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Hi Everyone,

               We are one week into June, and 100% into summer. If you had any doubts that summer was here, I am sure that they flew the coup if you went outside yesterday. Mom and I headed to the garden yesterday afternoon to fix the side fences to what used to be the West Tunnel—but is now one of the Summer Gardens. The tunnel was taken down on Thursday so that is could be resurrected in the new Market Garden area. When the tunnel came down so did the watering system. In order to put up sprinklers we have to have the side fences secured—but we found out that before we can secure the side fences the 3 foot long rebar’s need to be pulled out of the ground first (they were what held the hoops for the tunnel, and they are now in the way). It didn’t take long before Mom and I realized that we were not going to be able to pull all those rebars out of the ground. The bad part is that when Papa got home and gave it a try—he couldn’t either. We either need someone with BIG muscles on his back, arms and legs—or we have to figure out how to hook those rebars to the tractor bucket and pull them out. Since Mom and I couldn’t work on the fence, we decided to harvest some squash and potatoes. Then we decided to weed one of the “Food Triangles” in “Martha’s Vineyard”. It was hard to not get red in the face. We both cooled off in the hose once. When we came inside we found out why we were so HOT—it was 102 outside. So yes—summer is here! Lord willing the summer rains will begin this week like the weather man is predicting. Things are drying up and turning brown in some areas. I know that the clover patches have dried up so bad that they go crunch when you walk on them. Mom hasn’t been able to mow the yard because everything is so dry. So hopefully the Lord will bless us with some rain this week. We did manage to get a third of an inch last Wednesday and that was a welcome blessing—even though we really could have used an inch.

               Mom may not have been able to mow the yard, but thankfully she was able to get the garden area mowed last Monday. It desperately needed it. Steve and I were able to work in the Cottage Garden eradicating unwanted, invasive elderberry out of one of the beds. When we were all said and done with the one 6 ft. x 10 ft. bed the area looked a whole lot better—but my muscles in my neck were not happy with me. If I hadn’t flipped my horse when I was 15, digging in the dirt wouldn’t be so bad—but old injuries have a way of coming back to haunt you later in life when you do things to aggravate them. By Wednesday the pain in my neck was overwhelming, and I was grateful that the therapist was able to calm it down. Come Thursday I decided to be kind to my body and take it easy. Therefore, when the milking was done I headed inside and worked on paperwork and other odds and ends. I did manage to go to the garden to harvest the zucchini and squash, and I vacuumed sealed some squash that I had sliced and frozen for future meals.

One of my Thursday chores was to put up the comfrey that I had dried. I never got to harvest comfrey last year because both times that the comfrey was ready to harvest a chicken moved into the garden and decimated the comfrey patch. So, I had to buy dried comfrey to make my salves. The last time the chicken attacked the comfrey was just as winter was setting in and I thought for sure that the comfrey plants were goners. The bed was nothing but dirt, with a few (very few) straggly plants dotted here and there. As spring arrived I decided to weed the bed and mulch it with compost—and while I was piddling around in the dirt I was greeted with the sights of little comfrey plants starting to grow. I think that I only ended up losing two plants; the rest came back with great gusto. I have wanted to harvest them for the past month—but the wild plantain has been prolific in the pastures and I have focused on harvesting them. I do not get a lot of time to harvest (we only have 100 irons in the fire around here), and the dehydrator we own takes about four days to dry the herbs. I started to think about the possibility of getting a Freeze Dryer since I hope to expand that amount of herbs that we harvest once the Market Garden is up and growing. The one problem with the Freeze Dryer is the price—but I needed something that would preserve herbs a lot faster than one batch a week. When I went online to do some research on a Freeze Dryer I ran across some information for a commercial all metal dehydrator (Septree Commercial 18 tray Dehydrator). It was only a fraction of the price of the Freeze dryer and with 18 trays I would be able to dry a lot of herbs at one time. We ordered it and it arrived last Saturday, and my goal was to put it to work on Monday—but Monday didn’t go as planned, so I had to wait until Tuesday. While I was waiting for my first two cows to eat their breakfast (I do not milk them—one cannot get pregnant, and the other is fixing to calve any day now), I put all the dehydrator racks in a sink of soapy water. Then as soon as I was done milking I washed them up and washed out the dehydrator. It was now ready for use, and I was ready to harvest the comfrey—but first I had to go bottle the kefir. The lack of rain was starting to take its toll on the comfrey, so I was glad to not be a day later. Comfrey is not only a great healing herb; it is also a great fertilizing herb. So I left the little leaves on the plant, put the prettiest leaves in my basket, strew the ugliest leaves on the ground around the comfrey plants, and put the mediocre leaves in a bucket in order to make some comfrey tea for the plants. My basket was pretty full, but after I put them on the dehydrator I still had four and a half trays left—that is a lot of space! I couldn’t find directions anywhere on how long to dehydrate the leaves and at what temperature to dehydrate them. Some herbs could be done in 2 to 4 hours at 95 degrees, and others would take up to 18 hours at 110 degrees—but comfrey wasn’t on any list. I decided to start with the least amount of time and the lowest temperature--95 degrees for 2 hours, but that didn’t do anything. So I set it for another 2 hours—still nothing. Finally I decided to set it at 110 degrees for 12 hours, but it was now 7:00 at night. When I checked them the next morning they were practically done—but I had no time to deal with them, so they sat there until Thursday morning because Wednesday’s are too busy. Right before I started milking Thursday morning I turned the dehydrator back on for another 2 hours at 110 degrees. Then when I was done milking I was able to crumble up the leaves and put them in a jar. Most of the stems were crisp—but some of the stems were still soft and pliable (so I just threw them out). Maybe comfrey is a good candidate for 18 hours at 110 degrees—but one day is a lot better than four or five. The one really nice thing about the new dehydrator is that the trays are square. It was a lot easier to lay rectangular leaves on a square tray than on the round ones.

