Our feet are growing webs. The rain has rained for days now, maybe weeks – on and off – On and off. The land drinks it all up in between squalls. 
I feel bad for California – you would think that osmosis would enable some of this water to creep across the country. Because we certainly have enough. It is the rainy season here and I know I will be grateful for all the water in the soil later in the season but right now – we need a break from the rain.
The gateways and my brains are turning to mush. 
The flies are coming too, just a hint of warm and up they leap. The flies in Illinois bite, which I find quite unfair.
Mud. The big animals have limited time in the good fields which is a catch 22.
Good to keep the fields in order, bad for the areas around the barn where the flies are breeding. Bad for my massively depleted pile of hay.
However for today and tomorrow there is no rain in the forecast so back into the gardens we go.
And later today I hope that the cows can get back out too. Yesterday they had the afternoon in the fields.
And I really hope that you all have a lovely day.
Your friend on the farm
celi
The Kitchen's Garden 
50 responses to “Mud, Mud, Mud.”
Tima makes my day…she’d look even better if she was mounted on four little wheels like a clockwork toy…
if she gets even fatter she will need to be! What a funny image!.. morning valerie. c
Not sure I would be entirely happy squelching around in all that mud for very long C, then again, it could always be loads of fun.
Have a lovely farmy day. I have been in the garden as much as possibly lately too – loving the perfect autumn weather.
🙂 Mandy xo
We are very soggy here in Arkansas too. We need some sunshine!
Fields are looking good though! Laura
We haven’t had rain here in weeks! Now that we have planted all our early crops, they need water so badly! We’ve been irrigating, but there’s no substitute for a good drench. Send some our way! Your farm looks green, that’s for sure. Once the sun comes out finally, things are really going to explode! Ah well, Mother Nature has her ways…
Thank God for big mercies tho’ – was saddened and shocked to see in our evening news the huge number of tornadoes right throughout the central US states, Illinois included. At least again you escaped that: the wet will end . . . hope before your hay will run out!
Good morning, darling. Two short questions, c. (1) Do the flies also bite the cows and pigs? (2) My chive and vinegar mixture went cloudy overnight. Is this to be expected, or should I throw it out?
Throw it out, mine has never gone cloudy…was it in a dark cupboard? wonder why that happened.. and yes the flies bite the cows.. leaving blood too often.. poor things
Right. Out it goes. It wasn’t in a dark cupboard; it was set on the worktop.
The weather is so off in so many parts of the country…the order of things is changing making so much out of whack. We had no snow in our mtns to speak of, which we depend upon for summer water…all of us along the west coast are just going to dry up and blow away come August.
Biting Flies are the worst in my opinion. Okay – maybe chiggers are the worst, but a biting fly is still painful.
You know that childhood saying “rain rain go away’ -> we need to say that here in North Texas! Flooding is something horrible here! And we have rain in the forecast for the next 7 days. Yesterday was the 1st day in two weeks we did not have any rain! Mold and mosquitoes are going to be BAD!
YES! I’m in Tyler and this weather is ridiculous! I think I could grow rice in my back yard right now. And poor Van (just north of Tyler), hit hard by the tornado!
Finally we had some sun yesterday, and fingers crossed we’ll have a bit more today before the rain comes again. All this rain sure makes the sun very, very welcome!!! 🙂
My SIL lives in Texas. They have had a 5 year drought, but the latest rounds of rains has caught them up. That’s a lot of rain, but it was needed badly.\
My rain barrels are loving the rain and we’re prepared to water the garden if the rains ever end. My garden is too wet to plant anything, but hopefully it will dry out enough that I can get some work done before the next round of rains move in this weekend.
That Tima is sure one fat pig! She certainly looks pregnant. I hope the sun shines for you all soon x
Two things I don’t like… endless rain – and biting flies…. and we had both at times at our farm in Quebec, Canada. Luckily the biting flies, for the most part, don’t last all summer. But they sure can take a chunk out of you, can’t they? And often you don’t realize it until you scratch behind your ear and find blood. About rain, rain…. rain… Once I had to put boards over the mud so I could set in rows of beans…. Wishing you some lovely sunny weather – and hope your supply of hay lasts!!
Sent the rain our way we really need it. I’m in the mountains and we had 6 inches of snow when we arrived. Any moisture is good .
You’ll have to increase your water project to include California. I wonder if there’s something you can farm that will eat those nasty flies… 🙂