Ewe are not alone. The sheeple around you love you and want to help you thrive. Your flock is behind you 100 percent—so don’t forget to ask for help when you need it.
— Peaseblossom and Titania, who always have each other’s backs.
Here’s What’s Happening At Good Spirits Farm
The veggie garden is in full swing. The tomatoes, peppers, and eggplants are in, and I’m really hoping to get the corn going this weekend. On Saturday, I’ll use our push mower to terminate the winter cover crop - a mix of winter wheat and Austrian peas. Into the soil we’ll mix a little of our farm compost (thank you, chickens and horses for providing a steady stream of poop!). Then we’ll plant the corn seedlings directly into the green mulch of the mowed cover crops. We’ll top the whole effort off with a layer of straw, to help suppress weeds. It’s a fair bit of work to prep garden beds this way, but our garden soil has never looked better.
We have a neighborhood bear making visits to the farm. Last week, Chris found two of our tree swallow boxes smashed to smithereens with the eggs inside devoured. He found claw marks and long black fur indicative of a bear burglar. A neighbor around the corner reported losing one of her ducks to a bear as well. We don’t mind bears hanging around and helping themselves to an egg or two, but we’ve got Veli on extra close sheep watch. Hopefully, Mr. Bear will decide a tangle with her isn’t worth the risk and will move on his merry bear-y way.
Little Saul is growing right up! It looks like he’s going to be brown, not black like his mama. I have been trying to move our herd towards brown cows, because they stay cooler on hot summer days. I’m clearly headed the right direction with these genetics—I just need some brown lady cows to be born here, too!
Here’s What I Loved This Week
The same thing I love every week, really: Ms. Juliet. She never fails to make me smile and she’s always up for a photoshoot.
Priceless photo of Juliet. So full of personality. Good luck with the corn and thank you for always starting my Friday with a smile.
Do you ever invite folks to come and work the farm for you during periods when you need a lot of hands? I live in California but I would so be willing to fly out and stay somewhere to work for you in exchange for learning.