It is hard to keep writing when the farm progress is not very noticeable and yet it keeps us busy.    This picture is us, from our neighborhood road.  The front portion with dirt is where we just finished digging out the cannel and spreading out the excess dirt.  We have now broken up the clay soil, fertilized, and seeded it.  This is where the geese and ducks spend their days.

We have sent many chickens, roosters, and rabbits to freezer camp.  And since we still had room in the freezer,  several sheep who did not respect the electric fence also went to freezer camp.  Then because we were interested in selling a group of our heifers, and have yet to eat any of our own beef, we sent a steer to camp.  The beef has nice flavor but not as tender as we had hoped.  Jon thinks it is because we did not let it “hang” for a few days.  The lamb was fantastic, since prior to this lot, we had only been eating older sheep.  When I went into the butcher’s to purchase some liver for the cats, he made comment that he hasn’t seen us in awhile.  This was our goal, to grow our own food.

I have been cleaning rabbit cages and worm bins, chicken waters and brooder pens.  Slowly things are getting back to normal before everything stopped for harvest.

We have had several garden beds ready to plant, but without any rain we have been waiting.  We took three beds and just broke up the soil, fertilized, and spread seed.  We are hoping for feed for the animals.  The green houses are HOT and are watered daily if not twice.  We are getting tomatoes and salad green and the kale is still very hardy.  We have peppers of all types flourishing.  Eggplant seedlings are growing.  We have yet to plant any seed boxes because of the heat, but we have the extra bales of alfalfa and the garden tools taking up space in the working green house.

When it gets too hot to be in the sun, the guys have been cleaning the bosque.  They have been trimming the eucalyptus branches and cutting off any sprouts at the bottom from the main trunk.  It is looking better, but I have a had time seeing progress when the branches and wood piles are scattered within the grove and not pulled out.

The rest of the huerta looks good.  Between the tractor to help trim the pasture and no rain to help things grow, we actually look “neat and tidy.” I know we are a working farm in progress, and someday everything will have it’s place.