What a doofus but I love him!
We had our first wine tasting of the first batch of rhubarb wine!!! It was awesome, if I do say so myself. Better when chilled but even at room temperature it was great! Second batch will be ready to be bottled in the next month. The blackberry wine is coming along nicely, gorgeous color!!! Just started a batch of plum wine also.
We have 2 new sheep to add to Shelley Hill Farm. Daisy, in the background, and Captain, in the front. Daisy is a mix, not sure what breeds and Captain is a Cotswold with beautiful wool!!!! They are about 2 years old.
And now for the "naked" pictures. lol The sheep shearer came and cut their "hair" yesterday! Daisy looks much cleaner and skinnier!
And Captain looks like a totally different sheep!! He is grey underneath all the dark brown/tan wool he was wearing. I did keep about half of Captain's fleece and will be cleaning it and hopefully having someone spin it into yarn for me to use!!!! Excited!!!
We got the fall garden all planted. Below is lettuce, green onions, kohlrabi and Brussels sprouts.
More carrots to overwinter.
Purple kohlrabi. Excited to try this as we haven't grown this before!
Cabbage and turnips (haven't grown turnips either, so we will see how that goes).
And more cabbage! Can't get enough as we are really enjoying the homemade sauerkraut!!!
This is how the arch (made with fencing and 2 PVC pipes) turned out for the lemon cucumbers! It works great and makes it so much easier to pick them!
Sweet potatoes are growing great. There are 2 rows and I am really excited to dig them up, but still need to wait a bit!
More cabbage. What can I say, we love our cabbage!!!
Beets and Brussels sprouts. Planted these were the peas were earlier. Had to put hoops up with chicken netting as the 4 baby (not so much baby anymore) chicks that hatched out love to come and scratch around the fruit trees, which are to the left of this.
Only 1 of our cantaloupe plants survived and low and behold, there is actually 1 cantaloupe. It is only about softball size, but if the weather stays like it has been, perhaps it will ripen. Fingers crossed!!
The Asian pear tree load this year. There were sooooooooo many that 3 branches actually broke from the weight of the fruit, darn it. We plan on making a batch of wine (or 2), dehydrating some into chips, and perhaps making some Asian pear sauce. Not going to can any this year as we have loads left from last year's bounty!!!
This is the take off the oldest pear tree this year. These I will be canning. We have 3 other pear trees that are only 1 year old and 1 tree had 2 pears on it, but Runner got to the fruit before we did, darn dog. He's very good at "picking" his own fruits and vegetables to eat. (not that we want him to, but what can you do?)
As I was typing this up, I was in the process of making yogurt with the milk heating on the stove. Obviously my multitasking skills are not very good this morning as it boiled over, even though it was right in front of my face. Managed to save it and it is now cooling back down to 115 in the sink of cold water. This probably has something to do with the fact that I haven't finished my coffee yet, I am sure.
Kara is doing great in Spokane, getting ready to start her school year at Spokane Community College. Aylia and Alex are doing great in Spokane also. Aylia got a promotion at work and is now the Assistant Grocery Manager!! Woop Woop!! So proud of her!
Nik is just about ready to begin his last year of college at Western! He says he's excited to get started. He really enjoys school!!! And does really well, getting good grades! He is working part-time at Costco in Bellingham and really likes working there.
Liam finished his driver's ed course and passed and took his DOL driver's test and ............................... PASSED!! So when 11/28/2014 rolls around, he can just go in and have his picture taken and pick up his license. So remember the date above, and stay off the roads anytime after that, as Liam will be driving those very same roads. hahahahahahaha!
I am just busy working, gardening, feeding/tending to animals and sleeping when I find the time!! Robert is doing great, he is off scouting his hunting area today. Wants to make sure that it's really where he wants to hunt and where set up camp, et cetera. Yes, hunting season will soon be upon the household and I won't have Kara here to keep me company this year. It will just be me and the dogs. I am sure I will find something to occupy my time!
