We finally got almost an inch of rain last week (Thursday night I think). You can see the dust/dirt in the rain gauge mixed with the water. The "green" that is on the right side in the rain gauge photo is of the pasture, where water has overflowed or gotten watered by a hose--I lay it on the ground and walk back to turn the water off. It's the greenest part of the pasture! Today we got a Blessed 1/2 an inch more of rain as well.
As you can see in the second Rainbow photo (Double Rainbow) that is a pasture on the other side of 'town' in the foreground. It is brown, not green! The fellow has some steers on it, they have ate it down (overgrazed). I noticed no hay there at all. Yes, the steers look poorly!
My pasture for the second time this summer goes "crunch-crunch-crunch" when I walk across it. :( The cows have been making a mess of the hay, but it is also very dry. Extra dry hay is better than NO hay, so I'm not complaining (much)! ha Hay prices are all over the place, as the rains that do come are spotty. The non-irrigated field crops look withered and dry. I've seen corn and beans turning yellow/brown already. The rains may have come a little too late for some. :'(
Patrick and I have been busy canning with produce from the garden. Tomatoes, salsa, mustard zucchini relish, spaghetti sauce, dill pickles....I think that's all we've gotten done so far! I've lost count of how many jars we've done. We have our work cut out for us, that's for sure! ;)
I will hate to see the water bill when it comes this month, but it's worth it to keep the garden going and the livestock watered. (I'm guessing they are drinking 50 gallons a day in the hot weather!) I'm NOT watering my lawn, that seems like a waste of water to me. I can't eat it, (nor the cows) so I just let it be. I did have to water the comfrey, blackberries and raspberries, they were getting droopy. All of the fruit trees have gotten watered as well.
We have no apples or cherries this year, but lots of peaches on two trees. They are turning already, and we have ate some. They are smaller than usual this year! The pear tree has less than a dozen pears on it, but it's the first year to produce fruit. So we aren't complaining!
Haven't heard from Jared for a few days, but he said it's getting colder at night there. I got an email of where they will come in (at Ft. Bragg), but NO date! Argh!! Kind of hard to make plans when I have a place to be but not a time-frame!!
Kyle has been busy working (again) and having fun. He is working on getting into the National Guard now.
I was given some more sweet corn, so think I will dehydrate it. I don't want to pressure can it and am trying not to put too much in the freezer for long-term. I may vacuum-seal a few as a treat for Jared when he gets back. Other than keeping up with the watering and canning etc., things are pretty much the same-o same-o around here.
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