I am popping in to test things out today and share a few photographs with you.
I had a wee problem with a few trollers on the blog. They made everything sour. So I went quiet for a while hoping they would get bored. Now I am being careful. Poking my wooly head around the corner.
During all this time I have been in my work-triangle of mill to farm to bed. Head down. An apple a day. Lots of water. Getting on with it. Baking on the weekends. Saving. All that ordinary stuff.
If you are on Instagram you are welcome to join me over there. I will post pictures there more often but I miss telling the stories of the farm. Of course in the winter I never see it. I leave at 5 am and get home around 6pm. In the dark both ways.
Let’s hope the trolls did not hear me say I am on Instagram but I have been dying to invite you there I so am willing to risk it. You can work out the name I use- to post over there – that should sort the bastard mink out from the goats. Stay in touch.
The rain came last week. Torrential like rainy season in the tropics. At one point we had 2 inches in 10 minutes and again and again and in the end the rain gauge floated away and I stopped counting. The rivers and creeks and ditches rose, there was nowhere for the water to drain to – we are so flat and low. And the landscape went downhill fast. There was a fault in the ditch bank and the water made good use of it.
The flooded ditch water poured through the hole and into our fields. All the crops in our fields except a few higher islands of new corn are drowned. The road was closed with waves of water washing over it. I could not get my car out and the basement was flooding and holes were appearing in the plaster in the ceiling above old windows so I waited it out. My little car could not get through the water until yesterday – the rain started on Friday.
The gin was gone. I needed to get out.
When this all dries out the farmers will till it up and plant a cover crop. It is a disaster. And not just for us – many farmers lost their crops. But no one was hurt, the cranes and ducks are very well fed. The snapping turtles are out and about and a couple of beavers and unusual flocks of water birds have been sighted. Tadpoles are everywhere!
I have developed a fascination for clouds lately. Now that things are opening up and we are relaxing a little I feel my head turning upwards more.
If I could paint – I would get a krink in my neck painting these clouds. Watercolors I think.
Because I don’t have a lot of time to garden I have created an entire garden out of old pots on the porch. I am growing good food and tons of herbs on my little green belt.
Just as well because John’s big tomato garden got a good drowning after 6 days of solid rain. Do you see the strings up the back – I am growing tomatoes up those, as the tomato vines get higher and I begin to pick, I just drop the line a little every few days curling the vine down onto the top of the pot so the fruit is always within reach. An old glass house trick.
In the end Tia was not pregnant and as Aunty Del died softly in the night a wee while ago, ( which broke my already Sheila-broken heart) I brought Tia a couple of orphan calves for company. They will stay a few years and get fat in the fields.
Though the hay fields are underwater too. Hmm. That Champagne calf is a Charolais. Lovely animal. I won’t get attached.
The floodwaters are slowly draining now. They smell kind of brackish, dark and ominous. I dreamed the other night a crocodile came up out of the floodwaters. But they don’t have crocodiles here – alligators but not in Illinois. But anything could be washing through that big hole in the bank. Once the ditch, that was once a creek, goes down, the men will fix the breach in the bank and we will see what nature decides to bring next.
I hope you are all well. It was lovely dropping in! See you all again soon.
Have a great holiday weekend.
Talk soon.
Miss C
The Kitchen's Garden 
108 responses to “It’s Been So Long”
We in California could have used some of the rain. Mother Nature is angry at us for all the damage we do to our planet. I love those cloud photos.
Yup. We have to change and adapt. No more wasteful behavior. But we can only change ourselves. As fast as we can. Here we are used to getting rain, though that was a bad one – worse than any of the old fellas can remember.
It is great to hear from you again! I was just thinking about you! I, too, have had trolls, but I have been lucky. I have been able to set Akismet to send comments with certain words straight to my spam folder and block particular email addresses. I have missed your stories, and I am glad to see you again!
Sadly I knew who the trolls were so I was getting it from all sides in different mediums. I just did not feel free to speak my mind anymore. I just hope they have forgotten about me. I got the fear.
So nice to hear you talking again. I love that photo of the massive clouds reflected in the field of water. It would make a great pastel painting, which I am in the process of learning. So nice to see you are still growing things and have lovely, well cared for animals. Hugs and love to you. xx
You too lovely! Hmm pastels – that sounds good! What a great study!
It’s so VERY good to have you back. I suspect trolls are related to minks…
I think so too!! ( just quietly).
