Now I have four volunteers and the farm is really humming. I have to be right on task though as they were at full throttle yesterday and working so fast, striking things off the list one after the other – I was having trouble keeping up. Today we are taking down some old fences and collecting all the materials together for the new fences that we start next week. And gardening, gardening, gardening.
A heat wave is on its way so we must ensure all the pigs have good cool wallows and lots of straw in their houses and the cows are under the trees.
We will get all the hardest work done early in the day. But the War on Thistles is continuing and this is always done in the hottest part of the day so we can use beating sun as a weapon. We have two kinds of thistle in the fields: the ordinary big dark green one with the tap root that you can dig right out and it is gone for good and the nasty long thin one that spreads from its roots shooting out in all directions. I fear that we will never get rid of the nasty long thin one – the most we can do is stop the seeds from spreading, and dig them out again and again until they give up. The actual thistles are hauled out of the field in a big washing basket and burnt. I put pigs in a field with the bad thistles one year and they dug them right up and that kept them down for a while but they always come back. So I must content myself with managing them as opposed to eradicating them. 
Tonight my old friend and ex-woofer Amanda is back for a few days so we will be filled to the brim. My house is a little house but we have different corners we stash people into. And once we all get around the table it is marvelous.
I am Kitchen Mama today and as usual I have No Idea what I will be cooking. I will make ice cream though and ricotta cheese and bread in the morning. But what to make for dinner? I don’t know – I am sure something will come to me. We always gather and sit together for dinner and if one person is late to the table we wait for him or her. Gathering as a complete team is very important for me. Eating as a family with my Rent-a-Kids. Priceless.
I hope you have a lovely day.
Love celi
The Kitchen's Garden 
33 responses to “Almost to the brim”
Watching the weather is the job, hobby, and vocation of all farmers….for it means survival on the land. But you know that already, as this post states.
Linda
Sitting around the table and sharing food that was home grown are treasured childhood memories for me. To this day I enjoy sharing food with friends and family.
I would love to be at that table at the end of the day chatting and eating good homegrown food with new friends! How fun for you!
We have tree trimmers out there today, keeping branches off the roof. The association requires it. It is a cool one too, likely the last one before the constant heat of a six month summer. Bright 90 degree to 100 days. We are retired and like the non activity- studying, taking care of things, but reading your blog posts is an experience of the farming I never did. Jesus Loves You and I think you are recharging because of food and the natural life and youth and ‘new mercies’, from God. But ‘the joy of the Lord is our strength’! OK.
I wish I could rent you my kids for the summer, Celi! The Actor and the Gardener. But it would be a hard sell for the actor (even though he’d love you) and the gardener comes with a toddler, so there it is. I hope everyone stays relatively comfortable today and no chickens are lost. I can’t wait to see what you’ve whipped up to nourish your large team today.
the humming along farm – it sounds like fun. My default dinner for years as a student was spaghetti bolognaise.
We’ve got family/friends coming so we’re having easy prep ahead “junk food” roasted local pasture raised chicken with homemade sourdough bread stuffing, homemade coleslaw & homemade local potato oven fries… It sounds very Farmy… which is where got the coleslaw inspiration. Old fashioned baked rice pudding, with cherries saved from Christmas out of the freezer in Maderia and homemade icecream.
Just shows what good soil and manure will do: have not seen zucchinis of this size since forever. Wonder whether you ever make the wonderful stuffed zucchini blossoms – one of my favourite dishes every spring/summer . . .
that is a baby courgette – hopefully it will be grow to be a big one.. c
How are your squash this year? Mine are having their best year ever. They don’t even seem to mind the powdery mildew from all the rain.
I’m late but I agree with so many of your lovely followers about the importance of eating together as a family!
Thistles sure are a nuisance. Thankfully not a problem for us ..
I have the same thistle issues here. The sheep will nibble on the taproot kind (bull whistle) but don’t touch the thin-rooted runner kind (Canada thistle). I am going to pull them all again this weekend. Plus an acre of stinging nettle. I ate a lot of the nettle in the early spring (delicious and so good for you!), but now that they are flowering – and 3 and 4 feet tall! – it’s time to cut them back and give the grass a chance. It’s a lot of work but so satisfying when you are done.
You have your work cut out – so do we!