Ohiofarmgirl's Adventures in The Good Land is largely a fish out of water tale about how I eventually found my footing on a small farm in an Amish town. We are a mostly organic, somewhat self sufficient, sustainable farm in Ohio. There's action and adventure and I'll always tell you the truth about farming.


Friday, July 25, 2014

Summer Frustrations

There is a point in the summer where you feel like that big freight train called "Everything That Needs To Be Done" that you've been running along side of and desparately trying to climb aboard.... pulls away from you and .... just.... keeps on chugging. All you can do is standing there and realize that you've missed that train. Yesterday was that day.

 That's right, eat up little pig.

There is so much I didn't get done.

If you believe the cicadas then we are now within the "90 days until the first frost." We are now limited to what we can plant. 

The harvests need to be done. Canning needs to start. And we passed that day where I can keep up with the ripe tomatoes. We still need to paint the deck, fix the roof on the Turkey House, get new fence posts for the goat yard, fence in the pond... and heaven forbid, we need to start working on fire wood.

Look a this! It's like a little stump house.

Add on to all of that... we've completely forsaken everything inside that needs to be done. I could not produce for you a clean, matching pair of socks if you paid me $1000. Dishes? It's every man for himself. And now Zander and Kai are blowing their coats. There is dog hair everywhere. I mean EVERYWHERE. The only reason the floor is not "bear killer" colored is because my dear husband shampooed the carpet in the living room last weekend. But it needs it again to tell you the truth.

Anybody got any clean laundry in there?

And then I went out on Wednesday to find my best rooster dead. Real Dead. I'm still very mad - of the bunch that we have he was the best roo and now his shattered remains are in a sack in the garbage. Later that day we found what was left of that missing duck - he was dead too. Two in one day isn't fair - that's what one of my best pals said.

Varmints? Predators? Nope - I think it was just bad luck. Rooster vs turkey....and TurkZilla won... and we aren't sure what happened to the duck but Zander and Kai looked really really guilty one day.

You want lunch? Well, there are 20 lbs of just-dug-potatoes on the counter - so get busy. And our freezer is about empty so we really need to butcher the pig if you want anything other than potato salad.

Don't even get me started on the weeds in the garden. I'm glad we had a few good rains but now it's like a jungle out there. My shabby attempt at growing eggplants have now been swallowed up by gargantuan weeds of who knows what variety.

Then yesterday we had a hasty visit to the vet. Our cat Pepper needs dental work - she has some bad teeth. So I had a short work day yesterday and Monday will also be a driving day.

And sadly, even as I'm typing this I know that someone, somewhere out there is critiquing my bad spelling and rearing back to send me a snotty comment about it. Or how I'm doing it wrong. Or they want to tell me how my life is so easy and their's isn't.... I tell you the truth the internet weirdos have been on spin cycle lately and don't I know it.  Sheeh.

And someone needs to mow.

So what do you do when you get to that frustrating point in the summer where it's too late for most things but that mountain of 'to do's' just keeps getting longer?

The best you can.

Obviously Pepper is a our priority and we will get her fixed up. Next, I'm taking on one project at a time and that is determined by the weather and what absolutely needs to get done. Everything is day by day. What is most valuable? What is most vulnerable? What can I do at the same time? Pick peppers and weed as I'm going along is a good strategy. Dig potatoes, run the tiller over that spot, and plant fall crops works really well... And then make more potatoes for dinner.

We'll find a day for that pig and it's going to be soon. My Amish neighbor grows fine eggplants - and zucchini's too since I can't grow those either. I can make some sauce with the tomatoes tonite and we'll use that as a start for dinner this weekend.

The goats will just have to tough it out down in the new area without me standing there and if I get them out there early enough the flies won't be bad.

I'm spending a lot of time brushing out the dogs out by the fence line to keep that evil bunny at bay - so that solves a couple of problems.  And if I can get a big bunch of dog hair out behind the hen house then any lurking varmints should think twice about coming around. I'm not sure what to do about my roo-killing-turkey but his number might be up.

Just keep growing...

So I'll just keep working, just keep getting along, and tomorrow I'll get up and do it again. Amen.


5 comments:

Winona said...

We are kind of at this point too. We had so much rain that I could not keep up with the weeding. The grass just took over. We have green tomatoes, but they are not turning red. We planted a small fall garden. We have pulled the onions and braided them. They are hanging in the shop. We have 10 lbs of cabbage in a crock making kraut. I have canned several jars of green beens. We have dehydrated onions and peppers and cabbage. Now it is time to dig the spring carrots and start digging the potatoes. Not today, though. Today is our 37th anniversary and we are taking it off. Good luck. You will get it done. Sometimes it seems overwhelming, but everything necessary always gets done!

Anonymous said...

Matching socks are over-rated!

First things first, good luck with the rest.

Unknown said...

Your life is much tougher than mine! I have much less to manage. While I do a lot of projects, mine are more house projects, until fall. Then I can apples/nectarines after school starts. I guess you just have to prioritize, or can you get some temporary help to help you catch up? Some high school kid looking for a couple of bucks, or free produce? I try really hard not to criticize others typos. I've learned that everyone's verbage is different...

Heavens Door Acres said...

Oh boy! Do I know that feeling of impending doom! So many things to get done and not enough darned daylight or energy!! Speaking of daylight... not to "let the air out of your balloon" But did you know we are losing daylight already!?? THATS not fair! At least NOW I know it is not only us that is falling behind on the "to-do" list. *sigh* And to top mine off, I took on a job OFF the farm, for 8 days.... 12 hours a day. So NOTHING is getting done for those 8 days... except making money for hay and propane.

Anonymous said...

I have an idea for the flies. What about one of those milk jug fly traps? You put some fly lure in the jug with a special cap and they get trapped inside. try Tractor supply, that's where I saw them.
If you put out a few of them, it might make a difference.
what about fly spray on the goats? or some citronella spray on them for the flies? How about a cattle ear tag tied to their collar to help repel flies? just some thoughts! Ann from KY

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