Now, what is wrong with this picture?
Exactly. Hairy MaClairy in with Mama. Pretending he is not really there! Way too early for that carry on Hairy!
The onions have statted lifting themselves so they are being hung out to dry. Onions have done very well this year.
So have my Easter Chickens. They still hang together in a gaggling flock. 
In the evening they all come out and do a wonderful job of cleaning up the pigs eating area.
Mama is back where she belongs and look at that lamb. There is always one who will stand IN the feeder. 
Daisy looking restful.
Good morning. The weather is back up in the three digits again. But we are managing. The fields with good shade do not have much grass left, so I am feeding hay to the animals in where it is cool. I have a few Heat Wave smoothie popsicles in the freezer that i eat with my nuts and raisins before I go out to work at three in the afternoon. I am usually only out for about three hours at a stretch.
I made the most beautiful Tomato and Saffron tart yesterday. Home made Pastry, then a layer of freshly made tomato sauce, then a layer of savory custard kissed by saffron. Itwas divine. There was a lovely shot of it cooling, all gloriously golden yellow from the eggs, with the fresh bread on the rack way behind it. Perfect light. The crunchiness of the pastry sharp in contrast. All very pretty on my black kitchen counter. Mouthwatering. But I deleted the originals before checking to make sure I had saved the edited one, which of course I hadn’t and poof it is gone. It is a recipe Elaine found for me, using produce from the garden, everything except the flour was from the Kitchens Garden. And the saffron that Tanya sent from Spain.
Good morning. Thank goodness I am not a food blog! Isn’t it so wonderfully satisfying to cook from the garden.
Thank you for your wonderful comments and information yesterday. You are awesome teachers. And I have so much to learn. We all need to keep being vigilant about what is being sprayed, what is happening in our fields and what we are putting in our bodies. Be careful. There are very few restrictions anymore.
And either we choose to be a part of the problem or a part of the solution. Albeit a tiny tiny part. I think that often people say to themselves “That is not my problem, I can’t do anything abut that”. And This is why they call it Global Warming instead of Pollution. The term Global Warming is nefarious and is presented to us so that it appears to be on an inexorable course and we cannot make it better. We are powerless they say. But it is a political football. Actually I believe that there are two issues here. One is the changing weather patterns. But the greater part of the problem is Pollution. Pollution is a word we don’t hear anymore. Because it is a personal word. Personal Pollution. A farmer and his spray. Me and my rubbish bin. What we put in the shopping trolley at the supermarket. We CAN do something about our own personal contribution to polluting our air, water and soil. We can. We can choose not to buy anything that has a Genetically Modified ingredient or has been sprayed. WE can cut down on plastic packaging. We can choose to buy from a company that tries its best to mitigate its impact on the air, soil or water. There are tons of things we can do.
And like one of you said yesterday, we need to make sure we are informed. We are powerful, we can take back control of our own food. Little chook steps. OK stepping down from my soap box.
And thank you Sara for your help when I went into a panic about Minty having a lesion in the corner of her mouth which turned out to be a scratch from eating hard dry grass, that has developed a wee infection. We thought it may be a virus called Sore Mouth. Such an old condition with that old fashioned name. Sore Mouth is contagious though and I have a closed flock. Plus no-one else is presenting with it. So we will see. If you want to see a shot of the area on her mouth for your information, let me know. I will email it to you.
The sheep are getting a bit run down from the endless heat and drying up pasture so it is not surprising that the bottle fed baby, who has the least defenses, would be the one to catch something. So they are having the special feed with garlic, cider vinegar and flax seed oil every day, for a few weeks, instead of once a week.
Have a lovely day. You are such a great bunch to have visiting. I do love our letters in the morning! OK Off to work for me!
celi
The Kitchen's Garden 
88 responses to “Who Left the Gate Open?”
That last shot of Daisy and the setting sun makes me really long for the prairie. Oh, how I miss those sunsets on the southwestern Minnesota prairie. Thank you for that gift this morning.
You are most welcome audrey, with all this hazy hot weather we have the most beautiful beginnings and endings to our days! c
Oh if I had a nickle for every lost photo… ouch! But the ones you shared this week are great as usual, and I can almost smell/taste that tart from your description. Mmmmm!!
