We could call it a “quiet” week on the farm, but that wouldn’t quite be true. The farm was likely as busy as ever – we just weren’t here to see it. The Crossley family took a much-needed break from the farm quarantine for a road trip to Moab, Utah.
While we were away, the farm still did farm stuff. We just happen to have fewer photos of it all.
- The grass in the garden is really ridiculous now. Like, extremely so. We knew it would get a little rough with the rain and sunshine – but it’s official out of control. The good news there is that Farmer Crossley figured out a master plan for shielding the flame thrower from the plants. A little fabrication work this week should get us to a much, much better place with all the weeds.
- The plants, though, look amazing. Seriously – one week of not watching the garden grow and it has exploded. Call us impressed.
- The cows are alive. And there is a hay bale in the pen. My dad was charged with caring for them. He ended up going on vacation as well – so Duane stepped in. I’m not sure when, why or how – but a hay bale is in the pen and the cows seem perfectly content with that.
- The chickens are, um, kind of not. I mean, that’s a bit of a stretch, we have 9 chickens and a guinea. For those of you keeping count, that is 2 chickens and 2 guineas fewer than what we started with. We lost a runaway guinea a month or so ago while they were out to free range. About a week ago, we lost another the same way. From what we could see, he was chased through the garden and “caught” at the center of the front meadow. While we were gone, something managed to snag two of the chickens from a break in the chicken run as well. They appear to have been the silkies. It’s a sad loss, but honestly, I’m just really glad Betty White survived.
- So, the coop is due for some repairs. That’s on the chopping block this week.
- And, we have tons of mowing to do. For real, the grass is a whole thing around here.
- Meanwhile, Mac is in recovery mode. The dogs got real excited to see us come home. For some reason we can’t quite figure out, Ogi got a mouthful of Mac. Mac screamed and scratched – but then the whole ordeal got the attention of Cooper and Sahara. When all was said and done – every dog got a snip, but Mac held his own and I intervened fast enough to protect him. He’s a bit skittish but already playing in the garden again.
- Benning and Bragg are huge. They grew a boatload while we were gone. They’re also getting much more adventurous and starting to explore the garden on their own.
- And – icing on the cake – the air conditioner is working. “What?!” you might ask. All I can say is yes – our AC stopped on the day we were leaving for our trip. We left the house in trusted hands, called a repair guy and managed to have all of the work done with only a handful of phone calls.
When it rains, it really does pour – whether you’re here to catch the water or not. Yet again, I find myself insanely grateful for all the helping hands we had this week to keep things moving while we took a breather.