Water wings for chooks? Sea horses? Time to start growing rice??

Before I write about our great visit this week I have to mention the record breaking rain this week. It's CRAZY.

G heard that many corn farmers in southern MN have completely flooded fields, so have basically written off their crops completely. 

http://blogs.mprnews.org/updraft/2014/06/hydro-vortex-crop-damage-across-southern-minnesota/

Yikes.

We did ok in comparison!

It's been raining heavily here all morning.  The duck tarp was just about to cave in before I spent the time to bucket the water out.  Flan and his ladies are standing in water and muck. At least they can retreat to their dry above-ground coop if they get completely water logged.  I had a funny image pop into my head of them all with tiny inflatable water wings, or a big inflatable doughnut around Pepper's girth. 

The ducks of course are ecstatic.  They all stood facing the rain in that quiet perfectly still zen like way they do when the weather get really rough.  Somehow I feel I can relate to that.  OOPSIE (Daisy) duckling (who really does look like a female now-phew) has learned to hunt for worms, and also to steal them right out of the bills of the adults. Cheeky little monkey!

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G has a bad feeling that the Board of Directors will come up with some new tasks for the team and he'll have to cancel his big trip to the permaculture course in Vermont.  I really hope that doesn't happen...

Speaking of the wonders of permaculture, the swales are working wonders in the sheep paddock, and the grass and various plants and trees are doing amazingly well.  The swales were actually overflowing from so much rain in the last 24 hours.  We were pretty happy the other day when we noticed a very content frog floating in one. Well we were more like ecstatic, to be honest. 

The mosquitoes and flies are starting to get bad on any hot and windless days, but then the hero swarms of dragonflies come out and do what they do. This past week also brought the fireflies, so that adds a little extra magic to everything.  Middle Field literally sparkles.

The phoebes lost their first clutch....the nestling was dead in the nest and after a few days of some strange vocal behaviour that I misinterpereted as the parents trying to scare me off their brood, I finally discovered the dead nestling.  I'm not quite sure what happened, but I suspect mites killed the little one.  I don't know if there were any more nestlings who actually fledged.  The great news is that two days ago the resilient parents started building a new nest above our deck, and I think they are already finished. Well done little ones!

We've started harvesting strawberries! Awesome. Dill is in the dehydrator, soon to be followed by chamomile.  And there's nothing like a fresh salad from your own garden...

I'll head out soon to take some more pictures of the flooding.  There are even swale-type areas in the garden filling up.  Luckily for our jalapenos G had planted them in mounds and mulched them well with straw.  All these things seem important when you hear of sterile fields flooding and soil washing away, and farmers losing everything. 

Last week when the rain started I had a dream that rivers were flowing through backyard paddock, and all the new squashes, corn and potatoes were washed away.  Really hoping that doesn't happen!!

Stay on alert Mr. Flan!

Corn...