You would think that the countryside would be quiet and peaceful – full of the beautiful sounds of nature – a bird singing, the wind moving quietly through the pine branches, a trilling cicada, perhaps the unhappy moo of a far-off cow separated from her herd.  But I’m afraid that pastoral noise has become quite…

It’s been horribly hot the past few days.  Mid-nineties and steam-bath humidity.  No fun.  But our weather karma seems to have shifted a little, as all week we have been heading home just as the huge black booming clouds are descending and showering the garden and pastures with cooling and much-needed rain (and dramatic lightening). …

For whatever reason, Twilight Sparkle has been horrible lately.  One reason is that she is a really bad size – small enough to still slide under the gate in seconds, but big enough to jump onto the milking stand and eat the mamas’ rations while they are being milked.  She has always slipped under the…

No, this isn’t the watermelon harvest!  These are the wild watermelons we call “Notermelons” because they are bland and taste like cucumber (not watermelon).  All the animals (pigs, chickens, cows, goats) like to eat them.  Some are growing in the pastures, but the ones in the garden are getting eaten by something (rabbit?).  Last year…

    Sunday was Ethan’s grandmother’s 96th birthday down in St. Petersburg.  It was a long drive, a restaurant meal, an hour in a house with extremely fragile decorations at toddler height, and another long drive home.  So Clothilde and I stayed home.  I was dreading a long day of keeping up with her and…

The Banana spiders are at their height these days.  They are full size and in incredible numbers.  They are especially all over the front of the milking shed, where they catch the pesky yellow flies off of Matilda.  I love looking up while I’m walking and spotting their crazy high-up webs stretched from treetop to…

There are only so many times you can heat up half a left-over baked pumpkin before it starts getting boring.  I love pumpkin pie, but the wheat crust is always a little iffy for us.  I made up this recipe last year when we had too many pumpkins, and it immediately became a favorite.  My…

They are so close, these girls.  It warms my heart, and re-affirms my lifelong wish for a sister (instead of the annoying little brother I got).  If Rose does anything, Clothilde will immediately copy her exact tone and movements.  It’s so cute, but I hope for Rose it does not get burdensome any time soon. …

 We got rained out again yesterday.  It rained so much the ground was spongy and there was standing water in places that look too sandy to have standing water.  I harvested the rest of the watermelons, because the vine had died.  One had already exploded from all the rain.  No picture, of course.  It was…

Ethan had to travel to Minnesota for work again.  It was really difficult with him gone, because there was no one to hold Clothilde while I was milking Matilda.  Matilda is large and doesn’t like things that are loud or different, and she is always ready to kick, so having her right there with me…

We had quite a day the other day  We were slaughtering the first half of the meat birds for this year.  We used to do all 50 or so at once, but since Clothilde was born we limit ourselves to the realistic 20 or less.  We did 21, and tried to arrange for babysitting by…

Ethan took these pictures of Clothilde eating kelp and signing for more.Yes, my children love eating the kelp we keep for the animals.  Free-choice kelp is supposed to be good for all kinds of things – trace minerals, offspring vigor….wait, maybe that’s why Clothilde is so exhausting! We are going to slaughter the first meat…