Summer on the Farm

We are reflecting on Summer on this, the first day of Autumn. It was a season so full of growth, and also so fleeting.

It has truly been a wonderful year for the plants! Green life abounds on our farm, especially the flowers and the berries. The garden is bountiful, the small fruits orchard we planted last year has taken off in leaps and bounds. We harvested wild mulberries daily the entire month of July. We’ve been improving an old crop field to manage as prairie hay and the work has paid off in loads juicy round bales. There’s nothing quite like seeing a stack of hay bales in the farm yard for a little sense of security. Someone can eat this winter.

All those summer activities beating to the very real pulse of winter winter winter. What will we eat this winter? Storage carrots and beets and turnips in the garden, another cutting hay from the fields. Amassing a large collection of dried herbs for winter teas and medicines, stacks of firewood, jars and jars of ferments. Now as I write a giant pot of apples is cooking down into apple butter.

We ran our best batch of chickens ever through the orchard. These sweet little birds spent their days grazing, grazing, grazing in the peak of green nutrition and bug abundance. It’s so refreshing to watch a chicken be a chicken! They were so satisfying to raise.

I meant to send this post off in July and here I am in September finally charging up my computer to type. The whirlwind of summer leaving us now with time to focus on other pursuit besides doing doing doing. A little time to think and plan, be with the children, read, learn, expand.

For now it’s back to preserving more summer bounty with my eye on piles of wool for knitting and crafting, to the stack of books I want to get to, to those art projects I’ve planned for the kids, mending of tools and toys and clothing. All in due time! For now let me bask in the sun on this Equinox day and charge up my batteries as we turn inward again in preparation for Winter.

The first of many milky looks from the new calves, on their way this month of September.

Chickens out ranging for insects and plants in a true cage-free environment.Children out doing most of the same.

Retrieving cows from the north side of the farm: a family affair

Welcoming a new group of piglets to the farm in July. These two are on pig chore duty every morning just after waking up.

Monarda fistulosa - Wild Bergamot Forever