Well not really boots but like as not I am out in the fields wearing these little slippers, the slip on nature of slippers suits my lazy nature. Though I end up with multiple muddy pig-kisses to scrub off my legs before bed. The long hot days of summer argue with my gumboots. Though I wear them for the sloppier chores.
I am fairly sure that brussel sprouts are not meant to look like this. I will give it another week or so then feed these big plants to the pigs. They will appreciate it.
The swiss chard is growing back, soon we will be eating it again.
I am sure I have told you already but I am very proud of growing the apple trees. This is the first year we have been able to pick apples off them and I am just thrilled to bits.
There is an old saying about this fluffy caterpillar. Something about it being half black and meaning one thing and all orange and meaning another. Something about the winter. Autumn is not here yet but soon we will sense her presence as she slowly appears, being shoved through by that enthusiastic winter in her wake.
My bees are drinking two cups of sugar water a day. When the weather settles again you and I will take the lid off the bee hive and see what is going on. I think they are doing ok. They seem busy and healthy.
Good morning. Last night I was woken by a big howling wind, followed by big hard edgy rain that sounded like hail but was rain. I put on the long slicker my Dad sent me years ago. I think of it as my deep sea fisherman’s coat. The oil skin coat that comes to my ankles. It is stiff and once all the domes are connected it sticks out around me and I move across the landscape like a miniature Bedouin tent. I feel like I am walking inside it as opposed to being dressed in it. I put on my cowboy hat (to keep the rain off my face) and gumboots and the dogs and I go out into the storm to fix the ark.
Every evening, on my last rounds, I prop a huge pink sheet of insulation against the wall of the ark to protect the chickens from the night winds. I also have this rather odd idea that if the coyotes see a big pink polystyrene sheet they won’t be inclined to investigate all the dinners sitting behind it. I prop big cement bricks against it to keep it in place. I knew this would have blown away, as the storm roared through shifting the wind to the other side. Sure enough it was under the trees and the chickens were huddled in the horizontal rain. Struggling inside my coat I retrieved the pink wall, which weighs nothing and with it flying beside me like a sail, we tacked our way back across the field. Once it is arranged on the correct side, the wind actually holds it in place but I gathered the concrete bricks and propped them against it just in case the wind shifted again. Then the dogs and I went back to our respective sleeping places to sleep with one ear on the rain. The chickens watched us go with little bemused peeps.
This morning has that lovely washed clean scent.
That damp warm benevolent heat that presides over Growth.
Have a lovely day.
your friend on the farm, celi
The Kitchen's Garden 
49 responses to “Burrs on my Boots”
Good Morning Celi, hope you managed to get some sleep around your storm patrol.
Not a good start to the morning this end – early pet sitting trip up the mountain to feed two cats and I hit (and killed) a large deer. It came out of no where – I have heard that said so many times, but it really did, and I have prided myself on not hitting any in this heavily populated area up to now. Now I have a missing light and a dented car. Sigh ,oh well, can’t undo what is now in the past.
Will go and take my sad mood out on the weeds with the kittens, dogs, cats and chickens to talk me out of my doldrums.
oh you poor poor girl.. how frightening, you were lucky you were not injured, what a terrible shock. They truly do come out of nowhere and are almost never alone either.. we have had a few near misses.. I say a nice cup of tea and a quiet afternoon is in order.. c
Exciting night around your place – I can just see you and the dogs out there in your Wearable Tent!
Have a slightly less exciting day, C 😉
Never heard of predicting winter thru the woolly bears so I looked it up. Apparently you’re in for a very mild winter. My grandfather used to look at the thickness of the onion skins and the nesting of the rooks. Mind you, you have to go to Europe to predict via rook nesting. 🙂 Yesterday I plated radishes and spinach and Swiss chard under poly tunnels happily seeding and planting them only thinking how these poly tunnels are going to fix my cat’s little whiskery faces and prevent them from using my veggie beds as their toilet and I completely forgot about our West Coast wind storms. Now I’m thinking I’ll get some bricks or rocks just in case. 🙂 Morning farmy girl.
i have one of those coats too. that rain is coming this way.
Stay safe as you care for them all there on the farm.
We finally got rain yesterday and last night! Yeah!!! The first rain in about 3 weeks! So wonderful that rain! Thankfully all the animals slept happily through and neither of us had to go chasing around in the rain. You’ll have to take a wee nap later today to make up for lost sleep! 🙂
Yep I’d say the Brussel sprouts need a little more cold .. think these are maybe just too early, or am I wrong??
No i think you are right, trouble is here we go from cold to frozen solid so fast, however next year i shall try them a bit later and see what happens. Or not. They take up a lot of room. c
I do remember the first time I planted these on the farm (not that I eat them) I was not sure of the timing and planted 5 times, a week apart.. the earlier ones my dairy herd got to eat and the later ones the family got to eat…. ( I would have preferred to have given them to the herd, upped the milk production…)
Cows win! Every time.. I will feed them toDaisy.. c
Grrr to the burrs, especially when they get in the dog’s fur. I remember my grandfather telling me about the wooly worms and approaching winters, but my ancient memory claims it was if they were thicker, it would be a hard winter. Now that I’m thinking about it, I have no idea what that would mean! Love thei image of you as a self-propelled Bedouin tent!
It is one of those nebulous portents, everyone says they mean something but no-one is quite sure what.! Delightful really. One thing we know for sure. The winter will be whatever it will be. morning sweetie.. c
It’s a wonder you ever sleep at all!
What’s wrong with those brussels sprouts that you are not eating them yourselves? Good old greens that Jock hides under his knife and fork rather than eat them.
they will be eaten but they are not hearting, the leaves are spreading out.. just not cold enough?.. c
But still they are green!
Yup! Touche!! c
Cinders, I had a good chuckle imagining you in your bedouin tent of a raincoat out there scurrying around! Don’t you just love that after a rain storm, clean lovely scent in the air? And here, it is accompanied by a million, tiny, sparkly diamonds on everything..that is, if there’s a bit of light poking through!
I loved all your close up photos today…especially the one of you and the bees! 🙂
Lucky you didn’t turn the shelter thingy the wrong way and end up paragliding!
That would have given the dogs something to wonder about.
God, this post makes me laugh…first I have this unfortunate mental image of pigs trying to kiss you with burrs getting in the way. Burrs and pig lips don’t seem like a good combination. And then you plying across the field trying to man a giant pink “sail”…images of Priscilla Queen of the Desert with her trailing pink dress only it’s the farm version and you weren’t ever a man. I dunno. This is just what happens after that first glass of wine 😉
Strange I’ve never seen Brussel Sprouts do that. We plant ours in April and then harvest after frost. They’ve always stayed in tight balls. Though this year only one plant is giving us decent sized balls. I need a coat like yours! Would be perfect for all the storms I’ve had to walk the dogs in.
I had to laugh!!! I used to wear my old clogs out to work because I got tired of taking off my shoes and putting them back on a thousand times a day!!! Now I slip into my tall rubber boots!!! Wellies! Comfy and fast!!! LOL 🙂
I am excited for you to have grown your apples! They look like they’ll be very good. And you have happy bees now, too. I know the summer heat has its drawbacks, but it sounds like you’re beginning to gear up for cold weather, soon to come, and that’s when my jaw drops at the change in landscape. I hope you have a wonderful weekend, Celi. ox