one last full day . on my beloved farmy

Yesterday was Jude’s spa day. Today I will prepare Tima and Wai’s house for winter. Almost finished the farm and farmhouse reset.

Then I am about done. Tomorrow I leave the farm at 4am to drive an hour and a quarter to the airport to catch h a plane to fly out to California for a last few days with the children there, (and a rest) then on to Melbourne with my daughter and her wee son eagerly awaiting my return.

A couple of weeks after that it will be New Zealand - I will tell you about that later!

She said they had no rain all this week so either baby in the carrier she has been watering the garden. I am so in love with these fresh potatoes that when I get back to Melbourne I am going to grow some in four big 50 pound coffee sacks.

Here are the sounds of mid summer in Illinois. I cruelly sent this to my family in the southern hemisphere winter! 😆

The chickens don’t care - they perch about, perching on anything, thinking about nothing.

Cows in the morning ⬆️.

Cows four hours later ⬇️. It is possible they moved in between but who knows. The air was slightly cooler but the humidity was still high.

Cows do a lot of their summer grazing early morning and evening and at night. I am pleased with their fields. They have good feed out there this year. All the rain and overcast heat is great for grass and clover.

Boo will be Boo. Just a hint of filthy stuff to roll in and he will roll in it.

Jude is all set for the last of the summer. And his winter quarters in the barn are cleared out and booked.

Tima and Wai are in for a change today. The soybeans are beginning to ripen in the field and so at this time of year - Tima especially - goes on lock down. So her barn configuration undergo a change so she can not get out the front anymore - I am switching her bedroom gates. Opening one - shutting another.

She and Wai will be grazing in the little field now - the one I fixed and put the cows into when I first got back. It is cleared and ready for pigs. The farm workers have to be very careful to keep all gates closed going forward at least until after harvest. Raw soybeans are not good for animals.

The wind swung round to the north later in the afternoon yesterday, which in Australia would be hot but here in America it is from the cool direction. Every animal and bird and human sighs a huge sigh of relief as the weather pattern changes and it cools off, even the chickens laid really well yesterday. That extreme heat coupled with extreme humidity is a trial.

We will have one more farm post tomorrow morning - I will send as I travel. Then we are back to once or twice a week with food and sustainable living.

We did well! All the animals and the birds are ready for winter. The house is deep cleaned and all the fans are out and on drying out the rooms. I even fixed the bubbler in the pond - and the black board by Our John’s seat has been rewritten. He does fine - looking after everything as long as the systems are simple and well explained - he prefers a quiet life. I would rather die than have a quiet life! So is happy to put me back on a plane tomorrow to go be busy somewhere else.

He is going to be cutting hay today! sad not sad that I am missing out on stacking bales 😂. But I have cleared space in the barn.

Have a great day!

Celi

PS A message for all my paid subscribers: I hope you enjoyed hanging out with the rescue pigs you support and the trees you helped plant. We are building a jungle you and I. A carbon sink for the ages! Your support is such a joy.

Thank you. Thank you!