So thankful I have been able to see and hear snippets on Instagram, but there is nothing in the world better than the reading the blog. Trolls are such nasty little creatures, likely with very low self-esteem I think. Welcome back Miss C!
Thank you Deb! Hope you are well! People don’t comment as much on Instagram either and I miss the communication.
No, Instagram is not meant for meaningful comments and discussion. I am well, thank you, and feeling the freedom like others after such a long time with Covid clouds hanging overhead. Take care.
STUNNING photos, lovely to read a blog from you again. Welcome back. Fingers tightly, tightly crossed that all is well re trolling and farm getting back to some sort of normality. So sorry to hear about Auntie Del. You must miss her.
I guess I miss the old farm – but I am feeding way more people good food through the mill so that is a good thing.
OMG! I really missed you! It’s great to see the animals again and hear that you are well. Your Charolais calf is beautiful and I’m sure it will be a good investment. Sorry about the floods, though Turner would have loved the clouds against the water.
You can mark the Troll’s comments as spam and if they persist report them to WP – they should be able to ban them relative to their IP address.
I am sure they are over it now.
I do hope so!
I love those charolais beasts too – this one will look amazing gliding through a dark field when he is bigger.
Ha ha – like a ghost!
Yes! Lucky he is a steer or I would be very tempted!
So very good to see your words and photos . . . even if we would wish for so much to be different. I have been called ‘negative’ for quoting ‘it is as it is’ – methinks I am but a realist. One has to make the best with what one is given . . . I smile at all the productive pots on your house steps and clap ‘yay’ ! Absolutely love your weather photos which should grace a book . . . yet am glad I was not there for the deluge . . . OK, we have our own kinds . . . and you say you will not get ‘attached’ to the gorgeous Charolais: name please as we probably will . . .
These are Bobbys. Glad you are doing well.
So happy to receive your email. I miss your little farmy! Up here in Alberta we have just had a week of heat extr elms and right at this moment it is like a monsoon out there! Feast or famine! Thanks for all the photos!
That heat you are getting up there is downright nasty- I hope you are doing ok!
I was wondering how you and the farm were doing. We are dry as a bone here in Manitoba. Being adaptable is the only way to get along with Mother Nature. I agree with everyone who says the Earth is angry with us. We have to smarten up! We will be shaken off like unwanted fleas soon. I love your porch garden. Very productive! I’m hoping to travel soon to see my west coast son, I haven’t seen them in a year and a half and the boys keep growing! Your comment about gin made me smile. I hope you have everything you need.
I have more Gin!! Glad to see you are well – and great that you are traveling soon.
Welcome back! I’m sorry to hear of Aunty Dell and the floods, but your deck garden made my heart leap to know that you are still producing a garden. My garden too is all in pots, and now that I add sheep pellets flowers and lettuces are thriving.
I salute your resilience and hope the clouds keep bringing you smiles. I have to approve all comments on my blog, not that I have so many as you. May the trolls shrink away and stay away.
Thank you Juliet – sadly it had nothing to do with commenting here – more about reading and commenting elsewhere. However things blow over – they always do. Hope all is well in your world!
Really delighted to see you poke your head around the corner. I hope the trolls have gone back under their bridge and leave you alone. We’ve all missed you and your companions on the farm! Your new calves are gorgeous!
They are kind of cute! Hope you are well Violet!
Yikes! That first shot made me gulp! It is so nice to hear your voice! Dang those trolls… hope they crawled back under their bridge. And washed away!! Sorry to hear about Auntie Del. There certainly have been a lot of challenges lately. It helps to hear the voices from across the world here in your comments lounge. Having a seniors moment. Can’t remember what we are called. Some kind of blend between friendship and fellowship. You offer up both! Good luck Celi!
Yes! We are the Fellowship of the Farmy! And we are from all over the world too! Lovely!
So good to have you back. I’ve missed our visits and chats.
And I have missed following the birds to your place!
I have missed reading your blog soooo much! You have such a way with words that even when the topics are sad your posts are good for the soul. Be well, and I hope to see you in my inbox again soon.
P.S. I love the tomato plant idea! If I ever move mine out of the garden, I may have to give that a shot.
Without all our woofers and farm stay people we dont really need as big a garden. Also I love proving to people that you don’t need a big garden to have lots of fresh food!
It’s wonderful to have you back. Even those of us who neither garden nor farm nor bake love your posts. Those two calves are soon to become favorites, I suspect!
I am sure you manage to keep yourself busy! Lovely to hear from you!