if we don't own the land, we have our own little farmstead going. And it feels lively.- Jesse.
WENDELL WEDNESDAY.
Only occasionally do we let Wendell come in the house (like when it is one million degrees outside like today) but as soon as he comes in, he runs straight for the bed. A bit spoiled, maybe?
