Back to the farm, the animals and ordinary old gardening and housework.
Why is it that a drill always appears on the table when I am gone. Boo will not let me out of his sight now that I am home. He has picked up a few bad habits while you and I were not watching and spent most of yesterday on a leash re-training. We will train three times a day for a while yet.
I cannot find two of the cats. Both Thing Two and Author seem to have gone walkabout, in fact were not seen the whole time I was away. Farm cats who hunt in the long grass have a perilous existence though they often turn up after a few days. Both Lulu and a limping Scrapper are sitting on the verandah waiting for breakfast. Pania and Tui the Peahens were present for roll call. No hatched eggs. I guess they will try again next year.
TonTon showing how he is the bestest of the farm dogs. 
All the piglets are hale and healthy and playing hide and seek in their vege garden.
Though Charlotte unapologetically broke The Hug a Pig Door right in half the day after I left and in my absence no-one was able to get in there to fix it. Rainy day huts pig style. We will sort that today.
Daisy and Queenie will be having their blood tests soon to see if they are pregnant. They have been very quiet while you and I were away just munching down the back of Daisy’s paddock. Daisy the milk cow has dried up without any dramas which is nice. Though the thought of another eight months without milk is a bit sad.
Some things never change.
The garden path has grown out of control in the seven days I was gone! There is a lot of gardening to do.
The sweetcorn is tasseling which is pretty exciting. Yesterday I cut plenty of side shoots and fed them to the animals. No-one turns down the fresh corn leaves.
I also gathered a bucket of fallen apples, they are not quite ripe but the sheep and pigs and chickens love them. The GM free corn (the leaves and stalks) and the apples will become a daily part of everyones diet from now on.
Today I will put up an electric fence in the Dairy Mistress paddock and start the cows in there this evening when it is dry. It is full of lovely forage.
So here we are back home on the farmy. Back where you and I belong after our great adventure up in the mountains. Yesterday I wore my Made in Calgary cowboy hat all day long even when weeding the garden. It is just perfect for a days work in the sun. Our John is pleased to have me home, he is just “All wore out!” And Molly and Margy did a wonderful job covering for me in the mornings.
Good morning. Last night we began the first of many lazy simple summer dinners entirely from the farm. I dug a few potatoes which is naughty but I could not wait any longer. We even found a red tomato. This is why we farm, to eat. Eating clean fresh food is so good. The tastes are so different straight from the garden. I love to be away and I love to come home. And I LOVE growing food. It is a minefield eating out there in the world.
OK. Hi Ho! Hi Ho! Off to work we go!
Your friend, celi
The Kitchen's Garden 
73 responses to “Home again, Home again, Jiggedy Jig”
Welcome back! Glad to see everyone behaved themselves, more or less. What do you do with the peahen eggs? Can you eat them?
They have been under the hen and so are rotton by now.. But Mad telsl me that when fresh they are very tasty.. though i would rather hatch the chick.. no luck this year though! c
I bet they all missed you! I hope the cats turn up safe and sound. Welcome home 😉
morning mad! c
I bet all the people on your farm missed you even more than I did! I always love reading about your farmy and dreaming of my own someday… Learning along with you is the best and it was dreary without you!
Thank you, though your little quarter acre looks packed with food and work!! c
Ah! I wasn’t aware you read it! It’s only that way because I am lucky enough to have a friend that gets lots of free produce! This year I was excited when we got three strawberries from the garden. Maybe we’ll have a respectable amount of food next year…!
Good to hear you’re safely back on the farm. With all that work to do, I’d head straight back on holiday:)
Welcome home and I loved our getaway…..seeing yourhandsome son and his bride
was a delight ! Getting back to the farmy ..there’s no place like home and you
have bloomed where you are planted !! Those piglets are getting big !
Well you have your work cut out for you and I can’t imagine that Charlotte broke that lovely door, She is a scamp,
And it weighs almost as much as she does, naughty. I am thinking of repairing it and turning it into a table, they are made from wonderful old thick heavy hard wood.! crazy? c
Glad you had the little trip and are back home. Like you say …going is nice, but coming home even nicer! Welcome home, Celi!
Linda
http://coloradofarmlife.wordpress.com
http://deltacountyhistoricalsociety.wordpress.com
Glad you had a lovely time in Canada. Thanks for all of the photos of the farm today. And I agree with you about eating when you’re away from home. Since the urban farm is now 4 seasons, it’s made choosing my business trip meals less easy. I have found that food just doesn’t taste as good unless it happens to be from our little plot or a local farmer.
and i can never be sure how it has been grown, meat or veg, 4 seasons growing, that must be great. I guess we are more summer and autumn, not much comes from the gardens in spring.. you must have a lovely growing environment.. or a glass house maybe?… c
Lol. North Texas is definitely not a lovely growing environment. Too hot and too dry. Irrigation helps a lot (and we’re getting some rare July rain). Fall and spring are the best, winter means covering the raised beds and stock tanks every night but it’s worth the effort.
Glad to see you home safe. I’m sure everyone there is glad to see you, too — even if they have to train on leashes and move their drill from the table.
and the chainsaw, did I mention the chainsaw.. AND i had to wash the kitchen floor three times! Shoes and boots had been in the house! grrr.. however, now I am back and quiet again fora while.. california next!! in a month or so! c
We’re back were we belong… I must say though, I did enjoy the trip (passport exclude where even I was becoming anguished) but the farmy does look familiar, healthy and green… love the piggies all growing up… and Blue sure is getting big…
It is nice to be back isn’t it.. I am playing hookey and having a wee break inside .. it is getting hot.. nice hot though! Must get back out there.. weeds wait for no man.. c
I love how full this post is of the joys if coming home. Nice action shot of Tonton, too!
Glad you are home safe and sound. The farmy looks so good and everyone looks happy. Hope the kitties turn up soon. That corn is so pretty I think I would even enjoy the young leaves!
Happy you’re home safe and sound. I was all out of sorts without my daily kitchen’s garden fix. Just finished reading one of your recommended books “Plainsong”. Loved, loved, loved it.
How did you ever get that picture of TonTon–I can’t get over the fact he can jump like that. Amazing.
Welcome home, Celi!
It was a lovlely adventure and mountains are so majestic.
Thanks for taking me along!
But ….there’s just no place like home!
absolutely! good morning! c
Hi Celi……don’t know why my account says “anonymous” but I am your usual friend, Nancy. I cleaned some cookie files from my PC so it probably took my account from here away also….I have now signed up with Gravatar so hopefully you’ll see my next comment as “schtz62” with some lovely pics of Rafa Nadal, my favorite tennis player as my avatar….we’ll see if that is how my comments will show up……Gaah!! I’m too old for all this techno stuff…LOL!
Lovely to see the Farmy carries on, even when you are away, Celi.