Oh my it's hot! Temperatures are wonky again.
It is going to be extremely hot, 104F instead of the normal 71F.
This year has been crazy and a hard year for growing. All squash and pumpkins failed after replanting 4 times. We had a frost mid july (normally the last frost date is mid may and recent years it's been in april.)
Some miracle seeds survived the digestion of pigs and cows so just recently a few pumpkin plants popped up and they seem to grow like crazy so lets just trust them instead of our calender. Same goes for 2 or 3 zucchini plants.
Since it's warm and dry we started harvesting some of our potato plants.
We always plant at least two varieties to have early and late ones. The early ones are sooooo delicous but they are prone to disease and do not store well. So about 1/4th of our potatoes are early ones and we can enjoy them until autumn. Then we switch to the late variety which is hardy and stores well for our winter supply. I want two more varieties maybe something to make great tasting chips or is especially good when baked. We'll see...
The hot weather also means we need extra care for the animals. Our does have a pasture connected to their stall so they can head in when they want.
You know it's hot when your chickens are all under the eggmobile.
Blue, the flock queen is being a nasty broody and kicks everyone out. That is why they are all underneath. The roosters and the leftover hampshire hen are still making their rounds every so often. Crazy chickens!
Sometimes they stand over the water and hang their feathers to cool down. They could go for a swim (don't worry it's shallow) and I had chickens that did that. Seems like the Jersey's are not that fond of water.
The pigs are.. being pigs. Moving from mud to shade and back.
Amazingly these pigs are 1,5 month apart in age but definitely not in size. They are best buds, at night the Kune is always sleeping on top of the other.
The corn in the wannabe food forest is still thriving. You might not be able to see but there is alfalfa, kale and strawberry growing in that spot as well. Next year I want to incorporate some beans too!
