Again with the daily rain. And these are not gentle summer rains. These are full on furious thunder and lightening storms with torrential downpours of inches at a time.
Everything is hot and wet all the time. I think we should start mowing the cover of weeds on my 160 acres. Soon those weeds will start to flower and go to seed and then we are in trouble. Of course that is an impossible task and I am kidding but not kidding.
The week days are so busy now that I thought I would do my midweek report without pictures. So much faster for me and keeps you in the loop.
It has dawned sopping and hot. I have recently had two Airbnb cancellations due to weather. Too rainy.
The piglets continue to grow but for the first time ever Poppy rolled onto and killed a healthy three day old piglet. She is just too hot and slow this time. Quite distressed with the heat. She still is not eating right or drinking enough water and even though I hose her off as much as possible, I work six hours a day. And losing a piglet was a result of me not being here.
So I am doubly glad of my decision to quit with the baby pigs.
The rest are doing well. But I am still on the watch for trouble. The rain does nothing to alleviate the heat – we are living in the tropics in rainy season.
Still no sign of Mrs Flowers. But she has not been gone a month yet. I will still give her the benefit of a doubt. She may just be nesting.
The cows are doing well. The ducks are happy as, well, ducks. The groups of hogs in their fields lay about in wallows or disappear into their long beautiful overgrown pastures. And Sheila and Tane are both improving with their intake of whole raw milk.
Anna is staying for a few weeks – she is working at the mill for me so that will be a great help and I hope to pull ahead with some of my projects. But I am still overloaded and am also thinking this may be my last season milking.
So that is me up to date. How about you?
Celi
The heat seems to be alleviating – thank goodness.
The Kitchen's Garden 
47 responses to “THROW IN THE TOWEL”
This format (some words, no pics) works for me if you’re busy… I’d rather you got on with the important stuff, but of course I want to hear about it too. What will happen to Manu when you are no longer raising pigs?
Manu has a new home with a breeder down the road.
Our zone is sub-tropical but we are getting more extremes, more frequently. Which seems like what is happening where you are, and I think more commonly everywhere. If this is the new norm or a blip, who knows. I have begun reading up on Permaculture in preparation for beginning studying it with a focus on design in a few weeks. Before beginning indepth reading I thought I was across its premise but I had no idea of its breadth… a holistic, living and working with nature philosophy that can be applied across all aspects of day to day life.
It’s hard to imagine the midwest getting SO much rain and we’re dry as a bone here in the northwest! I wish we could trade weather for a few days! Ugh! I too am sorry you lost one of the piglets..Poppy is just not herself this time and especially with your miserable weather. Will you be selling her along with Molly? And didn’t Manu already leave the farm? Answer when you can.
I’m not sure if you ever saw the movie The Marigold Hotel? There is a line in it that I love and try to remember when things are going sideways…”Things will work out in the end and if they haven’t…it’s not the end!”
Molly and Manu have gone off. They both had the good genetics. So Poppy will set up housekeeping with Aunty Sheila. But as long as they are happy she can stay with her piglets for a good while.
Yes I saw the film and yes, I remember the line. And methinks it is most apt . . . today I am returning to both the heading of the day and the brief comment to Deb and thoughts I have had in my head for a long time somehow return , , . may the rains be gentle . . .
I hope you always keep your joy in mind when you make your priorities. I know you love that mill, but you also love the farm so it’s a big tug of war. But mostly I want you to be happy. So often we do the thing that feel practical by society and on paper, rather than by our souls.
A wonderful comment. Thank you so much. And now that the crowds have moved to the next post I must admit that it is my children who are pulling at me the most. I keep asking myself why I am still living so far from them.
Gosh Celi, it must be terribly difficult for you at times… Moving back to the US from teaching abroad was such a cultural change for me, and is often now quite frightening with this present administration. But being fairly close to family makes being back so nice.
Closer to family would be so good.
That is hard. You can’t feed all the joys I guess. So hard.
Thanks for answering C. when you have so much to deal with right now! Sometimes I read the other comments and I saw your reply to itsathought. I have an idea! How about 6 months in NZ and 6 months back here? Yes, I know…your John would probably never go for that but as isathought said….Follow your soul and heart…it’s the only one you have…
It is in fact a wonderful thought. Though ICE would not stand for it. My green card is void after three months away and you can’t get a 6 month visa anymore. However I am thinking deeply on how to do this.
“If there’s a will, there’s a way” and I know, you have the will!