When I went out to milk Bianca today, it was like I had a new cow. She stood right up as I approached, headed to the gate for milking, had a strong let down, and gave five cups. The five pounds or so of kelp I give her and the others continues to be empty each day, but to go from wondering whether we needed to put her down to a healthy, chipper animal amazes me.
Joe has been my frequent companion while planting. He will scoop the mycorrhizal fungi and dribble it on the roots. I say, "Thank you, Joe!" and he says, "No, plant say 'Tink ew, Mommy!'" It makes me smile every time. Maybe we all could use more kudos. My kudos today came from thankful plants calling me Mommy.
In a spare moment, Phil and I went to dock the last three lambs' tails. We are a few days late, but I sprayed Arnica on the lambs' noses, and they didn't seem unduly traumatized.
Chestnut the lamb has become quite a pet. She follows Joe and Abraham around the lamb pen ("Well, sometimes she follows Ewok [her mom]," Abraham allowed).
I was surprised, though, that when docking was done, and we were sitting in the hay looking at the lambs, I suddenly had little hoofs on my back. Catechism had come to greet me! I have never had a lamb come and want to sit in my lap like a kitten. I kind of like it! No wonder the boys go to the sheep pen so many times a day! We are all really enjoying them right now.
When Isaiah was in the pen yesterday, he noticed a hen nesting in the sheep's hay. He thought that was quite funny.
The living area hasn't changed much: still two construction trailers, an RV, and a metal "barn." But the greenhouse and trailer/brooder are in heavy use. And the trees in the distance are just greening over.
While Phil spent the day indoors, typing frantically to meet a writing deadline, I finished planting all the raspberries I could in the subsoiled swathes in the market garden. I finished another 150. I need to find a home for almost half the total raspberry plants. I have ideas, but most won't allow subsoiling. Eek!
I had wished for rain yesterday after my 200. Phil had done the watering (bless him), but the hoses we have didn't reach to many of the newly planted raspberries. A sprinkle fell, just a trace in the water gauge, but enough to keep the soil loose and moist, the temperature cool, the sky grey.
And enough to keep the bees inside. Celadon hive had a steady trickle of bees in and out during our grey, chilly weather today. I watched Celestial hive for some time and finally a bee emerged! With a lame leg. She crawled to the edge of the pallet and practically fell off the edge, then crawled away to die. If Hemingway was to write about bees, this would be the story. Not a happy story.
Phil and I talked over the options: remove the lids today, with weather at 51 degrees, and unfavorable biodynamic time, to add extra frames? Or wait until tomorrow, when weather should be twenty degrees warmer, and the biodynamic calendar is a flower day? We debated, but, all things considered, we're waiting to open the hives until tomorrow. (I did lift the can of sugar syrup on top of Celestial hive for a split second, just to see if the queen had absconded. I saw a huddled mass of bees, so they are still there, just not moving. And their can of syrup is totally empty. May the Lord grant them life, health, and vitality, despite my inexperience and ignorance.)
I didn't bother to water the raspberries planted today. No rain was forecast for the next five days, but late on a Saturday, I had greenhouse work to do (I potted on 80 more tomatoes; a new record!), dinner to prepare, children to bathe, and the raspberries would have to do their best in less than optimum conditions.
As I finished up bathing the boys, the rains came. Gentle, steady, soaking, for several hours. It makes me cry even now: I had wished for rain, begged for rain. But when my labor for the week was done, when it wasn't predicted or expected, the Lord blessed this farm with the life-giving water it needed. Praise Him.
(Special thanks to Isaiah, guest photographer on today's blog.)
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