Morning rachel.. loved that tart.. I must make another and do the recipe for you! c
i agree, pollution has had a great influence on our land and air. each of us living on our own corners, need to do our job to clean up. we all need to voice our thoughts to our manufactures of foods that we eat. say no to chemicals, and yes to God’s growing ways
exactly terry, hope you are having a lovely day.. c
Good morning Miss C, and all ewe other farmies! Such manners! Pshaw! Footies in ewer food. One would think ewe’re raised in a barn! Raining and chilly here. I missed lunch – how did that happen?!
In NZ they say youze fullas. You could quite easily take your play on words and say ‘Shut the door ewes fullas,. what are ya!?.. were ewes born in a barn?’ ha ha ha you are price less! c
Funny that because one of my grandmothers used to say ‘youze’, and she was from Idaho. Oh yes, and she pronounced roof as ‘ruff’. And then there was ‘crick’ …and ……. so on. We blamed it all on her false teeth.
Morning C,
Hopefully this new wave of heat passes quickly and quietly away…
I pulled many onions from the garden this week to make your caramelized crock pot onions. My husband loved them. he had what was left warmed over his chop last night.
Daisy’s photo is lovey and soothing.
We had a bit of rain last night, so weed pulling will be easier today.
Stay cool and slow.
J
Oh well done i must make another batch soon, those onions just brighten a meal up! c
The tart sounds wonderful – I can imagine it well, even without photos – and happy to see that all the ewes and everyone are doing well 🙂
Morning Ksenia, imagine if food blogs had no photos.. Oh how sad! c
It is a beautiful pic of Daisy against the sunset! We all have a responsibilty to preserve our world!
Absolutely Pink! c
Oh, yes, there are things we can do — and often, in my case, it begins with checking my own attitude and taking the garbage out of my mind. See today’s post on “The Wanting Mind,” — up in a half an hour, I should think, or sooner.
http://thekalechronicles.com/2012/07/18/wanting-mind-a…easonal-eating/
I popped over and what an excellent and real piece of writing.. thank you sharyn I enjoyed that! c
You are welcome, Celi.
Your post’s title gave me a scare. I thought Charlotte had run off. Glad it was just your resident Lothario saying hi. Thank goodness there was no Barry White playing in the background.
Our temps dropped overnight and the sky is threatening rain but nothing has happened yet. I hope your temps drop, too, and if we aren’t going to get the rain, let it come to you.
Have a great day, Celi.
Imagine a pig running off.. they go so fast.. Our temperature did not drop one bit last night, the old codger told me that it was 115 outside his kitchen windows at dinner time,, and hot again today.. hopefully soon though.. c
THe rain never came and although we’re a bit cooler, our temp still reached 95˚. We’re supposed to get some rain tonight and the “path” stretches as far south as the farmy. More rain is called for tomorrow. Fingers crossed!
I just love the photo of Daisy peaceful in the field! It’s beautiful! I thought you might find it interesting that I have started following the weather (through the paper) in your part of the state…You have provided such a visual connection in which I picture your animals with the harsh heat and diminishing hay. I also picture you cooking these wonderful dishes in the heat, Celi, and I don’t think I even need the photo. I can see it! 🙂 Thank you for your “soap box” and please don’t stop! You can keep the dialogue alive from the perspective of someone who lives so close to the land. It is a growing concern and I’m doing what I can in my circle…I think some of my friends and family think I’m a bit extreme in my concerns. You help remind me that I’m not! 🙂 Sending a cooling breeze your way…Debra
They may think we are extreme but at lest they are thinking, such a battle for the land going on! c
Those lambs can barely be called lambs anymore, they’ve grown so much! Your onions look fantastic. Hope Minty feels better soon and doesn’t get too poorly or feels the need to share it with the others. You can get software to retrieve files from computers and memory cards if you accidently delete something important, I found this out the hard way. Several times. 🙂
You are so right, they are getting big! c
Great post and wonderful photos. I especially like the one of Daisy.
Daisy will be jealous if Hairy goes of chasing sheep! very nice chicken and onions 😉
I am sure there were Words when he was returned to her field.. c
I should think so too!
Despite the heat, today sounds like it’s shaping up to be a better day. Your chookies are looking gorgeous, Celi!
I think you’d have an amazing food blog!