I'm hoping that things will turn around soon. This summer hasn't exactly been what I hoped, for obvious reasons. I'm still having trouble accepting that my brother is gone.
My health isn't great. I want to get back to myself. Trying to keep things together but it's seriously one step forward three steps back. Glenn is doing great this summer despite everything.
On Sunday I was out visiting stables with a new friend. By the time I got back home mid afternoon I was feeling sick, and when Glenn hugged me my skin hurt. Fever. Three hours crashed out on the couch. My afternoon wasted. It only got worse. By Monday I was in tears. Glenn went to work and I don't quite remember how I got through basic morning chores. But the rest of the day was shot. It was a horrible feeling not being able to go outside and check on the animals on a 31 C day.
Being forced to stay indoors was good in a way though...Our beloved house hen Miss Fern is very sick, and we don't know how much time we have left with her. Absolutely heart breaking for me. Little bantam rooster Jack really seems to love her and she always does better when he's around. I'm sure non chicken people would think that's crazy, but the relationships these social birds form are pretty amazing.
Bee update:
We harvested a bunch of frames of honey from one of the hives. Due to the humid weather lately I have to dehydrate the honey before we extract it. So I don't know how many jars we'll get yet....I have my suspicions that the hive had swarmed a week or so earlier. There seemed to be a lot fewer bees in there. We know it had a high varroa mite load, but I'd put off treatment because I was waiting for some advice from local mentors, and trying to figure out logistics and timing around honey extraction and mite treatment (and when G was available for the heavy lifting). Some mite treatments will damage the honey, others won't. The one I used in the spring that doesn't damage honey didn't seem to kill the mites very well. So I thought I was making good decisions for the long run...But perhaps the waiting itself was the bad decision.
I'm pretty sure the bees left due to the heavy mite load. On last inspection we'd been very careful to give them more room and remove any queen cups we saw.
Garden
Glenn has started digging potatoes, and we already have over thirty pounds of them with another whole row to dig. Cabbages are doing ok despite a horrible start. I harvested grapes and elderberry. I will harvest raspberries and we will try making some raspberry salsa. I still have tonnes of carrots and radish, we have turnips, and so much kale. Turns out kale works really well in krautchi. It stays crisp!
We have six ducklings that I need to rehome...it fills me with dread though. They have had a safe happy home with us. I hope I can find them a safe place. The farmer's almanac predicts a very cold winter ahead. Muscovies are tropical ducks, not as tough as mallards. They need some special care in this climate.
The new tractor is great! G gave me a lesson on it the other day. Man that huge mower is intense....The pastures he's mowed are already coming back nicely with the rain and cooler overnight temperatures we've had.
Still expecting temperatures close to 30 C this week. Ouch. But the leaves are starting to drop, the winds feel like autumn. There are beautiful fields of goldenrod everywhere. I had to stop on the road yesterday to let a huge troop of wild turkeys pass.
That's it for now. Being out of commission for the week has set me behind.
Oh ya, and my truck needs to go to the scrap heap. Excited to get a newer used truck soon, but it's a hit considering the money we spent on the deck and the tractor this year...
Garden
Glenn has started digging potatoes, and we already have over thirty pounds of them with another whole row to dig. Cabbages are doing ok despite a horrible start. I harvested grapes and elderberry. I will harvest raspberries and we will try making some raspberry salsa. I still have tonnes of carrots and radish, we have turnips, and so much kale. Turns out kale works really well in krautchi. It stays crisp!
We have six ducklings that I need to rehome...it fills me with dread though. They have had a safe happy home with us. I hope I can find them a safe place. The farmer's almanac predicts a very cold winter ahead. Muscovies are tropical ducks, not as tough as mallards. They need some special care in this climate.
The new tractor is great! G gave me a lesson on it the other day. Man that huge mower is intense....The pastures he's mowed are already coming back nicely with the rain and cooler overnight temperatures we've had.
Still expecting temperatures close to 30 C this week. Ouch. But the leaves are starting to drop, the winds feel like autumn. There are beautiful fields of goldenrod everywhere. I had to stop on the road yesterday to let a huge troop of wild turkeys pass.
That's it for now. Being out of commission for the week has set me behind.
Oh ya, and my truck needs to go to the scrap heap. Excited to get a newer used truck soon, but it's a hit considering the money we spent on the deck and the tractor this year...
No comments:
Post a Comment