Suntan Lotion for pigs. 
Yes, it’s a thing! Pigs get sunburnt. Most especially on their ears, an area that is hard to cover in mud from their wallows. Summer is here so the suntan lotion goes wherever I go now.
Better probably to stay inside where the sun cannot reach us. But the pigs and I are outside creatures.
Lady Astor is milking once a day now and doing very well with it. We milk in the early morning when there are no flies and it is still cool. Bobby Blue is with her 24 hours still, he is strongly attached to his herd and does not even come up to the barn when she does. She walks up alone, is milked, then wanders back to the herd afterwards. Absolutely no drama.
Every summer is different. Every calf is different. This one is small and efficient and we are cow-sharing very nicely at this point.
This is Alex’s last week with me and today he is going to try and get all the grass under all the electric fences trimmed while I hoe the weeds out of the North garden. Tomato pruning and training is ongoing. I will also sow two rows of nasturtiums (I will sell the flowers to the chefs) and another row of beets (baby beets sell very well). Plus remind me to asparagus and rhubarb seed. Can you buy garlic seed? I need to check. The chefs are after green garlic and I need to find a cost effective way of growing a lot of it for next year.
I hope you have a lovely day.
Love celi
Weather Forecast: A perfect temperature. This Northerly is a bonus wind for my fat chickens in their last week.
Tuesday 06/06 0% / 0 in
Abundant sunshine. High 76F. Winds NNE at 10 to 20 mph.
Tuesday Night 06/06 10% / 0 in
Clear skies. Low 52F. Winds NNE at 10 to 15 mph.
The Kitchen's Garden 
42 responses to “Slip, Slop, Slap”
Thank you for the beautiful photo of the window casting light from high in the barn. Isn’t that the one that your daughter and her hub replaced for you – mountain/cliff climbing came in handy in this instance, if I recall!
I agree about the barn window photos with the high light and it’s effects. And I too remember the family climbers replacing that window. Strong both images then and now.
I plant my garlic in October from individual cloves. I cut the scapes as they curl in June and harvest the mature bulbs the end of July. If you don’t cut the scapes they will form a seed head of tiny bulbils some varieties look like popcorn seeds. They will give you very thin green garlic, when planted. Every year there are some bulbs that don’t get dug in July (accidentally, of course) I use those in the spring as green garlic. Because the cloves were not separated the will come up in clumps of green in the spring.
Love the input from the comments… I have plenty of naturtiums & new pesto inspiration and some ideas for my garlic, will let a couple go to seed as I love to chop and use the green leaves while I’m waiting for the bulbs to grow.
D > Consider garlic chives. I’ve never ever grown rhubarb from seed, and J – who comes from a umpteenth-generation Rhubarb family, looks puzzled by the thought of it. Grow from root-division. Growing from seed is very slow, and results are highly unreliable. Find someone with a good vigorous rhubarb with good stems, that needs raising and dividing, and barter for a portion or two!
I have dug up all the rhubarb I can from old gardens around here – quite a bit of it – but really there are so few gardens out here on the plains!! c
😟
‘Slip, slop, slap’! What about your and the animals’ dire need for Vit D3? As I do not spend most of the day outdoors [what a pity!] I have not bothered with sunscreen for over 30 years even during our sunny and hot Australian summers . . . . never had a sunburn . . . have had 3 dear friends succumbing to melanoma: none of them ever sunbaked! Moisturize with a natural oil: of course! And I intensely dislike the chemicals used in these creams and lotions . . . .well., me again 🙂 ! Half the Aussie doctors agree . . . .
I am willing to bet you are not a pale skinned blue eyed girl like me. To go out with out sunscreen and a hat and long sleeves would lead to blisters for me. c
*biggest smile* beautiful lady!! I AM a ‘pale skinned Nordic’, v blonde-haired, well more hazel eyed gal than you’ !!! Yes to the hat and sleeves, no to the cancer and ‘other’ ‘uglies’ producing chemicals . . . . yes to a moistured skin but, them I might look at the dangers more differently if I had to be out in the summer sunlight like you all day . . . 🙂 !! Am just about to do an exam on this . . . I better get it right 🙂 !
Filaree Farm in Washington state sells bulk garlic seed: http://www.filareefarm.com/seed-garlic-for-sale/Bulk-Seed-Garlic/
Territorial Seed also sells it. Good luck!
Thank you!! c
http://www.gourmetsleuth.com/articles/detail/green-garlic, http://www.thekitchn.com/whats-the-difference-between-green-garlic-and-garlic-scapes-221167, http://greyduckgarlic.com/Green_Organic_Garlic.html
Not sure if they count as seed or not, but if by chance you forget about them and let scapes carry on in a cozy shopping bag, they will eventually produce teeny, tiny little bulblets of garlic
Glad to see that you take such good care of your animals! Love your blog. ☺