Gardening in the rain

Yesterday it rained. I am trying very hard not to make sarcastic comments like ” Rain? Really? You’re kidding.” More rain. Amanda was Kitchen Mama which meant I had hours to spend in the garden and it was raining but I just worked in the  rain. All day I was sopping wet. But happy. A whole day in the garden. Joy indeed.

However Camera House was unhappy so this is why there is only one picture.  My hands were too dirty for him.

I dug and planted and sowed seeds in the cold drizzle. And weeded and trimmed. If I wait for the rain to stop I am never going to get any gardening done. Naomi was very attentive at her play time and the piglets are still beautiful and Lady Astor is still milking very well but not too much. She can have her calf back (at night)  until this weekend then I will shift Queenie’s Bobby and Naomi Across the Way. Aunty Del will stay this side  with me for a while.

But we are dripping wet. I feel like we are caught in some kind of science fiction movie where it rains forever and I have no idea how to lift the spell. We had such a lovely week last week and I honestly thought we were going to able to dry out.  But the rain is back. Sheila and Manu live outside in their huts and they need new straw but no local farmers can get out to bale straw let alone harvest the wheat – so there is none to buy yet. I am using hay for bedding. My hay field is all flowers. We are not going to be getting on that field anytime soon. I am worried that we may be short of hay this winter. There are a number of rain days ahead. How can so much rain fall from the sky?

But there I am complaining. It is a great year for trees! Maybe I will plant some more willow cuttings they will love all this rain.  And a good year for ducks, they are literally floating in the fields.

I have to go out now and load fifty-two chickens ( a good number are roosters) into their travelling boxes.

At least this time I have Jake and the boys to help me with the transport of the birds, in previous years this has been a nightmare.  We have quite the team this year. And it is great.

Amanda and I are already settling into an easily sustainable rhythm. She has chicken eggs in the incubator, and seeds in the ground and has already taken over all the satellite flocks.  Today I am Kitchen Mama and she will run the farm and gardens apart from Poppy and the cows.

I hope you have a lovely day. Maybe today it will be drier and Camera House will come out to play.

Love your friend on the farm,

celi