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.”
Rain here in Minnesota, too, but not as much as you are getting in Illinois. I am thankful for the rain as we need it and, like you, I think of California.
As for the flies, they were a part of life on the farm in Minnesota, too. Always battling them with fly swatters, fly strips and, I don’t like to write this, spray. That was decades ago.
It is our second year here in Northern CA that we are having to down size our garden. We usually are surrounded by green grass around our house. We are just letting it go. We have the happy face on this morning. It has rained all night. and still is raining. It sounds so good on the roof. Fire season started early this year. We thinki it will be a rough year. Saw pictures on the news of many fruit and almond orchards that have died. We are blessed to get eggs from our neighbors. For most of our married life we had chickens of our own. You would be shocked. Yesterday in the store, for a dozen organic eggs the price was $5.45. Wow. Know you worry about the cost of extra feed, but be thankful for the farm (hard work and all.) For sure because of the drought prices will be going up and up. Just have to add that your pastures look wonderful.
We’re having flies here that we haven’t had in years. Rain is a blessing on so many levels, but everything thrives—even the flies and mosquitoes!
The photograph of what I think of as early morning mist, with a couple of white chicks, has me mesmerized; with the muted colours, I can almost smell the soil and humidity. Good to hear it’s beginning to rain at least in northern California. Let’s hope it works its way south.
Everything looks so lush and green on the farm… that freshness that only happens in spring. I love it. The flies, however, take away some of the joy of spring, am sure… lol… I remember, as a kid at the cottage, the ‘little black flies’ that were so tiny that they got through any kind of barrier and painfully bit… and then there were the huge ‘deer flies’ that would take a chunk out too but they were only around mid-summer, as I recall. For working in the gardens can you get your hands on a few of those hats with the netting that comes down over your face and neck to protect? (I think mainly from mosquitoes)
Hope you can keep dry! Have you too have a lovely day — Mame
Thy’re easy enough to make – just make a tube of fine net, thread elastic through the hem top and bottom and put it on over any wide-brimmed hat. Failing that, wear a nylon shopping bag on your head!
The biting flies are the worst. I feel bad for the animals Wish there was some essential oil you could dab on you and them to keep the flies at bay. The rain held off just long enough yesterday to get my daughter’s apartment loaded and unloaded at her new one. As the last box came in, the rain let loose. The drive home was like paddling a canoe. I know that squish, squish, squish sound your feet made walking through the muddy yard. I don’t complain much though because when the heat comes, I melt into a non functioning puddle. I hope you get a bit of dry at least. I’d love to sit on the porch a bit and watch.
You can grow lemon grass at least, around the porch and other areas where you linger.
Thanks. In the next week or so I’ll get started.
Very funny–growing webbed feet! Raining here too, off and on, but so far we haven’t been deluged, which would mean the entire day spent disinfecting the basement. Ugh
You are describing exactly what we are dealing with here in Oklahoma with the onslaughts of rain. After 5 consecutive days of rain, yesterday I got on the mower and got a very little done – trying to mow around low areas where water had not receded. Today there isn’t any sun, not a puff of breeze, and of course wet grass so I can’t mow until it’s dried. Tonight more rain arrives and will continue on into the weekend. We might be brush hogging the yard instead of mowing if this continues!! Gads!! Just keep swimming just keep swimming… (from Finding Nemo).
We’ve actually had lovely weather up until Sunday and since then it’s chilly, overcast and a little rainy. It really gets me down too and I only realize it when I wake up to sunshine and feel so incredibly happy, it’s the contrast that brings it home for me. Flies bite here too but only when it’s going to rain. We have mosquitos and blackflies (at the cottage) and they are brutal. Hoping they die soon.
Here in Upper Northern California we have been getting oodles of rain the past few days …supposed to keep up all week maybe ….yay! Cheers!
Computer about to shut down for the dreaded updates. I hope your rain moderates a bit!
love,
ViV
GOOD LUCK!!
It took 20 mins to download, but it came back on OK. So far so good!
So far we have had TWO days in a row without pouring rain. And it’s a tad warmer! Like you we need the mud to dry up.
Linda
http://coloradofarmlife.wordpress.com
https://coloradofarmlife.wordpress.com/sherlock-boomer
I have been reading about different remedies for biting flies….a lot of recipes call for essential oils mixed together with water or alchohol. But you have to keep spraying and it could be expensive after awhile…however the one thing that keeps popping up is Apple cider vinegar alone or with garlic mixed in a spray bottle with water and spray your animals avoiding spraying their eyes directly of course. Also some people say they put a 1/2 cup of ACV in the water barrel it works as a fly repellent in the urine. Another remedy was a large plastic baggy filled 1/2 way with water and a penny in it, hung around door entrances and random places in your barn, this one sounds odd but a lot of people swear by it. Good luck with fly season…nasty buggers.
Have a great day Celi !
Robin 🐥
Lady Astor rears like a wild horse (incredibly dangerous when it is slippery) if anything sprays close to her but i keep forgetting to try the penny in a baggy. must try that one.. c
Didn’t you have something strung up in bags many posts back, a year or more maybe……in the trees near where the cows ate, they walked into them and were …..dusted?….to keep the flies off…….could do it themselves. Sunny and quite hot here one the morning chill burns off, lovely, lovely autumn, no humidity.
yes I did, big coffee sacks, I do that in the summer .. need to find some more.. c
Yup, I would say by that last photo that Tima is definitely preggers! Wonder if Lady A would just let you stroke her with a vinegar soaked sponge or cloth? She probably wouldn’t like the smell and run away or rear up anyway, so maybe not a good idea. Let me know how that penny in a baggy works..sounds crazy but you never know! Luckily we don’t have flies here…well a few but nothing like you guys have and ours don’t bite, so I feel extremely fortunate! I hate flies!
Have you moved the farmy to Ireland, you know the bit that belongs to ‘themuns’ over the little pond. We had a showery day here but the rain was crazy and icy when it reached hands and faces. Celi, I think you are missing a shot….. You should be able to find a market for home grown organic mud packs. I am sure with all the nourishment it might even make my leathery skin look youthful! 😉 😉
We finally got almost a half inch of rain yesterday, it was needed as the farmer’s crops are up but now there is a frost warning for tonight! Even without the rain the black flies have started. Winston came running to me, handing me his ears so I could wipe the beggars out, he’s a donkey, that’s a lot of ear and I had bloody thumbs! Last year I bought a solar fly trap from Arbico organics, it’s mostly for the house/stable flies and works so well I bought another this year. Best thing is the flies dry up and I empty it for the league of lady layers and the ducks and they have a feast!
I am going to look into that.. arbico organics right? is it called a fly trap?
Yes, it’s called a solar fly trap: http://www.arbico-organics.com/product/solar-fly-trap-fly-lure/Fly-Pest-Control-Products