We have three cows that are all past due—well we had three cows that were all past due. Melba is a first time heifer who has not been the easiest to train. We were supposed to sell her last year, but changed our minds after she escaped the loading pen and we chased her around the farm for two hours, and after we caught her back up again she tried to jump over the six foot tall cow panels and ended up stuck in them swaying back and forth as she tried desperately to free herself. We spent the next so many months coaxing her into the milking parlor—and when sweet talking failed, we used a stern voice and she went in. She hates men—for no reason, and if one is around she stares at them very bug eyed and refuses to eat. Our paperwork said that she was due March 28—but that was six weeks ago. Abby was due a week ago, and Rosa was due Friday. I do not believe that they will be six weeks over due like Melba—but Melba is no longer overdue, for she finally had her calf Saturday morning. Papa decided to bring him in with the milk cows so that he would be with his mama and so that we could see him—but as soon as Papa picked him up he went to hollering. When Papa put him out of the golf-cart I walked up to him to get a good look at him and he jumped up and went crazy. He took off running and bellowing across the field, ran into the hot wire fence—and tried to go through it again and again and again. I ran over and pushed him off and he took off running down field and disappeared into the weeds and grasses that are over our heads and so thick you cannot see your feet. Newborn calves are known to sleep their first day away—and Melba did not seem bothered that her calf was missing in action. When Papa put the cows back after milking, the calf was nowhere to be seen. It wasn’t until after dinner that night that we finally had time to go looking for him—it was time for his dinner. You could tell by the looks of his back end that he had eaten a good amount of colostrum for breakfast. Mama cows have a unique ability to know just where their calves are, so we went and got Melba and put her in the field of mile high/densely packed weeds. She walked right over to one side and stood there looking at us—but when Papa walked over toward her she took off toward the other end of the field. We did a few backs and forth—and I walked through the jungle a few times, which was a little creepy. While I was in the middle of the weeds, Melba ran over to the far side and Mom said that we should stop and have a prayer session asking the Lord to help us find the calf. In the meantime, Papa told me to walk over toward Melba in order to keep her moving and looking for the calf. When I got closer I realized that she was standing right beside her calf. I looked back toward Mom and Papa and saw that they were praying—that was a fast answer to prayer! This morning Mom had to milk her for the first time—and she did really well (except that Papa was there so she stared at him instead of eating her breakfast).

Every spare minute that Mom and Papa get they work on putting up the first garden tunnel in the Market Garden. All the pipes are now hammered into the ground and the side boards are attached. Thursday was spent taking down the West Tunnel in order to move it into place over at the Market Garden. The original plan was to put the hoops up tomorrow (Monday), but since we couldn’t get the fence fixed at the Summer Garden we might be doing that instead. We shall see how it all goes—and I will tell you about it next week.

Serving you with Gladness,

Tiare