#farmblr

Recently, when I went to untether Nutmeg Goat after dinner, I found that she had knocked down a small sapling. I had large pruning shears with me, and the size and shape of it was nice, so I cut a section about 5 feet (153cm) high and took it home.

Nutmeg had been surrounded by delicious green things, and had no need to chew half the bark off this thing. However, since she had so helpfully started debarking it . .

K, her friend S, and I made a batch of salsa and canned it last evening. I am not normally a fan of large tasks in the evening, but had to work around their schedules. I had them sit and chop the bell peppers, onion, and tomatoes while I moved around the kitchen setting up things and prepping the tomatoes that were to be pureed in the blender.

We ended up with a big, fragrant pot of vegetable goodness and spices, about 8 quarts. Cooked it down a bit, let them fill the jars, and popped them in the canner. I don't remember how many people have asked me to teach them to can, but it's been a few.

Out in the garden immediately after barn chores, good job. Worked an hour and a half trying to restore order, because I swear the weeds grow about six inches a day when there's abundant rain. (grrrr) I do NOT love leaning over, sweating profusely, and having to tip puddles of sweat out of my glasses. Did enjoy the cat battles happening in the corn patch. Possum doesn't fear Rocky's White Paw of Death and he really ought to.

I also harvested the purple carrots I planted in mid-May. They are a mixed success. The ones that made it are excellent specimens; long, fairly straight, deep color. That said, it was very hard to get them started in the first place, and their slow growth meant that I had to weed very very carefully around them at least five time while they were tiny and easy to uproot. Due to the fact that the seed for 'fancy' carrots is much more expensive, it's impractical to just sow seed heavily like I do with the orange ones.

Then, after I cleaned up the bright harvest, I came inside to bravely slog through farm paperwork and property tax Stuff. I stapled, sorted, double-checked, and paperclipped, even. I am so brave.

My goal for Brush Goats is to manage the unmowable non-pasture areas to have plenty of herbacious plants and some native shrubs (spicebush, buttonbush, swamp alder, and elderberry are all examples).

The non-native shrubs tend to get too big and too thick to allow any animals bigger than a fox to move around, shade out herbacious plants entirely, and they also prevent trees from growing - trapping the area in a permanent state of "thicket" that can grow to encompass acres of land. This area, where the goats were working today:

can best be described as a strangled mess. The goats eat a bit, I cut some more down, they eat that, repeat. Just to the right of this is:

Which is basically the Goal! Plenty of plant cover, but the invasive plants are minimized and there's a good mix of different herbacious species all around the trees. Also, the Joe Pye weed (pink) along the tiny creek here:

Most of my flower beds just completely go to weeds in the summer. I get nice flowers from spring-blooming bulbs, then - I have to concentrate my efforts on the vegetable garden. This area, though, is right by the steps. Also, black-eyed susans are native wildflowers, and aggressive enough to behave as weeds themselves. The morning glories - I planted once, about 15 years ago.

Morning glories, pole beans, and wisteria are viciously battling for control of the stair railing. But wait . .

Danger lurks beneath . .

Step one; buy skeleton. Yes, I know I technically already have one. I need a second one. One that's OUTSIDE my body.

Step two: name. Meet Earl. Earl learned an important lesson about freedom at a tractor pull, and I think he's a better person, now.

Step two three (doggone it I can't count) : According to Prince Richard of Dollar General, Earl needs a hat. This will require some discernment on my part. It has to be just the right hat.

Step three: