We Recover

We all slept in today. Phil had to go up the road to pick up animal feed at a drop point, and there were gifts waiting for us. When we opened the care package from his parents, we devoured all the treats (rice crackers and beef jerky, among others), and just sat and ate and laughed together on the bed. Phil said, "I don't think I want to build a house. We'll miss out on this!"

It was after noon before I emerged from the house. Phil was creating a computer model of the Underground Storage, concrete block by concrete block. That took most of the day, but in the evening he and Isaiah took the laundry to clean it. I was amazed he had the energy.

Jadon didn't mention soreness, but seeing how much smaller the piles of sand and gravel are, I bet he was.

At one point, I asked if he wanted to go remove some of the form boards: the foundation we poured on Saturday could be removed at this point. He looked at me with disbelief, and I suddenly realized that, curious though I feel, the idea of doing the physical labor required to remove the forms was more than my body would stand.

So I went and dug my few peanuts from the greenhouse. I planted 50 peanuts terribly late (July 11), so when I dug up the plants and found peanuts, I was surprised and gratified.

I love the little nitrogen nodules on the roots, like tiny balloons.

Snowman's body condition has plummeted the last week. All the other cows are round and luscious, and he is thin and lackluster. I stood outside the electric wire and fed him, plant by plant. He ate perhaps 25 before he seemed done and I tossed the rest in the enclosure where the other cows devoured them with zest.

Besides Snowman's concerning condition, I was distraught on Sunday when I went to check on my worms for the first time in eight days. All dead. The propped open lid must have let in water, and the water release on the bottom of the freezer apparently clogged. Add to that the swift decomposing of comfrey: where the worms would have been several feet out of the water a week before, the comfrey broke down so swiftly that I went from feet of material to inches. The leftover material is a rich black, but how truly sad: I kept my worms alive and multiplying for almost ten months before killing them all. Boo.

I've been checking my peach bud grafts. Of the 24 or so I've visually inspected, perhaps one has actually been grafted in: the rest didn't take. Next year I'll plan to do bench grafts, and hope those take better.

Yesterday I noticed that I hit six figures of page views on this blog. Thanks for reading!