Summertime on the Farm

Dear friends,

It has been a hot, dry summer here in the Ozarks! We've been busy watering everything, along with harvesting and processing the vegetables from the garden. 

Here is a video tour of our big garden out back~ https://youtu.be/MW8N9AnM3wI

The kids are getting bigger and more naughty than ever. Their mothers went back to our friends who have a place to keep them now, so they have decided that if their mothers went somewhere, they're going to go somewhere, too! They were jumping over the electric fence to get into the garden, so I became desperate and started hiding in the garden and popping them with a bb gun every time they jumped over, hoping they would think if was the fence and not I. It seems to have worked, since they haven't gone in for about four days now, as opposed to every time I turned around, like before. They also like to join the neighbors' cows in their pasture, which is completely eaten down and only has grass.

Books are on the menu today~

On the bunny front, we caught a cottontail bunny out in the field a couple of months ago and raised it up, but it really wasn't happy, so we released it in a good spot away from other people's garden.

My, what big eyes you have!

Our second doe rabbit had nine bunnies, and we've found homes for seven of them so far. When it's hot, rabbits have a hard time cooling off, so we've been freezing jugs of water and placing it in their cages to lie next to.

The butterflies have been quite abundant this year, especially on the wildflowers and zinnias. We love raising flowers to bring in the pollinators, because it helps us to have a better garden overall.

The lemon squash and burpless cucumbers have done the best out of everything in the garden, so far. For a month now they've really been putting out the fruit, and I've had to get really creative with hiding squash in breads, pancakes, etc. Out of fifty tomato plants, we had an okay harvest, but between the hornworms, goats, and a blight, they are limping along. Thankfully we've found other sources of tomatoes to put up salsa, ketchup, spaghetti sauce, and juice.

And last, but not least, my oldest son has made himself a shirt, to advertise his own Youtube channel. How clever is that!

May you be blessed as you finish the rest of this summer. Stay cool, dear friends!

Love,

Marqueta