Yesterday flowed. It trickled along from one thing to the next. And at every bus stop of the day, my little metaphorical red bus puttered up, work got on or off in a gentle orderly fashion. Work was started and finished and wandered back down the circular road of life without hurry.
I am thinking of weaning Minty from her twice daily bottle…
But until she stops jumping her fat body through all my gates
I may as well just give her the milk. She needs lots of building up anyway, so she can be a good productive healthy ewe. 
Daisy is most definitely on the mend now. She will soon be smelling sweet like my old Paisley Daisy. She gave two and a half gallons of white creamy milk twice yesterday. That is 5 gallons or 18 litres of milk a day. My skinny girlie arms are getting a work out carrying that bucket!
And look what happened when my back was turned. I am taking my favourite shovel on my morning walk today to grub out these thistles. It is one thing to have the fields drying up through lack of rain, but Quite Another to have GREEN thistles growing with such disgusting vigour in amidst it.
Good morning. There was something else I was going to tell you but at 5.15 am it has dropped completely out of my head. I spoke with my favourite hay man and we are going to go over on the weekend with trucks and trailers and teenagers with gloves to collect 100 bales of good alfalfa hay. His production is already down by a quarter, so I am grabbing it while I can. We will probably cut ours once later on but the quality and quantity will both be less than expected.
Good morning. Once more it is dawning clear and a little cooler than normal which is brilliant for the animals. I can see Daisy lying quietly waiting in the field close to Pat’s Gate. After I wrote to you yesterday I called out Good Morning Daisy, from the kitchen window. Then filled the buckets with hot water and by the time I got to the barn she was there too. What a girl. Though she has decided that she will not be hurried OUT of the milking parlour afterward. She likes to watch me clean her milker. She is going to move on in her own time, thank you very much. Thats fine Daisy. She waits until I start cleaning the floor then she lazily sways out the door.
I have been looking for a shot that says Summer for our header. I put up the jumping lamb last night but this morning when I look again, I don’t think it is summery enough. So we need to look out for another one. I like to change it with the season.
Have a lovely day. I am off out to milk my cow. Then feed everyone. Then bake the bread. Then todays cake which is lemon and lavender. Maybe I will make the lavender jelly today too. I will see if I have everything I need!
Have fun.
celi
The Kitchen's Garden 
74 responses to “Guess what?! We are all good today.”
Jumping lambs as the header picture are fine, very fine indeed.
I like the idea of changing the header for different seasons, I need to go and have a think myself!
18 litres – is Daisy up to full capacity yet?
Glad your day and Daisy are flowing! Enjoy the weather even if kills the hay. I like the header but maybe it’s more springlike. 🙂
Hey! Didn’t you fall asleep when Minty leapt over the fence? 🙂
falling asleep is something i find myself desperate to do around about 3 lately! these 4am starts are tough.. c
I’m so glad that Daisy is recovering. The medication obviously did the trick. Good to know that all is well on the farmy today, despite the warning of a thistle appearing (how dare it be so green!)
Love that the fence is wide enough to slip through!
There in lies the RUB! c
I so enjoy your blog! I don’t have a farmy but I do have a small porchy with containers of tomatoes and herbs. Lemon and lime basil plants are new for me this year. The pinched off flowers smell so lovely and citrusy. Do you have any recipes ideas? Have a lovely day.
What a minty girl! Hot as peppermint and just as snappy. What a gigantic amount of milk! Wow Daisy. It must feel awfully good to be milked. No wonder she’s willing to come in when you call. 🙂
Make thistle tea! And glad yesterday was a better day 🙂
I’m so glad it all came together for you! You’re sounding much more relaxed and mellow today.. xx
Your intro at the beginning of this post is so poetic. Those lines come to you as you were puttering about the farmy? 😉
Love the shot of Minty jumping the gate! Glad you had a great day. 🙂
Lavender jelly sounds amazing – I believe one can infuse vodka with lavender too 😉
AHA, now you are onto something! c
I wish I could have the rain clouds that have been over us for weeks head your way. Minty does look so cute as she jumps through the gates. Hope she doesn’t get stuck some day.
That awesome scotch thistle reminded me of a Matthew Evans recipe from an episode of his TV series based in Tasmania.
Thistle rennet fresh cheese
6-10 Scotch Thistle heads* (purple stamens, bases, greens and spikes removed)
2L goat’s milk
Chop the purple stamens off the thistle heads, removing the bases, any greens and spikes. Pound the stamens in a pestle and mortar. Add 1 teaspoon of warm water and set aside for 30 minutes. Strain the liquid through 4 layers of cheese cloth.
In a saucepan, heat the milk to 30°C. Add 20ml of the strained thistle liquid, stirring gently.
There aren’t further instructions but I assume you’ll know the rest. Maybe you can give it a shot with Daisy’s milk.
http://www.sbs.com.au/food/recipe/13243/Poached_pears_on_fat_hen_pikelets
You’d probably enjoy the series.
what a fantastic idea! Thank you.. I shall check this out though talking an american into eating a thistle may be a bit of an ask!!! (laughter)
It’s cheese made with scotch thistle rennet so you never know. Waste not want not!